Viral TikTok Trends – Addictive Short Video Clips

Going Viral With TikTok

I recently installed this app called TikTok which is now quite a rage with the younger crowd. I have installed the TikTok app but have not created an account with them yet. I think a large number of users are high-school to college, but have seen a significant and increasing number of users who are post-college to 30+. The app itself is quite addicting – you watch around 15 seconds video clip of some creative concepts of these creators (i.e. authors). Some of these clips are quite funny in that, I have ended up spending hours watching these videos. 

Even though I have not created an account, I believe there is significant personalization on the videos that I am recommended. The user experience flow is quite simple. You open up the app and you watch a video, and then scroll/flip down to see the next video. If you want to see additional videos of the same author – you go to the detailed section by scrolling left. I believe there is a logic where if you go into the detailed section of an author and see multiple videos of theirs, their recommendation engine displays new videos of the author as you flip through the app.

TikTok is now my latest time-killer and have even found some repeating trends that most people try to imitate or copy. Trends that I have seen include:

A Partner walking up to their boyfriend/girlfriend naked while they are working to elicit a reaction

They mostly end with the boyfriend/girlfriend dropping whatever they are doing and running to their partner

Ethnicity Guessing

People whose ethnicity looks ambiguous post what ethnicities they have been mistaken for and what they actually are

Financial Advice

A few tiktoker’s handing out financial advice on how they got wealthy or invest in equities. Not surprised that this exists as being financially independent is a common theme.

Zoom Backgrounds

Since everyone is working from home OR taking online classes, use of Zoom has skyrocketed. You can customize the background of your video conferencing and people are making absurd backgrounds to elicit reactions from their peers. For example, a guy had a background of himself doing chores at home while he is talking to his peers.

Ima Boss

You are going to a temple, church, or partner’s home in casual clothing and everyone there is dressed-to-impress.