We are in a time of protest, upheaval and, hopefully, change. However, we are also still in a pandemic. The world is starting to open up, but a huge majority of the country is spending a lot of time at home. And TikTok can prove it.

In The United States alone, TikTok had 22.2 million mobile unique visitors in January of this year. 23.2 million in February, 28.8 million in March and then, wait for it, 39.2 million in April, according to the most recent Comscore data as reported in Adweek.

So as the world closed down, TikTok exploded. Analytics platform Sensor Tower reported that TikTok crossed the 2 billion download mark globally by the end of April. And had generated the most downloads for any app ever in a quarter with more than 315 million installs globally across the App Store and Google Play, according to Adweek. 

So what’s everyone watching on TikTok while we’re stuck inside? Well, as @AriDennn, AKA TikTok Queen, likes to point out, there’s far more than one TikTok. Apparently I get fed “Dad TikTok” while she gets fed “VSCO Girl TikTok” and my son gets fed “Jock Tok.” The algorithm sends different people different videos based on other videos they’ve watched and liked. “There’s also, for example, “Gay TikTok” “Sorority Girl TikTok” and, of course, “Kink TikTok” for the thriving BDSM community.

Now, on to the videos; as we did during the holidays, we’re bringing back Ari Denberg - @aridennn, to tell us what’s happening on the world’s fastest growing platform that no one over the age of 30 quite understands yet. Her insights take this top digital marketing agency in San Francisco beyond just the numbers when we’re considering marketing campaigns for TikTok. And, now, on to the videos.

ALBUM COVER RECREATIONS

A common trend on TikTok now is to recreate album covers and songs as they apply to you. These recreations have included a diverse range of artists including the Jonas Brother, Drake, and this example, Hozier.

Every video uses the same music, oddly enough, a Dave Brubeck track called Kathy’s Waltz, and most of them use the meme culture structure, “When blah blah blah” and then the scene they’ve recreated to reveal an album cover and title that answers the structure. Check out some more examples.

GOOGLE TRANSLATE / ROSES ARE RED

Another popular quarantine trend is to use the Google translate feature combined with a popular movie or TV reference to narrate a homemade poem. In this example. The creator chose the popular reality television series, Keeping up with the Kardashians. https://vm.tiktok.com/K1JMFa/  The poems start with “Roses are red” and then a second line, then cut to a video clip to make it rhyme. Here’s one from @aridennn that’s had over 80k views.

RUBBER BAND WRAPPER

This popular creator has content devoted to wrapping rubber bands around objects with the goal of getting them to explode. The most popular item of choice is watermelon, but he has also done this with gallons of milk and cans of Coke. Watch.

I’M JUST A KID

A popular trend that precedes quarantine is the “I’m Just a Kid” challenge in which people use the song by Simple Plan to recreate their favorite childhood photos. While this started before the pandemic, it seems to have grown as families have been brought back together and are bat-shit crazy for something to do. Watch.

CHAIN REACTIONS

Combining old school Rube Goldberg with TikTok is perfect for people stuck at home with time to kill. Chain reaction TikToks are different than other TikToks. They’re not polished. They’re usually shot multiple times until everything works just right, so you can always hear the uncontrolled excitement of the creators in the background when things actually work. Check out the montage. 

TIKTOK AND MUSIC

TikTok is, at its core, a video creation and sharing service. But music and discovering music has become a big part of the platform and the app’s identity. Now I don’t know if @joealbanese uploaded Lion Sleeps Tonight or found it, but who cares. This video gives it new life in a funny series of videos.

A FINAL WEIRD ONE

Keeping up with the song theme, this trend uses the song “Come Get Her” by Rae Sremmurd to joke about bad dancing in real life. This example takes it to the next level with a squirrel climbing and twirling on a stop sign, as the lyric suggests “dancing like a stripper.” Until the next time - @aridennn

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