Beneath The TikTok Phenomenon

A lot has happened since the time I have wanted to write on TikTok. Mother Nature’s mysterious coronavirus brought the world to a near standstill. The Human Mind, the finest creation of Nature, worked precipitously to counteract the virus with a vaccine. Only compared to that, the world of TikTok in India was less dramatic. From being on the path to becoming a genuine Social Media App ‘for the masses’ to its eventual ban leading to the emergence of several clones, a lot has happened.

In the meantime, much has been written on TikTok as well. Topics range from its sinister recommendation algorithm to reasons for its addictive nature. Nevertheless, I am writing yet another article but intending to talk in-depth about its underlying psychological mechanisms, which are reasons for its massive adoption.

As I write TikTok is no longer accessible in India. Users have moved onto its clones like MX Takatak, Roposo, Josh etc. or Reels by Instagram. Thus I will be discussing short-form video sharing and consumption in general as a means of entertainment. Also, a lot of what I write will be equally valid for other social media activities.

Note: Many of the new TikTok clones seem to be adding gamification (Contests, Currencies etc.) and real-money aspects. They could be an exciting topic for a separate article, but here we shall stick to the core flow: sharing and consuming short-form video content.

In the parlance of Product Management, TikTok is an ecosystem of Content Creators (referred to as ‘supply’) and consumers (referred to as ‘demand’) looking for entertainment. For such an ecosystem to succeed, there must be good traction from both sides. Let us see what makes TikTok tick, primarily through the lens of Psychology, starting from the side of content creators.

Creators and their Mobile Phones

Without a doubt, video content creation has tremendously exploded thanks to TikTok (and its copycats). While Youtube has been the dominant user-generated video content platform for over a decade, the ubiquity of powerful smartphones with good cameras made it possible for TikTok to make video composition easier to the general masses.

Also, YouTube is perceived as a destination for ‘relatively professional’ content. In contrast, TikTok is positioned as a destination for short, unserious, light-hearted videos. Thus the latter is far more inviting to the masses.

On the other hand, sharing light-hearted videos on Facebook and Instagram was long since an option. However, they are about the network first and then the content (Instagram started primarily with innovative filters for photos and slowly morphed into a social network). There precisely lies reasons which made TikTok take off.

All the world’s a stage

With TikTok, the entire world is your stage. Your audience is not limited by the social network you can build. If the content is engaging and entertaining enough, it can go viral quickly (thanks to TikTok’s matching algorithms) and gather millions of views, potentially making its creator a celebrity, opening up possibility to make money via influence marketing. In that way, TikTok democratises the chance of celebrityhood more than any other platform. Even if the video does not go viral, the creator receives a few hundreds of views and likes acting as positive feedback. This yearning for appreciation (small or large) is what drives the creators to make exciting videos. But we need to dig deeper.

Views, Likes and Followers

Have you wondered why receiving a like on your social post make you feel elated? Do you understand the restlessness you feel if receiving first like or comment on your post takes a while longer? Social and Behavioural Psychologists explain this by saying we humans are social animals pre-wired to seek rewards that make us feel accepted, validated, attractive, important, and included. Frederik Backman puts it the best:

“We want to be loved. Failing that, admired; failing that, feared; failing that, hated and despised. At all costs, we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. The soul abhors a vacuum. At all costs, it longs for contact.”

But this answer is still at surface level. The real question is, why do we even seek social approval? The answer lies with the blind watch-maker: the Evolution.

Acceptance and Reputation as a means for survival

Feeling ecstatic looking at the growing number of views and likes on your TikTok video may be a 21st-century phenomenon. However, the psychological underpinnings behind them evolved millions of years ago when our ancestors, the descendants of Chimpanzees, were labouring throughout the day in savannas of Africa — trying to avoid being eaten by predators, and if successful, conniving and fighting for mates.

Living in tightly-knit groups with complex hierarchies and alliances, maintaining the ‘right equation with the group’ was vital for survival. Also, in such groups, reputation helped to grow partnerships and to attract better mates.

“Acceptance and rejection are among the most potent rewards and punishments for social animals because, in our evolutionary history, the social exclusion could have disastrous consequences — namely being cut off from the resources and protection of the group in a dangerous world.” — The Social Animal, Elliot Aronson.

