"I Blow Up": Understanding TikTok Users’ Reactions to Sudden Social Media Attention

Social media platforms are known to facilitate sudden bursts of attention on individual pieces of content and their creators — dynamics often referred to as “going viral”. However, questions remain about how these moments impact the individuals who experience them, especially within algorithmically-mediated, video-sharing platforms like TikTok. In this study, we seek to better understand the experiences of creators who received a burst of attention, as identified by their participation in a trend highlighting an earlier video that had “blown up.” Through mixed-methods analysis of TikTok trace data and interviews, we show that massive surges in attention can have significant, varied, and long-lasting impacts on creators — within the platform and beyond. These include a short-term increase in views and sharing more similar content, and posting more content responding to other content on the platform. We also show how algorithmically-mediated bursts — or “boosts” — of attention led to shifts in creators’ conceptualizations of themselves, the platform, and their audiences. Our work contributes empirical and conceptual insights into online fame and celebrity, how audiences and influencers interact, and how the affordances and cultures of TikTok shape how sudden attention is experienced on the platform.