How to Navigate TikTok with Adam Meskouri

TikToks. We’ve all seen them. Whether it be a short dance, a viral video, or something that makes absolutely no sense, it’s clear that Tiktok is the current ruler of the internet realm. For anyone who isn’t a teenager, Tiktok can be a bit confusing. I’ll be your guide through the maze that some call the “for you page.” Let’s get started!

Before diving into the app itself, let’s take a look at some numbers. Over 800 million people use TikTok on a monthly basis. 60% of users are part of Gen Z. An average user opens the app 8 times a day. Of the kids on the app, the average time spent on the app per day is 80 minutes. With numbers like that, there must be something special about this app, right? 

The focal point of TikTok lies in the for you page, nicknamed the “fyp.” This is where you’ll see a collection of the best that the internet has to offer, filtered through multiple algorithms to give you an experience that’s catered to your interests. The most interesting thing about TikTok is the self-sustaining communities. You’ll quickly realize that the app has divided into a multitude of factions. Some examples follow:

Political TikTok: your destination for Gen Z political arguments and discussions. For the most part, the users aren’t very open-minded, but the debates are still fun to watch. Political TikTok is either extremely interesting or very difficult to endure.

Comedy TikTok: a very controversial section of TikTok. It’s fair to say that comedy TikTok has a….interesting sense of humor. Some of the jokes can be extremely offensive, but others are fairly funny. 

Alternative TikTok: remember the third option I presented at the beginning of this piece? “Or something that makes absolutely no sense” is a perfect representation of alternative TikTok. Nobody besides the members understands what’s going on, and the majority of videos are deep-fried and illegible. The videos are mostly inside jokes that nobody can truly comprehend, adding to the “abstract” vibe.

These are a few examples of an app with hundreds of small factions. I’ve been on feeds catered to specific cities, such as New York. There are communities for video games, ages, and many more. This is why your first TikTok dive is so important. The videos you choose to “like” will determine the faction that you have been selected for. Once your niche is chosen, that’ll dictate the content that you see. 

As you can tell, TikTok is an app dominated by teenagers. My biggest piece of advice to any aspiring older creator would be to simply embrace the weirdness, even when you don’t understand it. When navigating this app, it’s best to let loose and have fun. After all, the app is meant for dancing, singing, and doing funny skits. At the end of the day, everyone on TikTok is there for one reason: to waste time in the most fun way possible.