Genetic adaptations, which helped maintain acceptance and reputation in groups, gave an evolutionary advantage. Those adaptations survived into this modern age, making us seek approval through likes and comments and seek reputation through followers even in these virtual societies, although a ‘like’ from a stranger across the globe may not always provide survival benefit anymore.

However, receiving ‘likes’ and ‘follow’ from strangers helps validate self-identity and boost the creator’s self-esteem. This fact begins to answer why individuals want to create a video (or anything in general) in the first place, painstakingly trying to get the sound, effects, animations etc., correct.

Twerkers, Stuntmen and Fitness Freaks

The Maslowian answer is that humans have an innate need for creativity and self-expression. I would prefer to go deeper. I believe everyone knowingly or unknowingly holds a mental idea of who they are (‘I am funny’ or ‘I am sexy’) or what is important for them (Flat abs and fitness), leading to a self-story and an identity of sorts. People constantly seek out ways to be consistent with that story and communicate that identity to others.

With its reinforcement feedback loops, this social media acts as a ground to self-validate that identity and nourish self-esteem. During evolution, this strong sense of self-esteem conferred its beholder an evolutionary advantage in negotiating and fighting for the correct position in the social hierarchy and approaching suitable mates. To this day, I dare say, this quest for identity and esteem fuels almost all of the human pursuits beyond physical and safety needs, albeit unbeknownst and beneath conscious justification.

But if you ask a Gen Zer why she creates videos for TikTok or Reels, she may simply say: ‘It makes me happy!’. Now let us turn our discussion to the other side of the network: content consumers or entertainment seekers.

Infinite Scroll on Steroids

From the outset, things are apparent from the consumers’ side: Immersive video experience from the get-go without even having to create an account or friends. Short videos which enable measuring your taste and interests in a short period. Combine it with a recommendation algorithm, which tweaks what you watch next in near real-time. All you need to do is swipe up, and you could be spending many mindless hours.

If you ask a Gen Zer why she is hooked to TikTok or Reels, you will hear ‘It’s entertainment and timepass. I also get new information.’ In the parlance of Psychologists, it would mean to say: ‘We seek Pleasure, Avoid Pain and we continuously look for new information.’ I will leave it to you to contemplate how killing time is a way to avoid pain.

The Feedback Loop

It is not essential to discuss the exact brain mechanism involved in pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance (Link here if you are interested). But it is crucial to understand the evolutionary purpose of pleasure and pain itself. In that regard, pleasure can be seen as evolution’s way of providing positive feedback, a reward for engaging in something that increases the chance of survival and reproduction (like eating a fruit needed for energy ending up in pleasing sensation). Similarly, pain can be taken as punitive feedback or a call to attention for survival (like pain and lingering sensation followed by touching fire).

The brain mechanism (dopamine system) involved in pleasure (food, sex etc.) also causes us to want, desire, seek out and search. It increases our general level of arousal, motivation, and goal-oriented behaviour. Dopamine makes us curious about ideas and rules our search for information.

Dopamine is also stimulated by unpredictability. Are you wondering what is unpredictable about TikTok? Novel and exciting video clips that show up next are always surprising, and they keep doses of dopamine flowing regularly.

Hooked to swiping up

These tendencies have served their purpose. Pleasure and Pain have made us survive, and life has come this far. Aided by curiosity, Humans could step out of caves, advance civilisation up to the point of TikTok Today. But, in doing so, it hooked up into our brain pleasure centres and made it controllable via up swipe.

(For your context, in an experiment conducted by James Olds and Peter Milner, rats would incessantly press the lever to self-administer brain stimulation through electrodes implanted into certain parts of their brain. They would not eat when hungry or drink water when thirsty and would even ignore a female rat in heat.)

Ending Notes

Thus, TikTok has levers working for both creators and entertainment seekers, leading to a strong flywheel effect between ‘supply’ and ‘demand’. It is no wonder that TikTok became one of the fastest-growing App ever.

As always, I will stay away from discussing the morality of all this. If content creators get ego boost, consumers can forget the futility of life, at least for a while, and if TikTok is making money, does morality matter? If you disagree, does anything matter at all?

Disclaimer

• The ideas discussed here solely represent the author’s thoughts and beliefs and have nothing to do with the organisations he is associated with.
• Ideas represented here are, at best, partial truths. The ultimate truth is beyond words. Tat Tvam Asi.