Culture Study Podcast - Explaining the Best and Weirdest TikTok Trends

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00:00:46.940 tiktok is in such a weird flux moment right now that i feel like my for you page when i opened

00:00:56.240 tiktok feels a lot different than it did just a few months ago first of all i feel like everyone's

00:01:02.460 kind of noticed this that it's just the first six things you see feel like they're all ads or like

00:01:10.040 tiktok shop that's not the kind of content where i'm like wow this is exactly what i want to see

00:01:15.780 in the way that TikTok used to feel where it was like, wow, I can't believe my For You page is so

00:01:20.340 tailored to me. Mine really changes because like I have managed to create this interesting

00:01:25.840 relationship with TikTok, I think because it's on the third page of my phone screen where I only

00:01:30.140 really look at it like once a week. And oftentimes it's because I fall down a rabbit hole for a piece

00:01:35.760 that I'm working on or for like a podcast or something like that. And so my page like will

00:01:42.080 dramatically changed so obviously when it was bammer rush time like it was just like

00:01:47.680 all sorority content like so deep and then i was like doing all the um crown of thorn and roses i

00:01:57.080 always say it wrong some court rise court court court of thorns and roses content and then there

00:02:03.120 were so many like fantasy memes and like i also i like weird stuff too like i i really love

00:02:10.840 huff carving videos herding videos the herding dogs where they're like they're sheep herding

00:02:17.700 and the owner says like one word and then the the dog goes and like herds an entire mountain

00:02:23.100 of sheep that sort of thing yeah this is the culture study podcast and i'm ann helen peterson

00:02:32.100 i'm katie natopoulos i'm a senior correspondent at business insider covering tech and culture

00:02:38.460 i am so happy that you are here with us today because like seriously when i melody was like

00:02:44.620 oh we're getting all these questions about like weird things on tiktok like who should we talk

00:02:48.300 about i was like i know exactly who should talk about it with uh i'm honored i am trust me i am

00:02:54.840 so thrilled to be here uh when i saw your email i was like there is nothing on planet earth that

00:03:01.800 would make me more pleased than to do this your beat even like your beat has always been to some 0.60

00:03:09.520 extent weird shit on the internet yeah i mean i think so and like very often weird things on the 0.72

00:03:17.040 internet are sort of tech stories because they involve you know platforms and the ways that 0.96

00:03:22.900 those platforms are shaping how weird things grow um sometimes they're culture choice because they're

00:03:30.580 you know about the way that people exist what can it show us about us yeah so you and i are the same

00:03:38.160 age i imagine in your peer group you outside of media world that you also have friends who are

00:03:43.880 like i only watch tiktok when it comes over into my reels right like they feel like they're too old

00:03:50.400 for it or like that they're never going to get into it in some way i do feel a little like that

00:03:55.880 has changed at least for the some of my friends that like something finally happened where you

00:04:03.400 know now everyone kind of is on to it um yeah i mean there there are some weird user statistics

00:04:08.880 that came out maybe i feel like it was like a pew study from earlier this spring where it was

00:04:13.960 actually like the majority of tiktok users are now like over 30 like something like sort of or

00:04:19.860 maybe not even the majority but it was like people think of it as a gen z thing but it really is like

00:04:25.000 more millennials and even gen xers are posting than uh yes it is it's skewing much older than

00:04:32.700 it used to it is no longer a teen app it's an everyone app is there a way that you can describe

00:04:39.360 the difference in like vibe between stuff that shows up on tiktok and stuff that people make

00:04:45.840 specifically for reels so i'm not talking about reposting stuff it's more like stuff that people

00:04:50.340 make for reels like how would you differentiate those two now that is a question that i think

00:04:54.660 about a lot because yeah i personally have found myself reaching for reels more than i have tiktok

00:05:02.520 i used to just love love love tiktok watch it as much as humanly possible or as much as a lot

00:05:09.200 yeah until you get to the point where it's like it gets like bottom of the barrel and they're

00:05:14.020 serving you at things that like only 14 people have seen yeah it was like my go-to time killer

00:05:19.660 app and i mean i would spend a fair amount of time watching it during my work day because it you know

00:05:25.400 in my line of work it was like relevant right like that's probably not true for everyone i mean

00:05:31.380 for a lot of people there are like a lot of people who work in social media or advertising

00:05:36.000 or marketing and you kind of need to be up on these trends yeah but i think it was a mix of like

00:05:41.440 so much of the shop stuff all of a sudden it just felt really ad heavy like also had almost like

00:05:48.560 fine-tuned itself with such granularity to be like this is exactly what you're gonna like katie

00:05:55.680 and i was like yes it is and then i would go over to instagram reels which is like

00:06:00.880 complete chaos because instagram's algorithm is just not as good as the tiktok for you page in

00:06:09.460 terms of and i think there's probably a supply and demand you know supply issue too like yeah

00:06:14.560 there's just better content going on on tiktok um but i i used to sort of ignore reels on instagram

00:06:20.840 just because it was mostly reposts of tiktok or whatever um and then something happened somewhat

00:06:26.980 recently where like i just got into like a cringe loop like where it was serving me like almost all

00:06:36.200 like cringe content and there are a bunch of these like what give an example well a lot a lot of like

00:06:41.720 super like christian content like really intense like catholic content a lot of like trad wife

00:06:50.060 stuff a lot of like hustle bro workout motivation like um i get a lot a lot a lot of i'm pretty sure

00:06:59.880 that official andrew tate is not allowed on instagram anymore but there are so many like

