How De-Influencing is Taking Over TikTok
TikTok is the influencer hub of the 2020s. Over the last few years, we have seen how easy it is for people to become famous or go viral on the platform. Not only have we seen careers blow up on TikTok, but products as well.
There are many brand partnerships that have blossomed due to how well the TikTok algorithm can reach the right audience. Influencers such as Alix Earle or Darcy McQueeny have been the reason for so many different clothing and beauty products selling out online and in stores, but is overconsumption on its way out?
Heal The Planet reported that sustaining the average American lifestyle takes 9.5 Hectares (which converts to 10,000 square meters of land) when the world average is only 2.7. That just shows how far removed we are from living a sustainable lifestyle. Within the last decade, consumption of goods and services has risen by 28 percent and will continue to rise if we continue living the way we do.
Recently, there has been a shift in what fans want to see from these influencers, and that is to stop promoting sub-par products. This is what they call, De-Influencing.
How TikTok Changed Social Media
By now we have all heard the term For You Page or more casually known online as FYP, which is essentially the homepage for TikTok. To some, this might just be another social media platform, but in reality, TikTok changed the game. TikTok has an algorithm that is constantly putting videos of interest in our faces, which can lead us to scroll for hours and hours. But the real question is, how is the algorithm so successful at doing this?
TikTok uses three things to create a more personalized For You Page. That includes user interactions that involve the videos we like, share, or comment on video information such as hashtags, captions, or sounds, and finally device and account settings but this is more for performance reasons and so you can see videos from your country. Out of the three components, user interactions would be weighted heavier than the other two.
Introducing De-Influencing
More recently this trend of de-influencing has come to the forefront of TikTok. De-influencing is where influencers or content creators show products that are not worth the purchase, rather than pushing products for a profit. For example, many hairstylists and estheticians on TikTok will show overrated or overpriced products, and show better options instead. This was recently triggered again by beauty guru Mikayla Nogueira when she was promoting the L’Oreal Telescopic Lift product. The controversy arose when she applied false lashes instead of showing the honest results of using the mascara. At the end of the day, consumers want to see more realistic content and are tired of influencers promoting products for profit, rather than quality. This is why user-generated content (UGC) has started to become more popular because it shows brand authenticity, simply because real consumers are promoting it, not someone popular in the media.
Of course, influencers have to make money, but the question is, where do they draw the line between integrity and profit? Yes, TikTok has been the platform to allow many different careers to flourish, but it also changed the way we consume and analyze media. It will be interesting to see where influencing is in the upcoming years.
About Nina
Nina Vestal is a senior pursuing a degree in Advertising and Public Relations, with a minor in Digital Studies . This is Nina's first semester in GrandPR, but she is more than excited to contribute her creative mind. Nina's main career interests include, copywriting, graphic design and social media management. She has previous history a social media intern where she managed and designed creative posts for a non-profit.