Sociology

Software construction

Qualitative research

Social science

Biology

Internet privacy

World Wide Web

Software system

Paleontology

Psychology

Programming language

Data science

Software

Popularity

Context (archaeology)

Computer science

Software walkthrough

Social media

Social psychology

Social Media + Society

The video-sharing social media platform TikTok has experienced a rapid rise in use since its release in 2016. While its popularity is undeniable, at the first glance, it seems to offer features already available on previously existing and well-established platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. To understand processes of self-making on TikTok, we undertake two methods of data collection: a walkthrough of the app and its surrounding environment, and 14 semistructured participant interviews. A qualitative analysis of this data finds three distinct themes emerge: (1) awareness of the algorithm, (2) content without context, and (3) self-creation across platforms. These results show that TikTok departs from existing platforms in the model of self-making it engenders, which we term “the algorithmized self”—a complication of the pre-existing “networked self” framework.

Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media