Opinion – Ronaldo Lemos: TikTok goes beyond dancing and today forms opinion and generates trends

TikTok has consolidated its space as a communication tool both in Brazil and in other countries. During the period of the pandemic, it was one of the most downloaded apps on the planet, having surpassed the mark of 1.2 billion users globally. In Brazil, there are more than 70 million users.

In other words, it’s a platform that needs to be taken seriously beyond entertainment and dancing. Today it manages to form opinions, echo debates of the moment and, above all, generate its own trends that later spread throughout society.

Anyone trying to migrate to TikTok is faced with an interesting question. It’s very easy to become a consumer of content on TikTok, but much harder to become a producer. On the consumption side, the algorithm quickly identifies new users’ personal tastes. No need to create an account to watch the videos. It is possible to share any content on competing networks (advertising the platform). The result is a high ability to capture attention.

The content production side is much more complicated. Not everyone ventures to produce short videos, in most cases up to one or two minutes, which use editing tools, remixes, filters, collages and other devices to communicate something or provoke sensory experiences.

Part of TikTok’s success has been precisely because it represents the emergence of a new language. I wrote a more in-depth analysis of these strategies in the article on “the great rupture”, published in Ilustríssima da sheet.

Learning to produce content for TikTok is learning to speak this new language. There are important elements to this. For example, you need to capture the attention of potential viewers in the first three seconds of the video.

The TikTok consumption process is wild. The user often unconsciously decides whether to devote more attention to a video in less than three seconds. If the video doesn’t provoke interest, the finger swipes across the screen and another video is shown, again competing for attention.

As in a dating application, possible “candidates” to be watched parade across the screen under the command of the thumb. There are often dozens of videos analyzed per minute, all of which are dismissed in the first three seconds.

Another component of success on TikTok is trending. The algorithm usually rewards with more views those who produce content that fits the trends of the week. This has the power to make songs, people, concepts and ideas go viral.

In fact, an important point is that the number of followers is not decisive for the distribution of content. A video that produces “engagement” can be distributed to millions of people, even if the author has only a few followers.

Ultimately, TikTok will have a political impact in the next election cycle. There will be “TikTok candidates” leveraging from the platform’s persuasive power.

As for the presidential elections, the platform remains practically ignored. Except for the current occupant of Palácio do Planalto, who has already amassed 1.2 million followers on the platform on his official account. Second place belongs to Ciro Gomes, with 80,000 followers, the only other presidential candidate who has ventured to also publish short videos within the platform.

reader

It’s overIgnore TikTok

AlreadyUnderstand the language of communication by short videos

It’s comingIntensive political use of TikTok in the next election cycle