TikTokTrends Week: 26
January 26th - February 1st
Hi!
Welcome to week 26 of TikTokTrends.
A lot of new faces here; I just wanted to say thank you all for subscribing, and I hope you enjoy my content. Please feel free to contact me by replying to this email or sending me a DM through Twitter!
This week I will be talking about #GameStop, #PressConference, and #SilhouetteChallange.
Let’s dive right in!
#GameStop
One of the top stories of the week was GameStop stocks. If you have missed it, GameStop is a company that is well known in the gaming community for mainly selling console and PC games. As interests in physical stores for buying games decreased, so did GameStop stocks. Last week, a Reddit group called WallStreetBets, decided that they don't want to see GameStop failing anymore, so they bet on the GameStop stock to go higher, not just a little higher; collectively, they managed to raise the stock price 1,700 percent in a matter of days. The $20 stock quickly became $447, thanks to the stock market frenzy.
Take a look at what Marcus DiPaola, the TikTok journalist, has to say about it:
DiPaola, the now TikTok famous journalist, has been reporting and posting videos on TikTok at many recent top stories. His videos showed how people invaded the Capital, and he makes daily videos summarizing all the event that is happening, mainly in the US. The video above was watched over 1 million times and had over 200 thousand likes.
DiPaola starts by saying that it is a bullshit and an unimportant story. Mainly focusing on the fact that the story is getting this much attention because the big banks are not happy. I do see what he is saying, although I can't entirely agree that it isn't news. For once, people who don't hold a large number of stocks and who don't have millions invested were able to change what only the top 1% usually can.
On TikTok, many disagreed with DiPaola, highlighting the importance of the story, that regular people were able to manipulate a market run by the ultra-rich. Others created a song in honor of GameStop and were seen sharing videos of Chris Cuomo talking to Robinhood CEO about the incident.
And here is where the second half of the story comes in, Robinhood. Robinhood is a stock trading app that was popularized because of its claim to democratize the stock market for small investors. Robinhood found itself in the center of the crisis by restricting GameStop and stocks like AMC from being traded on their platform. Because of this restriction, the stock price went down by 75% in 90 minutes, and obviously, users were outraged. TikTok content creators posted videos explaining how and why Robinhood users should take their money elsewhere.
Currently, the GameStop stock is at $225, and this story is far from over. There are now numerous lawsuits opening against Robinhood, and even AOC is also involved with some unwanted support from Ted Cruz.
#PressConferance
Since day one, Jen Psaki has been under fire by many on the right. Most right-wing content creators say the left did the same thing to Sean Spicer, who was the first of many press secretaries of the Trump era. Psaki is especially under fire for her evasive answer, saying, 'I'll circle back to that one.' Which granted is an evasive answer. However, one can argue that it is better than the untruthful, joke-like press conferences we had during the Trump Presidency.
A version of the video above went viral on Twitter and got over 2.3 million views. The video is a stitched-together video of some instances when Psaki told reporters that she would circle back to one of their questions. Recently, during one of the press briefings, Psaki replied to the trending video, saying, "I would hate to disappoint conservative Twitter," she continued by responding to a couple of the points she said she would circle back to a week prior.
I am no press briefings expert; however, I don't see too much of an issue here, considering that Psaki intends to get back to every question she said she would circle back. If this is later used to evade questions completely, I will find that troublesome, but for now, I feel like the press conferences have been much more effective in putting out truthful answers and shooting down baseless questions.
Conservative TikTok seems to have an issue with these press conferences; many say that the questions are soft-ball questions aimed to make Psaki look good. Others think that Psaki is just clueless, sharing videos of her unable to answer questions.
Content creators on the left are sharing their thoughts on how refreshing and intelligent the press briefings are, and of course, how boring they now have become. Videos of Dr. Fauci addressing the differences between the two administrations by saying, "One of the new things in this administration. If you don't know the answer, don't guess," this really shows the difference in how the two administrations are working.
#SilhouetteChallange
This is a new TikTok challenge where creators use a red filter to show a silhouette of their bodies. The challenge started as a form of body empowerment; however quickly veered into sexually explicit content when users began sharing ways to remove the red filter and clearly see the person's body in the video. These videos usually showcased women in a doorway, with much of their clothes off.
Videos like the one above were quickly shared on TikTok, warning women not to do the challenge due to the filter being easily removable. Reddit had to ban r/SilhouetteUnfiltered, due to the content being shared there. Twitter was also reported to ban several accounts that were sharing unfiltered images from this challenge.
This is especially sickening when you think about the average age of the users who mostly use the app and the violation of non-consenting women. YouTube has yet to comment on the tutorials of removing the red filter, and TikTok hasn't removed the hashtag, as of me writing this newsletter. Let's see how this unfolds.
In Other News:
Claudia Conway is taking time off of social media. Following the incidents from last week, Conway has posted on TikTok, asking her followers not to call the police and stop harassing her family. She adds that she trusts her mother and says her mother would not have posted the pictures to her Twitter page last week, on purpose. Claudia says she and her mother will take a break off social media and work on mending their relationship in person, not online.
TikTok might have saved a life! Jade Jules, a TikTok content creator, recently posted a video of suspicious writing she found in the snow on her garbage can. The video quickly went viral, accumulating over 14 million views and 47 thousand comments. Many of the comments explain what the suspicious writing, 1F, actually means. Commentators say it means she is being targeted as a female living alone. Many commentators add that this is a gang sign and that she should be careful and acquire a firearm if possible. It was reported that due to the comments, Jules quickly went to her mother's house to stay. She expresses her gratitude to her followers and commentators; "I'm beyond grateful for everyone that commented and messaged me telling me to stay safe and be careful and to not post my whereabouts. My followers really saved me."
That is all I have for this week! Let me know what you think by hitting reply to this email or sending me a DM through Twitter!
Thank you for reading; I hope to see you next week!