Every few years, technological innovation transforms the way we use social media.

New
platforms are introduced to provide new and unique ways to engage, communicate, and entertain across
the globe and it revolutionizes itself as an online discourse community. TikTok, a popular social media
app, was recently launched, allowing users to create, share, and discover short-form videos in every
content category possible—entertainment, educational, political, aspirational, travel and leisure, and
beauty and style. The app offers a video reply feature in addition to reacting, sharing, and replying to
comments that keep the members connected and engaged. As this platform promotes diversity and
inclusiveness, a great number of amateur and professional users build the TikTok community, of which I
am a part.
Every discourse community has its own set of rules that distinguish it apart from the rest. The
TikTok community communicates in a way that is unlike any other social network. The message to be
conveyed must be displayed and incorporated into the video, and the description of the video is
constrained to a limited number of characters, which is why TikTok's most prominent convention is the
usage of hashtags. It might be #foryou, #foryoupage, #fyp, etc. TikTok creators believe that by using
these tags, their content will gain greater reach and visibility, while viewers will be able to discover the
content that they want on their For You Page (FYP). Furthermore, the algorithm tailors the user's FYP to
their preferences by tracking their likes, follows, interactions, and video sharing in order to recommend
videos that the viewer would enjoy. And because TikTok users are predominantly Gen Z and Millennials,
they have developed a way of specialized language—communicating utilizing slang language on both
incredibly entertaining and heavy topics.
One writes in the context of one's discourse community by understanding its set of core values
and beliefs, common goals and purposes, and communicative styles, and by actively interacting with and
participating in the standard discourse. On the other hand, academics interact for the purpose of scholarly
work. Unlike in the discourse community, writing for this audience necessitates adhering to their
academic community's research methodologies and processes, as well as the standards for presenting that
research. The TikTok discourse community has subcommunities, one of which is the political discourse,
which demonstrates political expression and discussion and influences the users' political viewpoints.
However, it's alarming because, as political content grows, so does the amount of disinformation,
propaganda, and political-historical distortion that members are exposed to and fall prey to. As a result,
I'd want to counteract the spread of fake news and raise awareness of the issue by encouraging TikTok
users to be cautious about what they believe and share and to constantly double-check facts. Although the
platform presents content and comments that appear intellectual and terrifyingly convincing, users should
not depend exclusively on it because it does not always provide all of the facts or the broader context.
Because these political discussions will have such a large influence on the forthcoming presidential
elections, it's still crucial and best to learn more about politics through books, news, and reputable
sources.