TikTok is having an identity crisis. Once almost exclusively the home of teenagers making up dance moves and worshipping Satan, this week, both job-seekers and swingers are having moments on the site, pointing to (gasp) maturity.


TikTok is for swingers

In a sign that the TikTok’s user base is maturing, swingers are swarming the social media platform. Polyamorous people, throuples, frouples, and maybe even quidrouples are posting videos under the #Swingtok tag to document notable hook-ups, share details of their daily lives, answer questions from curious normies, and make dirty jokes. TikTok fame has resulted in members of “the lifestyle” being revealed to family members and some bans for violating TikTok’s TOS, but they’re not going anywhere: The #Swingtok tag has over 600 million views.

Related fun-fact I learned today: Displaying a pineapple, especially an upside-down pineapple, is used by some swingers to advertise their lifestyle choices on the DL. Others think it’s corny.

TikTok is for getting a job

Swingers aren’t the only young-adults using TikTok to further their deviant lifestyles. Job-seekers are too. The #CareerTok hash has over 100 million views. It’s not very sexy, but it’s crammed with helpful job-search tips, video resumés, and thirsty marketers hoping to catch a trend.

And it’s actually working, with many TikTok users reporting interview offers based on videos. Employers are starting to notice too. Chipotle, desperate for workers in the current market, has been “experimenting” with using TikTok and other social media platforms to find workers since 2019, and the National Hockey League recently hired a photographer it found among the dance videos and makeup tutorials.

As you’d probably guess, TikTok job-hunting is a better fit for people in “personality”-heavy fields like sales and marketing than it for budding neurosurgeons.

TikTok is for dumb trends and viral nonsense

Just so you don’t think TikTok is being entirely overrun with future wage-slaves and sexual hedonists, the following dumb, meaningless crap is also trending on the social media platform.

A Medieval Knight: Rigo Cardenas, 22, plays at knight at the Medieval Times restaurant in Buena Park, California. A stranger uploaded a couple of clips of his performance this week, and they went viral, wracking up millions of views and comments like “HE CAN SHEATH HIS SWORD IN ME ANY DAY” and a debate as to whether Cadenas looks more like Bucky Barnes or Kylo Ren.

Rubbing the underside of your tongue: This one is delightfully dumb and juvenile, but many TikTok users are posting videos of themselves rubbing the underside of their tongues with their fingers. Reportedly, it feels exactly like a penis. (You know you just tried it.)

Eating bugs: The latest potential ticket to going viral on TikTok is simple: Just eat a big bowl of bugs. The bug-eating videos (which are mostly fake) are showing up in TT’s #fyp catch-all tag with such frequency, users are asking how they can make it stop.

Marvels ‘Eternals’ goes rotten

Marvel’s astounding run of box-office and critical success may be coming to an end. The latest film in the extended universe, Eternals, comes out on November 5, and the advance word from critics is so-so at best. It’s currently sitting at 52 percent “rotten” at rottentomatoes.

Critical opinion probably won’t kill the movie—I mean who hasn’t longed for a two-and-half-hour epic featuring beloved Marvel heroes like Sersi and Phastos saving the earth or whatever they do? Plus, it was directed by Chloé Zhao, whose last movie was poignant ode to poetic homelessness Nomadland, a perfect fit for a big-budget spectacle. (Seriously: I like that Marvel is giving indie directors the reigns to big franchises, but this one may prove a misfire.)

This week in movie promotion: Morbius and Boba Fett trailers drop

This is truly a golden age for the international monetization of intellectual property. Disney, owners of both Marvel and Star Wars, has released a trailer for each with Marvel’s Morbius and Star Wars’ The Book of Boba Fett.

Morbius tells the story of Marvel anti-hero Morbius. I’m sure you’re as familiar with him as you are with Eternals, but if not: Michael Morbius was a biochemist who tries to cure himself of a blood disease and turned himself into a vampire. He was once a villain to Spider-Man, but now he is an anti-hero. He also has a Ph.D, so please call him Doctor Morbius, The Living Vampire, as a show of respect.

Bounty hunter Boba Fett has yet to earn his doctorate, but he’s still qualified to star in The Book of Boba Fett, an upcoming series that will be shown on Disney+ on December 29. The series, a spin-off from wildly popular The Mandalorian, reportedly features Fett, post being thrown in the Sarlaac pit, returning to Tatooine to take over Jabba the Hutt’s criminal empire.

Viral video of the week: What your early 20s will be like

Twenty-five year old YouTube cartoonist TheOdd1sOut has earned nearly six million views on YouTube for “What Your Early Twenties Will Be Like,” an animated a guide to what to expect from young adulthood. While the cartoon is aimed squarely at the teenagers who make up the majority of TheOdd1sOut’s fanbase, it’s hilarious and relatable no matter how old you are. Adults really are tired at all times! We do go bald, get super boring, and spend all of our free time doing laundry and dishes!

Source: Lifehacker.com

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