Today, there will be over a thousand new trends that would be just bor as we speak. A ratio would classify to be cool and innovative and the rest as to a Do-it-yourself style of living. Trends have so influential to the world that it changes the perceptions and perspectives of any individual. The so-called trends that influence each other influence the market as well. For example, when Pancake cereals were trends, the market immediately started to reduce overstocks on pancake mix, and the companies that manufactured it started to boost production. Thus, the tren generated them a profit. That’s how influential trends can be and how powerful that can get is another long story. Trends might not only come from activities but also words as well. “Ok, Boomer” was a trend that blew up overnight at the initial of 2020.
Instagram seemed like a simple photo filter app for a few years, but it eventually became a social network and branding tool. Initially, Snapchat’s stories seemed insane, but with popularity growing, Instagram literally stole the thinking, and Instagram Stories now rule the social network. Twitter has finally become a new way to monitor news and current affairs with its confusing hashtag scheme. There is a major market of people who pursue micro-entertainment and entertainment for some minutes during the day when it comes to TikTok. If a video is interesting or sexy, the algorithm in the ‘About You’ tab will easily re-share it and gain millions of views.
The trend didn’t gain much traction. The words “Ok Boomer” were supposed to apply to the elderly or to due who wasn’t a millennial. The trend blew up overnight when a TikTok star named “Neekolul”(1) had made a short video supporting United States Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. The video grew in popularity, and so did her. So, in such ways, a trend could easily initiate, and indirectly, these trends could help the market if the trends call for it. Trends have been an essential and non-essential part of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving billions of people the leisure to watch, laugh, react, and make their videos. Charlie D’Amelio (2) and many such young trendsetters had grown to fame after creating such videos. Their videos escalate to a huge viewership, and it enhances the way one looks at TikTok.
Even TikTok encourages Trendsetting, and it’s a valuable attribute for the company that it encourages the youth to develop content for mass media and communication. The sort of style and technology built to help the youth shoot, edit, and release their talents to the world. Such trends make an impact globally, and it strikes a chord with many. TikTok has evolved into a huge mainstream brand, a platform that has been technologically improved drastically, and it has created employment as well. TikTok users can be made up to two cents for 1000 views. Thus when these TikTokers grow, they earn as well, making thousands of dollars and boosting their social image and as social media celebrities of mobile platforms, just like YouTubers who make videos as a career. Trends has been the most influential and a highlight of the current generation and has impacted the way one looks at things.
What is TikTok, and what is it all about?
In 2014, the 13 to 18-year-old population became extremely popular as a social media app called Musical.ly (3). Musical.ly’s main objective was videos made by users that merged familiar songs with user videos, often called Musers. The app was most successful in producing videos where lip-syncing and dancing were performed. By mid-2017, there were over 200 million users in the Musical.ly program. In 2016 ByteDance developed an app called Douyin, a Musical.ly competitor (4). The app was originally introduced in China and renamed TikTok for increased international appeal. The TikTok app had over 200 million users within a year, and the popularity of lip synchronization videos has continued to increase. ByteDance bought Musical.ly at an 800 million price in late 2017 (5). Bytedance merged Musical.ly and TikTok user accounts in 2018 by integrating these two apps into one TikTok.
The app started to expand rapidly with this unified brand and user base. At the beginning of 2018, TikTok became the Apple App store’s most downloaded feature, beating Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube. TikTok has more than 500 million Google Play Store installations as of July 2019. TikTok is renamed Douyin, a user base of more than 250 million users in China (6). The app is also known as TikTok and is available across the world in 154 countries. At present, 40 percent of TikTok users are outside of China. India had a very wide base of users and represented about 25 percent of app downloads to date. TikTok’s user base in the United States was about 14 million in March 2019. The Internet Trends Report of 2019 shows that China’s internet users watch short videos over 600 million hours a day. Tik-Tok remains a mighty power in the field of social media with a view to 2021 (7).
Since 2019, TikTok was download over a billion times. As the web expands, the attention of both brands and celebrities evolves and catches. Actor Will Smith joined TikTok recently and had attracted more than 5 million people in a few weeks. Other influencers, including businessman Gary Vaynerchuck, have also embraced the platform and post content that is more demographically relevant. TikTok’s main appeal is the opportunity to post something. Humor, hobbies, health, travel, music, photography, and dance; all categories are accessible and attractive. For those who adopt their contents to the short-form videos model, each area offers visibility. While entertainment tends to be the main attraction, educational, aspiring, and business content are rising.
