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    With most forms of media, there has usually been a barrier between the artist/host and the audience. And while platforms like YouTube has blurred the lines a bit, I think Tik Tok has made it so murky that it's hard to tell how someone will interact with you.

    I go on Tik Tok almost everyday, I've been on it for about 3 years now, and I find that it has an interesting culture. Basically it feels like people on the app can be as unhinged as they want to be, and oversharing is just a normal part of the experience. The app also has a lot of ways to interact with both other users and their videos. Comments, messages, video replies, stitching, and even duets make it possible to have a building conversation tree similar to how form websites work.

    Yet trying to have direct, active conversation with others can be very funky at times. And I think one reason for this is dependent on how you answer the following question. Is Tik Tok a social media app, or a platform?

    If you see it more as social media, then it can be jarring to get certain interactions like I have in the past. One time I saw a video of a user trying to find an online match for a PlayStation 3 game that I happened to own. I was excited that someone else was talking about this game and left a comment saying I'd be down to join them and that they could message me if they wanted to exchange PSN names. Now I've done this many times on other places like Reddit and Discord, I've even been on the receiving end of this invitation a few times. So when they commented that they have game nights every Saturday for fans, I was taken aback as this is something I haven't been told before. I commented back that I was approaching them as a person, not as a fan, to which I got blocked shortly afterwards.

    This whole experience was very bazaar to me, especially as they weren't a big account. And yet it made me realize that some people see it more as a platform rather than social media. Now something that would fall under this light is YouTube, because even with things like comments, there is an understanding that the channel creator and the audience are separate. The audience can't just DM the Youtuber on the platform, and if the creator chooses to, they can share links to other apps where it's easier to talk to them directly. (Discord,Reddit,Twitter)

    Meanwhile on Tik Tok, unless the user changed their settings, you can message someone up to 3 times before they either accept your chat request or ignore you. But even with this, it's still a toss up if someone sees you either as another user or just a viewer. This will affect how they interact with you, and usually there's no real way to know this without testing it first and seeing what happens.

    You may have noticed a quote at the start of this blog. That is what I put at the end of every first message whenever I try to talk to someone on Tik Tok. I do this because I want to make it clear to them that I don't see them as a content creator at this very moment, that I am not a fan or audience member of theirs, and that I would like for us to see each other as people in this conversation. I this is very odd, but I'm not sure how else I can tackle this. Maybe I'm using the app wrong, or maybe I'm just more laid back about talking to others on there. I just can't shake this feeling that something about this app causes some dissonance that isn't there on other sites.

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