TikTok, an app for creating and sharing short videos, has blown up over the past few years. Currently, it has over 1 billion users worldwide and has been downloaded more than 200 million times in the United States. The Independent spoke with four Harvard TikTokers who have amassed large followings on the platform: Brad Wolf ’24 (@thebigbradwolf), Soleil Golden ’24 (@toxicthotsyndrome), Ethan Kelly ’25 (@ethanckelly), and Abigail Mack ’25 (@a_vmack).
Do you remember your first viral video on TikTok? And can you tell me a bit about it?
Wolf: The first video I started getting a lot of followers from was one of me singing on a bus. I was on a choir field trip.
Golden: I actually started out as a Criminal Minds fan account. I watched a ton of it over quarantine and was so interested in it because I’m studying cognitive neuroscience right now. My first viral video was a scene of Aaron Hotchner ripping this guy to shreds in court. He profiled him and was like, “the color of your socks is charcoal gray.” And he described how he got to that conclusion. I just thought it was so fascinating. So I recorded that scene and my reaction, and it got over a million likes.
Kelly: My first viral video was during a fire drill, and I decided to make a TikTok while everyone was evacuating. And people thought it was funny because I was making content in somewhat of a serious setting.
Mack: I posted my Common App essay. I read aloud the introduction, and that video has over 20 million views now.
Did you become popular overnight, or was it more of a gradual process? And did getting into Harvard change that?
Wolf: I’d say it was like a step function. There were certain moments that pushed me farther and farther each time. There was one video where I went from, like, 75k followers to 200k overnight. And I was blowing up right before I got into Harvard, so it was never really the focus of my videos.
Golden: I actually didn’t become more famous after I got into Harvard because my account was a fan account. But as soon as I mentioned in casual passing that I was going to Harvard in the fall, everyone and their mother was like “stats video,” “tell me what extracurriculars you did,” and “tell me how much money your parents make.” That’s one thing that is so weird about the Internet—the level of familiarity people think they have with you. They’ll talk to you and treat you like you’re one of their best friends when you don’t know who they are. So that’s something I had to get used to.
Kelly: I rose to 600k within the first six months, and it’s plateaued. And yeah, I think Harvard has made me more popular. I’ve gained, like, 40k followers since I’ve been here, which is about a ninth of my total following. The name definitely helps, I think.
Mack: I went viral pretty much overnight. I went from having around 10k followers to 100k followers the next day, and it just kept growing from there.
How do you think TikTok is shaping our social media use?
Wolf: My thought is that TikTok is good at capitalizing on the fact that people in our generation have a pretty short attention span. So this is where my statistics knowledge comes in. On TikTok, their algorithm gets a larger sample size because you’re going through so many videos, whereas on YouTube, they just never get the sampling rate that TikTok does.
Golden: TikTok has destroyed my attention span. I used to be able to sit through 40-minute episodes of Criminal Minds and not have to be doing something else. But something about the 15-second video, scrolling and scrolling. It just gives you that sort of stimulation that you need.
Kelly: I think TikTok is becoming, like, a dominating social media force. It definitely is a very influential one. Other forms of social media are much more calculated. And this one is just much more casual.
Mack: TikTok really tends to dominate pop culture. And the trends have been moving faster than they moved ever before.
What has been the role of TikTok in your life here at Harvard?
Wolf: I don’t make as many videos anymore, and my content is really sporadic and all over the place.
Golden: I kind of treat TikTok like a personal diary, where I just record little things that I do every day. Just my routine, like how I study and stuff like that.
Kelly: I think it’s just a hobby of mine. It’s a way for me to express my feelings about different things on campus or experiences I’ve had in college, share them, and see the public reception on that.
Mack: I like to create lifestyle videos and day-in-my-life videos. Just documenting my life and kind of pulling back the curtain on Harvard a little bit.
Do you have any commentary on Tiktok, social media, and Harvard?
Wolf: I don’t think having a lot of followers equates to the fame that people think it does. Like, there’s a difference between just obtaining a lot of followers over time and actually creating a brand for yourself. Because I have plenty of followers, but I don’t get recognized on the street or anything. That’s just because I haven’t done a good job of really managing myself and branding myself. Like, if I could go back in time, I probably would’ve done a better job on that. But for me, it was just about sharing my art and having fun doing it.
Golden: I have met some of my best friends through that app. I’ve met people that go here through TikTok. And people have recognized me at school from TikTok. I think it’s just a great way to connect with people your age or people with similar interests.
Kelly: I’ve had a good time using the app, and I still do. It’s nice to get recognized sometimes by people. I think it’s overall been a positive experience, at least specifically to Harvard, but also, it can be a very short lived experience. And you’re actively working to ensure it isn’t short lived every time you use the app.
Mack: The interactions here of moving in and knowing that most people know who I am was a weird thing to grapple with. When I first went viral, my friends who I already knew were like, “you were on my For You page,” and “I read your BuzzFeed article,” which was cool. But I don’t think it really hit me until I moved in just how many people had seen my videos and then tied me to that. But I feel like I know a lot more people than I would have if I didn’t already have that bit of a leg up in recognition. Everyone’s just been really kind and it’s only sparked friendships as opposed to having turned people off.
Caroline Hao ’25 (carolinehao@college.harvard.edu) has discovered some of her favorite bands through TikTok.