TikTok's Red Carpetification + Meta gets ~meta~.
Beware your 12-year-old cousin's upcoming stardom.
Trend Roundup
This trend (peep the new Nessa Barret song!) is having creators highlight that good looks don’t always mean everything on the inside is hunky-dory. TBH, we can relate.
This trend is all about that #1 person in your phone who is totally texting you back every day and making you feel awesome about yourself. No red flags here!
What agenda??? These creators totally did the thing for themselves, not to get anyone else’s attention.
Trendsetter Spotlight
Oh, you fancy now?
It’s official – you can now easily shut down any talk about TikTok content being ‘unserious’ or ‘not an art form’ with this fun fact: the company has launched an official partnership with Cannes for this year’s film festival. Come May, supershort submissions made directly via the app (nope, they can’t use the new 10-minute time limit) will be judged by a mysterious “well-known director” for a chance to be awarded a Grand Prix, Best Script, or Best Editing accolade.
Will TikTok will be financially sponsoring the platform? Yup. Is this good news in terms of leveling the playing field for younger, emerging creators who want to break into the film industry? Definitely. Will you now have to listen to your 12-year old cousin’s speech at Thanksgiving on how dropping out of middle school to pursue content creation full-time will turbo launch him onto the red carpet? Most likely.
If you do, you might be SOL in terms of winning the debate: Cannes isn’t the only arthouse-y behemoth acknowledging the power of the platform. At SXSW, TikTok creators and influencers have increasingly flocked to the Austin-based media festival as their successes and inside observations have officially turned them into thought leaders. Take, for example, clothing brand Sani, whose wild stat of organically generating 60% of their earnings through TikTok earned them a spot on numerous speaking panels.
The proof is in the pudding: big brands are eager to hear from small businesses whose revenues have skyrocketed since their decisions to move away from OG marketing methods like Facebook and Instagram.
Stir the Pot
You did this…for what?
Speaking of Facebook…looks like they’re on TikTok now too, and we have a lot of questions.
Will there now be watermarked Reels? Is Big Zuck trying to sniff out the competition? Will we be seeing a Meta-mascot? Is everybody okay???
“It’s possible that Facebook wants to juice its Gen Z user base by leveraging TikTok (or its ad platform), after having recently reported flat monthly active user growth in its last quarter and, significantly, its first-ever decline in daily active users.”
Here’s hoping.