Category Archives: TikTok

Abba singles race to top of streaming charts in comeback triumph

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Swedish pop group shows cross-generational appeal, amassing 5.5m likes on TikTok since 1 September

Two singles released from Abba’s first album in 40 years have raced to the top of the streaming charts, in a comeback that has generated praise and excitement among fans who remember the original releases and a new younger audience.

The first two singles from Abba’s forthcoming album, to be released on 5 November, were in first and third place on YouTube’s trending rankings in 12 countries on Friday, including the UK. I Still Have Faith In You gained 4.4m views within 24 hours in Britain and Don’t Shut Me Down 1.4m views.

In a further confirmation of the Scandinavian pop band’s cross-generational appeal, Abba have already amassed 991,000 followers and 5.5m likes on TikTok despite only joining the platform on 1 September.

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Milk crate challenge has doctors warning it’s ‘worse than falling from a ladder’

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Experts say dangerous injuries can occur as videos of people falling off precariously stacked crates go viral on social media

The latest challenge to take the internet by storm involves milk crates, balance and some painful falls.

In the milk crate challenge, which recently started on TikTok, participants take on a set of milk crates precariously stacked in the shape of a pyramid, attempt to climb to the top and then back down again without toppling over.

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‘Bro, I cooked it in a bloody airfryer’: is the unofficial appliance of lockdown just a tiny oven?

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Used to cook everything from racks of lamb to gummy worms, airfryers are a social media sensation – but food professionals are split on their utility

When the Sydney chef Dan Hong posted a video to his 104,000 Instagram followers of a lamb rack emerging from his home airfryer, its fat aureate and twinkling, the caption had a caveat: “Edit,” it read, “please don’t take this too seriously guys. It’s a lamb rack cooked in the air fryer ‍♂️ ‍♂️ ‍♂️”

“Some people were commenting ‘it’s undercooked’ or this or that you should’ve rendered the fat a bit more and it’s like, bro, I cooked it in a bloody airfryer,” Hong says.

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Goblincore: the fashion trend that embraces ‘chaos, dirt and mud’

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Sales of clothes and accessories featuring mushrooms, snails, frogs and worms are booming, but why now?

Mushrooms, toads and moss might not be the most celebrated of nature’s creations, but thanks to goblincore, an aesthetic that is blossoming online as well as in forests, the danker, gnarlier side of nature is enjoying a moment in the sun.

According to the TikTok user @froggiecrocs, AKA Parker, who has more than 90,000 followers who tune in for his goblincore content, it “romanticizes the ugly, lesser appreciated parts of the natural world”. Its trappings include animal skulls and earthworms and its influences range from David Bowie in Labyrinth to the Twilight Saga. According to the trends expert Sabrina Faramarzi, it is about “chaos, dirt and mud”.

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Turkey’s labourers take to TikTok to show millions their harsh work conditions – video

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Workers in Turkish factories, construction sites and fields have become the unlikely stars of TikTok, revealing harsh and dangerous conditions in posts with millions of views. Turkey, ranked among the '10 worst countries in the world for workers', is one of TikTok’s largest user bases, with approximately 19.2 million users. Its algorithm can allow a labourer with a handful of followers to reach millions if their posts land on the 'discover' page. But despite the grim reality evident in these videos, creativity and humour shine through the cracks

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‘I felt I existed in this world’: TikTok gives a voice to Turkey’s labourers

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Workers have become unlikely stars of the video app, while revealing harsh conditions

Agricultural workers throw their buckets into the air at the end of harvest like at a graduation ceremony. A construction site turns into a concert hall, with workers wearing strands of hemp as wigs and singing into bits of plastic piping instead of microphones. A market stall becomes a runway as fruit vendors strut their stuff: a bunch of bananas as headgear, leeks dangling from their necks.

With posts from factories, fields and construction sites, workers in Turkey are going viral on TikTok. The app’s staples such as challenges, dancing and comedy abound, but amid the joy it is hard not to miss the criticism of dire working conditions.

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Social networks’ anti-racism policies belied by users’ experience

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Analysis: Twitter, Facebook and others condemn hateful speech, so why is it so easy to find on their sites?

The world’s biggest social networks say racism isn’t welcome on their platforms, but a combination of poor enforcement and weak rules have allowed hate to flourish.