00:07:06.160 offshoots of his like they're basically these like fan tribute accounts that um post his content

00:07:14.120 even though he doesn't have an account there is like an army of his fans that post his videos

00:07:20.900 and like oh my god like what is this like it's it's so far out there in terms of like

00:07:26.940 it's you know it's pulling up the rock and looking at the bugs scurry around i don't mean

00:07:33.820 to call entertain fans bugs i apologize to the industry i mean like i apologize to the vulnerable

00:07:38.560 young men who listen to you i don't think i don't think that's i don't think there's many

00:07:43.360 ann helen peterson fans who are like i'm also really into entertain for the record i'm not

00:07:47.960 really into entertain um but i get like a lot of his content no and this like i find it fascinating

00:07:53.160 just like you can look at the bugs and be like what is going on here and but not be like oh

00:07:58.580 and i freaking love the bugs yeah like yeah yeah right like i'm not like i want to be one of the

00:08:03.200 bugs i'm but like but yeah but i mean you know it's just all of a sudden a lot of content that

00:08:09.040 is not made by people who are like me either age-wise demographically different value systems

00:08:17.520 um and i find that fascinating like i enjoy seeing that kind of content that is from made by people

00:08:24.120 who have very different perspectives and come from different walks of life than i do

00:08:28.080 that's like a so terrible saying i love to look at the weirdos well and if you follow katie on

00:08:34.380 instagram she will repost some of these without comment just like and i like if when i watch him

00:08:39.840 i'm like oh like i'm shielding myself uh but i get the most basic shit on instagram so i get the

00:08:49.120 people who uh they've realized that the instagram algorithm has turned against them in the way that 0.54

00:08:56.480 they just post normal images and so they make reels by using like whatever music is the top

00:09:01.940 thing and then like maybe just like a you know three seconds of video and some words written

00:09:09.180 on the video and then everything that they want to say for the reel they actually just put in the

00:09:14.300 caption so it's like they're trying to get instagram to pay attention to them again which

00:09:19.720 works right but it doesn't feel like its own thing do you know what i mean yeah no i i feel

00:09:28.100 like i i do see a lot of that kind of content i find it's a very annoying format of like yes it

00:09:33.620 it's literally clickbait where it's like yes you know someone standing in front of a river saying

00:09:39.860 this one thing changed my entire life and then like arrows arrows down click here to find out

00:09:45.860 more and i'm like no tell me what the thing is i want to know and like you're and i've been getting

00:09:50.220 like so much gardening content because i follow a lot of gardening accounts and it's like this is

00:09:55.220 the secret to amazing hanging baskets and then it has an arrow yeah no and it's like water them

00:10:04.060 you know like like it's never like a revelation in any way so yeah i find that i'm frustrated

00:10:09.780 to that okay so we'll talk well we i think we'll keep coming back to the differentiation between

00:10:15.700 what's going on as we proceed through the conversation but for today's episode we ask

00:10:21.100 listeners to submit tiktok trends they're seeing and they want an explainer on so some of these i

00:10:27.440 know you have like expertise in and some of them we can speculate on so the first one is a good way

00:10:32.800 for us to talk about the tiktok algorithm just generally and this comes from susanna not a

00:10:37.220 question but a comment about a weird FYP on TikTok. I started getting videos on knife talk

00:10:42.980 which involves these bizarre blade sport competitions where people have this machete

00:10:47.640 like knife that is apparently super sharp and they run around cutting things like ropes, tennis

00:10:52.760 balls, a series of water bottles all lined up where they blast off the lids in one swoop.

00:10:58.120 I like to cook but I have no idea why TikTok thinks I want to see this. That said I kind of

00:11:04.680 can't look away which reiterates to me that tiktok somehow knows us better than we know ourselves

00:11:09.340 i mean clearly she's watching right she's seeing a lot of these videos so like tiktok's like yeah

00:11:15.660 we got you but what do you think how does it work if you can explain to people who don't really get

00:11:21.280 it like if she was watching cooking stuff that somehow it would serve her this i have two ideas

00:11:28.480 i guess so one is that i do think there's a lot of what makes tiktok fun is there is a lot of this

00:11:35.260 really weird niche hobby content that bubbles up yeah and i think that like generally speaking

00:11:43.060 people like that stuff when they see it because for exactly the same reason she likes it she's

00:11:47.140 like i don't know this is weird i've never seen this before it like it's kind of fun to watch

00:11:51.320 like someone cutting open a tennis ball like um and i think there's tons of weird niche things

00:11:58.000 that are like that um like i well i mean to be fair i actually was searching for this the other

00:12:02.920 day but i was like watching a girl who just like does like chainsaw testing but i was like this is

00:12:09.560 great content um my guess is that if i was you know mr tiktok which is you know obviously it's

00:12:21.800 not how it works or whatever but i think the tiktok hour and they're like they probably like

00:12:25.500 part of it is that if you can imagine like you're making a potpourri for you page and some of it's

00:12:31.000 going to be like this is tailored to exactly the kind of content that we already know you like

00:12:35.980 like very similar in terms of what kind of content it is and then we'll sprinkle in weird little bits

00:12:43.440 of like tester content to see yeah do you like this too and i imagine that a lot of that weird

00:12:49.080 niche hobby stuff kind of filters in as this tester content right so it's like you know it's

00:12:54.440 Maybe not that you watch cooking stuff and use knives for cooking, but like, have you

00:12:58.960 also watched something about somebody who knits, like, or not even hobby stuff, but

00:13:04.960 just like, I think they probably floated into everybody's page a little bit.

