OPINION - NOVEMBER 2019

Presidential candidates are hot on the campaign trail and desperate for the nomination, scrambling to convince voters they’re the right pick for office. The hopefuls are running political ads on Facebook, tweeting support for the president’s impeachment on Twitter and posting heartfelt pictures of their dogs on Instagram.

Yet, would you believe most of them aren’t taking advantage of the most popular social networking app on the market? Have they heard about TikTok? (Yes. I'm talking about TikTok. I'm sorry).

If you have mixed feelings about TikTok, I wouldn’t blame you. Depending on what generation you identify with, you might see it as a toxic online wasteland where cringy videos go to die, or a thriving paradise of original memes and DIYs where viral content is born.

And for those of you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me fill you in: TikTok is a new mobile app that lets users create and share short videos. It launched in 2016 and skyrocketed in popularity over the past year. According to Datareportal, the app has 500 million active users worldwide and took the spot for the ninth most popular social networking site on the internet.

TikTok is taking the world by storm and brands are finally waking up to its incredible marketing and advertising value: sponsored posts and clever ads are strategically placed on the coveted “for you” page — a section of the app where the day’s most popular content is featured.

While brands like Chipotle and celebrities like Ariana Grande are reaching millions of people on TikTok, not a single presidential candidate has an official account yet. Why not?

For one thing, political campaigns are hesitant to pull the trigger and promote their candidate on the app because they’re scared to come off as inauthentic and miss the mark. They don’t want to reignite the mockery that tainted Hillary Clinton during the last election; she abused internet culture and posted one too many Snapchats of her trying to stay hip and relevant.

“American culture does not exactly appreciate the image of the ‘authentic’ older woman, but boy does it hate the older woman who strains to stay relevant,” wrote Amanda Hess in an article for Slate.com, talking about Clinton’s tacky use of social media to reach millennial voters.

But TikTok is different than Instagram and Twitter. It’s supposed to be tacky. Its users embrace content that’s unorthodox, easily relatable, weird and sometimes offensive. And in the app’s defense, if politicians were to start using TikTok, they couldn’t possibly post something worse or more politically incorrect than what President Donald Trump has tweeted.

In fact, Trump memes have overrun TikTok. High school and college-aged users, who make up the majority of the app’s demographics, ridicule him and make fun of his demeanor. But they’re also expressing their opinions on candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, and campaigns are missing out on an opportunity to capitalize on young people’s political interest.

There’s already evidence that users on the platform would accept and embrace candidates if they decided to start making videos. The Washington Post has a TikTok account and hired a dedicated team to post timely memes about the news and behind-the-scenes content. It has been successful — they’ve amassed nearly 300,000 followers since May.

Some of the account’s most popular content has to do with the presidential candidates. Corey Booker running late in an airport in slow motion has millions of views. Andrew Yang poking fun at his low polling numbers while dancing to a Dora the Explorer song has more than 250,000 likes.

While critics argue using the platform could be detrimental to someone’s campaign, the positives greatly outweigh any potential negatives. There’s little money to invest — making a TikTok is purposely low budget and that’s part of the app’s appeal. Also, any exposure can be crucial in a tight race when candidates are struggling to raise their polling numbers. And as long as they have a media team that understands TikTok’s culture and trends, there’s nothing to lose.

“If you’re gonna launch anything,” said Dave Jorgenson, creator of The Washington Post TikTok account, “whether you’re a newspaper or a brand or a company, you need to understand the app, otherwise people will see right through you. Especially on TikTok, because the whole thing is that it’s mostly just raw videos set to music.”

Election day is less than a year away. The clock is ticking. TikTok is waiting for presidential candidates with open arms.