In the hours after England’s loss to Italy in the European Football Championship, both Twitter and Facebook, which owns Instagram, issued statements condemning the swelling racist abuse.

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FinTok: how TikTok is helping young people use cash wisely

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It’s not just jokes and emojis – the video-sharing platform can help users learn how to manage money

Sea shanties and viral dance trends have helped make TikTok a hit since the start of the pandemic. In 2020, the social media app, which allows users to create and share one or more 60-second films soundtracked with music clips, surpassed 2bn global downloads.

In the financial world, TikTok has a reputation for promoting volatile cryptocurrencies and activist investing – interest in Dogecoin and GameStop has been fuelled by the platform. But, beyond the jokes and rocket emojis being shared by some users, there is a wealth of practical personal finance videos that are teaching young people how to use their money better.

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The rise of BookTok: meet the teen influencers pushing books up the charts

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Young TikTok users are sharing their passion for books with millions – bringing titles they love to life online and reshaping the publishing world, all in under a minute

In August 2020, Kate Wilson, a 16-year-old from Shrewsbury, posted on the social media video platform TikTok a series of quotes from books she had read, “that say I love you, without actually saying I love you”. Set to a melancholy soundtrack, the short video plays out as Wilson, an A-level student, holds up copies of the books with the quotes superimposed over them. “You have been the last dream of my soul,” from A Tale of Two Cities. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” from Wuthering Heights. “Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own,” from Jane Eyre. It has been viewed more than 1.2m times.

Wilson’s TikTok handle, @kateslibrary, is among the increasingly popular accounts posting on #BookTok, a corner of TikTok devoted to reading, which has clocked up 9.6bn views and counting, and has been described as the last wholesome place on the internet. Here, users – predominantly young women – post short videos inspired by the books they love. Those that do best are fun, snappy takes on literature and the experience of reading. “Books where the main character was sent to kill someone but they end up falling in love,” from @kateslibrary. “Things that bookworms do,” from @abbysbooks. “When you were 12 and your parents caught you crying over a book,” from @emilymiahreads.

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Bytedance boss exits at time of uncertainty for Chinese tech firms

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Analysis: political undercurrents cannot be ignored as Zhang Yiming stands down to ‘daydream’

In the latest retreat by a leading figure in China’s booming tech sector, the chief executive of TikTok’s parent company has said he will step down to focus on long-term strategy, saying he prefers “reading and daydreaming” to the challenge of running a multinational firm.

Zhang Yiming, the 38-year-old boss of Bytedance, set out the reasons for the move in an unusually candid memo addressed to the company’s staff. “The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager,” he confessed.

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The new food stars of TikTok

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The app’s snappy videos are the new gateway to food fame. Its breakout stars explain the secrets of their success

When Poppy O’Toole was made redundant from her job as junior sous chef at the AllBright private members club in Mayfair during the first wave of the pandemic, she expected to return to work soon enough. “I thought, I’ve got three weeks to cook some nice food at home,” 27-year-old O’Toole remembers, “and be back in work in a few weeks.”

With lockdown opening up in front of her, O’Toole decided to upload the recipes she was cooking for herself on to the video-sharing app TikTok. “I’d always wanted to do the social media thing,” she says, “but I never had time, because I worked 70-hour weeks.” On 1 April 2020, O’Toole uploaded her first TikTok video under the handle @poppycooks. “Hi everyone … I’m going to start cooking at home doing TikToks,” said O’Toole. She captioned the video “hope this TikTok doesn’t flop like my career”.

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Trading up: one woman’s quest to swap a hairpin for a house

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Demi Skipper would like a new house, but she’s not buying one. Instead she’s planning a daring strategy of trades – and millions are following her journey

While many of us were still finding novelty in group Zoom calls last May, Demi Skipper decided she was going to get a house. But not using money. Instead, she was going to trade items.

Now the owner of one of only a few Chipotle celebrity cards in the world, and hoping to reach a house by the end of summer, the 29-year-old’s journey started where many voyages do: in a YouTube hole.

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‘Teeth have become the new boob job’: the rise of oral tweakments

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With $55 toothpaste and whitening treatments road-tested on TikTok, looking after your teeth is becoming fashionable. It’s even been rebranded as ‘oralcare’

If, once upon a time, going to the dentists was routine at best, your local dental practice is on the way to becoming something of a destination. At the same time, previously unglamorous dental products such as toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash are more likely to be deemed worthy of a bathroom shelfie posted to Instagram. Teeth – and the right products and treatments for them – are now part of the self-care beauty boom.

