Breaking Your Boundaries: How TikTok Use Impacts Privacy Concerns Among Influencers

Abstract

Considering the unique nature of TikTok, where users are encouraged to share meaningful details of their lives, the present study is interested in the interplay between privacy concerns, TikTok use, and the creation of online identities amongst influencers based in the United States. The present study extends the framework of boundary regulation to understand how privacy concerns underlie information disclosures on TikTok. To accomplish this, interviews were conducted with 25 content creators with a minimum of 10,000 followers to understand the relationship between an individual’s desire to maintain a private life and a competing interest in developing a public persona. Results indicate competing desires to share private information in an effort to cultivate an online following coupled with concerns for protecting one’s loved ones who may not have consented to living life in the public eye.