Tik Tok, community, the search for truth and art with Bradley Butler

This week I spoke to Bradley, one of the 689 million Tik Tok users who has amassed over 600k views on some singular posts. We chatted about how social media is less a window into narcissistic projection, and is more now a space for community-building and empowerment, where an individual is an active part of this ecosystem. 

I introduced theVOV to him and somehow, a the streams of discussion, from social media to art and back again, found their place in our online platform.

What made you post on TikTok for the first time? 

I started doing TikTok initially as a way to express myself and entertain my mates. With Instagram and other platforms you aren’t given the same level of user-friendly tools for expression, and I felt that with TikTok I could create all these bonkers sketches I had in my mind. 

Why do you think Tik Tok is such a useful tool to disseminate information? 

I think people look at information from TikTok as more authentic and reliable compared to other platforms. Facebook and Instagram have become these perfectly manicured feeds of people living their best lives, filled with spam-like ads and toxic positivity. It’s not about the users anymore, it’s about the stakeholders. And this just doesn’t resonate with people anymore, with both platforms experiencing declining engagement rates. 

It’s also a superior tool for information dissemination as TikTok’s algorithm is scarily accurate. Your content is likely to go to the audience that is most likely to engage with it, so information on TikTok isn’t just spread, it’s pinpointed.

How has posting on TikTok changed the way you view and use the internet? 

I think before I used to look at the internet as a space to project my image of myself. It was always a practice of Keeping Up with the Jones: I wanted everyone to know what I was doing, who I was with and how overwhelmingly social I was. But TikTok’s focus on trends, mundane oversharing and community building really changed my perspective. When you go on app - you just see normal people. Sure, there are (annoying) celebrities, but I think a great way Brittany Broski put it was that ‘Tiktok is for normal people, would the celebs just f*ck off!’ 

“Since I’ve started TikTok, the internet’s become more like a space for community-building and empowerment, and I see myself as part of an ecosystem as opposed to a narcissistic projection.”

What is a frontier of social technology you want to see?

Definitely social mobilisation - platforms that give users and the tools needed to mobilise communities to fight for change. This is why I think theVOV your Voice aspect on the platform is so important.

Can anyone be an artist on Social Media?

I think its true that everyone can curate their feed, and this in turn shapes our identities as part of certain communities in those ecosystems. I think it lends to a wider discussion of what you consider art, and to go even wider it makes me wonder ‘What is truth?’. On social media, the concept of truthful projection is almost redundant for a platform like Instagram.

In this way, Tik Tok is closer to the defining concepts behind technoshamanism. What is valued is honesty, and transparency. 

How do you think this role of community will develop on theVOV?

Psychology tells us that no one likes silence, it makes us uncomfortable. I think on theVOV, a goal is of a space that is occupied, full of community and commentary. Looking at art is so much more interesting when you can share it with other people and understand what they think and feel. 

For me, the fact that I don’t know a lot about art, and what I do know about theVOV, what interests me is the stories behind the artworks, that the artists themselves and curators will share. It’s the behind the scenes of how something is created that I find fascinating.

I can walk into any art gallery in real life and read a placard, theVOV is going to tell me and teach me so much more I feel.

Like I said, I don’t know a lot about art, not because I don’t want to, but because it’s so inaccessible, and I think it’s the same for a lot of people too. Looking at theVOV, it’s exciting because it makes me feel like I can understand, it makes me feel like I’m included.

Come VOV with me and Bradley!

with love, from Lottie @theVOV