It all starts on something little and that something little made a huge impact to everyone who have been blessed with great talent and creativity, and it boils to a platform that made things happen, TikTok. with the rise of content creators, TikTok celebrates that success with stories featuring creators, trends, and meaningful campaigns that all began on the world’s leading short-form video platform. Since the local launch of the campaign #itstartsonTikTok last September 11, 2020, it was followed by an online event on September 17, 2020 titled Creators’ Talk: TikTok’s Impact on Filipino Culture and the Creative Economy with TikTok content creators Zendee, Lyqa Maravilla and Yanyan de Jesus sharing their experiences about how they started on TikTok. A trending TikTok content creator himself, Mark Averilla, aka Macoy Dubs and Auntie Julie, hosted the online event.

TikTok Phillipines’ User Content Content and Operations Manager John Castro officially opened the event with a message that truly explained the essence of the campaign.

“With ‘it starts on TikTok,’ we want to celebrate the community. We want to make sure that we thank our community for making TikTok an integral part of our lives and providing an endless amount of entertainment, joy, and positive vibes. The impact of the trends that TikTok and the community made, now just transcends content - it goes from art to beauty and everything else in between,” said Castro.

John attributed TikTok’s impact on culture to the creators, users, and fans who are continuously inspired to create more content and explore their individuality. TikTok enables people from all walks of life to express themselves one way or another. From a Gen Z dominant app in its early years, the platform now appeals towards the professionals and senior citizens which has helped create a solid diverse culture. With tons of local content within the platform, every user can have a lot of different perspectives.

TikTok as an empowering platform for creation

Prior to Zendee’s popularity, she already participated in numerous singing competitions and was once featured in the Ellen De Generes show. But for her, success became sweeter when she found the empowering culture and community that is on TikTok.

“I initially created comedy on TikTok. Users are already familiar with my chipmunk’s voice delivering “patama’ lines. At that time, I was worried that my followers would only want me to create comedy. Posting a cover, I was shocked with the community’s supportive reactions. Requests started to come in from the comments and that’s how my following grew,” shared Zendee.

This talented creator was able to gain 5.7 million followers in just 7 months. One video that she attributed to her TikTok success is her parody of then viral Sarah Geronimo’s Tala, titled Gala. It was a funny yet hopeful song about how Filipinos look forward to being able to travel again once the community quarantine is over.

During her portion, Zendee enumerated her favorite trends which include the musical challenge #popcornduet. She also liked how #BinibiningMarikit delivers an empowering theme for Filipinas to feel confidently beautiful about themselves.

Before ending the interview, Zendee imparted an message to her fellow content creators: “TikTok is a big family who’ll support your craft. You can showcase your talent on TikTok. Collaborate with different creators so that we grow together. Let’s support each other, especially to the starting content creators!”

TikTok as an enabler for learning 

 “It made me a better educator outside of TikTok,” shared educational content creator Lyqa Maravilla looking back through her 4 months of experience in the platform. Aiming to democratize education in the Philippines, Lyqa started mid-May of 2020 when discussion of virtual learning for students started.

“My concern at that time was student’s fear and anxiety from learning online. Joining TikTok was me being compelled to convince the young ones that learning is possible even from short-form content. I am so happy that the learning audience took to it. This time we get to convince them that: yes, kaya nilang matuto, sa loob ng isang minuto,” shared Coach Lyqa. Her account @teamlyqa actually grew to a million subscribers in six weeks since she started -- a testament that the Filipino youth really love to learn. For a fact, the education-focused local campaign #TikTokU became a top content with 1.8 billion views as of writing.

Given the young generation’s short attention span, educators are challenged to be creative in their content. Lyqa shared how simple and easy it is to create a video and edit in the app. Ending her interview, she encouraged teachers and co-educators to utilize TikTok as a learning platform, “if you think you have something you know that can help others, share it on TikTok. It is really a good place to start.”

TikTok embraces the unique, creative and weird you 

Yanyan de Jesus is now one of the country’s most followed TikTok content creators at 9.7 million. He is the Grand Champion for Talent in the region-wide competition TikTok All-Star Southeast Asia 2019.

“What if one day I become one of them?,” was Yanyan’s question 3 years ago. He shared that gaining 10 followers back then was already a happy moment. He shared that he was a victim of bullying and did not have many friends because he was weird. Little did he know at that time that there’s a huge community out there waiting for this star to realize his greatness.

Yanyan shared that he started on TikTok by creating videos for his own entertainment. One positive video at a time, he continuously explored his individuality and expressed his creative self. Yanyan’s feed today is diversity itself. He can wow you with his moves, make you laugh, and give you all the feels. Asie from doing these things for expression, he also wants to infect his audience with joy, “in my videos, even if I can’t interact personally, I want to make you happy.”

When asked what’s the secret formula for creating viral videos, Yanyan revealed that what matters on TikTok is expressing one’s truth and individuality. Originality is what people will love about you.

Yanyan invites everyone to start creating their content today, “TikTok has a support system among content creators. We support each other. Be in your comfort zone, then explore. Try new things. Diversify your content.”

it starts on TikTok - bringing infectious joy and viral content

For all these reasons, #itstartsonTikTok campaign is a love letter to these local creators and a proper acknowledgement of the campaigns and trends that brought joy to the community.

For every content creator that starts on TikTok, a new story unfolds. One positive content on TikTok is a message of hope and inspiration to multitude of users from many parts of the globe. For every video upload, culture and experiences are shared, amplified, and celebrated in a tic of a sec. These small acts of positivity and goodness collectively shaped the culture trends that we have today.

TikTok welcomes you for who you are. Now’s the best time to start your creative journey. Download TikTok today on your iOS and Android devices and start your TikTok moment with #itstartsonTikTok and #TikTokPhilippines.