Real People, Real Engagement? Creator Identifiability, Perceived Effort, and Audience Response on TikTok

Abstract

Over the past decade, social media has become an essential part of our lives, dominating the way that we connect and interact with others around the world. As platforms like TikTok become more popular, they shift the notion of what it means to be authentic in a digital space where content spreads beyond just connections. This study focuses on applying traditional notions of authenticity and the self through Goffman and Mead and applying them to digitization. Using a subset of 3000 videos provided by Princeton StewartLab, I used these videos to analyze what the relationship is between creator identifiability in videos, perceived effort levels, and engagement for three niches— Politics, AI, and Social Issues. Through coding and statistical analyses, this study shows how interconnected perceived efforts are to creator identifiability in videos, and the associations that they have with likes and views.