00:13:08.780 And I bet that a lot of it performs well overall.

00:13:12.680 Like, I think one thing that works well is probably it's very visually pleasing, right?

00:13:16.140 Like, it's immediately interesting to watch like a knife doing actions.

00:13:20.200 the other thing that i was thinking is that in this weird way i do think there's an element

00:13:25.640 where a lot of stuff on tiktok that seems new because we are seeing it on tiktok

00:13:30.740 it's secretly like kind of been bumbling around the internet in other forms for a long time like

00:13:35.920 weird knife and sword stuff has been around youtube since like the dawn of youtube like

00:13:41.820 like there were like it was sort of very early viral videos were like guys taking their samurai

00:13:48.300 swords and like being like i'm gonna use this katana to chop a pumpkin or whatever like i feel

00:13:54.400 like there's a lot of that kind of stuff there's just something about that that's like i don't know

00:13:58.200 it's funny right so just like taking a katana and going to town on a watermelon is fun um

00:14:04.520 and it's like visually pleasing of like a variety show right yeah or like the way that like vaudeville

00:14:11.360 worked or um america's funniest home videos like all of these historical forms where people either

00:14:19.260 told weird stories or did weird things or captured weird moments and then people really loved watching

00:14:26.820 them yeah not new right yeah i will say that i think that a format that does feel like a pioneered

00:14:35.860 format completely new to tiktok in a weird way let me know if you think this is the like people

00:14:42.340 telling a story or something while they're putting on makeup or getting dressed or like

00:14:47.740 and i feel like there's this it's not because they're just multitasking it's meant to be like

00:14:53.860 i know it would be boring if you were just sitting here looking at my face

00:14:57.540 so i'm going to visually interest you with also watching a makeup application video which might

00:15:03.000 be boring if I wasn't also telling you a story about this wild thing that happened in my childhood

00:15:08.840 you know so I feel like it's like it's almost there's another version of that that's like a

00:15:13.620 split screen that might be like a clip from you know young Sheldon over like a subway surfer video

00:15:22.040 game or whatever like yeah that they multi-screen kind of stuff because weirdly we're so our brains

00:15:29.240 are so craving input at all times that we need like ultimate visual stimulation i also think

00:15:36.220 that part of the reason people do that is because it makes them less self-conscious while they are

00:15:41.340 making the video yeah right so and then you can tell the story with more ease because you're not

00:15:46.960 just staring at yourself or you're not thinking about like what do i do with my face while i tell

00:15:51.180 this story and that ease also makes it easier for the viewer to watch it without feeling

00:15:57.320 uncomfortable themselves whereas because most people aren't like you they're not like oh i

00:16:02.800 really want to feel uncomfortable while i watch i think the creators too i mean one of the earliest

00:16:10.520 things i noticed about tiktok being different than instagram i feel like this is a very like

00:16:14.740 i don't know when did sort of like 2019 was when tiktok was maybe first taking off right sort of

00:16:19.820 i mean obviously the pandemic was when it really exploded um you know the big difference being on

00:16:24.580 Instagram it's like everyone like looks nice they have their hair done like you wouldn't post a

00:16:29.660 makeup free picture on Instagram but on TikTok people were so willing to like look bad in a way

00:16:39.540 that was in teenagers and in a way that was like I think really refreshing and really nice that like

00:16:45.680 people post videos where they look like crap and like great because that's how everyone looks when

00:16:52.360 they wake up in the morning right and there is something sort of fun about like you see people 0.96

00:16:57.000 do the full process of like here's what i look like before i do my makeup with you know my skin

00:17:02.600 looks all blotchy and i have pimples and you know and then you get to see the end and you're like

00:17:07.800 wow now you look like you have a beautiful face you know i i love makeup videos like they're fun

00:17:13.020 transformation like i love it always makes me feel like i'm using way fewer products than anyone

00:17:18.600 else in the world I don't know if you I mean as as a person of some of the age I don't know if

00:17:23.780 you feel like I do where I feel like I've just completely lost the thread on how to do makeup

00:17:27.580 now and I'm like I don't want to be an old person who's like I don't understand the new ways but

00:17:34.560 like and like I'm trying like I'll go to like Sephora and buy new stuff but like sometimes I

00:17:40.880 watch these I'm like wait we're not using the sponges anymore we're back to the brushes like

00:17:44.840 what's going on? This is a really good segue into our next question,

00:17:49.600 which is about the way that younger generations use TikTok. This is from Kristen and Melody's

00:17:54.940 going to read it. I've heard, and to be honest, I don't know if it's true,

00:17:59.140 that the number one search tool used by Gen Z is TikTok. Example, instead of Googling how to boil 0.90

00:18:06.080 an egg, a Gen Z-er will watch a TikTok video that shows how to do it. This has deeply unsettled me. 0.99

00:18:12.600 am I just following in the tradition of generations before me and not understanding

00:18:17.520 something fundamental about the changing way of the world? Or is there something worse or lost or

00:18:24.000 ominous about this cultural shift? Well, here's where I think we should talk about how bad search 0.95

00:18:30.040 has become. Like how bad like Google search has become with so much junk on the internet. So yeah.

00:18:35.480 So I love this question because this is so right now of the moment where all of a sudden Google just announced this huge way that it is changing search, that it's going to be using AI answers for a lot of those questions like how to change a filter, an air filter in my car or whatever.

