However, for anyone over the age of 30, who is not an avid user of social media platforms, the likes of Asher Glean, Nicholas Flannery and Kyra-Mae Turner may be rather unheard of. However, for those of us who are not proud of how much time we actually spend on TikTok, these names will be quite familiar to anyone who interacts with the For You Page.
They are just a few of the content creators who have been shortlisted for the first ever TikTok Awards in the UK and Ireland.
In twelve categories, 72 creators who have more than 101 million followers were nominated and the winners will be announced during the ceremony in London on Tuesday evening.
But what is the purpose of having an awards event for those who create content for Social media platforms?
‘It’s so much more than just making videos,’ travel creators Jade Beaty and Ryan Losasso said to the BBC. In its simplicity, it can take days, if not weeks to produce a 30 second video.”
“Such awards can motivate an entire new generation to grab their phone and create something,” the duo opines.
Aly Meghani, one of the fashion and beauty nominees agrees, and says: ‘This job of content creation looks so simple from the outside but is actually so much work, time and effort that goes into it.’
Meghani, who also has a fulltime job and does content creation in his spare time, said that the awards “bring light on our hard work and gives us what we need, recognition.”
He went further by saying that the content that he creates “breaks some stereotype” and his videos are not just a fashion motivation but something that “encourages people to live a life to the fullest”.
‘We get a bad rep’
It’s important not to underestimate TikTok – with over 175 million active users in Europe per month, TikTok videos have helped to facilitate some of this year’s most popular trends.
Such trends as very demure, very mindful have gone further than the internet as demure was officially designated as the Word of the Year by Dictionary.com.
Oxford University decided to go for ‘brain rot’ as its word of the year which means consuming the reckless amount of low-quality content on social media platforms which means wasting time on apps like Tiktok.
Andrew Przybylski, a psychologist and an Oxford University Professor, said the word describes our discontent with the online world and it is a word that we can use to combine the ors that we have over social media.
Ayamé Ponder who is one of the nominees for creator of the year says she understands both sides, but thinks that influencers “are not really appreciated.”
‘They can roll their eyes all they want, I’m a star,’ she says.
Her 3.8m followers might know her best for comedy sketches, but she’s now using her platform “to give back”.
When she says this, I think she started changing her purpose as she began to notice the injustices happening around the globe.
Melissa McFarlane, TikTok UK, Ireland & Nordics operations lead, adds that the awards are about ‘science communicators explaining STEM or literature enthusiasts recommending books’.
“When you put it into perspective and think about all the positive effects that these TikTok communities are bringing to reading, cooking, learning processes, etc., it is a big thing and should be embraced; and yet, most of the creators are mere enthusiasts,” she continues. ‘Their contribution goes far beyond what may be describeding as ‘influence.’
The UK awards are one of 20 that will be held this year and each award honors those in specific categories that fall under food, music, entertainment, beauty and fitness.
While there are the nominees who come up with the typical get ready with me content or the day in the life pieces, there are also those that have a specific niche that demonstrates how they’re ‘changing the industry,’ she said.
Some of the nominees with perhaps the most niche content include:
yorkshire.fossils – a page has 72m likes, its name explains what the page is all about and the page shares videos of fossils.
thep00lguy – it is an ASMR channel with 15 million subscribers who watch the man clean swimming pools
This page is run by Dr Amy Boyington who is a historian and offers information about historical events.
