A Teacher’s Guide to TikTok

You’ve heard of it, but have you really understood it?

As if we weren’t distracted enough, along comes TikTok.

Ever wondered why your pupils gradually and then all of a sudden, in chorus, make a rising “Sheeeesh” sound when you’ve calmly and quietly told them to “Shush!”? Don’t panic. They’re talking TikTok. It’s from a meme which originated with a frog and then… No, wait. Life’s too short.

Your pupils are on it, and in great numbers

In short, ignore TikTok at your peril!

Why so compelling?

As one 16-year-old girl told us: “It’s just so effortless. It’s ridiculously easy to lose hours scrolling.”

Its powerful single algorithm is fiendishly adept at serving up just what you want on its “For You” page, aka “FYP”, the first page you land on when you open the TikTok app.

Based on your interests and past interactions, it very quickly offers a winning mix of the type of video you clearly like along with those from creators who might just be your thing.

A place encouraging creativity

Much of what TikTok serves up is fast-food entertainment. It’s light-hearted and fun. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s easy snacking. You can see why downloads exploded during those early months of the pandemic two years ago. It’s easy, uncomplicated escapism.

But that’s not to deny that much of what it offers is both visually splendid and gripping in a primal, visceral way. Short videos of dance-offs follow skydiving followed by optical illusions and comedy and cookery demos followed by…

To get a flavour of the sheer variety, take a look at “most viewed videos on TikTok” on YouTube. Some of it is wonderfully inventive.

And for creators, TikTok makes it really easy to edit and upload videos, but that doesn’t mean the videos themselves are all thrown together thoughtlessly. Those that go viral are brilliantly structured, luring us in during those all-important first three seconds, and keeping us there until the killer twist in the tale.

Only a curmudgeon could fail to see how all this stuff is ridiculously entertaining to a younger audience.

There’s also the dizzying speed with which trends come and go.

Take TikTok slang.

“Weird flex but ok” is a sarky, mocking expression of scepticism, when someone makes bold claims about something weird, unusual, and ultimately questionable.

Yup, all that in four short words.

Of course, we don’t understand half of it but that’s the point. Slang is all about exclusivity, in this case excluding oldsters like, let’s face it, you and me.

I’m not claiming to be CEO of TikTok slang. The minute you say you’re slaying it with TikTok speak, someone young will pat you on the arm, eye roll, and explain, “Weird flex but ok, we don’t say slay anymore.”

Communities

From what I can see, TikTok is bringing together people from disparate backgrounds, the very opposite of echo chambers and silos. The young people we spoke to were learning loads about genres of music they would not otherwise have come across. Their tastes were impressively eclectic.

As a side note, a lot of the criticism of TikTok seems fuelled by the usual disdain older generations have for whatever usurps the attention of the young. “Ah – harrumph – back in my day, we had proper social media platforms, none of that silly lip-syncing. Such a waste of time…”

Ah, but is it, always?

Education content is flourishing

A lot has been written about this in the last year.

To accommodate its legions of educators, the platform took the bold move of extending videos from its trademark 15 seconds to 60 seconds and then to 3 minutes, much to the consternation of many who felt that brevity was its USP.

Their reasoning, however, was to encourage explainer and education content: history, cooking, arts and craft, and so much more.

Some tutors, for example, are insanely popular on the site, with quick teaser puzzles and conundrums. They have much to teach us about the perfect lesson starter.

Catching the viewer’s attention in the first three seconds is paramount.

40-second videos hit the sweet spot.  

We especially like the look of BookTok, where creators promote books, which could well be the gateway to reading for many.

But what can you really do in 3-minutes?

We’ve had this discussion several times this week, albeit by email, as we’ve asked educators their thoughts about TikTok.

One wrote: “Education is about depth, it is about exploring nuance, it is about complexity, which can’t be reduced to 15 seconds. It is about understanding why the chemistry you learned when you were 12 is in fact false (and at A Level you’ll get why).”

We agree, but you’ve got to get them hooked on chemistry first.

