#Gen Z On Tiktok: Understanding the Implications of The Users’ Lifestyle Using Qualitative Phenomenological Approach

Abstract

Social media has proven to become an essential platform that acts as an important tool for human daily interactions for the new generation, especially in this modernized era. From using the platform for communication only, it has now also become a platform for business, marketing and spreading new information on various applications like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. After the outbreak of COVID-19, TikTok emerged into being a social media platform that provided much information and also pleasure towards users. TikTok has become a widely used platform for public health agencies to communicate health information. As the impact of TikTok grew, many people realised that TikTok is a platform that can be used to promote many important issues but can also be a platform where people use it for their greed. To understand more on the situation more, the researcher used the phenomenological approach whereby 10 Malaysian frequent TikTok users from the age 18 to 25 years old were interviewed. NVivo 12 is used for this study for the coding process. The findings revealed that TikTok affects the implications of the users’ lifestyle in terms of searching and sharing information, boosting their self-confidence, enhances their creativity, educational purposes, productivity and their self-esteem.