In the summer of 2018, the beloved Musically app shifted gears and became TikTok. Musically was once used for lip syncing to songs — now it became an app filled with dance videos, comedy skits and anything else users wished to record. 

With any new idea, stereotypes are sure to follow. One that has grown from this event is the TikToker. While TikTok is many people’s tool for fun, others have found themselves with viral videos and, even, viral accounts. 

“I definitely did not expect the video to go viral.” Megan Wilcox said, “I was really extra with my friends and made them treat me like I was famous for a couple of days.” 

Wilcox, who has had Tiktok since the summer of 2019 has had two videos go viral. “One was about how good dinosaur egg oatmeal is, and one was a joke about an ex,” she explained. When a video goes viral, for the user it’s something very exciting. Whether you want to admit it or not, a lot of us crave our own 15 seconds of fame.

Both family members and friends can quickly find out about the video and have their own reactions to it.  “All my friends thought it was really funny, but my family didn’t really care,” Wilcox jokes.

While navigating through this new avenue in life, the idea of TikTok stereotypes has been made clear to Wilcox. “I think most people just kind of think that anyone on TikTok is doing it for the sake of getting famous,” she said. However, Wilcox does not stick to this “norm.” “It’s just fun [to] post about your life. It’s like Instagram, but for videos, so, yeah, I’m gonna do it.”

While Wilcox knew the videos were getting posted, others have no idea a video of them is going viral. At the beginning of September, EHS social studies teacher Brittany Jordahl had a great introduction to the app. 

“I went to the School of Mines, and did a halftime show where I throw long-distance frisbees to a dog and he catches it.” Jordahl explained. “Some random person in the audience filmed it and put it on TikTok, and it blew up on his page. Then, the Patriots added a little piece to the end where the Patriots coach’s dog was watching the dog I threw for, and they were acting like they were going to draft her,” Jordahl explained. “I have a friend that’s on TikTok and he saw the video on his ‘For You’ page. He was texting me and calling me while I was teaching, so I looked at the texts after. He sent me links to [the video]. I had no idea what it was until I got in the car. I called him and he explained to me that [the video] was getting something like 1000 views per minute,” she said. 

Both of these videos have reached millions of views and thousands of comments. Obviously, this caused some strong initial feelings for Jordahl. 

“I mostly just thought that it was crazy,” said Jordahl. “I have another friend who throws long-distance and about three years ago he and his dog had gone viral for kind of the same thing, so it was always in my head that one day that could potentially happen, but I never really expected it to.”

Since the video has gotten so popular, Jordahl has also had more experiences come along. “I get free Frisbees to throw for competitions. My dog gets free food. So lots of financial opportunities that we can [use] to cover the costs of competing, which is really nice.”

Like Wilcox, Jordahl does not agree with the stereotype that Tiktokers are just in it for sponsorships and fame. “It was a total fluke, it wasn’t really anything that I intended to do or had control over. It was just the right place and right time, somehow,” she said. 

While it is impressive when a video of yours blows up, it is even more so when a whole account of yours goes viral.  Darian Ton is a senior with one million TikTok followers.

“Most of my content is just based on conversations with my mom and family-related videos,” he explained.  “My mom is a pretty funny person in general, and one day I just decided to record our conversation. It blew up, so after that I just started randomly recording our conversations, and it turned out to be really funny to people.” 

Darian has a total of 53 million likes on the platform and several of his videos have reached over 5 million views — with his most viral reaching over 9 million. 

This success has created some change in everyday life for Ton. “Honestly, I was just in shock. So much stuff came at me at once.  A lot of followers came, but then with followers comes brand deals, and with brand deals comes money, and with money comes more opportunity.” He’s even been even recognized in public. 

“I remember I took a trip to Vegas and I saw an Asian family. They recognized me and my mom since our content is mostly based on  our Asian family,” Ton said.” It’s honestly such a good feeling.”

Despite all this success, Darian still feels like a normal teen. “I feel like when you hit a certain milestone, such as a certain amount of followers, or the fact that you even make videos on TikTok, people will look at you in a different way. I just wish people wouldn’t look at me in a different way and really get to know me,” he said. “Because my whole purpose on TikTok is not just to try to get ‘famous’, it’s just funny seeing other people enjoy my content.” 

While Darian’s life has changed because of this, he does not believe he has changed as a person. “People would automatically look at me and think [I am] just some cocky kid, who thinks he’s too good for anyone. But, deep down it hurts because I know who I am and I know my true intentions. I just wish people would get to know me before they look at me as some figure,” Ton explained, denouncing the stereotypes that all TikTokers are stuck-up and in it for fame. 

Clearly, most users on the app, even famous ones, are on it for fun and to make enjoyable videos. Others don’t even have a choice of going viral. So, no matter your predisposition, it’s best to judge based on character and not view count.