Researching Social Media Pop Cultures and TikTok

In this Postgraduate Masterclass hosted by CNM, A/Prof Crystal Abidin will guide students through the process of engaging with Social Media Pop Cultures in their research, using TikTok Cultures as a case study, focusing especially from perspectives from the Asia Pacific region. A scholarly approach through Social Media Pop Cultures allows us to consider (1) how popular culture theories, logics, structures, and industries have mapped onto social media spaces; (2) how the ubiquity of social media sensibilities, systems, practices, and trends have impacted pop cultures around the world; (3) as well as how social media pop culture artefacts (such as memes, folklore, chain mail, viral videos, internet celebrities, and influencers), and in various formats (such as texts, images, gifs, and videos) allow for a layer of plausible deniability wherein users can disperse and dispel organised efforts as mere entertainment or humour, in an act of subversive frivolity. The event will take the format of a brief lecture, a mini-workshop, and a Q&A session.

See wishcrys.com and TikTokCultures.com to learn more about A/Prof Crystal's research.