Towards the end of 2018, the tech company ByteDance merged Music.ly into TikTok, and ever since then the app’s user base has grown exponentially. With nearly 2 billion installs and an estimate of about 1 million posting users, it’s no wonder that a few of them happen to be WJ Wildcats. As dozens of them post on the app, some close to daily, a few have achieved a viral post.
“I’ve probably been posting since like fifth grade, but never seriously or trying to go viral,” senior Evie Avillo said.
Avillo’s first viral post was a video of her and her brothers doing tricks with a soccer ball and passing it to one another, thus making it look like the group were juggling. The post has 1.8 million views and 295k likes.
“I posted it right before I got on the plane back home from San Diego, so I didn’t know that it went viral until I got off the plane and I was shocked,” Avillo said.
TikTok is filled with creators that consistently get more than tens of thousands of views on any given post. One of those creators is Phillip Pindell.
“When I first started posting I was posting relatable content,” Pindell said. “Then when they got hits I’d just keep going. I stopped doing the relatable content though. Now I just post lip-syncing content or things like that.”
Pindell’s account has 126.8k followers and 8.3 million likes. With that many eyes on their account, one would think nerves begin to manifest each time they hit post. However, according to Pindell, posting has lost its fear factor.
“I didn’t feel nervous at first because I had a secret account and didn’t tell anyone about it so everyone who sees my account found it on their own,” Pindell said. “And they only found it after it blew up so it’s not nerve wracking anymore because I didn’t flop.”
When the nerves come in, though, is when people outside their social circle start to recognise her face.
“When I first started going viral it was cool, because that’s what you want, but then people from school started finding it and I was like ‘uh-oh’,” Pindell said. “People I don’t know will sometimes be like ‘oh I’ve seen your video on my For You Page!’It is so awkward. Sometimes I’ll just say “oh no that’s not me, I don’t do that.’”
But of course, these aren’t the problems of all Tik Tok’s creators. Most of Tik Tok’s posting users do not go viral or even have public accounts. However, that doesn’t remove the excitement that comes from posting on the app. For most users like sophomore Marken Teklemikael, Tik Tok isn’t just about going viral. The principle reason for posting is to express oneself and parts of their lives.
“Tik Tok is more enjoyable when you post [for me] because I like being creative,” Teklemikael said. “Posting gives me a place to share that.”