00:18:55.740 Yeah, that I think has made a lot of people really sort of radically think about like, what, what even is search? What, what are we looking for here? Like, what was the point of all these websites that existed that would answer this question? Like, what is the web? What is search? What is what is the meaning of all this?

00:19:12.600 I do think that already, like, I've definitely found myself searching TikTok for those kind of things, too, because often like a video answer is pretty good.

00:19:25.620 And part of that search had been, quote unquote, broken, partly because of all these giant incentives to make a bad web experience, right?

00:19:37.240 Like, if you wanted to know how do I change a tire on my car, like, you could find a million websites that would do it that are loaded with ads that are like the SEO challenge to do that to like be the top site for that is like such a nightmare.

00:19:53.200 Like, there's so many bad incentives created by Google to Google that it like every hour it was it was like bad.

00:19:59.320 It was just everything went bad.

00:20:00.740 And that was all scraped from like lots of other sites anyway. So it was almost like a predecessor to this AI scraping. I know a lot of people who do the Reddit before a question now, like that's the other way. But do you find that search on like the videos on TikTok are better than the ones on YouTube? Because usually like the other day, I was trying to figure out how to change the light bulb in the hood above my range. And I went on YouTube, not on TikTok.

00:20:28.680 So I would say it depends a little on the question.

00:20:32.360 And I do think that this is a case where like being able to tell, should I use Google, YouTube, or TikTok to search for this is like a decision that you make based on years of experience of using the internet and knowing what forms of content you're most likely to find there, right?

00:20:47.160 Yeah.

00:20:47.540 I feel like the advantage TikTok has over YouTube is that you're not going to get hit with a pre-roll ad.

00:20:53.720 Like you're going to immediately get a 30-second clip showing you how to do it, right?

00:20:58.040 yeah yeah youtube like a lot of times especially looking for something that's like a how-to on

00:21:03.000 youtube like you get like a full like preamble that's like a 20 minute like long thing before

00:21:10.100 they give you like the little money shot of how to like replace the refrigerator light bulb right

00:21:15.000 like yeah it can be a really annoying experience and part of that is because youtube created these

00:21:20.260 incentives where they said you're only going to get paid if you make a video if people watch for

00:21:25.080 more than like three minutes or whatever um for longer videos so all of a sudden these things

00:21:29.060 were incentivized to make longer and longer videos which made ultimately for a bad experience if you

00:21:32.940 just want to know how to do a 30 second thing right i feel like that's a case where tiktok

00:21:36.540 actually really wins out um yeah like you can visually scroll through them and tell which is

00:21:43.940 going to be the video that looks like it has the right answer much faster than you can a web link

00:21:48.980 and tell does this web link look like it's going to actually be from something reputable something

00:21:54.460 you know like if you were searching you know how to do something or what to buy or whatever like

00:22:00.600 you can kind of tell just looking at some urls like this is a garbage site or not again this is

00:22:04.580 knowledge you gain from years of understanding how the world works but i do think that like

00:22:08.840 tiktok is is good for those for like it can give you a quick answer and it's also really good if

00:22:14.020 it's something that's like you know if you were like catch me up on the latest pop culture you

00:22:21.280 You know, like what's going on with Haley Bieber and Justin, you know, that kind of thing.

00:22:25.980 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:22:27.100 Like that kind of like celebrity pop culture news stuff.

00:22:30.300 I feel like that that's really good for that stuff.

00:22:32.760 Right.

00:22:33.000 Because if you Google that now, oh, my God.

00:22:35.780 Like, yeah, it's a bad experience.

00:22:36.640 Yeah, it's a really bad experience.

00:22:39.100 It's much that would be much better.

00:22:40.620 Do you have any tips for using TikTok search?

00:22:44.300 I mean, it is a weird search, right?

00:22:46.580 Like part.

00:22:46.960 It's a weird search.

00:22:48.580 The searches are weird.

00:22:50.080 there's a whole there's a whole i don't know weird thing around like the suggested searches

00:22:58.140 because you you type in hailey bieber and you'll get an autocomplete for like

00:23:02.000 you know feud with obama and you're like what feuding with obama you know like i feel like you

00:23:09.740 end up uh it leads you into strange searches that may be like inflammatory and strange especially

00:23:17.020 around that kind of uh stuff but i don't know i mean like it is honestly like if you know kind of

00:23:23.640 what you're hoping to find i feel like it is sometimes like it's easier to visually watch a

00:23:29.580 30 second video than it is to i don't know read an article or do a thing or depending on what

00:23:36.520 you're looking for i think it's actually like a pretty good search for that reason i don't hate

00:23:39.900 the teens uh for this i don't hate the teens at all um and this is something our next question

00:23:47.000 is about a particular aesthetic for lack of a better word that's really popular this is from

00:23:52.020 bella my question is why are we fascinated with such boring things not just the ice restocking

00:23:57.340 and the rug washing which is kind of soothing to empty your tired brain i mean why are there

00:24:01.920 so many viral tiktoks about girlies and their morning routine which is just wake up skincare 0.52

00:24:06.040 gym, work, etc. I feel like when I was growing up in the noughties, everyone aspired to be like Kate

00:24:11.260 Moss or Alexa Chung. And now everyone just seems to aspire to be as nothing as possible. Is this

00:24:16.440 part of leaning out or lying down flat? And is it bad that I just want to tell these girls to go out 0.98

00:24:20.920 and get wasted or something, even though I know it's unhealthy? How did boring become the most