Another wrote: “Part of the art of teaching is making complex ideas accessible. The challenge TikTok presents is: can you actually do that in 15 seconds?  Yes! Some of the best ideas can be presented quickly and succinctly, and then have the power to unlock a new world. That’s why even the shortest adverts get stuck in our heads. The key issue is whether we can make an idea ‘sticky’.”

TikTok is turning young learners into educators: to teach is to learn twice

It’s young people who are acing it on BookTok.

The short video format has become a tool not for teachers to impart knowledge, but for students to actively learn it. That’s the challenge for pupils: to create their own content based on what they are supposed to be learning.

Another educator made this case: “Rather than producing content they consume, the TikTok challenge is about creation: creation which fosters independent learning. If a student has done all that deep processing to make a complex idea simple enough to squeeze into as little as 15 seconds, along with the brain ache of making it accessible and interesting, then in ‘teaching’ it themselves they might just have learnt something about what you’re trying to teach them. Putting the 3-minute TikTok challenge into their hands puts them in charge of their own learning. To teach is to learn twice, as they say.”

I’d add, all this is not to forget TikTok’s initial selling point as respite from education, not access it.

Marketing 101: go where your customers are

It was only going to be a matter of time before marketers cottoned on that this is the place to raise brand awareness among young people. As we’ve said, some of our suppliers advertise only on TikTok.

It offers huge benefits. The juice is definitely worth the squeeze.

For little effort, there are huge gains, if brands take a strategic approach.

For one, it is comparatively easy to build up a following in a relatively short space of time. It’s simple maths. Short videos soon get watched and shared and go viral. Just look at how many TikTok influencers – or creators – have shot to fame almost by accident, in lightning speed.

TikTok allows for highly targeted advertising

TikTok got into hot water last year for using facial recognition software in user videos and algorithms to identify age, gender, and ethnicity. A lawsuit led to TikTok paying $92m (£66m).

One teen we spoke to told us, a little unsettled, “It seems to know I have dry skin. I get all these adverts.”

She still has an immense affection for the platform, though.

All this takes us to the issue of online safety.

It’s not something you leave to chance

And education has its part to play here. Before they get into deep water, we want young people to know as much as they can about social media, its opportunities, the perils, and the pitfalls.

Ideally, you want children to have a testing ground to get them social media-ready and internet-proof.

This is what’s great about Natterhub. It’s a safe, gated social media style platform, providing the perfect playground to prepare them for later interaction in the online world.

Pupils really like the lessons, badge system, and fake news quizzes on this innovative platform.

Created with online safety in mind, it has over 350 interactive lessons to teach pupils all about being on screens and how to develop healthy screen behaviours, manage wellbeing, and build digital resilience.

Suitable for children years 1-6, with a scheme of work aligned to all of the RSE curriculum and the UKCIS Education for a Connected World, Natterhub’s weekly lessons and assessment programme provide a comprehensive, fun, interactive solution for schools’ online safety, media literacy, and digital intelligence development.

And if you’re interested in online communities…

Edmodo, the world’s largest social learning network, allows teachers to work with their students in school or remotely, while keeping parents in the loop. They can easily send messages and share class materials, making learning accessible anywhere.

Better still, they can connect and collaborate with other teachers around the world.

For students, Edmodo provides a vibrant classroom community that raises confidence and enables them to experience what it means to be a digital citizen.

Highly rated GoBubble is another platform where pupils can learn to connect, communicate, and collaborate in a kind, considerate way. All content is checked before it appears, reducing online harm.

One reviewer explains: “GoBubble’s AI system monitors the students for inappropriate communications, holds and flags that communication for the teacher. Students immediately learn not to communicated in any way that’s not considered good digital citizenship.”

More than 3500 schools are now registered around the world.

Final thoughts

In a nutshell, TikTok is huge and getting huger. We can’t pretend it doesn’t exist, longing for a time when 15 seconds was just a natural pause in the King’s Speech.

Of course, there’s a dark side – or risk – to TikTok. This is true of everything we do online.

And much of TikTok may not, let’s say, be quite to your taste.

But “Sheeeshh”, as the numbers show, and just listening to your students, you can’t ignore it.

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Blog in summary

TikTok is fun. Our kids spend a lot of time there. We need to know at least a little about it.