Yes, you read right: despite using the work TikTok account for some time, I resisted the need to create a personal TikTok account for quite a while until last week. Why?

• Initially, when TikTok really kicked off, there were discussions around privacy concerns which admittedly wasn’t my biggest worry, but I held off for what I thought would be some air-clearing time until this conversation was resolved or died down. But I still didn’t download TikTok.

• I was very aware of my existing social media usage. I had Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn (and previously Snapchat which I deleted a long time ago, and Tumblr which I hadn’t touched since high school), and felt that adding the notoriously addictive TikTok to my app roster would tip me over the edge in terms of head-in-my-phone time.

Interestingly, there were a few other apps that came along during this time. When Threads dropped out of the blue last year, I downloaded it very quickly. It was easier considering the Threads accounts were directly linked to Instagram, so creating an account from scratch with an imaginative username wasn’t as difficult. Perhaps it was due to the written word element of the platform rather than video creation — I was more confident to write some witty threads than I was to create videos of me dancing.

TikTok’s peak during the pandemic set off the low-fi video phenomenon that we know so well, and it could be discouraging for people who were not comfortable being in front of camera. Of course, the purpose and creativity of social media means there are ample ways to use it whether you’re the face of your page or not.

Even BeReal, the app that encouraged immediate filter-less life moments, launched during this time, and I didn’t download this either. I feel I was more confident in assuming that this app wouldn’t live out its day in the sun, and that was correct — sort of. It was recently sold to French video game developer, Voodoo, whose plan is to launch ads in the app (ah, the irony) and raise its active user base.

I guess your question might be: But you’re a social media manager, Sophie! As if you wouldn’t get TikTok, or *should* get it. And you’re probably right, along with my friends and colleagues who reasoned in the same way. I knew they had a point. The platform is at the core of the cultural zeitgeist with trends originating there all the time, and while I believe the gap has lessened, the delay of trends onto Instagram has always been a factor in favour of being on TikTok. And I was happy just being on Instagram!

I was tempted several times but resisted. I wanted to read books, get through my stack of fashion magazines, go outside into nature, hang out with people IRL… I didn’t want another reason to scroll. I knew that even if I downloaded the app and created a dummy account using my work email that it would be unavoidable to be curious about the FYP, and I’d find myself teetering on the edge of the rabbit hole.

I dipped my toe in the water by being logged into the Hotglue account so I was in there, just not on there personally. I stayed up to date and informed with TikTok’s MO and best practice — I mean, that’s my job! — but wasn’t so tempted to start doom scrolling in my spare time. Recently, as I took over managing some TikTok accounts, I *had* to download the app for manual checks and posting. So, the time was now. I created a personal account.

Here are my initial thoughts on TikTok and some tips on how to use it if you’d like to curate your experience:

Allow the For You Page (FYP) time to understand your preferences:

The first time I ventured onto the FYP, I immediately hated it. This was a quick judgment as the algorithm hadn’t kicked into gear with my preferences. I made sure to follow a few brand accounts that would trigger some more relevant posts. I wasn’t immediately engaging at that point either which is necessary for the algorithm to learn.

However, having said that, I could see how fast it changed in favour of what you watched. I joined the weekend that Trump’s attempted assassination occurred, and after watching just one news video on it, my feed was flooded with Republican content and behind the scenes of the day’s events (not something I wanted to be watching). I immediately had to add some keywords to my filter to avoid ongoing. Now that I’ve engaged in it a little more, my FYP is increasingly becoming an NFL hub which I’m not mad about!

Don’t worry too much about a username:

Creating a username was a little bit of hard work! The app had 1.04 billion monthly active users as of May this year, so you can imagine that there aren’t too many usernames left. I felt a little bit of pressure to make it somewhat cool, but landed on a pretty basic handle of my name and a number for now.

Be curious and open with your following habits:

I have found with TikTok, and believe I felt the same with Threads, that because I am using it for research, curiosity and/or experimentation purposes, I tend to be a little more flexible with who I follow. My Instagram has been curated over time (I was an OG in 2011!), and I only follow who I really want to. It’s glossier and more me, however, on TikTok, I am following bigger brands and personalities just to see what they do. An interesting behavioural change!

Don’t shy away from creating and editing content:

I’ve had plenty of experience creating reels for Instagram (while it’s not the most involved, one went proper viral recently!), so started playing around in the TikTok post editing to create my first post. It was as intuitive as I expected, which led to my accidental first post — but thank goodness it was ready to go! TikTok quickly humbled me as it sat on 0 views all weekend.

So what’s my verdict? I think I’ll need to spend more time curating my feed and following list, and even post some more if I feel like it, before articulating my final thoughts. For anyone in the same position, unsure of whether to join the billions of others, and perhaps if you’re a little sick of being out of the loop, being patient with the app’s ability to understand your preferences is the way to go. Holding down on a video brings up a pop-up where you can say you’re not interested in a piece of content, and there’s a keyword filter in settings that you can add words to and you won’t be served anything in relation to them.

Do I think having TikTok is necessary? If we look at it from an objective point of view, and not a you-have-a-job-in-marketing way, I’m still unsure. I am still very reticent to spend a lot of my time on there, but leave it with me!