TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service, whose popularity is increasing rapidly. It was the world's second-most downloaded app in 2019. Although the platform is known for having users  dancing, lip-syncing and showing off their talents, there is an increase in videos designed to express political opinions. In this study , we perform the first evaluation of political communication on this platform . We collect a set of US  Republican and Democratic partisan videos and investigate how users communicate with each other  . With the help of computer vision, natural language processing, and statistical tools, we illustrate that political communication  is much more interactive on TikTok in contrast to other social media platforms, with users combining multiple information channels to spread their messages. We show that political communication takes place in the form of communication trees since users generate branches of responses on existing content. Finally, we investigate user demographicsand their interactions with opposing views. We find that partisan users from both parties are young and behave similarly on the platform. We also find that Republican users generate more political content , and their videos receive more reactions. However, Democratic partisans engage significantly more in cross-partisan discussions.
TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service, whose popularity is increasing rapidly. It was the world's second-most downloaded app in 2019. Although the platform is known for having users posting videos of themselves dancing, lip-syncing , or showcasing other talents, user-videos expressing political views have seen a recent spurt. This study aims to perform a primary evaluation of political communication on TikTok . We collect a set of US partisan Republican and Democratic videos to investigate how users communicated with each other about political issues . With the help of computer vision, natural language processing, and statistical tools, we illustrate that political communication on TikTok is much more interactive in comparison to other social media platforms, with users combining multiple information channels to spread their messages. We show that political communication takes place in the form of communication trees since users generate branches of responses to existing content. In terms of user demographics, we find that users belonging to both the US parties are young and behave similarly on the platform. However, Republican users generated more political content and their videos received more responses; on the other hand, Democratic users engaged significantly more in cross-partisan discussions.
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posting videos of themselves
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and showing off their talents, there is an increase in videos designed to express political opinions. In this study , we perform the first
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about political issues
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Finally, we investigate user demographicsand their interactions with opposing views. We find that partisan users from both
In terms of user demographics, we find that users belonging to both the US
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receive more reactions. However, Democratic partisans engage
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