In recent years, TikTok has become much more than just a short-form video platform. It is now a living ecosystem of cultural expression, a place where meaning is performed, negotiated, and remixed in real time. For researchers, strategists, and marketers looking to understand people beyond the numbers, TikTok offers something uniquely valuable: direct access to the cultural codes and microcultures that shape how people see the world.

TikTok Isn’t Just Trending, It’s Culturally Dense

Most brands chase whatever is trending on social media, often losing sight of what real trends actually mean. There’s certainly value in real-time marketing and engaging with viral content, but it’s important to recognise that many of these moments are fleeting phenomena.

Brands driven by FOMO risk overlooking deeper, long-term shifts in consumer behaviour and cultural needs. Many marketers worry that trends are becoming shorter. But the truth is: trends aren’t disappearing; it’s just that the line between what is a trend and what is simply trending has become increasingly blurred.

TikTok is often viewed as a platform of quick spikes in attention, but it can also reveal something much deeper: the underlying stories, symbols, and identities that drive collective behaviour. From slang and sound choices to visual styles and in-jokes, TikTok is a goldmine for decoding how cultural meaning is created, shared, and contested.

As anthropologist Franz Boas suggested over a century ago, we all wear ”cultural glasses” (kulturbrille) that shape our perception of reality. TikTok offers an unparalleled look into these lenses, especially for communities that are underrepresented or overlooked in mainstream media.

Trends rooted in cultural, social, or psychological shifts are often overshadowed by the peaks and troughs of viral cycles. To truly understand what’s happening, we need to connect isolated signals to their shared cultural context.

Take cortisol, for example. While it’s easy to identify peaks like “cortisol matcha” on TikTok, a deeper analysis reveals a growing cultural awareness around stress and hormone management and the strategies people are developing to cope with it. Deeper analysis of related context could help with identifying important changes.

#cortisolmatcha viewership spike on TikTok

Source: Exolyt

Related conversations around Cortisol

Source: Exolyt

What would Malinowski do on TikTok?

Bronisław Malinowski moved anthropological research from behind the desk into the field. The essence of the field was to go out into the natural environment of the research. With the development of the Internet in anthropology, the question arose: What would Malinowski do? The answer was simple for Christine Hine in her brilliant Virtual Ethnography (2020). She considered that if the people you are researching are moving their activity online, the researcher should follow them.

Digital ethnography sees social media as a field where you can conduct field research with all its benefits:

• Participant observation of organic engagement
• Looking for an insider's perspective (emic)
• Tacit knowledge expressed in action

TikTok is a great place to spot internet culture and general cultural practice, and Malinowski will definitely observe it not through just analysis and reports but by "going out" into the field. By that, I mean not just an overview of statistics and analytics in apps but full immersion in context.

Case Study: How Budget Beer Became a Cultural Icon

A perfect example of this dynamic is Harnaś - a budget Polish beer brand by Carlsberg Group that unexpectedly became a social media phenomenon. In 2021, a parody song called “Harnaś Ice Tea” appeared on YouTube. It poked fun at mixing beer with iced tea. But the joke took on a life of its own on TikTok, where users began creating DIY versions of the drink. Influencers joined the trend organically. The internet laughed and then bought in. Carlsberg responded quickly by releasing a flavoured version of the product. The product itself turned out to be a sales success.

Harnas Ice Tea

But this wasn’t random. Months earlier, research I conducted for Carlsberg had revealed a passionate subculture around Harnaś. People didn’t just drink it, they identified with it. The brand stood for raw inclusivity at a time when others chased exclusivity. Harnaś became a symbol of what we might call “premium poverty”: ironic, proud, culturally aware consumption rooted in working-class aesthetics. In the case of Harnaś, the phenomenon grew organically and brought different types of communities and even custom fashion. This is what TikTok can uncover, not just what’s funny, but what’s meaningful.

Culture Codes and the Power of Context

French anthropologist Clotaire Rapaille introduced the idea of culture codes: unconscious meanings that shape how we respond to products, behaviours, and ideas. On TikTok, these codes play out in seconds. A dance isn’t just a dance - it’s a reference to a subculture. A joke isn’t just funny - it’s a test of whether you get it.

These meanings are often invisible to outsiders. That’s why digital ethnography must go beyond metrics and into interpretation. Understanding TikTok means understanding how users construct identity, express values, and connect through shared symbols.

Microcultures: The True Drivers of Change

Microcultures - small but influential groups with shared values, aesthetics, or experiences - thrive on TikTok. Whether gamers critique toxic behavior, fashion communities reclaim thrift culture, or audiophiles obsess over sound quality, these groups are not just niche; they're culturally potent.

They often operate under the radar until, suddenly, they don't. Today's microculture may be tomorrow's microculture. TikTok lets us spot these cultural tipping points as they emerge.

How to Do Digital Ethnography on TikTok

Doing meaningful research on TikTok curiosity, openness, and methodological discipline. Here’s how to start:

• Follow the hashtags, but read the comments - the richest insights often lie in the discussion, not just the content.
• Observe behaviours, not just views - look at how users remix trends, adapt language, and respond to each other.
• Immerse yourself - follow creators, engage with content, and try to feel the culture from the inside out (emic perspective).
• Look for thick descriptions - small details - an edit style, a soundbite, or a running joke can tell you volumes about group values.
• Triangulate - check Reddit threads, Facebook groups, and even niche forums to understand broader context.

Avoiding the Trap of “Trendwashing”

Everyone wants to ride the wave. But co-opting cultural signals without understanding them often backfires. Brands that jump into trends without grasping their deeper context risk falling into what I call ”trendwashing”, a superficial mimicry that audiences instantly recognise as inauthentic. The solution? Don’t just watch trends. Understand them. Treat TikTok not as a marketing channel, but as a cultural artefact.

In a world of dashboards and data overload, qualitative insight has never been more essential. TikTok provides a window into how real people create meaning through humour, irony, rebellion, and community. It’s messy. It’s chaotic. And that’s exactly why it’s valuable.

Digital ethnography on TikTok lets us move from counting mentions to interpreting meaning. It helps us ask not just ”what people are doing”, but ”why they’re doing it that way”. For brands, researchers, and anyone interested in culture, that’s not just useful, it’s transformative.

This article was compiled by social intelligence expert, digital ethnographer, and trendspotter Marek Tobota, who is also the founder of Data Tribe, a Warsaw-based strategy and research boutique. Marek has a wide experience in marketing and PR and is a constant seeker of new ways of qualitative research on the Internet. He uses Exolyt primarily for focused research into unique TikTok insights and its niche communities. To know more about Marek and his work, connect with him directly on his LinkedIn.