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Hey, remember when TikTok was fun? Me too.
TikTok in 2020 felt like what the internet felt like in 2010. Vast. Expansive. Limitless. An endless rabbithole of innovation and novelty. Anything felt possible. There are specific cultural moments that you can identify and put your finger on, like the rise of Charli d’Amelio, animatronic dances, that one “oh no” audio. And these moments had an actual impact on the real world (hello Dunkin Donuts x Charli D’Amelio collab)!
It’s been difficult to ignore how vastly different the TikTok landscape looks today than it did almost five years ago. We asked NinetyEight’s Koi Pond* about their current experience on TikTok and found that 86.6% of respondents had noticed a shift in TikTok culture/content. Feeds today feel like dark echo chambers littered with sponsors, ads, microcelebrities, rage bait rants, and an all around feeling of isolation. It begs the question: what the heck is happening to TikTok?
The entire phenomenon can be explained by ✨the commercialization of creation✨. It’s a fate that every single facet of society suffers under the rule of capitalism and consumer culture. TikTok was never going to be an exception. What once was a community-based, creative, and novel outlet for expression was very easily and quickly turned into a powerhouse for the commodification of self, identity, and products fueled by influencers, brand presence, and ads.
We can see how this has happened by simply comparing what trends were like in 2020 to what they’re like today. Trends in 2020 were born from community, owned by community, and perpetuated by community. Take the “adult swim” trend from 2021 for example, which showcased a bunch of users finding fun ways to replicate adult swim ad breaks from TV (which many of our Koi Ponders cited as their favorite trend ever btw). Users even continue to do this trend today! Now let’s think about the last major trend that truly took over TikTok and IRL culture in a real way: “demure”. Demure was chewed up and spat out by the algorithm practically overnight, with brand deals being landed by the original Demure-er Jools Lebron, within hours of her video going viral. Within days, brand accounts were replicating the trend with their own marketing spins on it. It is a trend that many of our Koi Ponders cite as being their least favorite, along with Hawk Tuah and Man in Finance. Why? Because it was ripped from the natural lifecycle of community-based internet culture, eaten up by corporations, and thrown back up into the algorithm as a chance for brands to disingenuously connect with the youth.
Apart from brands, the rise and dominance of influencers (which honestly can be argued are also brands) have helped to shape Gen Z’s distaste for the platform. The deinfluencing movement in late 2023 was a major indicator that the influencer bubble was about to pop for Gen Z. In addition to feeling like we’re always being sold something, influencers have also perpetuated shredding trend cycles in their life-long attempt to commercialize off of virality.
[TikTok] started out kind of trendy…with funny videos and those TikTok dances. It was a lot more chill and kind of a place to find relatable content. But now it’s capitalism on steroids. Literally every other video is some influencer trying to get me to buy from their TikTok shop. Even if they’re not directly trying to sell you something, there’s always something hidden in the video to get you buying (while they get a commission). It’s so tiring and it’s like life is only worth living if you’re consuming.
-Jaci (1997)
Through this example alone we can see how TikTok culture has shifted from a platform with the priority of entertaining, to a platform with the priority of selling. TikTok shop was the straw that broke the camel’s back (it very well may be internet commodification’s final boss), with many Koi Ponders pointing out that it’s their least favorite feature on the app, and one that actively demoralizes them from using TikTok. As a result of this money-first model, more Gen Zs than you’d think are jumping ship, or at the very least, deprioritizing the app from their social media platform dream blunt rotation. The general sentiment from Gen Zs can be summed up like this:
“I haven't had it installed in a while and I don't feel like I'm missing anything when talking to my friends that have it.”
-Anastasia (2003)
Instead, it seems the internet application lifecycle is going full circle, with Gen Zs seeking out less busy and less brain-rotty forms of entertainment, communication, and interaction by flocking to text-first platforms like Substack and Reddit. Even Instagram Reels is providing some solace from TikTok, with an algorithm that hasn’t eaten its own tail yet. What this tells me is that Gen Zs are yearning for innovation, creativity, community, and LESS ADS; all things that the TikTok algorithm just isn’t prioritizing anymore.
Brands and their social media marketers need to step up and recognize that by mindlessly trendhopping and sneaking sales into every post, they’re contributing to the dissolution of creativity and connection on TikTok. Instead, brands should partake in and encourage a positive social media culture by using their platforms to innovate new creative trends and genuinely connect with their audience.
So, it’s not necessarily that TikTok is dying, nor is it really losing relevance. It’s just the relevance it does hold, is no longer grounded in novel, creative, and revolutionary cultural moments. Instead, TikTok’s importance lies primarily in the perpetuation of hollow trend cycles that fund TikTok shop and uplift rapid consumer culture. It lies in its use as a resource for mass communication and information. It lies in its use as a Google search bar. Essentially, by TikTok becoming a catch-all platform, its initial purpose for fun and entertainment has become entirely diluted. Moving forward, the only way out is really through. Unfortunately, until a new platform crops up or there are major strides made by TikTok to reduce the “sell-first” model they currently have implemented, TikTok will continue to eat its own tail until the platform is reduced to a cultural wasteland where creation dies at the feet of consumption.
*Qualitative research data in this article was collected from a Koi Pond study run by NinetyEight in September 2024. All names have been changed for privacy purposes. The Koi Pond is NinetyEight’s proprietary research community with over 1,000+ Gen Z participants. Learn more about The Koi Pond here.
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