Social Media: An Interview with Carson Mlnarik

Carson Mlnarik is the social media manager at MTV News, where he runs the official @MTVNews social handles and writes articles to keep followers and audiences up to date on all things entertainment, music, movies, celebrities, and current events. He uses his role and platform to represent the MTV brand and create engaging and digestible social content, covering huge events like the Video Music Awards, MTV Movie Awards, Golden Globes, and more.

Source: Carson Mlnarik (Instagram) MTV News Social Media Manager

In the social media universe, how would you describe the differences between TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook?

"What's interesting is every social media platform has had its own heyday, typically when they're the hot new app on the market. I think TikTok is probably the biggest right now, but that's because it's learned from the success of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook before it. I think the biggest differences between the platforms right now is their user bases. Twitter tends to be a more professional, news-focused or comedic crowd (mostly Millennials), while Instagram is a bit of everyone, Facebook skews Millennial, Gen X and Boomer, and TikTok is mostly Gen Z and younger Millennials. I think Facebook is better geared to massive amounts of information (think photo albums, long statuses, longer former videos), while Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have all been chasing this idea of brevity — character limits, short-form videos, just pictures and aesthetics. There's all sorts of overlap, but I think the visual entertainment aspects of TikTok and Instagram are what have made them so successful."

How does MTV use TikTok differently than its other platforms?

"TikTok is one of the newer platforms that we have branched into, but the biggest difference between other social media platforms is that we're always pivoting and trend chasing. Their algorithm rewards what is trending and popular at the moment in a much different way than Twitter, for example, where it's just a matter of seeing the highest performing hashtags and keywords. What that means is constantly reconfiguring or editing content to find an in for a trending sound, or creating memes that might not make sense on Twitter or Instagram, but our TikTok audience will absolutely understand and engage with. It's a much more defined voice than our other platforms, but at the same time, it's a tone that's always changed."

How has MTV accepted TikTok creators into the MTV culture? I know Jaden Hossler, formerly a member of Sway House, was featured as MTV’s 'Push Artist' of the month in August of 2021.

"One of my favorite things about MTV is that we're always evolving and keeping up with our audience while still paying respect to our roots: music. We've definitely used TikTok creators and their platforms for bigger initiatives such as mental health and Pride campaigns, where we can work together to create content that speaks to their brand, as well as our brand's goals about creating a social impact. These usually make sense because they're topics that creators are already passionate about, but they get the added support of a bigger brand behind them. With the case of Jaden, I think it was the perfect crossover between someone who already has a huge built-in audience that we knew we could play into, but there was also this musical connection. One of our larger company goals has been to focus on that 'M' in 'MTV,' and so it was really a natural fit."

Do you find that posts about influencers do better or worse than posts about rappers, singers, or actors? Do you feel pressure to create content about TikTok stars and influencers to get views and likes, rather than more established celebrities who have been in the public eye for longer?

"We still tend to focus on bigger stars in the entertainment sphere, but have definitely dabbled into covering influencers and content creators when it makes sense. There's only been a few stars to break out of the TikTok space in a way that they're known outside of the app and in larger culture (think Addison Rae and Charli D'Amelio), but we've covered them because they are at a bigger level than their peers. As for pressure or success, I've found that influencers and content creators don't perform as well on our social media accounts, which is interesting because their follower accounts are so high. I think what it comes down to is fans of these people are so used to creators talking right to them through their videos or stories, that they really don't feel the need to read a profile or watch an interview from a media outlet with the star. The influencer group has kind of circumvented the need for publicity by creating it on their own. The majority of our social media audience is more interested in traditional celebrities, but that might change over time, especially as more TikTok stars find their way into bigger Hollywood projects."

How do you think TikTok has changed the concept of overnight fame?

"I think TikTok has kind of oversaturated the space. There's a lot of TikTok stars who have hundreds of thousands or millions of followers, but their fame is really limited to that app, which is why when Trump threatened to ban TikTok, so many of their careers and livelihoods were threatened. There's a lot of people who are "TikTok famous" but aren't known outside of the app, and their follower counts don't necessarily translate to their Twitter and Instagram accounts. That being said, I think TikTok has certainly made that idea seem more achievable to the masses, which is why their user count only continues to grow. You see people strike big with one good TikTok, and it makes you feel like, 'Hey, the algorithm could do that for me, too.' I think it's a good and bad thing — it definitely has encouraged more content creation but I think it's also encouraged some people to dumb down their videos to the lowest common denominator in hopes of going viral, when that's not necessarily something they want or can hold onto."

