My boss at ARDC has asked me to take a look at TikTok and come up with some ideas as to whether it’s worth it for us to spend time on creating our own videos. So, today, I created a TikTok account and browsed around for a while, searching for amateur radio content. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed.
Whereas on YouTube there’s just tons of amateur radio content, I only found a few TikTokers producing much amateur radio content. These include:
- @glamhamradio. Natalie, NW6S, is the TikToker behind this channel(?). She seems to have a good grasp of how to create short, instructional videos.
- @radioprep. David, W5CWT, has only eight videos in his channel, but all of them show how he used regular “stuff” in ham radio.
- @k5ata_goodgamehamradio. This is the channel of Steve, K5ATA, the ARRL’s Education and Learning Manager. There are 17 TikToks in this channel, but not all of them are related to ham radio.
Am I missing something here? Are there other TikTokers with more and interesting amateur radio content? If so, I’d really like to know about it.
Also, I’m trying to think how we might use TikTok to promote ARDC. I suppose that we could get some grantees to send in videos, then extract clips to post as TikToks. Do you think that would be of any interest to people? I’m kind of thinking that it wouldn’t be worth the time and energy.
From my own point of view, I might try to make a few TikToks to illustrate points in my No Nonsense study guides. It should be simple enough to do a few of them and see if they get any traction. What do you think?
Adam Davis says
Like any outreach channel, you have a chicken and egg problem – if no one is looking for specific content, no one will create content tailored for that desire. If no one is creating content, then those who would be interested aren’t going to look there after the first few times finding nothing.
So you can just create the same content you would create for any other channel, and see what sticks, and that’s better than nothing, however Tiktok demographics are interesting enough that it’s better to provide targeted content:
57% of TikTok users are female and 43% are male.
Roughly 43% of TikTok’s global audience is between 18 and 24 years old.
32% of TikTok users are aged between 25 and 34.
Only 3.4% of TikTok audience is older than 55.
138 million monthly active users are from the US.
21% of Americans said they use TikTok in 2021.
TikTok users spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the app.
90% of TikTok users visit the app more than once per day.
December 2021 users: 1,2 billion
(source: https://www.omnicoreagency.com/tiktok-statistics/#:~:text=13%2F03%2F22-,TikTok%20Demographics,audience%20is%20older%20than%2055. )
Notably the above doesn’t include under 18, but is missing 20% in the age demographics. Another source indicates:
The percentage of U.S.-based TikTok users by age: 10-19 – 32.5%, 20-29 – 29.5%, 30-39 – 16.4%, 40-49 – 13.9%, 50+ – 7.1%.
(source: https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/#:~:text=The%20percentage%20of%20U.S.%2Dbased,%2C%2050%2B%20%E2%80%93%207.1%25. )
Which focuses only on US, so the stats won’t line up, but the point is that Tiktok is HEAVILY skewed towards young adults, youth, and children.
Their format pretty much requires clickbait style videos – if your video doesn’t have a hook within the first 5 seconds, they’re going to scroll on, and the algorithm will demote your videos. They aren’t looking for an educational experience, they’re looking for a dopamine hit. Something interesting, unique, or new. Given their age, a lot of things are new to them, but you do have to target that age group.
On youtube you’ll find emergency preparedness audiences eager to understand what to do when the cell phones go down. Tiktok users have never had that experience, and they don’t recall a time when touchscreen smartphones and instant worldwide communication or content consumption didn’t exist. So this is something that could be new to them – if you figure out how to tell a story that they can understand and then apply to their own life.
The best way to start is simply to start, and see what sticks, and it’s certainly worth doing because this is the demographic the amateur radio community is having such a hard time recruiting.
But eventually you’ll find that your videos will not gain much traction until you make them catchy, entertaining, and give people a reason to want to look into it further, either on the same platform and thus improving the viewership of radio videos, or looking further on other platforms that provide longer form educational content.
It’s just another variation of the same problem radio has had for decades – why should anyone spend money and time on radio when they have a mobile phone and the internet?
Dave New, N8SBE says
My impression of TikTok is that if you don’t have a cool dance move, catchy music, wild hairdo and/or clothes, etc. you won’t get any views. It’s for folks with the attention span of amoebas.
Dan KB6NU says
That’s why I don’t really think TikTok is a place for amateur radio content, even though some YouTubers are trying to build up a presence on TikTok.
Luke - AE5AU says
I’m on TikTok but spend most of my time consuming instead of creating, there. The videos I do have posted aren’t ham related, but that’s more related to my current life situation. Here are a few hams that I follow:
@thetechtokham
@zbare.tech
@glamhamradio
@bridgecomsystems
I find the platform useful for IT, infosec, engineering, software development, drone, photography and many other kinds of technical (yet creative) content. The limited time is helpful in that it requires the creator to get to the point. Honestly, I find a tutorial video on TikTok to be much more enjoyable than a long video on YouTube where the content isn’t concise.
I think the right content could help lure youth to the hobby in the same way that they enjoy digital modes and even CW more than ragchewing about old guys’ ailments on 75 meters.
To address N8SBE’s thoughts, there are plenty of dance, music, hair, fashion, and makeup videos. If you spend any time at all on the platform, you don’t see those unless you are interested in them.
PS: Dan, sorry this is nearly a month after you posted. I’m just catching up on some RSS feeds.
Luke - AE5AU says
Also, it appears that I’m your first followed on TikTok!