Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media
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 Fa...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221086241 |
| _version_ | 1818678359529357312 |
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| author | Aparajita Bhandari Sara Bimo |
| author_facet | Aparajita Bhandari Sara Bimo |
| author_sort | Aparajita Bhandari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T09:14:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bd303db53c334f27b7ba856e9da2ddcb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T09:14:01Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-bd303db53c334f27b7ba856e9da2ddcb2022-12-21T21:55:05ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512022-03-01810.1177/20563051221086241Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social MediaAparajita Bhandari0Sara Bimo1Cornell University, USAYork University, CanadaThe 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.https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221086241 |
| spellingShingle | Aparajita Bhandari Sara Bimo Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media Social Media + Society |
| title | Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media |
| title_full | Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media |
| title_fullStr | Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media |
| title_short | Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media |
| title_sort | why s everyone on tiktok now the algorithmized self and the future of self making on social media |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221086241 |
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