TikTok has evolved from a platform for viral dance challenges and lip-sync videos to a powerful social media tool with far-reaching implications for business, culture, politics, and social change. With the platform’s vast and diverse content, TikTok is also an invaluable resource for digital ethnographers, social scientists, and researchers. In particular, the tool Exolyt has been instrumental in enabling these professionals to uncover trends, analyse behaviours, and navigate the complexities of content on TikTok.

In this blog, we will highlight five key studies where Exolyt played a pivotal role in conducting research on TikTok, demonstrating its broad applications and impact.

Source: iSANS

In this study, Exolyt was utilised to examine how political propaganda manifested on TikTok. Researchers used Exolyt’s social listening capabilities to analyse the spread of pro-regime, pro-democracy, and pro-Kremlin narratives. By examining the political discourse on TikTok, the team identified key influencers and the strategies used to spread political messaging. Exolyt’s sentiment analysis and engagement tracking helped researchers monitor how these narratives evolved over time, and which content sparked the most engagement.

Key Insight: Exolyt helped track real-time political discourse and identify how TikTok’s viral nature was leveraged for political propaganda.

b. Using NLTK & OpenAI to Detect TikTok Disinformation

Source: FactCheck.by

FactCheck, a leading fact-checking organisation, relied on Exolyt in conjunction with NLTK and Openai to analyse TikTok content for disinformation. Using Exolyt’s platform, they could collect and monitor relevant data and videos and apply AI and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to detect patterns and sentiment shifts in TikTok posts. This research highlighted the challenges of combating misinformation and how technological tools could enhance efforts in monitoring and verifying content accuracy.

Key Insight: Exolyt’s ability to track and collect TikTok content was crucial for pairing NLP techniques to detect and monitor disinformation, making the research process more effective.

c. TikTok in Times of Crisis: Understanding Public Response and Behaviour

Source: Expert Forum

TikTok serves as a unique reflection of public sentiment in times of crisis. The research conducted by the Expert Forum examined how TikTok was used to express and amplify public response during critical times, including political upheavals and natural disasters, with a focus on Romania. Exolyt’s social listening tools helped identify the tone and patterns of TikTok content related to specific events, allowing researchers to gauge public reaction. Through Exolyt’s comprehensive data collection and analysis, researchers could identify the spread of both support and dissent across different demographic groups.

Key Insight: Exolyt enabled the research team to track TikTok content during a crisis, providing valuable insights into public sentiment and the role of social media during critical events.

Source: Snapshot of Exolyt from Expert Forum Report

d. TikTok for BRICS: Geopolitical and Economic Narratives

Source: The Russia Program: The George Washington University

TikTok has emerged as a news platform in this era of global citizen journalism. According to the Pew Research Centre, about half of TikTok users (52%), equivalent to 17% of all U.S. adults, regularly get news on the site. This news is consumed from various sources, especially 'news influencers' or independent citizen journalists, not just from media accounts or journalists. This study by Dr Olga Logunova explores how TikTok is reshaping the dissemination and consumption of international news and is soaring in popularity as a news source, with reference to the 2024 BRICS Summit. Exolyt played a key role in analysing cross-border content related to BRICS countries, identifying trends in discourse and engagement related to international politics. By tracking how political content on TikTok resonated with viewers in these diverse regions, the study shed light on how these countries used the platform to spread their political and economic agendas.

Key Insight: Exolyt helped researchers to conduct a comparative analysis of TikTok’s influence across multiple countries, enhancing the understanding of how geopolitical narratives spread on the platform.

e. TikTok’s Role in Public Health Communication

Source: ScienceDirect

This research examined the role of TikTok in public health communication and investigated the quality and demographic variations of TikTok videos concerning scoliosis education. The study used Exolyt's analytics platform to analyse content metrics such as engagement rates, viewer demographics, and content themes. The findings highlight significant disparities in educational quality and audience targeting, emphasising the need for improved content strategies to ensure accurate and inclusive health information dissemination on TikTok.​

Key Insight: Exolyt’s platform provided in-depth data on user engagement with health content, and real-time data and sentiment analysis on the effectiveness of scoliosis-related content across diverse TikTok audiences. Thereby, helping researchers understand how effectively public health messages were communicated and how misinformation spread.

• Rapid Content Evolution: TikTok's fast-paced nature means trends, challenges, and viral content evolve at lightning speed. Exolyt’s real-time tracking helps researchers keep up with this rapid evolution, ensuring they don't miss emerging patterns.
• User-Generated Insights: TikTok offers raw, user-generated content that provides a genuine reflection of public sentiment. This data is invaluable for ethnographic studies and trend analysis.
• Global Reach and Cultural Shifts: TikTok’s international reach makes it a key platform for studying cross-cultural behaviours, movements, and global trends. Researchers can gain insights into different markets and societies.
• Influencer Impact: TikTok is home to some of the most influential creators across various niches. Analysing their content can provide valuable insights into consumer behaviours, social movements, and brand influence.
• Addressing Misinformation: As seen in the studies mentioned above, TikTok plays a significant role in spreading both accurate and misleading information. Social listening tools like Exolyt can help identify, track, and address disinformation before it spreads too far.

The five studies outlined above demonstrate how Exolyt has empowered researchers to uncover trends, monitor public sentiment, and track content on TikTok, a platform that is reshaping how information is shared and consumed. By providing real-time insights and enabling data-driven analysis, Exolyt has become a vital tool for those looking to understand the complex dynamics of TikTok and leverage it for research, marketing, and digital ethnography.