Flow

Though TikTok’s algorithm appears to be highly personalized by your taste, the company’s algorithm may not have this in mind. Andrea Ruehlicke investigates issues of agency and implications of presuming the personal is self-determined.

Looking at artists like Lil Nas X, Abigail Barlow, and Absofacto, Meghan Grosse explores how viral success on TikTok is affecting the mainstream music industry.

Using the Chicago Bull’s Mascot, Benny the Bull, as a case study, James Bingaman considers how TikTok is used in NBA branding to create parasocial bonds with fans.

Luis Loya and Elaine Almeida utilize Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) to understand how hashtags and duet/remix affordances connect the multiplicity of queer identity performances across TikTok.

Through the case study of songwriter and vocalist Sophie Fraser, D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye explores how accidental virality on TikTok can influence digital identities, professionalization, and unexpectedly lead to new career opportunities for musicians.

Jessica Sage Rauchberg examines how shadowbanning and algorithmic moderation affect disabled users on TikTok, arguing that these practices erase and suppress user content.

Considering generational trauma along with TikTok’s algorithm, Alex Hack discusses the many TikToks that were widely circulated in response to the murder of George Floyd and how they, in many ways, managed to break past the logic of Americana.