In the fast-paced world of TikTok, it’s easy to confuse a fleeting viral moment with a meaningful trend. Most brands eagerly chase whatever is “trending” on social media, but in doing so, they often lose sight of what real trends actually mean. Yes, hopping on viral TikTok challenges or memes can yield short-term engagement. However, trending moments are usually ephemeral – today’s viral dance or hashtag might be forgotten next week. The real challenge (and opportunity) for marketers and brand strategists is learning to distinguish a short-lived fad from an emerging cultural trend that signals deeper shifts in consumer attitudes.

Trending vs. Trend vs. Fad: Why It Matters

• Trending = what’s visible on the surface—algorithmic spikes in attention.
• Trend = deeper, enduring shifts in behavior or values.
• Fad = a fast-burning, short-lived craze with little long-term relevance.

While these terms seem almost similar, there is a thin line between how much it impacts behaviour and culture, at what pace it builds its momentum, and how fast it disappears from action. Understanding these distinctions helps brands avoid strategic missteps—like launching expensive campaigns tied to moods destined to fade.

Trends vs. Trending: Fast Culture vs. Slow Culture

To separate trends from mere trending topics, it helps to understand the difference between fast culture and slow culture. “Fast culture” refers to the rapidly changing, short-term fads driven by social media and pop culture, whereas “slow culture” encompasses the more enduring, deeper currents of culture that evolve over longer periods. TikTok’s viral videos, hashtags, and sound bites are the epitome of fast culture – they flare up quickly and often fade just as fast. But beneath those spikes of popularity, there may lie slow-culture movements that persist and grow over time.

Trending ≠ Trend: As Kim Townend, social listening expert, puts it in an Exolyt article, “trends in isolation teach us very little, but trending topics viewed over time show us patterns and commonalities.”

In other words, a single TikTok hashtag blowing up this week might just be a blip, but if you observe related themes recurring across months or across different communities, you might be seeing an actual trend in the cultural sense. Simply looking at what's trending on TikTok isn’t enough – we must connect those viral moments to the bigger picture of slow-culture forces shaping consumer behavior.

For example, “Cozy Culture” emerged as a TikTok trend showcasing comforting aesthetics and content (think warm lighting, cozy gaming setups, or seasonal pumpkin-spice themes). On the surface, “cozy” content goes viral in seasonal waves (a fast culture phenomenon). Yet coziness also taps into a lasting consumer desire for comfort and nostalgia – a slower cultural shift.

Read more about this cultural phenomenon in our blog: How to use social listening to identify cultural trends?

Why Context Matters: Beyond the Fad and “Trendwashing”

Chasing every new TikTok craze can be tempting, but doing so blindly is a risk. Jumping on a meme or dance without understanding its context can lead to what Marek Tabota, a social strategist, calls “trendwashing” – a superficial mimicry of a trend that audiences immediately spot as inauthentic. 

Everyone wants to ride the wave of a TikTok trend, but co-opting cultural signals without grasping their deeper meaning often backfires. For brands, the lesson is clear: don’t just watch trends, understand them. A trending hashtag or sound might indicate something bigger happening in your audience’s world – a shift in humor, values, or needs – and missing that context means missing the real insight.

The Real Value: Cultural Insight Over Trendspotting

According to The SI Lab’s founder, Dr. Jillian Ney, trends reflect what’s popular; cultural insight captures why it resonates—beliefs, motivations, identity shifts. They urge listening beyond metrics: asking what pattern really signifies, whose voices are visible (or missing), and how algorithms distort visibility.

This is not a tidy method—it’s a mindset. It requires embracing complexity, sitting with ambiguity, and valuing thick data (tricia wang’s term)—the context-rich stories behind social chatter. Source.

Eugene Healey: Context is Everything

Eugene Healey reminds us: draping your brand in viral aesthetics isn’t strategy—it can feel hollow. In a Guardian essay, he remarks how Gen Z’s raw, unfiltered style (e.g., “bedrotten” posts) became its own polished aesthetic—devoid of real authenticity. And when brands adopted this style of being ‘raw and unfiltered’ on social, there was nothing less authentic than multinationals with billions of dollars in market capitalisation pretending to be jaded teenagers, yet here we are.’ According to him, grasping authenticity demands understanding and surveilling culture.

Similarly, in his collaborative post with Exolyt, he shared his take on the challenges—and opportunities—of navigating TikTok’s lightning-fast content cycles. ​​TikTok’s algorithm has transformed how we experience trends—while everything feels like a trend, not everything is worth investing in. So, one mustn’t treat trends as shortcuts to engagement; if misaligned with brand identity, trends feel lazy, not clever. 

Here are some key highlights from his video:

• 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴

Not every trending hashtag or viral video signals a real cultural shift! Understanding the difference between a fleeting moment and a conversation that can potentially shape consumer behaviour is crucial.

• 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲

Eugene emphasises the importance of social listening tools! For example, Exolyt tracks and maps related conversations, which can help to separate relevant trends from passing memes.

• 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺

As mentioned, understanding how a trend connects to broader categories can help brands align their messaging and resources effectively, as it's important to know that a conversation will last before you commit resources to it.

• 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴

By identifying the deeper conversation networks, brands can make informed decisions on where to participate, with whom to collaborate, and how to build long-term content strategies.

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.

How to Identify a Real Trend (and Not Get Blinded by Viral Noise)

Distinguishing a lasting trend from a one-hit-wonder requires a more strategic, research-driven approach. Social listening and cultural analysis are the tools of the trade here. Below are some practical steps and criteria to help separate a real trend from what’s merely trending on TikTok:

• Look for Cross-Community Connections: A quick litmus test is to see how wide and diverse the engagement is. If a hashtag or theme pops up across multiple communities or subcultures on TikTok, it has broader significance. The more disparate groups that adopt a tag or meme over time, the more likely it is that it represents a cultural trend rather than a niche fad. For example, if a fashion hashtag is used not only by fashionistas but also in music, gaming, and food content, it’s tapping into something culturally pervasive. In contrast, a trending topic confined to one small corner of TikTok might be gone next week. Tip: Track a hashtag over a few months – trending fads will often burn out quickly, whereas a true trend will show up repeatedly and in varied contexts.

• Watch for Patterns and Common Themes: Don’t just count views; look for recurring themes or aesthetics. Are you noticing similar vibes, messages, or visuals across different trending videos? Are certain slang terms, song clips, or styles popping up again and again? Patterns can signal a deeper movement. As one analyst notes, being very “online” and attuned to these nuances makes it easier to connect the dots and understand the bigger cultural shifts driving them. For instance, the prevalence of DIY, upcycled fashion hacks on TikTok might point to a larger trend of sustainability and anti-consumerism among youth – even if each individual video trend (thrift flips, closet tours, etc.) seems separate, they share a common value. Look for commonalities in why people engage with certain content: is it about identity expression, nostalgia, rebellion, or community belonging? Those common threads hint at the underlying trend.

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.