TikTok (ByteDance)

The Viral Spiral

In a TikTok post last month, the singer Halsey shared a message with fans: “basically i have a song that i love that i want to release ASAP,” the musician wrote, “but my record label won’t let me.” Despite eight years in the music industry and over 165 million records sold, Halsey said, “my record […]

Dance Class Is in Session: Flail, Get Weird, Unlock Yourself

You’re going to feel silly, Angela Trimbur promised. It was a Sunday, and Trimbur, a dancer and choreographer in a Jane Fonda-worthy ’80s leotard, was leading a class in a midtown Manhattan studio. Nearly 50 people were lured in by her pitch: an afternoon twirled away in unserious but very intentional movement. The goal, Trimbur […]

Dance, I Said — Dance! And Leave the Package on the Porch.

How did we get here? It all feels like an inevitable outgrowth of Amazon’s ever-expanding product suite. Install its motion-activated Ring doorbell and your stoop becomes a stage; enroll in its Amazon Prime service, and you’ll summon an endless stream of players. Amazon encourages customers to publicize their Ring videos on its safety-minded social network, […]

How Big Can a TikTok Duet Get?

In October, Sadie Jean, a singer-songwriter and a sophomore at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, hit the road with some friends to work on writing songs. One particular number, a plea for reconnection with someone who slipped away, began to take shape. Jean has a sweet yet sturdy voice, and the […]

Netflix and the Internet of Fads

TikTok and Netflix didn’t invent flashes in the pan, of course. But the infinite nature of the internet and online mechanics have supercharged the 15 minutes of fame. “Some of us and some businesses will learn to accept that fame comes five seconds and not 15 minutes at a time,” Tal Shachar, a media and […]

Chanel, TikTok and the Beauty Advent Calendar Controversy

Hell hath no fury like a social media mob that thinks it has identified a luxury scam. Or so it seemed this weekend, when a series of viral TikTok videos involving an $825 Chanel advent calendar and the disappointed customer who bought it went viral, inspiring a multitude of users to call foul on the […]

‘Today’s Outfit Is Confidence’: Atypical TikTok Star Enchants Mexico

MEXICO CITY — At 49 years old and under five feet tall, Martha Izquierdo doesn’t exactly fit the mold of a TikTok influencer. But having survived sexual abuse, kidnapping, two bouts with cancer and two heart attacks, conquering social media was practically a cinch for this Mexican journalist. Ms. Izquierdo, who lives in a small […]