It's a place where everyone belongs, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status, and offers a vibrant and lively environment that celebrates trends and embraces diversity. TikTok has become a marketplace for ideas around the world, transcending borders to create a diverse content hub. With a seemingly infinite amount of nonsense, dancing and kind jokes, TikTok claims to be the happiest place on the Internet. When brands adopt music and collaborate with artists on the platform, they see a huge halo effect of cultural relevance and love for the brand.
But what has been a distinctive component of TikTok culture this year has been the virality of unknown singers and artists who have gone from obscurity to millions of views and listeners. The five aspects of the circuit of production, representation, identity, consumption and regulation of culture are an effective framework for explaining the cultural impact of TikTok on everyday life. In addition, pop culture can include anything from popular TV shows to songs that top the charts, or even lines from a movie. Many of the fried videos failed to go viral outside the app, unlike many other TikToks this year, suggesting that the strangest niches in meme culture only work when combined with TikTok's mysterious algorithm, just like others only work in certain groups or subreddits.
With TikTok, recruiting new brand followers seems like a (a little) easier task, as long as the brand is able to address pop culture trends, in accordance with brand values, and use them positively for advertising. Content that has gone viral is something that has been widely shared on social networks and the Web, which has created some hype, has been introduced to pop culture and vice versa. We can even say that TikTok has become a culture in its own right, which transcends borders as a hub for creative and diverse content. The first step is to identify brand values and ensure that the values of any chosen pop culture reference are aligned with them.
A carefully curated selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, which you'll receive in your inbox every Friday. Music and sound are the universal language of TikTok; they play an integral role in the creativity, vivacity and cultural impact of the community. Second, it is essential to ensure that the reference to pop culture is completely clear to whoever writes the ad to avoid any misuse of a trend. True to the mission of TikTok, the collective creativity of the TikTok community in shaping culture cannot be underestimated.
