Welcome to Mum-Tok
TikTok has conquered the internet. The social media app that allows users to post, comment on and duet short videos has over one billion users and had 62 million downloads in January alone. Its popularity among young people is well-established. In fact, if you look up Gen-Z in the dictionary, a TikTok plays. However, the app is slowly conquering a different audience -one that you might not expect. Welcome to Mum-Tok.
The addictive allure of TikTok owes to the app’s clever algorithm. The ‘For You’ homepage (FYP) lines up videos for you to scroll through by analysing activity and interaction on your account. This means the app is made up of its mainstream and popular posts and then lots of pockets of communities and trends. If, for example, you watch and interact with several videos of dachshunds, you will find the next five or so videos on your FYP are likely to feature dachshunds too. TikTok algorithms create the ultimate internet rabbit holes for you to unwittingly fall down, there is a virtual space for everyone from young farmers to reformed-Mormons and Le Creuset lovers.
Recently, I somehow ended up in the virtual world of mums of TikTok. The brunch-loving “Mummy-blogger” is a well known phenomenon; a breed of influencer promoting a romanticised picture of parenthood through the rose-tinted lens of wealth and maternity-wear brand-deals, but the TikTok mum is something more authentic. ‘Mum-Tok’ or ‘Mom-Tok’ in the US, involves a lot of jokes and sketches about raising children and sharing ‘parenting fails’ but also interacting with trends, dances and lip-syncing, like any other user. Mums posting on the app use hashtags to interact and engage with other parents; the hashtag #mumsoftiktok has 1.8bn views, #momsoftiktok has 39.9bn views and #coolmomsoftiktok, 249.5m views.
“I joined TikTok last year during lockdown to pass time,” says Sarah Coleman, a 31-year old Mum with two children and 1.4k followers. Initially, Sarah felt “out of place” and “silly” on the app, but once she got used to it she discovered “there are so many different types of people from all walks of life on TikTok, from young people to grandparents, which makes this app so brilliant.” Sarah posts funny skits about parenting and marriage, lip-syncing to pre-recorded audio. In one video titled “Busted!”, Sarah lip-syncs and acts out a scene where her child asks what an alcoholic is and she explains they would see four birds in the tree instead of two, only for her child to reply “there’s only one bird up there”. The video has over six million views. Before she knew it, Sarah was part of an established online community, “they are non-judgemental, caring, and absolutely hilarious,” she says of Mums of TikTok.
“TikTok is great because it learns what you like quicker than you know yourself,” says Claire Senior, a mum of three in her 40s with 185.5k followers, “it only ever shows me mums, runners and anything lesbian related so I don’t feel out of place.” Claire uses her TikTok account to promote her two businesses; personal training and biology tutoring, as well as creating humorous videos about life as a gay mum. In one video she asks, “what do you get a lesbian mum for Mothers Day?” before cutting to pictures of candles and hand cream with the caption “same thing as a straight mum you cheeky thing!” A big barrier to parents on TikTok is time, Claire explains, “that’s probably the only reason they’re not on it – although more seem to be joining in the fun.”
Celebrity mums have taken to the app too. The American actress Candace Cameron-Bure has three million followers. Despite her bio reading “I’m too old for this”, the actress regularly posts using the Moms of TikTok hashtag, making videos with her kids, dancing and advertising her clothing line, pulling in millions of views. Other tech-savvy famous parents with millions of TikTok followers include Kourtney Kardashian, Reese Witherspoon and Courtney Cox.
Amber Christina, a 36-year-old foster parent to ten children with over 81k followers also started using TikTok during lockdown last year. “I use it as a way to creatively share my experiences and thoughts about family life, foster care, and adoption,” she says. The sense of community that the hashtags create is something Amber really appreciates. Mom-Tok is “very supportive of each other,” she says, “we seem to share a lot of struggles and joy. It’s fun!”
Users like Magdalena P. are eager to let other parents know that TikTok is an app for all ages. The 41-year-old Mum has 46.9k followers on TikTok and posts funny and fitness-themed videos. “Initially, even I thought this is only for kids,” she says, “but then I quickly realised that people of all ages can be creators here.” The app provides a creative outlet and escapism for parents, with many of them first discovering the app during lockdown. When considering whether they should download TikTok, “I think other mums are probably worried about other people’s opinions,” says Magdalena, “and so was I at the beginning. Then I realised there are so many fun mums out there. I generally think the TikTok community is very welcome and easy-going.”
Mum-Tok is proof that social media is not just for millennials and gen-Z, after all, why should they have all the fun? If TikTok can continue to use its algorithms to diverse the app for all ages, it might become the most downloaded social media app of our time. So if you are a daughter or son wondering what to get your Mum this Mother’s Day, or if you are a mother wondering what to ask for – why not try a TikTok account?