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Cited by 491Media and Digital CommunicationGender, Feminism, and MediaImpact of Technology on Adolescents

Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media

Open access
Bhandari, Aparajita, Bimo, Sara·2022·Social Media + Society
DOI 10.1177/20563051221086241
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Abstract

The video-sharing social media platform TikTok has experienced a rapid rise in use since its release in 2016. While its popularity is undeniable, at the first glance, it seems to offer features already available on previously existing and well-established platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. To understand processes of self-making on TikTok, we undertake two methods of data collection: a walkthrough of the app and its surrounding environment, and 14 semistructured participant interviews. A qualitative analysis of this data finds three distinct themes emerge: (1) awareness of the algorithm, (2) content without context, and (3) self-creation across platforms. These results show that TikTok departs from existing platforms in the model of self-making it engenders, which we term “the algorithmized self”—a complication of the pre-existing “networked self” framework.

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20 of 20 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • TikTok's algorithmic prominence results in the creation of a personalized "algorithmic version" of each user, categorized according to predefined schemas.

    “Consequently, TikTok’s algorithmic prominence results in the creation of a personalized “algorithmic version” of each user, categorized according to predefined schemas [93–95].”

    From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [93]

  • TikTok's recommendation algorithm produces an 'algorithmized self' through recursive dynamics whereby individuals modify behavior to satisfy algorithmic preferences.

    “Bhandari and Bimo [19] examine TikTok's recommendation algorithm and its effects on the 'algorithmized self', revealing recursive dynamics whereby individuals modify behavior to satisfy algorithmic preferences.”

    From Encountering Generative AI: Narrative Self-Formation and Technologies of the Self Among Young Adults (2026) · cites this paper as [19]

  • This analysis foregrounds how AI systems participate in constituting selfhood itself: organizing subjective experience through narrative coherence, interpretive authority, and self-governance practices.

    “Where existing research examines how algorithms shape identity as social positioning and role performance [10,19], this analysis foregrounds how AI systems participate in constituting selfhood itself: organizing subjective experience through narrative coherence, interpretive authority, and self-governance practices.”

    From Encountering Generative AI: Narrative Self-Formation and Technologies of the Self Among Young Adults (2026) · cites this paper as [19]

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Authors
Bhandari, A., & Bimo, S.
Affiliations
  • Cornell University (US)
  • York University (CA)
Corresponding author
Bhandari, Aparajita
ORCID
Venue
Social Media + Society
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2022-01
Volume
8
Issue
1
ISSN
2056-3051 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1177/20563051221086241
OpenAlex
W4221035882
Cited by
491
References
20
Citations by year
2026: 143 · 2025: 155 · 2024: 109 · 2023: 71 · 2022: 13
FWCI
38.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Social Media + Society (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
Keywords
TikTok, self-creation, social networking sites, algorithm awareness, networked self, online video platforms, self-presentation, platform comparison

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