It wasn't long ago that I thought TikTok was largely populated by kids and 20 something's lip syncing to music and filming stupid dances. I'm not entirely wrong but I have also learnt there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.
I originally joined TikTok for what you might call less than pure reasons, but I won't go into that! What I found though was an amazing community. Vibrant conversation around any topic you can imagine and as much support as you can handle.
There are of course trolls but they are few and far between and generally get beaten down by people who are willing to stand up for what they believe in.
Initially I posted a couple of videos about my music but I was mainly passive. Even taking the decision at one point to delete the account because I felt I was wasting too much time. Thankfully you have up to 30 days to recover the account so it never actually went away and I found myself reactivating it one day when wondering what was happening to someone I had been following. I have been hooked ever since.
I started to see people posting about their mental health struggles and it got me thinking. What could I do to add to this and help break the stigma around mental health.
I posted a couple of videos testing the waters. I wanted to get used to talking to the camera and listening to my own voice. Given my low following they didn't do a lot but that's fine. They helped me build my confidence slightly.
On the 13th April I posted a video introducing myself, my struggles and asking people to talk about their own. The response was incredible. People started opening up and following along.
As I continue to post I have had some wonderful engagement and found some truly likeminded people whom I wouldn't have met otherwise. My confidence in front of the camera is growing and this has had a positive impact on my mood.
Of course this isn't a cure but it is definitely very helpful!
One of my favourite aspects of the app is the ability to respond to peoples comments with a video. A written response can only be 150 characters so a video allows you to say more. A couple of videos I have made were done from this. One being a short song I wrote based on a comment that inspired me.
If a person wants to respond to a video you posted they can 'stitch' part of your video to their response which links to your original. I had someone give me some excellent advise using this feature. It really does feel like people go the extra mile.
At present the maximum length for a video is 1 minute, this means that a lot of the content is quick fire and people definitely get creative in order to fit as much in as possible. My only real concern is that I have heard rumours of 3 minute videos. While it could potentially create some interesting content I do feel like it could slow down the pacing a lot. We will see I guess!
I plan to keep making content and hopefully meeting more likeminded people. If I feel it starting to negatively impact my mental health then I will stop.