TIkTok Content: Can It Be Labeled?

 Che La Luna by Louis Prima. Haven't heard of it? That's okay, just go on TikTok! There has been an overwhelming amount of trend-worthy content, both old and new, that utilizes familiar sounds from the past. Looking beyond the past, we see TikTok create new sounds that are apart of popular trends. Some of these sounds keep a lingering placeholder on our minds, and arises as we recall them. Others however, will come and go without much thought to it. 

How can we create defined aspects to these sounds we hear and recollect on TikTok? Raymond Williams has done this for us already by creating four specific practices that can be applied to the essence of TikTok videos and their popularity. 

Raymond Williams, a welsh writer, defines four practices that we can apply to define the specifics to trends we see and remember. 

• Residual: Williams describes this residual concept as pieces that have popularized once before, then faded away from priority of culture, and develops strides toward popularity once again. 

So think of this as the Che La Luna song! This song has had it's popular time period in the 1970's, and would constantly have cameos within movies throughout time. After taking a backseat to our minds, it has once again re-emerged on social media through TikTok! 

This is just one video as an example that uses this song as a TikTok sound. If you can't see it: This TikTok generated over 730,000 likes, and nearly 8 MILLION views... Che La Luna me now please!

• Dominant: Williams expresses this concept that has found popularity right now. This is simply a hit or miss for any trend, but I would consider dominant practices to be the "prime" of a trend; A trend at its best potential for popularity. 

TikTok allows for a tab on its app that gives the trending cycle at the tap of your screen. Essentially, the dominant trends of TikTok are already laid out for a consumer to simply tap and watch endlessly since TikTok is clever enough to leave these dominant topics vague. They're able to apply many videos to a category so a person can scroll for hourssssss without realizing they fell down the rabbit hole. 

• Emergent: This part of residual concepts is what Williams declares as the potential building things. In the TikTok world, these may be the trends or dances that people have created that are finding their sparks across communities on TikTok. Although these specific areas of TikTok haven't struck in regards to popularity and numbers, they are rising to the occasion! 

Quite honestly, this is a hard concept to pinpoint on TikTok. How does one know that they have been a funnel to a popularizing trend/video? Only the creator of a video can truly track it of course, but for a person to know "oh yeah this is so going viral" is hard to gauge, because popularity of a video is pure luck in my opinion. 

• Archaic: These are the pieces of the world that Williams considers outdated. This concepts entails all the old information that has been forgotten and left to the past. Nobody cares for this information unless they are passionate for it, or maybe reminded of its existence. 

This is an easy one to grasp. All the trends of TikTok that were a big thing at their "prime" has faded from the foreground, and taken a backseat for basically forever until they are called upon to our memories for mere moments. Social media, and TikTok in general, have fast moving content that come and go. The digestion of content by consumers is constant, meaning that there isn't one singular piece of trending content sticks at any point. 

From all this, it's good to understand how content on TikTok can be applicable to cultural applications of Raymond Williams. You may be asking what you gain from having the intellect of understanding what content falls under within these concepts. Great question. I think that's up to you to identify the changes in understanding on how you see content from here on out. So have fun with it!