Hashtagging, Duetting, Sound-linking: TikTok Gestures and Methods of (In)distinction
by Elena Pilipets
Abstract:
My contribution investigates the features of hashtagging, duetting, and sound-linking on TikTok. By discussing the circulation of disinfectant memes in the wake of Trump’s Coronavirus press briefing from April 23, 2020, it pursues two main objectives: The first objective is to address the specificity of TikTok as a multifaceted gestural assemblage by drawing on critical considerations of affect and social media. Starting from Vilém Flusser’s notion of gestures, I move to the analysis of digital video material and its engaging characteristics. The second objective is oriented toward experimentation with the methodological potential of TikTok metadata—hashtags, post captions, duets, sounds, stickers, and engagement metrics—for meme research. Reflecting on a small set of #dontdrinkbleach and #injectdisinfectant posts through a series of analytical visualizations, I address the ambiguous role that TikTok sharing plays in the composition of embodied memetic production. Both objectives invite a discussion of the extent to which memes challenge distinctions in the viral logic of repetition and networked mutation, feeding into a complex ensemble of attention, meaning, and (non)sense-generating social media.
Keywords: gesture; affect; video memes; methods; data; TikTok
How to cite: Pilipets, Elena. “Hashtagging, Duetting, Sound-linking: TikTok Gestures and Methods of (In)distinction.” MAST, vol. 4, no. 1, April. 2023, pp. 109-135.
Copyright is retained by the authors.
© 2023 Elena Pilipets
Issue: vol. 4 no. 1 (2023): Special Issue: Blurring Digital Media Culture
Section: Article
Guest Editors: Tony D. Sampson and Jernej Markelj
Published: 26 April, 2023
