TIKTOK AND THE “ALGORITHMIZED SELF”: A NEW MODEL OF ONLINE INTERACTION | AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research
Since its release in 2017, the video sharing app TikTok has been downloaded 1.5 billion times. While its popularity has been attributed to the abundance of celebrity users, its interactive features, and its short, palatable video length, it has been the subject of relatively few academic studies. This project employs the walkthrough method to examine TikTok within the context of identity negotiation and self-representation on social media. More specifically, it seeks to understand whether TikTok follows a precedent set by other Social Networking Sites which support users self-representing via sociability “to the network, via the network”; i.e. by interacting within the affordances of the platform, which may include sharing, liking, commenting, etc (Papacharissi, 2013). This model ostensibly offers users a stage where they may display their individuality and curate content that reflects their personal interests. By regularly using the app for a period of a month and collecting extensive
Authors Aparajita Bhandari Cornell University Sara Bimo York University DOI: https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2020i0.11172 Keywords: walk-through method, tiktok, algorithms, identity, representation Abstract Since its release in 2017, the video sharing app TikTok has been downloaded 1.5 billion times. While its popularity has been attributed to the abundance of celebrity users, its interactive features, and its short, palatable video length, it has been the subject of relatively few academic studies. This project employs the walkthrough method to examine TikTok within the context of…
saved by
related reading
- Gay in a TikTok Waylogicmag.io
- Seeing Like an Algorithm - Remains of the Dayeugenewei.com
- #121: TikTok and the elusive promise of realityhaleynahman.substack.com
- TikTok’s Secret Sauce | Knight First Amendment Instituteknightcolumbia.org
- Social Media Is Not Self-Expression – The New Inquirythenewinquiry.com
- TikTok and the Sorting Hat - Remains of the Dayeugenewei.com
- American Idle - Remains of the Dayeugenewei.com
- The Anxiety of Influencers, by Barrett Swansonharpers.org
- TikTok is a Time Bombgurwinder.blog
- How TikTok Holds Our Attention | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
- TikTok Demographics, Algorithm & Stats (2026) | posterlyposter.ly
- TikTok is a Time Bomb - by Gurwinder - The Prismgurwinder.substack.com