With the war between Ukraine and Russia still developing, I could not help but notice the social media aspect of the war. Being a Tik Tok user myself, I have noticed an onslaught of short clips posted by the Russian military from their perspectives, as well as Ukrainian militia and citizens. I found it especially baffling to have stumbled across Tik Toks made by Russian soldiers in their tanks, laughing and “having a good time”, and the next direct Tik Tok I receive is of a Ukrainian soldier playing “mine-craft pocket edition” during a military briefing. Regardless of what types of absurd Tik Toks show up on my page, I view Tik-Tok to be an addicting form of media, more so than the content of war itself.
The Medium is the message is a short phrase coined by the Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan back in the early 60s. The short phrase by McLuhan denotes the notion that the medium in which the content of a message is conveyed reveals more of the human condition than the message itself. Such in the case of Tik Tok, McLuhan would likely argue that what makes the app so appealing is not the content by which the app offers; rather it would be the short clips characterized by high-resolution video and audio recordings that make it so appealing to the user. Otherwise, McLuhan would call this a very Hot form of media, whereby the media engages with the senses of sight and audio directly, without the need for the individual to interpret or navigate through the media with their senses and cognition; like the way we read a book, or watch a black and white television series, all of which are cool forms of media.
Bearing this in mind, the content within Ukrainian War-Tok is not inherently “interesting” in its unaltered format, rather it is only interesting and appealing when it is clipped and shortened to be precise and interactive to the abstract comedic point that makes it interesting.
As a matter of fact, take the following video posted by the Tik-Tok user @auggiewoods as an example. The user posted the following viral video garnering over 9 millions views and 1.9 million likes.
In the video, both the newscaster and the Tik Tok user @auggiewoods are reporting the same content - which in its simplest unaltered propositional like form - highlights an old Ukrainian Lady giving sunflower seeds to Russian Soldiers so that the seeds can grow on their dead bodies. However, the Newscaster provides the information in a more News appropriate manner, altering the content to fit the medium of News network, whereby the old Lady’s encounter with the Russian soldiers is characterized by an “Confrontation”, and further description of the confrontation. However, in the short clip posted by @auggieewoods, the content is altered by the medium that is Tik Tok, such that the Content is to be received in a short durational comedic reaction by the user himself, and highlighting the abstract concept of the old lady “dissing” the russian Soldiers, reminiscent of a “rap battle” rather than a confrontation. Evidently, the Caption to the viral reads “If Ukraine has half of this woman’s fire, Russia is in troubleee” @auggiewoods.
So in this manner, Tik Tok’s short format favors precise and comedic cultural references, such that the content of Tik Toks is perceived in this precise, and comedic manner. Whereas the Format of the news network favors the complete opposite, granting the same exact content of “Old Ukrainian lady meeting Russian Soldier” to be interpreted in a completely different light, one that is more serious and relatable to the Ukrainian Citizen’s anger. In other words, the addictive trait of War-Tok is not so much the content of war itself, but rather the medium by which the war is conveyed, hence “The Medium is The Message”.
I personally am a user on Tik Tok myself and have seen very scarce content on the war between Russia and Ukraine so it is interesting to hear that people are making jokes/memes about it. I think this is extremely uncalled for although I agree that the nature of Tik Tok is to make short comedic videos which will go viral. Sadly, many people will do anything to go viral even if it means doing something/saying something morally wrong. I hope people learn to use social media to their advanatage during times of hardship/war instead of to their disadvanatage.
I saw a TikTok about how for the first time we are living in an era of war with technology and social media. This is very different than print or radio media from the past. I personally have found out a bunch about the war through tik tok. This has been a great way for education, though in some ways should be regulated because it is invaded with fake news. Overall, it will be interesting to see in the future how tik tok effects current events.
It is still a strange concept to think about how people can be so connected with others even during times of war. Social media like Tik Tok and their reach and influence is very vast, and the way we communicate especially during wartime has greatly changed. In the past, we really relied on government officials to give us updates and get to "experience" the war through photos or videos, but social media really takes us to the middle of the situtation in real time. Its interesting to see that these Tik Tok videos gives a voice to people that are often not hear from and personally connections people. Great post!