Trends don't emerge in isolation; they're influenced by many factors and contexts. So, they often require deeper analysis to be fully understood, as they are crucial in deciphering audience interests, cultural shifts, or preferences. 

One of the simplest ways to follow social trends that have entwined entertainment and commerce, influenced lifestyle changes, buying patterns, or posed narrative threats is by unwrapping TikTok hashtags that relate, overlap, or shroud each other with several nuanced sub-themes to form a major context.

Die auf Social Media beobachteten Verhaltensmuster lassen sich häufig nur im richtigen Kontext und mit einem differenzierten Verständnis der zugehörigen Unterthemen erklären.

Um diesen Ansatz voranzutreiben, hat unser Team bei Exolyt – TikTok Analytics and Social Intelligence – eine neue Funktion entwickelt, die es ermöglicht, das komplexe Beziehungsnetz zwischen den auf TikTok diskutierten Themen (insbesondere Hashtags) zu erkunden und dabei umfassenden Kontext für die Navigation im Social Graph der Plattform liefert.

The hashtag relation network allows users to uncover meaningful relationships between topics discussed on TikTok. For any hashtag of interest, the tool reveals all the hashtags that have been used with that main hashtag for the selected time window.

👉 In the network, every node represents a single hashtag.

👉 Hashtags used together are connected by a link - a thicker link shows hashtags used together more often than others.

When these connections are repeated for each hashtag, a unique relationship network is generated that can change and evolve as TikTok trends rise and user behaviour or interests change. 

The links in these graphs are collectively created by the users and represent a mental map of the user base about a particular topic. We use the topology of the links between the topics to break down these graphs into smaller subtopics and isolate different themes.

Am Beispiel des Themas #deinfluencing zeigt die untenstehende Abbildung, dass Finanzen, Nachhaltigkeit sowie Make-up & Skincare die größten angrenzenden Subthemen von De-Influencing auf TikTok sind. Das vermittelt vor dem tieferen Einstieg ein klares Bild dessen, was dieses Thema im Kern ausmacht – denn diese kleineren Subthemen stehen für unterschiedliche Themencluster, die gemeinsam Momentum für den Haupttrend aufbauen.

Quelle: Exolyt Hashtag Relations

What do the colours mean?

The colours in the network represent communities of hashtags that are more frequently used together than the rest of the hashtags in the graphs.

Stellen Sie sich das Hashtag‑Netzwerk wie eine große Veranstaltung vor: farblich markierte Communities sind kleinere Gruppen Gleichgesinnter, die sich von der großen Runde absetzen und in kleineren Kreisen vernetzen. Im TikTok‑Kontext stehen diese Communities für spezifischere Nischenthemen innerhalb eines Hashtags.

Zum Beispiel umfasst das #BookTok Hashtag-Netzwerk mehrere kleinere Communities, die jeweils unterschiedliche Autorinnen und Autoren, Bücher, Genres oder popkulturelle Referenzen repräsentieren. Da #Bridgerton häufiger mit #Netflix als mit #romance verwendet wird, identifiziert unser Algorithmus zur Erkennung von Communities diese feinen Nutzungsunterschieden zuverlässig und ordnet jedem Hashtag eine eigene Community bzw. Farbgruppe zu.

Quelle: Exolyt Hashtag-Relationen

Many hashtag analysis tools focus only on the hashtag of interest and its performance metrics. 

Deshalb ist der Hashtag-Beziehungsnetzwerk-Graph ein echter Gamechanger:

1. Beyond Tunnel Vision: Unlike traditional hashtag analysis tools, it offers a broader perspective by illustrating how a topic interacts with related ones.
2. Contextual Understanding: Recognizes that trends don't emerge in isolation, providing users with crucial context to comprehend social media conversations fully.
3. Enhanced Insights: Offers peripheral vision, enabling users to uncover hidden connections and gain deeper insights into trends and audience interests.
4. Comprehensive Scope: Broadens the scope of understanding about conversations and trends on the platform, ensuring users don't miss the bigger picture.

With the Hashtag Relation Network Graph, users can navigate the dynamic landscape of social media with precision and clarity.

Start with colours - Colours represent communities of hashtags that are frequently used together (representing more niche topics within the hashtag). The colours of the nodes or sub-topics can give you a quick overview of user posting behaviour and existing communities. 

• If you're interested in the hashtags' strongest and most common connections, look for wider links and larger nodes (The larger the overlap %, the bigger the nodes and connections).
• If you're interested in the weaker or emerging connections, look at the network's periphery and more isolated nodes.

Quelle: Exolyt Hashtag-Relationen

If you are curious about how to get started with Hashtag Analytics, check out our blog linked below.

So, dive right into the universe of hashtags to uncover social trends only understood with the right context.