In a burnt orange t-shirt, Michael Snook began their now viral TikTok from August 2020 by addressing the camera.
“I go to UT-Austin, and this is what my school has given us to deal with COVID this semester,” geosystems engineering sophomore Snook said.
The next clip showed their hand grabbing the air, implying that UT was unprepared for a pandemic. Now, their TikTok has over 240 thousand views and nearly 50 thousand likes.
Popular among Generation Z and millennials, TikTok is a social media platform where people can scroll through short videos endlessly for baking trends, point of view comedy skits and dance challenges. The app brings together communities like Foodie Tok, Disney Tok and even “UT Tok.”
“I didn't have a goal of fame in mind when I was making any of the videos, but I was hoping some people would see it at least,” Snook said.
Like Snook, bilingual education junior Raul DeLeon went viral on TikTok in November 2020 for a 10-second video related to the Forty Acres.
“I made the TikTok as a fun thing to fill the time,” DeLeon said. “I realized I kept getting more and more likes. After the whole day I was like, ‘Hold on. This is actually about to be seen by everybody.’ And it shocked me.”
DeLeon’s TikTok, which depicts his negative feelings toward another semester online, received over 127 thousand likes. He said students across campus recognized him from his video.
“People on UT Twitter, people that I have in my classes — a bunch of people will be like, ‘I found you on TikTok,’” DeLeon said. “They sent me messages or commented on the TikTok like ‘Remember me when you’re famous.’”
Although their TikTok about racist experiences at UT now has over 73 thousand likes, Asian American studies senior Sarah Philips said they didn’t think their viral video would get as many views as it did.
“The more people argue in your comment sections, the more people see it,” Philips said. “I noticed that when you talk about racism at UT, it usually gets a lot of attention, especially from people who are trying to defend UT.”
In their TikTok, Philips references buildings named after Confederate leaders, the history of the Eyes of Texas and a 2016 “affirmative action bake sale” held by the UT-Austin chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas.
“TikTok taught me that there are people on some corner of the internet that are interested in the really niche thing that you're interested in,” Philips said. “They’re gonna find that content and want to talk to you about it.”
TikTok creators like Snook, DeLeon and Philips said they became more active on the app when the coronavirus pandemic began and isolation set in.
“I like that I actually get to see people’s faces, and it feels like you’re talking to people and creating connections like you would in real life,” Philips said.
