As generations pass, social media becomes a prominent part of the internet, whether it is used for posting updates on your vacation, sharing a new recipe, sending messages to your friends, or laughing at memes. One form of social media that has blown up, launched in 2017, replacing the original app Musical.ly, is TikTok. TikTok is a video sharing app, similar to the old application Vine, that allows the user to post 15 second to one minute videos that range from humor to aesthetic.

Within TikTok, there are “trends” that often last for a few weeks at a time, or if they are extremely popular become a permanent fixation within the app. These trends share a similar format that creators take and shift to put their own twist, gaining views and likes. 

POV

A popular trend is POV’s, when extended it is Point of View. Creators choose an audio, or even use their own voices, to create a mini storyline, putting the watcher into it as well. Examples of this are “POV: I take you to the movies” where in the video, the creator would mimic a movie where they are taking the “you”, the watcher, to the movies. The caption creates context to the video itself. Over the years, the hashtag pov has gained up to 52.7 billion views, one of the most popular trends on TikTok.

Cartoon Character Outfits

Introduced about two weeks ago, a new trend came in the form of “my outfits if I was a cartoon character” where users, to a portion of the audio Dirty Harry by the Gorillaz, put together various outfits in different categories to represent what they would wear if they were in a cartoon. These “episode” categories include: everyday, party, sleepover, vacation, and more. Others have begun to take this idea and switch it to a different theme, replicating their outfits if they were in a zombie apocalypse or a popular TV show.

Transitions

Creators develop new forms of “transitions” and do it over different audios, originally the trend taking off with popular Australian creator, Caleb Finn. Transitions are smooth movements that are done to be able to move towards another position or outfit change in a way that it is one quick, fluid motion. 

Snapchat Challenges

There are a variety of challenges that end up being posted on TikTok. One that gained popularity was the worm challenge. Creators would snapchat their partner asking “would you still date me if I was a worm?” and post the response, the intention was to get the partner to say a funny response that would lead to a “no”, finally ending the TikTok off with a fake crying video.  Another is the music cover reenactment challenge. The creator starts off with reenacting their favorite album cover of any artist and sending it to their friends, asking them to do the same. This then leads to a domino effect where all of their friends mimic their favorite album covers and send it back, the creator puts all of the screenshots together, posting the product.

TikTok covers a wide range of fields that do not just stop at these four trends. It is a way to express creativity and connect users from every corner of the world. If you are bored during this quarantine, try doing a TikTok trend or simply just explore the interesting app.