Log into TikTok for the first time, and you get a firehose of videos featuring lip-syncing, tutorials, robotic voice-overs and tidbits of daily life.听
TikTok鈥檚 algorithm is supposed to help tailor the mass of content for each user, but for members of LGBTQ communities, the video-based social media platform can miss the mark.
In a study published in January, researchers Ellen Simpson and Bryan Semaan, both with the College of Media, Communication and Information, analyzed how 16 LGBTQ people adopted and experienced TikTok. The researchers found that while the participants enjoyed some aspects of the platform, they never quite felt at home using it.
鈥淲e started to do this because TikTok was getting a lot of bad press for suppressing queer content,鈥� said Simpson, a PhD student in the Department of Information Science who led the research project. 鈥淭here were people who were experiencing this, but at the same time, I think that a lot of the people who were on this app were all experiencing this 鈥極h, I鈥檓 seeing me鈥� moment, like a huge validation of yourself.鈥�
On Jan. 14, Simpson, Semaan and Andrew Hamann, an undergraduate researcher at Syracuse University (now at the University of California Irvine) published in the academic journal听Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction.
The researchers conducted participant interviews in 2020, asking why individuals adopted TikTok and what challenges they encountered while incorporating it into their daily lives. They analyzed the responses using domestication theory, which breaks the process of routinizing technology into four stages: appropriation, objectification, incorporation and conversion.
They focused on TikTok鈥檚 鈥淔or You,鈥� page, the entry page for users on the platform. The TikTok algorithm gathers trace data鈥攖he digital tracks people leave as they click, like, follow and otherwise engage with the platform鈥攖o feed customized content onto the 鈥淔or You鈥� page.
Although other platforms use algorithms to curate content, the researchers noted that TikTok users tend to have a higher awareness of the algorithm because of the prominence of the 鈥淔or You鈥� page on the platform.
鈥淚n understanding people鈥檚 motivations and strategies for adopting and working to resist how algorithms are controlling their lived experiences, we can gain a lot of insight for how to make these systems better,鈥� said Semaan, associate professor of information science. 鈥淭his is especially important in that we are focused explicitly on people at the margins鈥攖hose members of society whose voices are often not included or even purposefully excluded from design processes.鈥�
Based on participant interviews and past research, the researchers concluded that LGBTQ users have a 鈥渄ual experience鈥� on the platform, Simpson said.听
For example, an Indigenous participant enjoyed seeing people from tribal communities engage with their Native identities; however, following Indigenous content also prompted the algorithm to show her people appropriating her culture.
Some people, like a participant who has struggled with her identity as a bisexual woman, found validation through interacting with TikTok鈥檚 LGBTQ community. Others felt they were connecting with other gay people but struggled to find diverse content within gay TikTok.
One participant, a Black college student in the Midwest 鈥渨as on gay TikTok, but it was basically white, gay TikTok. There wasn鈥檛 like Black, gay TikTok she could put herself on,鈥� Simpson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 an example of how you can end up with these moments where you are both validated and invalidated at the same time.鈥�
Because the algorithm was continually shifting its recommended content based on trace data, the users also felt they could never relax into routine use of the platform. Users felt like one outlying click, or watching the wrong video for too long, would prompt the algorithm to significantly change their 鈥淔or You鈥� page.
鈥淧eople have to be constantly vigilant. You have to constantly be thinking about this algorithm, so you can鈥檛 ever really routinize your use of it and render it invisible,鈥� Simpson said.听
Simpson and Semaan are continuing their research on TikTok with studies on the experience of content creators on the platform and users on other algorithmic platforms.听
鈥淕iven that algorithms are controlling many aspects of our lives, it is important to learn about people鈥檚 lived experiences with algorithmic systems,鈥� Semaan said. 鈥淚n our work, not only are we learning about how people are routinely being challenged by algorithms, but we are also learning about how people are also challenging, and thus resisting, the status quo.鈥