Did you think that it was possible for someone new to join the social media space and really quickly amass 127.2 millions followers on a new app? (Charli D’Amelio)

"I didn't think it was possible, but I think Charli and TikTok have shown us that the idea of viral fame is only evolving, and will only get bigger. I think a big reason she struck gold was timing and the algorithm. It's funny because movies always make "going viral" look really easy, and that's typically not the case, but with Charli, it really was such a short period of time."

How do you determine what will hit on TikTok vs Instagram? How do the audiences differ in the content they appreciate?

"Since Reels is a newer feature on Instagram, we have been doing a lot of posts on Reels because Instagram's algorithm is boosting them in people's feeds and they're swiping through Reels much like they do on TikTok. Because of that, we're kind of in an experimental phase where we really aren't discriminating that much between what we post on TikTok versus Instagram, however there are certainly some differences. Something that's specifically trending on TikTok won't perform the same way on Instagram, so if it's specifically a niche sound or joke sound (think the "Oh no, oh no" or "don't be suspicious", etc.), we would let that live on TikTok instead of Instagram. I would say our Instagram audience is a lot more focused on celebrity news than TikTok, where it seems people are more interested in funny or quirky content. We also do a lot of produced video (filmed interviews with celebrities, throwbacks to old interviews, etc.) and while that resonates with our Instagram audience, people on TikTok don't want to see something produced, they want to see someone speaking directly to camera."

How do you feel about the power that these TikTokers have over young audiences? Does it feel similar to the ways that you as a child looked up to certain celebrities?

"I think it kind of goes back to the viral fame idea. I'm not sure if TikTokers are encouraging younger audiences in ways that are much different than celebrities do to their fanbases on other social media platforms (think Taylor Swift and voting, etc.) but I definitely think TikTokers hold a certain amount of power in dictating and creating trends and styles, and we haven't quite unpacked how that's going to affect the current generation. When I was in high school, Vine had just launched and everyone was "doing it for the Vine." Before that, there was YouTube and things like the cinnamon challenge. I think we'll always be influenced by social media, but I think TikTok is a lot more addictive, self contained and derivative than these other platforms were, and that's something we should be mindful of."

How has TikTok changed the day to day of your role as social media manager?

"Working in social media, we've always had to be jacks of all trades. In addition to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram (and their respective analytic and publishing tools), I use Photoshop and Adobe Premiere everyday. It's not just copy writing, it's building graphics and editing videos, and I think TikTok has just exacerbated that need for video editing skills in the social media space. Thankfully, TikTok's tools are pretty intuitive, but they're also timestaking! The nice thing about TikTok is it doesn't have to be as polished and professional as something we'd post on Youtube, for example, but there's also strategizing that goes into making content look "more natural." It's also an entirely different platform with trends that wildly differ from Instagram and Twitter, so it's a whole other audience to keep up with."

Working in social media everyday, what do you think is the most negative and most positive impact that TikTok has had?

"I think the most positive impact TikTok has had is joy! The app really had its come-up during quarantine, when we were all at home and wanted something to comfort us. From random cooking videos to comedy to dancing, there's something for everyone on TikTok and its finely tuned algorithm will help you find the content that best resonates with you — and it will do it fast! I think once the app gets to know you, everyone can find something they appreciate and it's nice to be able to find your own little communities on the app. There's something special about short form video (hence why Vine got so popular) that's different from pictures on Instagram or tweets, which I think is why you see Instagram creating their own version of it with Reels.

As for the most negative impact, I would say it's the way TikTok has impacted the music industry. Working for MTV, I keep up with a lot of music news and while it's awesome that old songs are resurfacing from years ago and charting on the Billboard Hot 100 just because they were on TikTok, it's really put a damper on new musicians. Everything is about trying to come up with that perfect line for a short form video or gimmick for others to copy (think "Build a Bitch," even "Levitating" and its verbal dance instructions), that there's less focus on the art and more focus on the best way to sell a song in a short form video, where you can't even hear the full piece."