Profitability and Polarization: TikTok's Dominance of the Attention Economy

Abstract

With increased access to technology, our dependency on Internet platforms for information has increased. The COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown measures, such as stay-at-home orders and quarantines, seem to have accelerated the natural drift towards greater technological usage. One Internet platform that individuals use to consume online content is TikTok, a rapidly growing entertainment source that uses algorithms to curate and prioritize user preferences. Increasing technological dependence, however, may be tied to rising concerns about polarization associated with online content. This research explores if and in what way users perceive that Tikok benefits from polarizing content in terms of increasing user engagement and profits. This study of high school TikTok users found that these consumers believe engagement and profits thrive because of the algorithm’s increased frequency of displaying divisive content to active users, increasing their use of TikTok.