Sophia Smith Galer and Dave Jorgenson have paved the way for journalists who want to use TikTok to reach a wider audience. The video-sharing platform isn’t just a way to engage younger viewers, though – TikTok can help journalists to find and research exclusive news stories.
Be prepared to do a lot of TikTok scrolling
Ciarán O’Connor, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue specialising in open-source online research, says that the best way for journalists to learn about TikTok is to simply join the platform.
“A lot of journalists, particularly older professionals, may shy away from downloading the app and starting out on a new platform,” O’Connor says.
“I think TikTok is different to other platforms and may require a little more time to get attuned to how it works than other platforms and this might be a demotivating factor for some. But once you’re on the app and have a moderately good understanding of how it works, there’s a lot of potential for research and storytelling.”
One way to learn more about TikTok is by exploring the For You Page, a personalised video feed that uses an algorithm to suggest TikToks that the user may be interested in. If a user interacts with a video, the algorithm will suggest similar ones in the FYP section.
Marcus Bösch, a German journalist and TikTok researcher, says that spending time on the platform can help to shape the FYP.
“Try to feed the algorithm by following, liking, sharing and downloading relevant videos and accounts. It takes some time but this way you can train your For You Page. For example, [you can train it to be] filled with videos from Ukraine.”
Hashtag rabbit holes can lead to news stories
Hashtags are used by TikTok creators to help the algorithm understand what their video is about.
Rhiannon Williams, Technology Correspondent at the i newspaper, broke an exclusive story about teenagers sharing TikTok tutorials on how to fake Covid-19 tests. She found the story after searching several hashtags on the platform. “Like Instagram, it’s not always easy to search on TikTok but once you come across a fruitful hashtag it can pay off,” she says.
When searching hashtags, be aware of TikTok slang. Many creators alter their captions and comments to evade TikTok’s strict content moderation. For instance, ‘c0vid’ is used instead of ‘Covid-19’, ‘seggs’ is used instead of ‘sex’, and ‘CN’ is used instead of ‘China’. Pay attention to video captions and take note of any unusual spelling – usually, they are not accidental mistakes.
Not everything on TikTok is true
TikTok is rife with misinformation and disinformation. What seems like an exclusive story may turn out to be a misleading video – which is why it’s important to fact check. Researcher Abbie Richards specialises in online misinformation and makes videos giving fact-checking advice.
O’Connor recommends starting in the comment section. “If a video seems misleading or potentially totally unrelated to what it claims to show (like faked livestreams said to be from Ukraine), users are quite vocal in airing their suspicions or criticisms, or external information, in the comments of videos and this can be a helpful starting point.”
Bösch agrees. “Ask yourself who is posting this and why,” he says. He advises checking the sound used in the video – a new sound may be paired with an old video, and therefore be misleading – and looking up the video’s timestamp.
Bellingcat have a timestamp checking tool, which allows you to upload a TikTok URL and verify when it was posted. This can help establish whether a video is related to a current news event or is from several years ago. TinEye and Google Reverse Image Search can also help to establish the origins of a video.
Save everything you find
TikTok can be difficult to navigate, which is why it’s important to note down anything significant. For Williams, this was what helped her to verify her story.
“Screenshot and record any TikToks you find useful – they can be impossible to find again once you flick past them, so it’s always useful to have a record,” she says. “Similarly, they often get deleted, so get that evidence!”
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