Throughout the past couple months, the video sharing app “TikTok” has been the newest craze among today’s teens, including those here at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. This social media app is set-up similar to Vine, with short humorous videos and a “for you page” that gives each video a chance to go viral. These videos may reach millions of people and are easily shared through messaging. The app’s content is aimed towards teens, making the community and humor very relatable to high school students.

At BSM, many classmates have become involved in this trend, creating accounts and putting out their own content, or finding themselves caught up scrolling for hours. Seniors Jacinda Smith and Blake Mahmood, and sophomore Reilly Roberts have found themselves guilty of this, after initially downloading the app as a joke.

Over the summer, videos produced by Mahmood and Roberts have blown up on TikTok. Mahmood’s top post has reached over 1.7 million views, and Roberts’s reached over 300,000 views. Before they became “TikTok famous”, they had no intention for any of their videos to get so much attention. “I honestly didn’t want that specific TikTok to become viral; I actually did it as a joke,” Mahmood said.

Their videos gave them a large boost in followers, with Mahmood’s follower count just under 8,000, and Roberts’s at 19.5k.

There’s a specific, time-consuming process to create the perfect TikTok. “I have a whole process to the masterpiece. I go to the other videos that used the same sound and look at their ideas to make sure mine’s original and see what ideas were funniest with that sound, so I can get some inspiration,” Mahmood said.

About 1 hour and 10 reshoots later, Mahmood is finally ready to post his newest creation.

Since TikTok is such a public platform, anyone can see any video, and the comment section can get harsh, especially if a video is viral. Mahmood and Roberts have both received hate comments on their most popular videos. To handle it, Mahmood ignores their opinion, and Roberts simply deletes them.

Making TikTok videos, especially after having one go viral, can become very addicting. However, Smith, Mahmood, and Roberts all prefer watching TikToks over making them. Smith considers herself a “TikTok addict” and spends an average of four hours every day watching TikToks. Not a day goes by where Smith isn’t quoting and referencing her favorite TikToks. “Every once and a while I get the urge to make them,” Smith said.

What exactly makes TikTok so appealing, entertaining, and addicting? “Whenever I need to pass some time, I can always turn to TikTok to give me a good laugh,” Smith said.