Megan Tatum is a journalist. Previously she worked as features editor of The Grocer exploring news, trends and innovation in the food and retail sector, and now writes for a variety of companies and publications on everything from technology to sustainability to start-up culture.

Megan Carnegie is a journalist and editor. She has written for Courier, Time Out, Guardian Weekend, Creative Review, The Telegraph, Evening Standard, and more. Outside of work, she can be found reading, running, and killing off her houseplants.

As bushfires ravaged parts of Australia in December 2019, the nation’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, chose to go on a family holiday to Hawaii. While he relaxed on beaches and posed for pictures with tourists, Aussie Gen Zers flooded TikTok with parody videos slamming his decision. From imagining his attempt to avoid a 

, the videos exemplify the new direction young users are taking the platform. 

Having only launched internationally in 2017 (the app has been available in China since 2016 under the name of Douyin), TikTok is experiencing rapid growth and change as younger generations and brands explore the potential of the platform. In 2019 alone, it was downloaded more than 738 million times and reportedly earned $177 million in gross revenue, becoming the second most installed app on both the App Store and on Google Play. 

 And while memes and dance challenges still reign supreme on the platform, it is evolving to become a political battleground and an encyclopaedia for Gen Zers across the globe.

The app’s functionalities thwart the conventional sharing of news – videos aren’t time-stamped, the home feed has no chronological order, and political ads are banned – but TikTok has emerged one of the fastest and most creative ways to disseminate information en masse. 

 While traditional media outlets emphasised the serious side of teen activism throughout 2019, TikTok creators such as 17-year-old Feroza Aziza and 15-year-old Joshua Manilla brought attention to topics such as China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims and 

 in a way that was more accessible and entertaining for the platform’s young audience (an estimated 43% of users outside of China are aged 16-24). 

 So, how are Gen Z communities organising and thriving on the app? And in what ways will this seemingly ‘goofy’ social media phenomenon impact culture in the years to come?

While users of its spiritual predecessor, 

, stuck strictly to silliness, TikTok is helping teens process the business of growing up and share their unique experiences. Whether bopping to 

, creating a whisper network to out online predators, or talking about the everyday struggles of being deaf, users are tackling personal subjects with levity. 

 And although people have long turned to online communities for support and advice, Gen Zers are willing to share candid personal details for different reasons. “The thing we really see with Gen Z is their sense that their disclosures online could really be a benefit to someone else,” explains Jessa Lingel, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s kind of like, ‘How can we all get through this together? How can we share content to deal with this together?’” 

LGBTQ teens, in particular, are using TikTok to find a sense of community and solidarity. While Tumblr offered a (relatively) safe space for these individuals in the 2000s, the platform’s decision to ban all adult content in 2018 caused it to lose nearly a third of its traffic and pushed LGBTQ teens to find an alternative. 

 While Instagram’s ‘Close Friends’ function enables people to broadcast intimate coming out stories to smaller chosen networks, the platform doesn’t offer the same landscape of like-mindedness. 

 “Parents are on Instagram a lot now,” said 

, a teen from Connecticut with 373,000 TikTok followers, to MEL magazine. “In a way, TikTok is definitely ‘gayer’ than Instagram.” 

 There are also more ‘official’ groups of influencers like the 12-strong 

, which offers strength in numbers as individual users help increase each other’s following. 

Users are connecting with each other based upon whether or not they like the content, not on whether or not the content creator is popular

“Unlike Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram, TikTok is a platform where we, as young people, can express our stances and identities confidently because we know the community of young people supporting each other is stronger than the insecurity that comes from older generations telling us we are invalid,” said TikTok user Jackie Mack to NBC News. 

 That’s not to say that older generations aren’t using the app though. Parents like Varli Singh (

) – who have almost four million followers between them – are using TikTok to form deeper connections with their kids and figure out their lives. 

 And Gen Y women are harnessing the platform to share their stories of navigating infertility and IVF; videos tagged with 

 have been viewed 29.4 million times, while 

 videos have racked up 13.9 million views. 

So, what makes TikTok a better platform for breaking down tricky topics than Snapchat, Instagram, or YouTube? “Users are connecting with each other based upon whether or not they like the content

not on whether or not the content creator is popular,” explains Stefan Pollack, an adjunct professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “This strips away many of the popularity contests on social media and democratises the community.” 

 Indeed, the ‘For You’ page is an algorithmically curated feed of videos TikTok thinks users will like, meaning each piece of content can quickly find its natural audience, whether that’s Mike Pence memes or deep dives into Amish teen life. 

TikTok’s communities cater to a breadth of marginalised voices

Gem Nwanne, who started making TikTok content in late 2019, is one of many young leftists using the app to make socialism more accessible. “The idea is to break these things down into the smallest bits, use accessible language, put them to music... and make jokes,” they told BuzzFeed. “It’s explaining these concepts without all of the academia. The thing that keeps so many people of colour and working-class people away from leftist ideas is how they’re presented, and my entire goal was to make this stuff as accessible as possible.” 

