Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTok
TikTok’s rapid growth in the past few years, especially in the younger demographic, may signal a market shift. With children, teens, and young adults reportedly making up 40% to 60% of its user base, the platform is becoming the strongest challenger to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The most foll...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cogitatio
2023-11-01
|
| Series: | Media and Communication |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/7123 |
| _version_ | 1797626781015998464 |
|---|---|
| author | Radu M. Meza Andreea-Alina Mogoș George Prundaru |
| author_facet | Radu M. Meza Andreea-Alina Mogoș George Prundaru |
| author_sort | Radu M. Meza |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | TikTok’s rapid growth in the past few years, especially in the younger demographic, may signal a market shift. With children, teens, and young adults reportedly making up 40% to 60% of its user base, the platform is becoming the strongest challenger to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The most followed TikTok celebrities are mostly young people who have either grown up with the platform or recently extended their popularity from other platforms to reach new audiences. This research investigates the discursive strategies and persona performances employed by the top 25 TikTok celebrities under the age of 25 in both popular content and content marked as advertising. A large sample of TikTok content metadata was collected using API interrogation. From each of the 25 young TikTok celebrities, up to 1,000 videos per user (N = 22,650) are explored using quantitative approaches. Two subsamples are analysed using visual, rhetorical, and narrative analysis to evaluate the most popular content (Np = 226) and content marked as advertising using the TikTok ad flagging (Na = 213). The findings include the identification of seven persona performance types and a significant difference in terms of performed ordinariness in content marked as advertising. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:15:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b5b73f499d4646a2afa48cbb89c3019b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2439 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:15:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Media and Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-b5b73f499d4646a2afa48cbb89c3019b2023-11-16T10:27:41ZengCogitatioMedia and Communication2183-24392023-11-0111418720210.17645/mac.v11i4.71233253Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTokRadu M. Meza0Andreea-Alina Mogoș1George Prundaru2Department of Journalism and Digital Media, Babeș-Bolyai University, RomaniaDepartment of Journalism and Digital Media, Babeș-Bolyai University, RomaniaDepartment of Journalism and Digital Media, Babeș-Bolyai University, RomaniaTikTok’s rapid growth in the past few years, especially in the younger demographic, may signal a market shift. With children, teens, and young adults reportedly making up 40% to 60% of its user base, the platform is becoming the strongest challenger to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The most followed TikTok celebrities are mostly young people who have either grown up with the platform or recently extended their popularity from other platforms to reach new audiences. This research investigates the discursive strategies and persona performances employed by the top 25 TikTok celebrities under the age of 25 in both popular content and content marked as advertising. A large sample of TikTok content metadata was collected using API interrogation. From each of the 25 young TikTok celebrities, up to 1,000 videos per user (N = 22,650) are explored using quantitative approaches. Two subsamples are analysed using visual, rhetorical, and narrative analysis to evaluate the most popular content (Np = 226) and content marked as advertising using the TikTok ad flagging (Na = 213). The findings include the identification of seven persona performance types and a significant difference in terms of performed ordinariness in content marked as advertising.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/7123authenticitycelebrityidolsordinarinesspromotionsemantic networkssocial media celebritiestiktok |
| spellingShingle | Radu M. Meza Andreea-Alina Mogoș George Prundaru Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTok Media and Communication authenticity celebrity idols ordinariness promotion semantic networks social media celebrities tiktok |
| title | Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTok |
| title_full | Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTok |
| title_fullStr | Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTok |
| title_full_unstemmed | Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTok |
| title_short | Idols of Promotion and Authenticity on TikTok |
| title_sort | idols of promotion and authenticity on tiktok |
| topic | authenticity celebrity idols ordinariness promotion semantic networks social media celebrities tiktok |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/7123 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT radummeza idolsofpromotionandauthenticityontiktok AT andreeaalinamogos idolsofpromotionandauthenticityontiktok AT georgeprundaru idolsofpromotionandauthenticityontiktok |