My Daughter Made a TikTok

That’s more views than all my social media and emails combined over the last 3 years, and I make a lot of content.

The TikTok is 2 girls reaction of a painting of 5 kids.  I feel this art would have been on the wall at my elementary school or middle school while growing up in California in the 80s. Right now there is trend on TikTok of going thrift shopping and using “cursed audio” while in the store. That’s what she did, and it related to millions of people, mostly youth.

What I realized about TikTok is that it’s not our job as boomers or kids of boomers to make sense of it. When the entire population of Kansas saw this 5 second clip my daughter made on a phone, I am just gonna be excited for her.  When I was her age (16), I would have had to own CNN or afford a prime time commercial spot during Seinfeld to reach that many eyeballs.

I am fascinated by everything happening in TikTok, from what it means for news media, commerce like TikTok Shop, and education. My kids know more about most current events and history because of the way TikTok presents bite size addictive reels. I was hesitant at first, as most parents are, about what TikTok is for our kids. I am now convinced it is an amazing tool. Learn the algorithm, talk about how it works with your kids, and let them go learn.

Now I watch in awe as she plans out skits where she creates fan content for her favorite shows.  She digs into analytics and does the math to understand her rate of growth, demographics, and understanding trending topics and music.  She learned a lot of this from her serious gaming on Genshin Impact (I will write about that soon).  She has great numbers sense from this game.  I realize she’ll be in line for great jobs in the future because of these skill. I would’ve hired her right now if I was still running my team at Disney or Roster, where we spent lots of time analyzing and creating content on social media.

I will leave you with this thought experiment. You know what TikTok is, you may not use it, but you do know what it is. What comes to mind when you hear the word? What do you feel? I think it’s important to think about how you think. Figure out if the way you think and feel about TikTok is serving you.

I live in a state and country that is trying to ban TikTok. Some in Utah want it gone because it says it hurts kids. Some in the USA want it gone because it is taking over our attention and is made in China. It’s probably a good time to figure out what it’s all about and understand how you feel about it. TikTok is a tool, so it’s hard for a tool to be negative or positive, only how the operator uses the tool.

See ya tomorrow

SP

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