 In a similar vein, the lead-up to the 2019 UK general election saw British teens mobilise to make statements, challenge politicians, and elucidate policies through the app. 

, for instance, used his account to highlight the failings of the DUP, including all the things the party has said about the LGBTQ community.

School curriculums are also getting the TikTok treatment as students use the app to spice up their education and pivot lessons to align more with their interests. Using notes from her history classes, 17-year-old Floridian Brooke Pavek shared a series of 15-second clips dramatising the establishment of the League of Nations, the temperance movement, and how Henry VIII was catfished by Anne of Cleves. 

 Thousands of other history lesson-style TikToks are going viral and educators are embracing it as a pedagogy tool. “Everything you interact with that’s written after the event – whether it’s five minutes or 500 years after the event – is an interpretation of the past. [TikTok] is a great way to help people appreciate that,” says London-based school vice principal Izzy Jones. 

The app’s duet function – which lets users create with friends or random users – is often used to pair responses or reaction videos and works particularly well in this context. With 65% of American educators saying student-led learning is extremely valuable in developing 21st century skills, and 76% of teachers in Mexico saying autonomous learning is one of the biggest advantages of using tech in the classroom, TikTok could broaden interpretations of ‘edutech’. 

 “[Students] can simply take what they have seen, re-perform it, put a different twist on it, and therefore give it a different message or give it a different voice,” says Shane Tilton, an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Ohio Northern University. “It gives them a chance to give their own interpretation of the issue at hand.” 

 TikTok challenges the notion of the teachers as the chief authority in the information exchange, which could prove important in engaging minority ethnic students given that 83% of secondary school teachers in the UK are white British, while just a fifth of public school teachers in the US were non-white in 2016. 

Could charity begin on the ‘For You’ page?

From wealth inequality to gun law reforms, TikTok’s hashtag challenges have enabled teens to creatively weigh in on topical issues. But these viral trends offer far more than just a chance to chew the fat. “We have a lot of social movement happening at TikTok, be it environmental sustainability, whereby we have the 

, which empowers people to take a very active stand in ensuring the oceans are clean,” explains Lionel Sim, TikTok’s senior director of global marketing. “In India, we have a 

 campaign where we empower younger folks to take a proactive approach to cleaning up the streets.” 

With its predominantly Gen Z user base – 66% of whom think social media is good for showing support for social causes – it’s unclear whether the platform could move from social amplifier to a driver of digital donations. 

 “Among Gen Z, the currency is different. It’s about being part of the movement or about creating awareness for a cause that’s louder than donating or volunteering,” says Janek Seevaratnam, a senior corporate adviser for the Charities Aid Foundation. 

 There’s certainly an eagerness to unite behind charitable campaigns, as noted by Matt Griffiths, the CEO of Youth Music, when the UK-based charity collaborated with the app. Their ‘

’ campaign garnered 15 million engagements over three weeks on TikTok, compared to 16,000 on Twitter, which Griffiths described as “mind-blowing in terms of content and in terms of scale.” 

Engaging with the platform has proved fruitful for several charities. Girls Who Code partnered with TikTok on International Day of the Girl for its 

 campaign, whereby the platform donated $1 to the NGO for each video posted. Interestingly, people made videos about a vast range of topics rather than issues solely concerning GWC or even women’s rights, proving that ‘philanthroteens’ don’t have to engage with the issues to provide UGC that inadvertently spreads a message. With 54% of Britons aged 16-24 believing that charities are trustworthy, compared to a national average of 48%, such partnerships could represent a marriage of minds. 

Social media activism is boosting Gen Z’s awareness of IRL issues

TikTok’s algorithmic curation can catalyse IRL movements with a single leader, like Gillian Sullivan, who helped organise a strike in solidarity with her teachers in the Clark County District. 

 Reddit, which also functions as a network of communities based around certain interests, has similarly helped mobilise large groups of people for the likes of the March for Science and the #trashtag challenge. 

 Nearly three-quarters of Reddit users say it’s where they learn about topics they love the most. 

 Both platforms are built to help communities bond over a common denominator and other social networks are eager to encourage similar interest-based interactions, with Twitter introducing its Topics feature and Facebook experimenting with upvoting and downvoting. 

When a community calls the shots on what’s worth paying attention to, accountability is key. “We have a manual moderation policy [and] we have an automated moderation policy,” explains Sim. “But a lot of our users actually self-police themselves. [For] a lot of the very malicious content, violation of policies, there’s a flag feature whereby people are able to report that.” 

