bBetween them, the Australian online personalities who took to the stage at the annual TikTok Awards on Wednesday have more than 100 million followers, but if you’re over 30 you probably haven’t heard of any of them.
About 3.4 million public votes were cast for this year’s TikTok Awards, which honor the best creators in categories such as beauty, fitness, food, comedy and music. Almost everyone attending the invitation-only event found fame in a particular niche. Among the online stars in attendance were a quartet of brothers who perform highly choreographed dances in public (160,000 followers), a gay couple who constantly redecorate their home (3.4 million followers) and a woman who has gained followers about having very long hair (Australian Rapunzel, 1.3 million followers). Another woman has gained 1.5 million followers by posting videos in which asks strangers if they are currently on their period. These are people who are regularly stopped by fans on the street and who have so many followers that they can make a living from brand deals.
The ceremony, held at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, was a safe space for the hyper-online. Brand activations encouraged guests to pose in elaborate photo montages. The audience creators were live on TikTok all night from their seats, having packed their own portable ring lights, which often meant the crowd remained uncomfortably quiet during award presentations as it’s difficult to clap and hold the phone at the same time. It was impossible to use the bathroom without accidentally bumping into a TikTok being filmed in the mirror.
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“The biggest advice I have to give you is to be true to yourself and post,” TikToker Leah Halton said in the room, while accepting the award for video of the year for a 12-second duration. lip sync video which has been viewed 939 million times. “You never know where it can take you.”
The entertainment throughout the night spanned the flashy and the absurd. American pop star jojo siwawho performed his song Karma and presented the musical artist of the year award (won by an absent Royel Otis). Beatmaker Cyril Riley recruited Australian Idol runner-up Shannon Noll for a song. Host Robert Irwin brought out a live snake. Branded T-shirts were fired into the crowd with a BB gun. The night’s skincare sponsor even had performers dressed as bottles of its product dance to a jagged electronic track while a DJ spewed out snippets of disembodied spoken word like “dermatologist recommended.” There were references on stage to memes that were popular on TikTok this year, such as the Four Seasons Orlando Baby.
But the audience was not entirely native to the Internet. In attendance was television chef Iain “Huey” Hewitson, 76, nominated in the food category and incongruously sharing a table with the twenty- and thirty-somethings also up for the award (ultimately won by Michael Fincha former beauty vlogger turned viral chef). Also present was Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, who won the category of high-quality content creator for his research on topics such as why coffee makes you defecate.
Other winners included ABC personality and primary school teacher Mr Luke, who posts infectious video updates on the ins and outs of working with “little humans”, taking the Learn on TikTok award. Edgar’s missiona nonprofit that rescues abandoned farm animals, won the TikTok Good Award.
One of the awards was presented by NSW Youth Minister Rose Jackson, who used her time on stage to talk about how social media should be a place where young people can engage with their leaders and hold them to account. perhaps in reference to the federal government’s decision. proposed ban on social networks for minors under 16 years of age. “There is a lot of potential for the power of TikTok to be used for good,” he said. But that was the closest the proposed ban came to being mentioned on stage all night.
Twenty-three-year-old Bridey Drake was crowned TikTok creator of the year, the night’s biggest award, for her relatable videos about the struggles of adulthood. In her acceptance speech, she talked about struggling to find her place in the world, until she found acceptance by being herself on TikTok. But the ban faced by today’s teenagers was not a priority for her.
“To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought,” she told Guardian Australia. “My whole mind has been so consumed with awards.”
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Kruszelnicki had more to say: “On the one hand, we know definitively that the human brain does not mature until the age of 20,” he said. “On the other hand, it would mean that everyone who accesses social media anywhere has to have an ID and everything they say and do can be tracked by the government… One of the things that bothers me is that if they put There is a unique identifier in place, so when that identifier is hacked (and it will be), does that mean this person’s identity will be gone forever? “It’s a complicated situation and I’m still trying to figure it out myself.”
Kruszelnicki, now 70, is a few decades older than the other winners. But he’s still happy with his place on TikTok, where he tries to counter misinformation with scientific facts.
“What percentage of the medical information circulating (on social media) do you think is accurate or correct? It is 2%,” he said. “If it was bad financial advice you could end up poor, but here you could end up dead. I consider that my role in all this is to try, in my own way, to make the world a better place with fewer deaths.”