TikTok Trends and Information Cascades
Let’s admit it– we’ve all seen our fair share of truly bizarre TikTok trends. I know there have definitely been moments where I am scrolling through my For You Page and have thought to myself, “Why are these people doing that?” and “Why is this even a trend?” After learning about information cascades, I realized that this phenomenon might apply to what’s occurring on TikTok. It is interesting to examine some of the weirdest TikTok trends and how they grew to be so popular in the terms used in our network class.
In class, we learned that information cascades occur sequentially, and can arise easily based on very little information. People will copy what other people before them do and reject their own private information, opting to follow the herd. The textbook states, “When people are connected by a network, it becomes possible for them to influence each other’s behavior and decisions” (Page 483). Here, the popular social media app TikTok connects people in a network, and individuals are influenced by others whom they see on this app.
When considering some really questionable TikTok trends, it may be natural to wonder why people went along with the trend despite knowing about some of the risks, and perhaps despite their better judgment. They chose to follow what other people who preceded them have done and reject their own knowledge– creating an information cascade. For example, in 2020, the “corn cob challenge” went viral on TikTok which consisted of people posting a video of them eating a cob of corn attached to a spinning drill bit. Singer and rapper Jason Derulo attempted it and appeared to have chipped his teeth on the spinning corn. Despite the evident harms associated with this trend, this video garnered 17.7 million views and inspired countless other videos to be made. People followed suit and tried out this challenge. People’s decision to partake in this challenge occurred sequentially, characteristic of an information cascade because when they saw one person do it, they decided to do it too. When someone sees a viral TikTok trend, they imitate it, and a chain reaction is caused.
https://nypost.com/article/craziest-tiktok-challenges-so-far/
https://www.today.com/popculture/did-jason-derulo-chip-his-tooth-while-eating-corn-power-t182058