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.

Supplemental data

Supplemental materials for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ All follower counts reflect the number of followers creators had at the time of their interview.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Boston University

Notes on contributors

Briana M. Trifiro

Briana M. Trifiro is a Ph.D. student in Boston University’s Division of Emerging Media Studies. She received her Master’s in Communication from Bryant University in 2018.