Gen Z hacks TikTok’s new program to fight student debt

In today’s edition:

• Views as currency: Gen Z’s new way to game the system
• The Social Scoop: Facebook unveils plan to woo Gen Z, TikTok improves search results with Gen AI, and more
• Rabbit Hole of the Week: Kudasai

Views as currency: Gen Z’s new way to game the system

The TikTok Creator Fund is out, the Creativity Program is in. With a push for longer-form content, creators now won’t see a dime unless their video is at least 60 seconds long. As always, change the game, Gen Z will game it.

Gen Z is capitalizing on the Creativity Program to help pay off one another’s student debt. You heard that right: they’re asking fellow TikTokers to watch videos for 60 seconds to hit the fund’s minimum compensation marker. And not the quality content TikTok is likely aiming for. Some creators promote their small businesses or share stories about medical bills, while others eat a bowl of cereal or chat awkwardly until the time runs out.??

We’re witnessing small acts of rebellion indicative of a wider shift Gen Z is driving. They know views are a form of digital currency and are intentional about where they put their attention–and who they want it to benefit.??

Let’s explore this for at least 60 seconds ??

What we’re seeing #1: Gen Z is drawn to this trend because it benefits regular people over celebrities and big names.

Gen Z are passionate activists. This may not be “traditional activism,” but they would rather give their attention, which is something they have control over, to causes or issues that align with their beliefs.?

To them, celebrities and big brands have long benefited from the attention economy. Part of why this hacking-the-Creativity-Program trend took off so fast is because it generally supports the “average” person who feels they’ve been swimming upstream against an economic system that isn’t working for them. We’ve seen this sentiment crop up on TikTok before–whether it was creators asking people to engage with their videos to help with emergency surgeries, or using views and likes to persuade teachers to offer exam exemptions.?

The response to this trend, at least according to comment sections and stitches, has been mostly positive among Gen Z. They see this as a collective effort. Comments talk about how it’s refreshing to see this level of “teamwork,” with people even helping others calculate how many views they would need to get compensated.?

What we’re seeing #2: Some say this latest trend is a scam; others see easy cash potential.?

People on TikTok share their doubts about whether this latest attempt to gamify the system will make a difference. Creators expressed disappointment about the original Creator Fund, with one saying they only made $400 last year despite getting 12M views.

Others feel the trend is disingenuous because of the new Creativity Program’s minimum 10K follower requirement. The money isn’t technically going to the “average person,” but rather to someone who either already has influence or “doesn’t appear” to be struggling. Others find the trend just plain spammy, dubbing it a “Ponzi scheme” or “pyramid scheme.”?

It’s worth noting that the critical videos also have comments that disagree with these takes, arguing they’re simply trying to help each other out. As one person said, “Why not try? What’s it gonna hurt? Everyone is struggling right now.”

Given how little is required (simply watching a video), most people don’t seem bothered by the trend. Even if it is a “scam,” they’re not losing anything by participating.

What we’re seeing #3: This isn’t the first time people have tried to gamify the TikTok algorithm, and we don’t expect it to be the last.?

TikTok’s law: if it can be gamified, it will be gamified. A few years ago, creators believed they’d discovered a “hack” for going viral. In short, they thought the platform’s algorithm was prioritizing videos that were 7 seconds long and full of text. The idea caught on, and even artists jumped on the bandwagon to post 7-second videos, hoping to make their music go viral. While there was no definitive proof that this trend for “hacking” the algorithm worked, Hootsuite conducted experiments and found that it was effective–though they admitted it might simply be because it’s a clever content strategy that keeps viewers engaged.?

We’d wager this isn’t the last time Gen Z tries to reassert control over the attention economy and who ultimately benefits.

What It Means For You & Your Brand

There’s no such thing as a taboo topic with Gen Z. Talking about student debt has largely happened in conversations with friends and family, not broadcasted online. But for Gen Z, transparency sells. We see it in the loud budgeting, and “What I spend in a day,” series–younger creators are realizing that being upfront draws people in.?

Weird, unexpected content works when you least expect it. Revisit our Surrealist Social edition and you’ll find that Gen Z enjoys the unfamiliar and even unnecessary in their feeds. Watching someone eat a bowl of cereal might sound like a terrible idea on slides, but given the right context and time…it might stop your followers in their tracks.?

Revisit your investment in micro and nano influencers. As Gen Z continues to leverage the attention economy to their advantage, they’re only going to become even more selective about who they give their time and attention to–and that often means smaller, more approachable creators they feel they can trust.

The Social Scoop

Get up to speed with the biggest stories on social.

Facebook shares its new plan to win back Gen Z. Teen usage has dropped dramatically over the past decade–a trend Facebook is set on reversing. Execs recently presented their strategy to future-proof the platform, with a focus on three areas to woo back Gen Z:

• Reorient its core product suite to focus on discovery of content that’s relevant to younger audiences, notably shoppable goods in Marketplace, dating, groups, and events.
• Prioritize short-form video (Reels), and continue its work to make private sharing easier.?
• Make the app more creator-friendly by adding a professional mode option.

Our take: This is a departure from Facebook’s 2018 feed update to prioritize friends and family content. Facebook is now smartly focusing on “young adults” instead of teens and has shuttered features that weren’t crucial to discovery, like audio and news products. With private sharing growing 80% YoY, and video accounting for 60% of time spent on the platform, these changes show promise for a new era of Facebook.

TikTok improves search results with Generative AI. The new “search highlights” section features a short blurb generated by ChatGPT with the option to expand. The featured content is based on “when [the algorithm] finds them relevant to your search” but because this is still in early testing, some queries don’t have an AI answer yet.

Our take: TikTok’s latest move follows others in the industry of including AI in search results. As the Gen AI race continues, we anticipate search summaries on TikTok to become more focused and accessible. Remember to consider the keywords and topics within your video content for improved discovery.

LinkedIn updates its link preview image size for organic content. This change makes organic link previews much smaller. To get the larger size, posts will need to turn into sponsored content, articles, or direct updates.?

Our take: If you’re experiencing déjà vu, it’s probably because X implemented a similar change to their link previews last year. It aligns with other social media networks’ drive to keep people engaged within their platforms. If your social content strategy includes links, it’s time to reassess. Consider experimenting with sponsored content features, LinkedIn articles, or transform the link content into still images, carousels, or video content. If you were wondering, it’s unclear whether this change will also affect links in comments.

Rabbit Hole of the Week

We’re obsessed with internet rabbit holes. Here’s one we dug into this week:

Kudasai?

Devin Halbal (aka Hal Baddie) is a Gen Z writer and creator known for her activism, travel content, daily affirmations, impressive selfie stick, and for coining phrases like “Met Gala Behavior” and “doll check-in.” Earlier this year, she visited Japan and started the phenomenon behind the word, kudasai, which simply means “please” in Japanese. Halbal’s video of her pairing words like “sushi” and “mizu” (water) with “kudasai” (“The only words I know in Japanese”) has racked up over 14M views to date and propelled Halbal into an internet sensation across Japan and other Asian countries.?

Since then, Halbal has become known as the kudasai girl, and imitations and musical remixes of her now iconic phrase are all over the internet. Keeho from K-Pop group, P1Harmony, even jumped on the trend.?

Why the virality? One reason could be that rudeness has apparently increased since COVID-19, and kudasai reminds us that manners don’t cost a thing. Tap into your (Hal) baddie side and don’t forget to say please (kudasai).

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