As screentime skyrockets and TikTok becomes more bizarre and compartmentalized, social media users may find themselves wondering: where do wacky trends come from? How have online algorithms changed over time, and how do they shape our internet experience? Join Aidan Chung, Sydney Fener, Bazil Frueh, Yumi Tallud and their guests Celeste Shuman and Casey Weisman as they unravel the mysteries behind the various sides of TikTok.
This story originally aired as part of our Nichewestern: Nooks, Crannies and Corners Special Broadcast.
Intro music: Savage by Megan Thee Stallion
SYDNEY FENER: Let’s go around and introduce ourselves. I’m Sydney Fener, I’m a sophomore studying RTVF, um, and my daily average on TikTok would have to be divided between my phone and my iPad, which I don’t have here with me right now. So let’s just say it’s high.
AIDAN CHUNG: Um, hi guys. My name is Aidan Chung. My pronouns are he/him. I’m a sophomore studying journalism and economics, and my average daily TikTok screen time is 42 minutes.
BAZIL FRUEH: Hi, my name is Bazil Frueh. I use he/him pronouns. I’m a sophomore studying journalism and art history. I personally don’t use TikTok, but I do dabble a bit, um, in floptok through YouTube compilations.
YUMI TALLUD: I respect a YouTube compilation. And Instagram Reels, one might say. Um, I’m, I’m Yumi. I’m a sophomore studying journalism and last week I spent eight hours and 23 minutes on TikTok total, but today is Sunday, the beginning of the week, and I haven’t opened TikTok like in the morning at all yet, but my screen time is still 42 minutes. So, yeah.
CASEY WEISMAN: I’m Casey. I’m a sophomore studying composition and my pronouns are he/him. And it says my daily average is 34 minutes on TikTok.
CELESTE SHUMAN: Hi, I’m Celeste. I’m a sophomore studying theater. Um, and my average is an hour and 50 minutes. Hi.
SEVERAL: Yeah, you ate that.
FENER: Um, so just to start with, let’s go around and say some of the weirdest parts of TikTok we’ve ever seen. Like, niches of TikTok that you’ve seen. And, let’s see how obscure they really are.
FRUEH: Well, I think where the origin of kind of those TikTok subgenres come from is, um, the war, I guess, that started, um, during 2020, like, COVID time, with straight TikTok versus alt TikTok.
FENER: Wait, who was on alt TikTok? Be honest.
TALLUD: Oh, I have the photo evidence to prove it. It was terrifying.
SHUMAN: I feel like if you were on alt TikTok, you would know, because people were so obnoxious about, like, “This is alt TikTok. We hate straight TikTok.” And it’s like, all right. // CHUNG: Oh, yeah, I saw those. Okay.
FENER: I mean, the awareness of it was, uh, universal. I feel like people were at least aware of the–that’s definitely where these divides started, but I think now it’s become– I think that the algorithm has become really, um, individualized in a way where, like, you can really see some out-there stuff that other people truly will not see. Like things that people aren’t even remotely aware of.
TALLUD: What was interesting though, is like, during that time I made a new account for some reason, and when I was trying to like, I was like, “Ugh, it’s gonna take forever for me to get back onto alt TikTok.” But like, when I opened the app for the first time, it was already showing me those TikToks.
FENER: Oh, so maybe the alt, the alt was an illusion.
TALLUD: The alt was the straight.
FENER: Yeah. Okay, one niche of TikTok– this is a trend that has come and gone, but– does anyone remember– and I know you do– Glaggle?
WEISMAN: Yes.
SEVERAL: What? Does anybody maybe expand on that?
FENER: Casey, do you maybe want to explain?
WEISMAN: Glaggles–
SEVERAL: [laughing]
WEISMAN: –are a species of smiley faces. They’re all about being joyous. And so Glaggle-tok is where you can find TikToks of these smiley faces. They’re usually bouncing up and down–
SEVERAL: [laughing]
FENER: I swear to God, this was my entire For You Page for weeks was Glaggles. It’s just a yellow smiley face. It’s like the classic yellow smiley face, but it was, like, called something. And there was like, warring factions. So that’s an obscure corner of TikTok, I’d say. Did anyone remember mulch maxing?
SEVERAL: Yes. Yes.
SHUMAN: Is that the, the little, um, animals that would be like, “I want mulch!”
FENER: Oh my god, do you guys remember the pink sauce?
SEVERAL: Yes. Oh my God. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
FRUEH: I had an era where I was just completely obsessed with all of the lore around this pink sauce. Like, what, what’s happening with the discoloration. What was going on with just like, the formula. There was not any sense of regulation going on.
SHUMAN: Yeah, there was no FDA approval.
FENER: And she’d be like, “Why are you asking about FDA approval? Who cares?” It’s like, this is a food product.
SHUMAN: It was this woman selling this sauce that she swore was like, so delicious. And she was selling it to people. But everyone who bought it would get, like, a different color of pink, and like, it wouldn’t taste good, or it was just like, not refrigerated, moldy. It was a moment.
FRUEH: Have you guys seen Red 40 maxxing? Where people just go out and–
SHUMAN: But I think that’s crazy. Red 40 is nuts.
FENER: Should we explain what maxxing is? Because I feel like we’ve used that suffix multiple times.
SHUMAN: I don’t think I know what that means.
WEISMAN: It means that you’re just doing the most of it. If you’re like, looksmaxxing, then you’re trying to get the best looks possible.
SHUMAN: What about mewtok?
TALLUD: That’s like, bordering Gen Alpha, I feel.
FENER: Um, I feel like, I don’t know, what I’m sort of getting through this conversation is like, it’s less that there are sides and niches of TikTok and more that TikTok has increasingly become these like hyper compartmentalized algorithmic, you know, trends that everybody sees some of, but not all of. You know, like, everybody sees clips from “Young Sheldon” on top with Subway Surfers on the bottom. Everybody sees, you know, Reddit AITA posts where someone is like doing Minecraft parkour. Like the things on TikTok that are currently the most universal are the most like mindless content farming things and like engagement bait, things like that. Or rage baiting, where people get online and they’re like, “Um, my boyfriend won’t peel an orange for me.” Or like, “My girlfriend says that I’m ugly.” And then everybody gets online and is like, “Oh my god, this is so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” And then it blows up.
CHUNG: I feel TikTok is so many different subgenres and there’s so many different divisions. And even within each subgenre, there’s so many different specific, like, kind of avenues that you can go down that like, does TikTok even have obscure corners anymore? Or is just everything, is like everything kind of, because it’s so individualized to you and the algorithm is so individualized, it’s just kind of, um, like paralleling like the concept of obscurity, but the concept of like your own individualism.
FRUEH: Are there even obscure corners anymore if so many people are just posting so much content and you’re just being exposed to so many different things all the time, like, is there even any sort of subgenre you can begin to identify with anymore? So, yeah.
FENER: Well, um, this has been an eye-opening discussion of online trends. For WNUR News, I’m Sydney Fener.
CHUNG: I’m Aidan Chung.
FRUEH: I’m Bazil Frueh.
TALLUD: I’m Yumi Tallud.
FENER: And thank you to our guests.
Outro music: Savage by Megan Thee Stallion
