TikTok’s future remains unclear. Some in the fine arts community are OK with that

Some of Columbia’s fine arts community have moved to a different social media platform, or say they will, after TikTok was banned in the United States for 12 hours in January. 

The app is easy for businesses to use for advertising. But it’s widely seen as unreliable throughout the United States after the shutdown and then another threatened shutdown April 5. Several artists in Columbia who use TikTok to support their businesses appear unfazed by the app’s unpredictable future. But they’re finding better support on other platforms.

Columbia artist Ija Charles is known for her three murals around Richland County. Her “Cayce Wonders” mural was commissioned by Cayce officials. 

Most of the art commissions Charles sees are from those who view her social media sites. 

Charles may no longer be an avid TikTok user. But she still credits her social media success with helping her sell her art and receive mural requests. 

“I know so many people have been trying to get me to get on TikTok, but I don’t use TikTok like that,” Charles said. “I just don’t use the app that much, but I would say (I use) Instagram to get international attention and Facebook just to get local attention. When it comes to city representatives and older, they usually reach out to me through Facebook.”

TikTok isn’t where Charles is most seen on social media despite her nearly 30,000 followers there. The last time Charles posted on the platform was in July 2023. On Instagram, where she posts regularly, she has 103,000 followers. 

Her professional journey began after high school when she began posting her work online.

“Didn’t think it would really gage any attention, but once I started like doing murals and stuff, it was a way for clients to see my work, so it became like an art portfolio,” Charles said. “I just kept posting over and over again, and the people that I’ve been able to get as far as clients, just from the view of my page, has been crazy.

The South Carolina Ballet also has used TikTok to increase brand visibility, not necessarily in Columbia. Social media manager Nicole Czekalski captures backstage and rehearsal footage of the dancers. A couple of her posts have received millions of views.

Those high numbers don’t necessarily mean success for the ballet company’s marketing director Stephen Manion-Bredesen. 

Our demographic is much older, if that makes sense,” Stephen Manion-Bredesen. “TikTok is a much younger crowd. So for upcoming dances and stuff like that, TikTok does help us with a brand awareness. … But we have had more success with their competitors, like Facebook, Meta, etc.”

The TikTok account is still new for the company. So it hasn’t paid much attention to what happened to TikTok in January.

And there’s a reason, in addition to demographics, behind these different approaches between platforms. A person who finds a popular TikTok post of the company may not necessarily live in South Carolina and consequently will be unlikely to see a show. The ballet’s Facebook page is more likely to have local viewers who will donate and purchase tickets. 

 “It’s just really just brand awareness creation if that makes sense,” he said.

The company is grateful for its unexpected success in views, but Manion-Bredesen says there would be no issue transitioning that same content on Instagram or Facebook alone. 

“We don’t use TikTok to drive sales and stuff like that, so we are not concerned if TikTok does get removed from the app stores because it’s not our main source of reaching our patrons,” Manion-Bredesen said. “We are sad if it does go because it’s been a great way to connect with dancers and the dance community, but we’re not too concerned if it does leave that store.”

The preference for using other social networking platforms isn’t only applicable to Columbia artists and companies with a sizeable following.

Lydia Hill is mastering in clinical rehabilitation counseling at USC, but is a multimedia artist who sells their work in Columbia. Hill uses their Instagram with over 100 followers as a way to show their art and possibly find new clients. However, they tend to avoid TikTok and creating short-form video content.

“I don’t know anyone who was like, ‘Oh no, I’m going to lose my business because of TikTok,’” Hill said. “I feel like a lot of local artists, we already have to have other full-time jobs.”

Most of the sales Hill makes is from selling paintings and creations at pop-up art shows and word-of-mouth. When asked if they made any sales directly from the Instagram account, they said no. 

Nevertheless, Hill still uses it as a tool to show their creations despite posting only once or twice every month. They said they made about $1,000 over the last year purely off art sales, which Hill said is a big number.

 “Thinking about how much I make it my full-time job, it’s barely anything,” Hill said. They try not to look and their art “from a profit point of view, because then it’s not as fun.”

One reason Hill avoids making short-form video content like what’s seen on TikTok or Instagram Reels is that it distracts and takes away from their creative process.

“I’m just going to want to scroll, I’m going to want to text, I’m going to want to play on my phone when the whole point was kind of make art, and I like being present for that,” Hill said.

Artists may be preparing to switch their primary platforms, but what about general users? The Carolina News & Reporter released an informal survey evaluating 17 to 23-year-olds’ thoughts on TikTok, finding that 45.1% of users reported a slight or significant decrease in usage. 

Views on the platform after Jan. 19 were mixed. The same survey saw 74.2% saying they used Instagram Reels as an alternative to TikTok and 19.4% reporting they deleted the app in January. Some participants cited reasons along with their answers, with some saying they deleted the app, believing it would be inaccessible following the ban. Some said they were unable to get the app back after deleting their account and deleting the app. Other participants said they spent too much time on the app and social media in general, so they decided to delete it all. 

No one in the survey listed protecting online data – the reason U.S. officials gave for the ban – as a reason for deleting their TikTok app. The responses were mixed when asked about how they felt about protecting their online data. No one selected that online data protection is “not at all important.” But responses varied from extremely important, important, somewhat important and not so important. For these participants, data protection is not irrelevant, but not the deciding factor in deleting the app. 

It has been asserted that TikTok may not be a dependable source of income in the long term after the January ban. Assistant professor of communications at Columbia College Dr. Ahmet Aksoy discourages his students from using the platform with their future clients. 

“There was a lot of government disagreements, so that was one outlet that I informed students to not conduct research with or provide recommendations for their client – and it wasn’t solely based off of my own biases,” Aksoy said. “As a communications consultant, you would not advise a platform that is being questioned right now.”

It’s not uncommon for social media platforms to have a lifecycle in terms of their popularity, meaning any platform will face changes in audiences as demand changes. 

“While I know people are concerned about it, I believe and feel just what I’ve seen throughout times when new medium outlets are introduced, people truly adapt to the new climates and changes,” Aksoy said. “If TikTok ceases to exist, or at least is not as accessible here, it’s a shift that our entrepreneurs … here in the states and in South Carolina then adapt (to) and make necessary changes that are following the trends of who their audience members are.”