A shared language like humor binds young people together

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First of all, seeking boundaries and challenges. As thrill seekers , young people are sensitive to kicks and challenges and (the prospect of) a reward. Watching a video, they quickly think: would I dare to do that? And what does that give me, in terms of excitement, but also in terms of recognition? Because that is a second need: young people want to be seen in their experiments, in the hope that it will provide confirmation and status in the group of friends. TikTok facilitates that search for confirmation.

TikTok is largely based on humor and irony. In their quest for acceptance from the group, humor, and irony in particular, is a clever mechanism. Young people use irony to define their group and to set themselves apart from other groups. After all, it is not the intention that everyone understands it. As long as your friends understand it.

Many jokes refer to previous conversations and shared opinions and are therefore fun inside jokes special lead that only you and your friends get. The intention is not to hurt each other, but to strengthen the mutual bond .

In terms of content and posts on TikTok, it's mainly the humor that's central to the videos: that's what I like the most. – Sam, 12 years old (from the youth panel of Youngworks)

Humor also serves as a means to profile yourself. Especially self-mockery: a form of irony with which you 'expose' yourself or the group to which you belong. It is important to reveal more of yourself as a teenager, but also exciting to show yourself vulnerable. For the teenager who wants to be accepted by the group of friends, irony offers self-protection. Sure, you posted a crazy video, but hey, it was a joke.

Which brands and influencers are doing well on TikTok?
Many brands and celebrities are not yet on TikTok. But big stars like Jimmy Fallon, Amy Schumer, Martin Garrix and various influencers have already made their entrance. The most successful campaigns so far come from Calvin Klein and Coca-Cola , among others .

The Share-a-Coke campaign isn’t new, but it was revived on TikTok (then called Muscial.ly). Coca-Cola bought the hashtag #ShareaCoke, put song lyrics on their cans (instead of the familiar first names) and called on their followers to make a video with the song that was on the can they bought. Simple? Yes. And with 953,000 user generated videos, it was effective .