PhD Project: Understanding TikTok Through the Users' Perspectives
TikTok is a rapidly growing platform, which allows millions of users to post short-form video content. The platform, widely discussed due to its Chinese ownership and its allegedly addictive qualities, is often characterized in negative terms, focusing on the possible negative social and political implications of the app and use thereof. However, we only have limited insight into how the app is viewed from the perspective of the millions of users themselves. Amanda Mouritsen’s PhD project ‘Making Sense of TikTok: A User-centric Study of Content, Usage, and Experience’ addresses this gap. While she agrees that a critical perspective on the platform is warranted and necessary, she aims to nuance this perspective by looking at the complexity of user experiences of TikTok.
What is your PhD project about?
“The project is essentially about understanding TikTok, focusing on the users perspective. It’s about examining how the users understand TikTok as a platform and as a type of medium, and how they use it in their daily lives.”
“The project is qualitative in nature. My approach is very inductive and explorative, because I’m focusing on the users’ perspective. In my first article, I explore what Danish users actually watch on TikTok. For this, 24 Danish users between 15 and 29 years old, donated their TikTok data to me. This means that meaning I gained access to all the videos they had been presented with during the last six months. I randomly sampled and analyzed 1,200 videos, categorizing the videos. For example, some videos were clips from movies, TV-shows or fan-edits. These were categorized as ‘external’, because the content came from outside of TikTok. Other videos were categorized as ‘performance’, because they included the user performing in some manner, like doing a dance, or making a comedy sketch. I found common features across all videos, which I conceptualized in the term ‘TikTok-ness’. Some of these common features were the comedic tone used in the videos and the significance and use of audio.”
How did you get interested in this subject?
“During the last part of my BA, the COVID-19 lockdown happened. With everyone stuck at home with nothing to do, TikTok gained immense popularity. A lot of content became about documenting everyday life during lockdown, posting relatable and mundane content, in contrast to the content posted on Instagram at the time, which was more about curating an idealized self-image. I wanted to gain a better understanding of how TikTok got so popular, and how the content differs from other platforms, such as Instagram or Facebook. During my MA, I decided to write my thesis about this, which is how my interest in the subject started.”
What are you working on at the moment?
“I’m about to start analyzing the online interviews I did with TikTok users. I interviewed 24 Danish users, different users than those who donated their TikTok data. These users were also between 15 and 29 years old. In the interviews, I asked them about their use of the platform, how and when they use it, as well as if the public discussion, which often paints the platform in negative terms, has affected how they use the platform. Interestingly, while all the participants across the age group were acutely aware of the public discussion, and some of the younger participants even had discussed the issue with their parents or teachers, the focus on the negative aspects did not affect their use of the platform.”
What findings from your project do you find the most interesting or surprising so far?
“From my analysis of the data donations, I’ve found that TikTok content is very diverse, and that the use of audio is an important part of the content. The audio is often used for aiding the storytelling. For example, a sound can be used for delivering the punchline of a joke. This means that you can’t really scroll through TikTok with the sound off, as you can with other platforms like Instagram.”
“Something I’ve found from the interviews with users is the complexity of their relationship with the platform. This complexity is illustrated by how the users reported using the app to unwind or relax, while at the same time feeling stressed out by it. The app functions by presenting content to the users without them having to make distinct choices in what to watch, compared to if they were to actively make a choice about what to watch on Netflix. At the same time, the users report sometimes feeling overwhelmed by scrolling through and repeatedly being presented with new information, making the experience stressful. The complexity of this experience, using the app for relaxation and then sometimes becoming overwhelmed by it, illustrates how the use of the app can’t be boiled down to either negative or positive.”
“From a broader perspective, I’ve found that when discussing TikTok as a platform, the nuances and complexities of the platform and its effects on users are often left out. Users mainly report having a positive experience when using the platform – like when they use it to share funny videos with their friends, or when they feel like the algorithm knows them well enough to present them with interesting content specifically catered to them.”
What do you look forward to working with in the future?
“It would be interesting to delve into TikTok and fan culture a bit more. In the data I analyzed, I found tons of fan accounts posting fan-edits of some media or celebrity that they were a fan of. A thing to note here is that if you’re a fan of Taylor Swift and the algorithm knows this, it will present you with more content related to Taylor Swift. It would be interesting to explore how TikTok in this sense maybe affects fan culture and furthermore how the platform possibly creates a feeling of community for fandoms. Generally, it’s just interesting how TikTok differentiates itself from other platforms with its algorithm, and how this affects how the users spend time on the platform.”