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Miss Papua New Guinea stripped of her crown for TikTok twerking video

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Lucy Maino faced intense online harassment over clip in incident that critics say highlights misogyny in PNG

Miss Papua New Guinea has been stripped of her crown after sharing a video of herself twerking on TikTok, with critics saying the incident reveals a deep-seated culture of misogyny in the country.

Lucy Maino, 25, who has also served as co-captain of Papua New Guinea’s women’s football team, faced intense online harassment after she shared a video of herself twerking on the video-sharing app TikTok.

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‘It smelled like pain and regret’: inside the world of competitive hot chilli eaters

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The pandemic has driven chilliheads online, where some have built impressive followings for their hot sauce reviews and daring feats of strength

Behind his calm, methodical approach to every hot chilli eating and super spicy food challenge, Dustin “Atomik Menace” Johnson is enduring a kind of physical pain and mental anguish beyond what most will ever experience in a lifetime.

In one of his most-watched YouTube livestreams, the 31-year-old Las Vegas resident downs 122 super-spicy Carolina Reapers, the Guinness World Record holder for hottest pepper, while fans watch and cheer him on. While there are clues that he’s struggling – his face turns a deep red color and shines with perspiration, and in the latter half in particular, he takes breaks – his low-key demeanor has made the growing chillihead community question whether he’s built like an average human, or if he’s human at all.

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‘The fakery is all part of the fun’: the hoax of the mirror selfie

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An influencer has claimed that the popular social media pose is a form of visual trickery. But why would you bother, when it’s so easy to do by yourself? And does it matter if it’s fake or not?

Even if the phrase “mirror selfies” isn’t in your daily lexicon, you likely know what it means: a selfie which, rather than being taken directly – camera-phone to face – is taken using a mirror, giving you a photograph of your own reflection.

Last week the internet trope - a mainstay of influencers such a Kendall Jenner, recognisable for the placement of a phone in front of the face - became freshly controversial.

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‘I don’t want to upset people’: Tom Cruise deepfake creator speaks out

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Visual effects artist Christopher Ume reveals he made TikTok fakes with help from Cruise impersonator

Joining TikTok has become something of a trend for Hollywood celebrities stuck at home like everyone else. So it wasn’t necessarily surprising to see Tom Cruise on the app, sharing videos of himself playing golf and pratfalling around the house.

But the strange thing is that Cruise never actually made the videos. And the account that posted them, DeepTomCruise, wore that on its sleeve: it was openly the work of a talented creator of “deepfakes”, AI-generated video clips that use a variety of techniques to create situations that have never happened in the real world.

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TikTok urged to take action over Myanmar death threat videos

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Videos posted to Chinese-owned site show men in military gear threatening to kill protesters

TikTok has been urged to take action over a flood of videos shared in Myanmar that feature men in military uniform threatening to kill anti-coup protesters, at times while brandishing weapons.

Myanmar’s police and army have been widely condemned for using lethal force against peaceful protesters who have held mass rallies over recent weeks calling for the return of democracy. More than 20 people have been killed since the military seized power on 1 February.

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Tobacco giant bets £1bn on social-media influencers to boost ‘lung-friendlier’ sales

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As smoking falls out of fashion, BAT is pinning its hopes on younger users of e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches

Flashing an ice-white smile for her 50,000 followers on TikTok, a fresh-faced young woman pops a flavoured nicotine pouch into her mouth, as one of Pakistan’s most popular love songs plays in the background.

More than 3,000 miles away, in Sweden, another social media starlet lip-syncs for the camera, to a different pop tune. The same little pouches, made by British American Tobacco, appear in shot.

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Italy blocks TikTok for certain users after death of girl allegedly playing ‘choking’ game

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Probe launched after girl’s sister reportedly told parents she had been ‘playing the blackout game’ before her death

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the accidental death of a 10-year-old girl who allegedly took part in a “blackout challenge” on the video-sharing network TikTok.

The probe came as Italy announced it had temporarily blocked access to TikTok for users whose age could not be proved definitively.

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