00:24:24.900 covetable thing? I feel like even the new quiet luxury fashion is boring. Okay, Katie, what is

00:24:30.640 going on here we know what this kind of content is this is the clean girl aesthetic right where

00:24:37.060 it's like the stanley cups and gym routines and they're always putting a lot of different powders

00:24:42.900 into their drinks in the mornings um i mean like i can see why that content's appealing right

00:24:49.240 it's usually pretty well made it's like quickly edited which helps keep in yes so many cuts right

00:24:56.380 it's just so it's like watching someone's entire day in like 25 seconds yeah i'll watch that

00:25:02.200 yeah it's like a super cut yeah it's like a good piece of content from a like this is visually

00:25:08.160 interesting standpoint um yeah why does that appeal to us in a but it's i feel like this is

00:25:14.320 a better question for you annie is that like what is it with the clean girl aesthetic that does feel

00:25:20.940 so now oh well okay so there are people who i think are watching the content aspirationally

00:25:27.760 they're like oh my life's a mess this person has it together i want to watch that it's soothing

00:25:33.740 when i get my shit together my life's going to look like this right um yeah but i think that

00:25:40.180 the question from bella is very like kids these days in terms of it's the same thing that i'm like

00:25:46.740 kids these days with their resumes like and their internships like what we did after college was

00:25:53.860 fuck around for a few years like we worked crappy jobs and then we figured out what we wanted to do

00:25:59.700 with our lives and like that's good for development and I think there's part of me that even when we 0.98

00:26:05.500 were in college like we would always raz on there was like a group of girls who were already like

00:26:10.520 in soccer mom mode when they were 20 and they would have been those like clean girls for sure 0.87

00:26:17.040 yeah and I think it's just like the rise of wellness culture into that you don't have to

00:26:22.980 be a like quote-unquote used to be wellness was really fringe right now it's like normie to be

00:26:28.760 like I eat matcha and don't drink alcohol and do healthy things right yeah and I think that

00:26:36.860 there's something psychologically interesting that happens when you watch like i follow this

00:26:41.740 guy on instagram who is constantly like deep cleaning his house and like steaming his sheets

00:26:49.200 and doing like asthma content of cleaning his bicycle and like all sorts like he's just like

00:26:56.740 the the most clean chiseled person i know like i watch it i feel like i've seen this it's like

00:27:04.800 he's I feel like he's teasing a little bit of Patrick Bateman right yes yes he totally looks

00:27:09.260 like Patrick Bateman yeah and I watched that and I'm like nice high rise like that looks boring

00:27:17.100 you know so it makes me feel actually even better about my life I'm like I could do that and I would

00:27:23.080 be so boring so I think sometimes people watch this in a very straightforward aspirational way

00:27:28.660 but I think most people are watching it oppositionally if that makes sense I don't know

00:27:33.160 i i feel like i see that content and i'm just like good for you i don't i don't know like i

00:27:38.900 feel like it doesn't live your life it doesn't move me i guess in a weird way of like i don't

00:27:45.400 i don't aspire nor do i hate it feels so far removed from anything i would ever do in my life

00:27:51.760 like i'm just like fascinating i don't know but it is it's so common and it's so um

00:28:01.140 yeah it is really pervasive is it boring i don't know is it more boring than we used to be i'm not

00:28:06.620 sure it's more boring than we used to be no i don't think so yeah i don't know yeah i think

00:28:13.540 that like probably the people who are like making their life seem that way are not as put together

00:28:19.820 as they think they are but i do think that it is an expression of this idea that like the fully

00:28:24.700 optimized life is the desirable life. Yeah. But it's also empty. So. Yeah, that's that's our

00:28:32.780 lesson is that's an empty experience. Okay, this one cover this another question about the specific

00:28:38.680 specific part of the TikTok experience. And this question comes from Melody, not our producer,

00:28:43.840 I different Melody. What might be the reason for the wonderfulness of TikTok comments?

00:28:48.700 it used to be that the comment field was a place that you avoided because it was treacherous or

00:28:55.220 boring but on tiktok it's often not always of course but often become a place of continued

00:29:02.580 hilarity and of people riffing off one another okay yeah what are your thoughts on the comments

00:29:08.380 because i think sometimes they're shitty and then sometimes they are very funny so i literally just

00:29:14.420 pitched a story and then like forgot to actually write it on this exact talk which is how and why 0.59

00:29:20.940 did the comments get so good like historically internet comments are garbage like not even in a

00:29:27.960 like like they're just incoherent in a lot of places like they're literally of zero value like

00:29:36.880 like there were never any good comments on buzzfeed right even like they did so much work trying to

00:29:42.600 curate them and get rid of shit but yeah i mean like occasionally but like i feel like a like

00:29:47.640 instagram is a good example of like if you look on like a celebrity's instagram like the comments 0.96

00:29:52.920 are always just like fire emoji beautiful yeah like hello from brazil um there's not much value

00:30:01.680 there there's not like engagement or conversation or like they're not funny and like tiktok comments

00:30:09.340 are so funny it's so often that I watch a video and I actually purposely even though the comments

00:30:15.040 are hidden away you have to tap to get into them whereas like on Instagram they're right there

00:30:19.160 you're seeing them and I still don't want to look at them but like they're I often go into the

00:30:25.180 comments just to like see what people say and you can tell that other people do because there's so

00:30:29.780 often those things they're like I broke my ankle running to these comments to see what and those

00:30:34.180 usually on like like if the video is like really outrageous or whatever um but like i am very

