By making and posting original content on the social media platform Tik Tok, members of the Souderton Area High School community are gaining large amounts of views on their videos this year.
Despite being a relatively new social media platform, Tik Tok (rebranded from Musical.ly in 2017) has approximately 800 million users as of 2020 (Business of Apps).
These 15-60 second videos circulate the app appearing on what’s called a “For You Page,” where the app shows videos based on previously liked content.
On October 17, junior Jamison McDivitt posted a video featuring the Souderton Area High School football team during practice. The video quickly gained views. Now sitting at 1.2 million on Tik Tok, the video is also posted on an Instagram page called OverTime.
“I got some really nice footage of the sunset one night, and I decided to make a small edit at around 11:30 p.m. I remember just waking up to tons of likes,” McDivitt said. “I had about 50 thousand views by the time I woke up, and throughout the school day I just kept getting more.”
English teacher Jessica Radcliffe also unexpectedly gained views “completely overnight.”
“My first thought was panic,” Radcliffe said. “I don’t like the spotlight very much, so I was definitely nervous.”
It was very shocking to Radcliffe when she saw the amount of views she was getting so quickly.
“My video from the previous day had gotten only six views, so when I saw that it had almost 40,000 views at the time, I was shaking,” Radcliffe said.
Getting a lot of views and or likes on a video can be a big confidence booster, McDivitt said.
“The best part of all of this is the love and support,” McDivitt said. “I’ve gotten kids I don’t even know coming up to me in the hallways and telling me how cool my edits are.”
Though Tik Tok has proven a useful outlet for putting out content, it isn’t necessarily everyone’s first choice.
“I started posting my videos on Instagram, and when they didn’t get as popular as I’d wanted, I decided to try Tik Tok; I’m so glad I did,” McDivitt said.
Having videos gain popularity has been a unique experience for senior Paxton Flandro.
“It’s changed the way I see social media,” Flandro said.
Tik Tok has been a good platform for Flandro because he enjoys making people laugh and entertaining overall.
“I’ve always loved entertaining whether I was dancing on a coffee table at family gatherings or cracking jokes at the dinner table,” Flandro said.
According to Radcliffe, Tik Tok was a way to connect with students and share her teaching experiences.
“It helps me understand the culture that’s happening here with all my students, and it helps me connect with other educators,” Radcliffe said. “I love my career, so it’s nice to share my journey.”