My Algorithm and Me

Social media is a daily presence in most everyone’s lives. TikTok is an app used by millions every day. Users post content, like videos, comment, share, and more. This research focuses on the culture and subcultures found on TikTok. Studying how a user's algorithm is formed, how users interact with each other, the language used, and attempting to see how TikTok impacts the real world. I created a TikTok account and scroll for ten minutes every session (using a timer to track this.) I use a voice recorder to dictate what videos are on my feed, the comments, the like counts, the viewers and more. At the end of every session I immediately take notes of everything I saw. I predict that I will find that there is a distinct culture on TikTok. From previous knowledge, I know that the language used on the app changes constantly based on what is trending or popular. New phrases are coined and then used by users. Sometimes these phrases even make their way into the vocabulary of users in the real world. Because of TikTok’s large user base, TikTok has a direct impact on the world outside of the app. I believe it is important to fundamentally understand the way the app works, how the users think, and how the culture of TikTok changes in order to understand its impact on society outside of the app.