00:30:40.980 curious of how tiktok of all places manage to sort of crack the comments like okay so what do you

00:30:50.500 think do you think that this is related at all to the ways in which sometimes people respond like

00:30:57.800 you can it's very easy to respond to a comment with a video like you can integrate the videos

00:31:03.100 and elevate them in that way i think that's helpful i like i think of this as this probably

00:31:10.320 is a lot more of like a platform issue and let then you might think it's not totally just a

00:31:17.320 culture user issue it's like tiktok figured out a really good way to design and like structure

00:31:24.120 their comments to surface the best ones i mean you can tell that right like the best comments

00:31:29.280 get surfaced to the top the lower ones you know instagram does that too but somehow like not as

00:31:34.880 well yeah and then what happens is i think that becomes a little bit of a flywheel right like

00:31:39.420 they created a really good comment user experience that encourages people to make high quality

00:31:46.120 comments um and therefore it becomes a known thing of like comments are are actually a worthwhile

00:31:53.520 thing of looking at like instead of just oh that's a garbage piece that only exists like I feel like

00:32:00.520 a lot of time comments only exist for the poster they don't really exist for the other viewer like

00:32:05.440 if I'm looking on someone's Instagram I don't want to see what their comments say

00:32:10.880 who cares that's those are that's for the poster it's not for me the the watcher but on TikTok I

00:32:17.560 feel like it's it's different the platform designed a really good product and then the users

00:32:22.140 a changed behavior around that but like they are good I don't know and like people are funny

00:32:27.700 people make really good funny comments and the other thing is like you know people

00:32:31.580 make funny comments for all sorts of reasons but it also is a good feedback loop right like

00:32:37.540 it feels good for a lot of people to think that your comment is the best comment like the funniest

00:32:42.460 comment on on a tiktok thing so the other thing I would say is though it's I think part of this

00:32:48.540 larger understanding within the platform that there is a lot of dialogue happening all the time

00:32:54.820 and i think that the way that stitches work right like underlines that this is a place where people

00:33:01.700 are in conversation with one another yeah and i do i i feel like my contribution here is a little

00:33:08.080 bit hampered by the fact like i am not a tiktok poster i am only a tiktok watcher so like i don't

00:33:14.260 really know what the experience of receiving comments is like you know um i'm sure that if

00:33:21.040 you have a really viral post you probably get a lot of shitty mean comments that are just like

00:33:26.680 any other place on the internet maybe tiktok is better than average at filtering those out

00:33:31.960 but as a viewer that's not what i see but that might just be because they get like

00:33:38.040 shoved to the bottom or whatever yeah yeah i don't see those at all yeah um okay so we have a bunch

00:33:44.680 of different trends that i feel like we could kind of do like quick hits with and see if you

00:33:49.720 can explain that okay so all right so the first one is i i alluded to previously it comes from

00:33:58.340 ariel and melody's gonna read it has anyone else been getting and watching the hoof care or hoof

00:34:04.160 trimming videos i'm curious what led to their creation and popularity who else watches these

00:34:10.280 is there some venn diagram overlap between viewers of animal rescue videos and or pimple

00:34:16.060 popping etc okay so if you've never watched a hoof care video it's essentially there's a name

00:34:22.320 for people who do this work that i don't know um a farrier a farrier um f-e-r-r-i-e-r and

00:34:31.680 they take the hooves of cattle of horses like and they shave them it's like getting your

00:34:37.380 fingernails treated and oftentimes there are places where like gravel or dirt or other objects

00:34:43.460 have grown into the fingernail of the animal the the hoof and so there's like pus and it's just

00:34:52.680 it's a very it's incredibly related to pimple popping and i think that is how you get served

00:34:57.780 them in the first place so i think it's pretty straightforward and also as you were talking

00:35:02.320 about earlier a cool hobby or a cool vocation yeah i think i think that hoof care videos are

00:35:09.480 like almost the universal like everybody gets served them um i feel like everyone i know has

00:35:15.100 seen these and i i think they also do fit this niche of like um well actually my guess because

00:35:23.080 you don't really see them on youtube or i know i feel like that started for me pimple popping has

00:35:28.360 been around for a long time but the hoof stuff i feel like is sort of tiktok native um at least in

00:35:35.020 its popularity my guess has to be that there was one or two people who were like a professional

00:35:40.660 farrier who started doing these videos and it caught on and a couple more started doing it and

00:35:46.980 like like yes it's weird and it's just kind of like the lobsterman guy um i do think there's like

00:35:51.940 a wait like one of the fun things about tiktok is that like you can be your crummy self who sits at

00:35:58.600 home and you can see weird jobs that like are hands on you know like the lobsterman guy the

00:36:04.780 farrier person like the drain unclogger person totally so satisfied oh my god they're always

00:36:13.120 shoving the tire through the drain i love that like the the you know handsome irish guy who

00:36:18.980 herds sheep i think that like weird jobs just do well on tiktok because it's like there's fun

00:36:25.200 i don't know or even anything that has like a before and after i love watching haircut videos

00:36:31.520 yeah amazing yeah you know like anything that shows someone who is good at their job in some

00:36:36.660 capacity i think it's very pleasing the hoof also has this element of like better it's better than

00:36:41.700 just a pimple pop or an ear wax removal because like you're like well the animal like it's got

00:36:47.500 an animal like it's helping somebody you know like ah that they're always like oh this this

00:36:51.960 little guy is feeling so much relief now and you're like oh to you his hoof is all better

