Consumer Habits: The Rise of TikTok Lights

Source: Dana Galo l TikTok Lights

There's a trend in digital culture of social media users sharing the products they’ve purchased online, citing that “TikTok made me buy it.” Before making a purchase, it's become routine now to see what people on TikTok are saying about said product for feedback and recommendations. These videos create a huge impact on commerce outside of the app. Basically, this trend exposes users to products and small businesses that they might not come across organically, along with an explanation of why it's so great. The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has over 6.8 billion views on the TikTok app alone, filled with videos of users sharing affordable and life changing products they discovered on the app, purchased, and loved. However, these posts span across all platforms, with social media users sharing the things that a TikTok video convinced them to buy on Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These items can be literally anything, ranging from cleaning products to beauty, tech, fashion, cooking, home decor... anything is fair game for users to boast about the impact it has had on their lives. The videos voice their endorsements for items, just like friends would do with each other. While millennials had the ‘looking for recommendations’ post on Facebook, Gen Z has the ‘TikTok made me buy it,’ and it has transformed consumer habits. People are not only posting these videos as a way to look out for other users, but also because they recognize that these review videos have significant potential to gain many views.

During the pandemic, everyone was posting videos from home while quarantining, so many users were making these videos from their bedrooms. Multicolored LED lights, now known as TikTok lights, became the new in-demand accessory for kids’ and teens’ bedrooms. According to Google, searches for these TikTok lights increased by 132% in March of 2020. This is just one example of a social media-influenced purchase, since TikTok’s algorithm puts items in front of your eyes that you would not come across while shopping on your own. Instead, because of the content based algorithm which places your interests in front of you, the app can practically recognize videos of products a viewer might like.

The buying behavior of Gen Z has been completely changed as a result of the app. I can personally thank TikTok for influencing me to buy certain products. In my own experience, I’ve purchased a teeth whitening product that I saw a dentist on the app recommending, a video which received thousands of comments from users saying that they saw the video and loved the results. Experts in fields are even joining in on the trend. I trust many of the videos I see on the app for product recommendations because these videos are made authentically by choice, rather than a sponsored post one might see on Instagram urging followers to spend their money on something they are paid to advertise. TikTok, on the other hand, is a brutally honest environment where a video’s comment section will not allow a user to get away with false advertising. If a TikTok video has millions or hundreds of thousands of likes, as well as a plethora of comments with users sharing their own experiences with a particular product, it's clear that the item is worth purchasing. Even with less ads interrupting users like on other social media platforms, it has a greater influence on purchase behavior than anything else out there.