#LILAC23 How university students use TikTok to search for information

Pam McKinney here live blogging from the #LILAC23. This presentation was led by Elizabeth Brookbank from Western Oregon University, reporting initial results from a study to understand how TikTok might influence IL teaching.
Google are worried about the impact that TikTok could have on their business model, as GenZ are increasingly turning to these new social media for information discovery rather than search engines like Google. In response, Google are changing their algorithm to show more TikTok videos in their search results, and more videos overall. 

Initial conversations took place with students, who reported that it was a lot easier to see what content was paid for on TikTok than on Google. Some thought that using search was pointless on TikTok because of the way the algorithm works, in that it only shows you content in your filter bubble, that you’ve already shown an interest in. It doesn’t allow you to sort results by date, but is useful if you need practical advice on how to do things. There is little published research on how people search on TikTok but one study showed that relevant content is returned faster than on Google, and video content was thought to be easier to engage with than text. The participants didn’t care much about misinformation, and avoid material that is perceived to be risky e.g. health. 

Elizabeth conducted 3 focus groups with students, and these have not been analysed fully; she reported interim results only at the conference. Participants were concerned about spending too much time on the app, and have concerns about the amount of information it harvests. It was seen to be a good way to entertain oneself, and is relaxing. Some participants were TikTok  creators, and used this as a way to share their problems and self-care. Connecting with friends was seen to be a positive aspect of the app, and to find out about the news.
Students were asked if they used TikTok to search for information and half said yes they did, which seemed a little contradictory to Google’s panic about genZ all changing their search interface. TikTok is searched for “how to” videos e.g. for recipes, cleaning, or fixing things or crochet etc. one student used it in a class. Participants were asked about “searching” versus “scrolling”, and reported that TikTok would present them with relevant information if they had been searching for information on other platforms. Students would subscribe to certain hashtags if they had ongoing information needs. Some thought that searching didn’t really work on TikTok.
Comments on other peoples’ videos were useful for gaining a consensus on a topic, and TikTok was seen as a good place to start looking for information, that would be followed up on other platforms. There was a sense that participants were able to judge the authority of content creators, and were sensitive to the lived experiences of certain creators. Aspects such as camera quality, and the look of the video were important ways to judge the quality of the information presented. Political and health information was rarely trusted, generally the participants liked to search for low stakes information on TikTok.
Photo Pam McKinney