 As proven by the mass exodus from Tumblr, users want to feel they are free to be themselves but listened to if they feel content crosses a line. With 32% of 16- to 25-year-olds believing that social media makes them feel like they can have a voice for their generation and influence positive change, this wholesome quality is an essential part of the app’s success. 

There’s less pressure to present yourself as well-produced and professional. TikTok makes interactions feel more real because they are emergent

Locker room vignettes rather than high-octane showtime

“There’s less pressure to present yourself as well-produced and professional,” says Pollack. “TikTok makes interactions feel more real because they are emergent.” 

 The brands succeeding on the platform adhere to this informality, with 

, for example, filling its account with charades of the top stories and newsroom shenanigans. “We work with a lot of brands and most of the videos that work really well... are not the highlights, but the locker room talk,” explains Sim. 

 farm animal-filled ‘rush hour’ TikToks, peeling back the layers can be just as valuable as putting on a show in terms of brand awareness and engagement. 

Connecting learners through the media they love

While TikTok may not be the future of education, as learning increasingly becomes a collaborative pursuit, there’s no reason why the app couldn’t help, especially in areas where the curriculum lacks. With only 24 US states mandating sex education, teens are taking it upon themselves to give ‘the talk’, while many schools are adopting TikTok clubs – ‘drama clubs for the digital age’ – which could prove useful for non-traditional learners. 

, TikTok partnered with online tutoring platforms Vedantu, GradeUp, and Testbook to empower first-time internet users in India to learn English, get fit, or brush up on STEM subjects.

Janek Seevaratnam is a senior corporate adviser for the Charities Aid Foundation, where he helps companies build social purpose through CR and sustainability strategies.

Stefan Pollack is an adjunct professor at USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. He is also the author of 

, an examination of Generation Z, and the president of The Pollack PR Marketing Group.

Gen Z (born 1997-2010)

Eastern Europe

United Kingdom

North America

United States

Citizenship

Communications

Social networking

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'Advertisers see early promise in TikTok’s self-serve ad platform', Digiday

'TikTok bans political ads', PR Week

'TikTok denies censoring a teen who criticized China's concentration camps — they said they banned her after a joke about Osama Bin Laden thirst', BuzzFeed

'Teens are making viral mass-shooting memes on TikTok', The Prospector

'Is time against TikTok?', GlobalWebIndex

'TikTok has a predator problem. A network of young women is fighting back', BuzzFeed

'This viral TikTok from a deaf creator is moving people to learn sign language', BuzzFeed

'Teens are using TikTok to talk about mental health, relationship abuse, and sexuality', The Philadelphia Inquirer

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'How gay TikTok became gay Tumblr for Gen Z', i-D

''A way for everything to seem less hopeless': Teens are using humor on TikTok to meme the news', NBC News

'Why is everyone and their mom on TikTok?', Canvas8

'The wildly popular TikTok app is becoming an unlikely place for women to talk about infertility and reproductive health — and it's a clear sign the platform is for more than just teens', Business Insider

Interview with Stefan Pollack conducted by the author

'Queer teens flood TikTok with hilariously dark Mike Pence ‘conversion camp’ memes', Pink News

'Young, Amish, and TikTok famous', The Cut

'’A beautiful chorus' ⁠— leftists are using TikTok to break down socialism for the next generation of voters', BuzzFeed

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'Teens are making historical events go viral on TikTok – what does a history teacher think?', The Guardian

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'School teacher workforce', Gov.uk

'The diversity gap for public school teachers is actually growing across generations', Brookings

'Beyond dance trends: TikTok on creating an environment of activism', PR Week

'Teens would like you to know social media is actually good so leave us alone, mom', Intelligencer

Interview with Janek Seevaratnam conducted by Canvas8

'TikTok for good – how can charities use TikTok to raise awareness and engage audiences?', Charity Digital

Charitable activities more popular with young people than Love Island,’ UK Fundraising

'This teen used TikTok to organise a strike in solidarity with her teachers', Dazed

'The global March for Science started with a single Reddit thread', Quartz

'Inspired by Reddit's #trashtag, people around the world are cleaning up the planet', Triple J

'The power of community', Reddit | YPulse

'Twitter’s big bet on topics and lists is just getting started', Fast Company

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'Social media putting 'overwhelming pressure' on young people', Prince’s Trust

'How charities are using TikTok to raise funds', Forbes

'Sex education is so bad these teens are doing it on TikTok', The Daily Beast

'High schools to TikTok: we’re catching feelings', The New York Times

TikTok may be best known for its viral challenges and surreal skits, but the social media app is evolving into much more than a platform for comedy. How are Gen Zers using this digital channel to educate and inspire their peers? And how are their online communities impacting their offline lives?

TikTok: short-form videos for creative collaboration

Why is everyone and their mom on TikTok?

Fortnite's TikTok dance-off lets Gen Zers get creative

Spiritual Gen Zers discover witchcraft on TikTok