00:36:56.520 i was worried about him totally he was limping you know it's like it's feel good you like feel

00:37:03.260 good because an animal is saved it's a little bit of like yes dodo you know and it's less that like

00:37:08.120 i don't necessarily feel good unless there's like a giant cyst that someone has um drained that that

00:37:13.960 makes me feel good for that person this one i can't wait for your answer to this one uh it's

00:37:19.260 about a trend that transcends like any specific type of content. And this question comes from

00:37:24.920 Olivia. Why is it popular on TikTok or in other videos to tap your nails on whatever item you're

00:37:30.580 showing off? For example, holding up the makeup bottle, tapping your nails on the side, holding

00:37:35.980 up the jar of jam, tap, tap, tap. I assume maybe it's related to ASMR somehow, like maybe it just

00:37:42.600 sounds more engaging to hear that tapping, or maybe it's just a chance to show off a nice manicure.

00:37:47.900 i'm curious why this has become so ubiquitous so the reason because you well do you have long

00:37:53.840 nails right now you have beautiful nails most yeah they're not so much in our friendship you

00:37:59.600 have had beautiful nails that why thank you click right now on a little bit click on the keyboard

00:38:06.200 and also prevent you from typing without typos um i do think that like long nails are more trendy

00:38:13.500 than they ever have been right yeah acrylic tips but it's like it's definitely it's a spillover

00:38:19.920 from somebody uh was just there was just a good article about sort of exactly this of this sort

00:38:25.400 of spillover of asmr tactics into a little bit of everything i think it was in the new york times

00:38:30.800 it was uh madison malone kircher wrote about this oh yeah um it used to be asmr was this really

00:38:36.660 niche weird thing that was like i'm gonna do all these elaborate things and now it's like a little

00:38:41.000 bit of everything like someone showing off the makeup just a little bit of tapping or whatever

00:38:44.920 it sort of turns out people just like that stuff um i have a sort of a funny thing where i have a

00:38:50.100 seven-year-old son who he's too young he's in that weird age he's in first grade so he's like

00:38:56.300 too young to really understand some of this stuff and has not been exposed to the primary sources of

00:39:02.540 this content but like is old enough that he's in school he's around older kids like he absorbs some

00:39:09.540 of that like he is sort of aware of things happening in the greater world right and so

00:39:14.740 like the stanley cup trend for example has trickled down to him he is aware like i have a stanley cup

00:39:21.160 mug and he is aware that that's like a cool thing he's like some of the kids at school like

00:39:27.020 rosemary has a stanley um like other kids at stanley's he's kind of jealous of this and i

00:39:32.140 was like oh yeah i don't really use my stanley cup you can you can have it if you want he was

00:39:36.260 like so excited about this and he would hold it up and he would do this because now now i'm going

00:39:42.420 to show you because i have um the marshall's cheap version that i got for myself here we go

00:39:46.420 and like i don't know how he knew about this but like somehow he knew about people tapping their

00:39:55.580 nails on a stanley cup and i was like i was like how did this make it into your brain but like

00:40:02.100 but it did it's just so ubiquitous that it like it's sort of everywhere so it like he sort of and

00:40:08.560 he asked he was like why do people do that why do people tap their nails go like that and i was like

00:40:12.260 it's just sort of satisfying um but he identified it as something you do specifically on a stanley

00:40:16.720 cup just let him know that you could do it on your one from marshals as well okay i'm gonna skip to

00:40:24.240 the last one melody you think that's okay unless katie you have strong feelings about um bugs and

00:40:29.080 parasite videos no i have seen those and they're fake and i don't really know what they are other

00:40:34.480 than they're supposed to make you feel sick oh they're like it's this it's i've seen these it's

00:40:39.740 so disgusting and i get i like once i see one i get like stuck into a loop of them it's like it's

00:40:44.940 usually someone and i i can't tell like where they live like maybe india maybe southeast asia

00:40:49.940 and like it'll show like sometimes like a child sometimes uh an adult with like all these looks

00:40:55.320 like bugs but honestly it looks like the um it's supposed to look like ticks on their back but like

00:41:01.360 in a giant formation like literally covered but they're not real and so but they're also like

00:41:06.900 really colorful like they look like dried beans like what's the like subscription service of beans

00:41:13.160 that people are really into rancho gordo yeah it looks like they've got like the full rancho gordo

00:41:17.460 selection like on their back and there's always like they're sort of like moving and like someone's

00:41:21.460 like it's really weird and it's clearly meant to be watch this because it physically revolts you

00:41:27.700 like it's um it's that like tryptophobia we used to like every like six months someone at buzzfeed

00:41:33.860 would do the post about the like looking at these holes makes you feel scared like it's it's meant

00:41:39.480 to trigger that like gross feeling but they're not real bugs like it's i don't know what's going on

00:41:44.440 with that but it's a very like weird gross clickbaity thing but i've definitely come across

00:41:48.980 I hate thinking about it.

00:41:51.180 Well, you answered the question.

00:41:52.400 So there we go.

00:41:53.840 Okay.

00:41:54.460 But our last question, and I know you're going to have some great thoughts on this,

00:41:58.300 is another weird corner of the app that I always immediately go past.

00:42:04.220 This question comes from Sarah, and Melody's going to read it.

00:42:06.960 Can you please explain what on earth is happening on TikTok Live?

00:42:11.600 When I accidentally enter that realm, it can be truly bizarre.

00:42:14.920 There are people, usually women dressed in costume, that are standing mostly still and seem to be making facial expressions on command, or there's a lady that stares at the camera and pops one kernel of popcorn at a time on a hair straightener.

