Why's Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media. (March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bhandari, Aparajita; Bimo, Sara
• Is Part Of: Social media + society. Volume 8:Number 1(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Subjects: social media -- TikTok -- algorithms -- self-making -- self-representation; Social media -- Periodicals; Social media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.231
• DOI: 10.1177/20563051221086241
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2056-3051

Abstract

The video-sharing social media platform TikTok has experienced a rapid rise in use since its release in 2016. While its popularity is undeniable, at the first glance, it seems to offer features already available on previously existing and well-established platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. To understand processes of self-making on TikTok, we undertake two methods of data collection: a walkthrough of the app and its surrounding environment, and 14 semistructured participant interviews. A qualitative analysis of this data finds three distinct themes emerge: (1) awareness of the algorithm, (2) content without context, and (3) self-creation across platforms. These results show that TikTok departs from existing platforms in the model of self-making it engenders, which we term "the algorithmized self"—a complication of the pre-existing "networked self" framework.