TikTok is Uniting Social Media Users in Ways Never Before Seen
I wanted to elaborate on something I alluded to in my other post. If you're on TikTok regularly, or even at all, you probably have heard of Couch Boy at this point. It is funny to watch a post grow the way it did because when I first came across the original video posted to TikTok by user @ laurenzarras, it had maybe 70k views? I didn't even think it had blown up until I started seeing parodies being made of the video: of which we talked about satire and parodies in our last module. At this point most regular TikTok users have been exposed to this couch couple. Here is some background now that I have confused you most likely.
Basically there is a trend on the app to the song "Still Falling For You" by Ellie Goulding where users, typically couples, post a heart-warming video of their loved one being surprised in some way.
Lauren Zarras is a college student doing long-distance with her boyfriend, Robbie, and she surprised him at a friend's apartment. The vibe of the video felt very off to people, so it didn't take long for her comment section to be flooded accusing her boyfriend of cheating. People have posted break-down videos showing how intimate he was with one of the girls on the couch; she had her hand around his back at one point and was holding his phone.
Basically millions of people are telling this girl she may be getting cheated on, but she is denying it whole-heartedly. People are even claiming that her boyfriend is gaslighting her and trying to do the same to the millions of people making the cheating accusations.
I have never seen such a mass of people come to an agreement on one thing, while also managing to turn it into a meme / parody.
This situation is why I resonated with and found the Yahoo article most interesting. We are witnessing modes of communication never before available. It is interesting to look at how the TikTok algorithm puts the same video on millions of FYPs making everyone aware of the same situation. And of course in true internet fashion, people make it into a joke.
