00:42:29.100 I assume these are somehow generating revenue for the content creator. Can you please explain?

00:42:35.680 I feel like sometimes it's like, is this a Twin Peaks? Are we in Twin Peaks right now? That's what they make me feel like.

00:42:44.920 what what's the incentive here i agree yeah like sometimes when i accidentally hit the live button

00:42:50.380 in the corner i feel like i've entered the portal to hell like yeah yeah it's like what um yes there

00:42:58.000 is definitely financial incentive people in once you're in the live people can essentially send you

00:43:03.140 like tips like micro payments you buy like um you know a flower emoji you buy like a pack of

00:43:09.700 you know emoji things this is a behavior that's like kind of popular in streaming stuff like

00:43:15.500 twitch which is not like something i use it's also popular in like other countries

00:43:20.220 um in china in particular this kind of like live streaming with micropayment tips is is very

00:43:25.780 popular which explains why it's in tiktok um but it's a little bit more feels like the live

00:43:30.460 streaming from twitch uh if that's familiar the i mean the fact that people do really weird stuff

00:43:36.140 in there is like kind of to get your attention right like um yeah there was uh someone went

00:43:42.940 really viral recently where it was i can't remember her name it's like pinky something um

00:43:47.720 but she would she would do these really weird um she had like sort of a name for it it was like

00:43:53.640 npc simulation or whatever she would pretend to sort of be almost like a non-playable character

00:44:00.200 in a video game where you kind of do the repeated motions of like hello hello you know but she did

00:44:07.040 really she was really good at doing them um and a lot of it was like she i mean she was also like 0.99

00:44:13.520 a beautiful young woman which helps um and she would be wearing like sexy clothing and then she 0.99

00:44:17.740 would be like ice cream so good that was the thing she would get was ice you know ice cream so good 0.78

00:44:24.320 thank you ice cream's so good like we're sort of on a repeat in a loop and it's skill to that um

00:44:31.540 but yeah like she makes money from that like people tip her and send her micropayments um

00:44:35.680 so there there is like a weird financial incentive i am always very disturbed similarly when i

00:44:45.140 accidentally click into it and i'm like whatever this world is it is not for me it feels too

00:44:50.300 intimate to me yeah like the fact that it's happening right now there's something about

00:44:55.700 that simultaneity that makes me feel very uncomfortable uh yeah yeah I do think it's

00:45:03.020 similar to forms of busking like you know the people who like stand very still like statues

00:45:08.600 yeah yeah like that and then like it tips and then there's a little bit of like sometimes I

00:45:15.500 see one there's this guy that i always see who's always like he's making like flower i think he

00:45:20.860 does like he's a florist maybe and he's sort of like oh he's always like talking to the camera

00:45:26.280 and he's putting together giant flower bouquets but i feel like it's maybe like their paper

00:45:29.500 flowers or something i feel like he's always on i would watch that yeah that's it that's the only

00:45:35.200 fun um melody says it's good for watching the the heiress tour live because oh that's a good use of

00:45:43.460 i think also part of it is that live streaming as a form of engagement is is something that is

00:45:51.380 more popular in other countries and other age demographics than probably we are in

00:45:57.240 yeah we're like one static photo makes me feel good

00:46:01.460 yeah or like it's like for gamers or for like international like it's a pop it's just popular

00:46:08.320 in other countries i don't know yeah katie where can people find you on the internet if they want

00:46:14.200 to see your gross reels that make you feel uncomfortable um if you want to see my gross

00:46:20.000 reels um you can follow me on instagram um at katie natopolis um i'm on other social platforms

00:46:28.080 x threads blue sky katie natopolis um and you can uh read my articles on businessinsider.com

00:46:37.660 thank you so much this has been a delight thank you so much for having me I wasn't even

00:46:43.580 uncomfortable I didn't cringe at all oh I didn't make you uncomfortable well guess what I'm gonna

00:46:49.600 now today paid subscribers are getting an ask an anything segment about best practices for

00:46:57.880 moving in with a partner when you're an introvert great news Melody and I are both introverts so we

00:47:04.660 have a lot of thoughts on this. So if you need advice too, head to culturestudypod.substack.com

00:47:10.280 and become a paid subscriber. Thanks so much for listening to the Culture Study Podcast.

00:47:15.760 Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We have so many great episodes in

00:47:19.960 the works and I promise you don't want to miss any of them. If you want to suggest a topic,

00:47:24.980 ask a question about the culture that surrounds you or submit a question for our subscriber-only

00:47:29.680 advice time segment, go to our Google form at tinyurl.com slash culture study pod, or check the

00:47:37.300 show notes for the link. Question, should we do more TikTok episodes? If so, keep sending in your

00:47:42.980 weird questions and we'll see if we can get Katie back for another round. And if you want to support

00:47:47.500 the show and get bonus content, head to culture study pod.substack.com. It's just five bucks a

00:47:52.680 month or $50 a year, and you'll get ad free episodes and exclusive advice time segment,

00:47:57.880 weekly discussion threads for each episode and a link to a special google form so that your

00:48:03.100 questions go to the front of the line the culture study podcast is produced by me ann helen peterson

00:48:08.260 and melody rowell our music is by ponington bear you can find me on instagram at ann helen peterson

00:48:13.980 melody at melodious 47 and the show at culture study pod

Culture Study Podcast - August 14, 2024

Explaining the Best and Weirdest TikTok Trends

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