Food Trends and more: how has it grown?
Food Trends (8) and much more broke the Internet for some reason, and now and then, many post the sam trend re-enacted in their style and methodology. Well, if that had to happen, that means the trends eventually grew to fame and blew up, and so here are few trends that blew up in 2020:
- Pancake Cereal: Pancake cereal (9) had hit TikTok and Instagram as the latest quarantine food trend. The #pancakecereal hashtag has 10.6 million views of TikTok at the time of writing alone. Bowls of thin pancakes slip in syrup pop up on all social media. Although several people have been squeezing pipe bags and bottles for their small pancakes, others have built modified tools from everything they can find around the house. TikTok star Melanie Locke has put her batter into a water button and made a hole in the hat, where she has more than 133,000 times liked cereal video while she was writing. Whether pancake cereal would have the same strength as Dalgona coffee remains to be seen, but it doesn’t look like this trend is going anywhere soon.
- Dalgona Coffee: Dalgona coffee (10) was internationally the most searched term for coffee, overtaking all other coffee forms, according to Google Trends. Globally, research rose by 1800 percent in the middle of March and by the middle of April was another 1700 percent. Dalgona coffee is said to have been named following a South Korean candy similarly succinct and foamy. The craze for dalgona coffee originated after a South Korean actor Jung Il Woo displayed a television series in which a café in Macau tried to whip coffee and was downloaded to Youtube in January. The drink, basically a glass of milk or a milky alternative topped up with a creamy combination of instant coffee, glass sugar, and hot water, was a common trend on digital platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
- Gordon Ramsay Reaction: The famous MasterChef star judge and world-famous cook Gordon Ramsay (11) himself has become his own worst nightmare on TikTok. He has become a trend. The chef, known for his candid replies and mentoring style, had started a TikTok account for relaxation and fun until a fan user sent him a video that made him furious that he put up a reaction that blew everyone’s mind then. The chef has have been posting cooking reviews for all those who send him their vlogs and talents. To date, he has amassed million-plus followers and continues to do the same and even critique his daughter’s food as well.
- Donut Cereal: TikTok users have shared their homemade dessert meals, which have run the gamut of glazed, sprinkled, and traditional cinnamon, since May. Since the beginning of May, the pancake cereal slowed down as a trend (12). TikTok users have since then been sharing their recipes of homemade pastries, running through the gamut of glazed, sprinkled, and classic cinnamon, resulting from the pancake trends that have stopped. The recipe follows mixing a self-raising dough and yogurt to make a mixture and roll it out. Then the shapes are shaped using little ring cutters and a hole in the middle of each. They are coated with egg yolk for color. Afterward, the dough circles are fried for a few minutes on each side and sprinkled with icing and golden. But they also integrate the small doughnut holes into the cereal to ensure that there is no waste. This now grows faster and also takes pancakes as a trend!
- Cake: It was just a video of a Twitter user making a cake; it’s as simple as that, but no, the Cake isn’t simple; it’s mind-boggling. The Cake involves a daily use product at hyper-realistic creations that questioned one’s reality. When the Internet swept through this bizarre pattern, most responses were disturbing. Some people found it “unsettling” and “upsetting,” and they said it messed up with its sense of truth. As people are locked up and lonely away from home, several phenomena over the Internet, from focaccia gardens to coronavirus cakes, have taken over. This one takes the Cake, however (13). It all began with a video of an individual who shortened everything from pizza, potted plants, soap into fabric rolls to a cake. And the items are such a part of daily lifestyle that it is impossible to think it’s a dessert.
So, a simple as that, Trends form a huge part of daily change and inspiration. It keeps a community growing, allows others to be a part of the change, and admire the work. The various trends above were just a compilation of the biggest market changers and trendsetters. These trends have their impacts and benefits as well. Sometimes, trends tend to cross the line between reality and fun, while some trends are all for cringe and laughter. The rise of social media platforms that encourage these trends has to factor in if they harm a person or not. Trends do grow, and that’s the human side, they cannot be stopped unless it dies out.
