These days, it's hard to escape TikTok's endless stream of content. While the app has received pushback for its hyper-personalized algorithms and questionable data use practices, Americans — especially younger ones — can't stop watching.
The app also has also proven quite influential, as evidenced through popular hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt and notoriously dangerous challenges like "NyQuil chicken" going viral.
The good news is most of the inspiration users are taking from the app appears to be pretty low stakes. Listening to a song is the most popular action TikTok users have taken as a result of the app, with 44% of users saying they've done so, according to a recent survey from The New Consumer.
But brands and influencers are all over the app as well, recommending household products, clothing items, office accessories and more. That helped lead nearly 1 in 4 TikTok users to say they've purchased something they saw on TikTok.
Plane tickets might not be strictly considered a "product," but 12% of users say they've traveled to another city or country inspired by TikTok.
Whether it's style inspiration or a local business recommendation, TikTok has an endless stream of videos sharing different ways to spend your money — even if it's just buying ingredients for a new recipe.
While listening to new music or making a "nacho table" with your friends might be the outcome of your time on TikTok, users say that's not the reason they open the app. The No. 1 reason users turn to TikTok is for mindless entertainment and comic relief, the survey found.
In the not-so-distant past, more people watched cable TV for entertainment with commercial breaks that might have inspired viewers to buy something new — a Snuggie or a Sandals vacation. But there were more steps to purchasing and there was a good chance you wouldn't see several different versions of the commercial trying to sell the same thing.
TikTok's algorithm works differently. Once it knows you enjoy seeing certain content, it shows you more of it. So it might only take one influencer-inspired splurge to find yourself on an endless loop of product recommendations.
And with today's payment technology, it's easier than ever to quickly spend your money. Users may go for entertainment, but the advertising creeps in.
Still, over half of users say the app makes them feel happy or amused. And despite not always looking for a learning experience, 27% of users say TikTok has made them feel more culturally aware and another 22% report feeling more globally aware.
Whether or not that awareness is always tied to factual information is certainly up for debate. But for now TikTok's favorability appears unshakeable.
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