Today, I presented some of my ongoing research on COVID-19 and TikTok at Digital Intimacies 6 (#DigInt20). In the talk, I reviewed the biography of TikTok against the historical and cultural trajectory of short video app cultures in the Asia Pacific region, and considered what ‘TikTok’ and ‘COVID-19’ are placeholders when we talk about how they have impacted society. I then mapped out three broad genres of COVID-19 content on TikTok.
The project and data collection is still in progress as part of my SSRC grant on ‘COVID-19 Messaging and Youth Engagements on TikTok’, that runs till March 2021. If you’re keen, here is a brief snippet of the research.
And as promised, here is a mini-mini playlist of the TikToks that accompanied my talk.
From the COVID-19 genre of ‘medical information & diaries’:
2) @mikiraiofficial, 20 August 2020
3) @hypertendencies, 13 May 2020
From the COVID-19 genre of ‘social-cultural consequences’:
3) @troyesivan, 17 August 2020
From the COVID-19 genre of ‘influencer & content pivots’:
1) @willabelleofficial, 24 June 2020
3) @the.navarose, 17 November 2020
More soon!
/C
WISHCRYS 