ClimateTok: educational paradise or algorithmic perdition? Investigating TikTok's role in shaping affective climate communication and education online

• In Event: Highlighted Session: The Role of Digital Media in Climate Change Education and Communication

Proposal

This paper explores climate communication and education (CCE) on TikTok, asking how the content that is shared on the app is mediated by the platform itself. TikTok is a short-form video platform that rapidly gained popularity from 2018, with a surge in use during the Covid-19 pandemic (Paul, 2022). TikTok has become a place for a range of content, including educational science videos and videos for various activist causes (Fry, 2021; Latifi, 2021). Of particular interest to this paper is the niche of TikTok that focuses on climate change content. Globally, users have taken to TikTok to educate others on the impacts of climate change, voice their concerns and grievances around a lack of climate action, and to promote climate activism. Thus, this paper considers the theme of ‘envisioning education in a digital society’ by approaching TikTok as an avenue for public pedagogy.

I draw on theories of affect to consider how CCE on TikTok may reflect wider youth dispositions towards climate change, as TikTok is understood to be a youth-centred app. Young people are at the heart of this research as they will inevitably be the ones to face the worst effects of climate change and it is therefore important to centre their voices in conversations on this topic. I draw on the preliminary findings of my doctoral research which explores the affective climate communication in the social world of Climate TikTok. A social world is one in which membership is fluid (Pink et al., 2016), and thus, I consider TikTok users to be a part of Climate TikTok when engaging with any kind of climate change-related content. This approach is intentionally broad in order to capture a diversity of approaches to climate change.

This paper outlines the findings of my researcher app walkthrough of TikTok (Light et al., 2019) and analysis of content from the app. Through these findings, I consider how TikTok acts to enable and/or restrain the sharing of climate communication, and the affect surrounding this communication, through the affordances of its platform.

Theoretical frameworks
Affect theory is central to my research on CCE because of the affective nature of climate change itself (Salama & Aboukoura, 2018). In defining affect, I draw on a range of scholars to define affect as a collective, multidirectional intensity that exists in the in-between. This understanding of affect draws on theoretical trajectories that view affect as exceeding the individuality of emotion, to be something that is collectively created and experienced (e.g., Anderson, 2014; McKenzie, 2017). I also draw on platform and infrastructure studies to outline the importance of examining TikTok as a platform in conjunction with examining the content on the platform. Due to the platformisation of the digital sphere (Burgess, 2021; Helmond, 2015), climate communication that takes place on social media is always mediated by the platform on which it occurs. Therefore, it is important to examine the affordances of TikTok (e.g., its sharing functionality or interaction options) to question how they impact the sharing of affective CCE.

Research methods
This paper uses ethnographic methodology, particularly those deriving from digital ethnographic traditions. I draw on understandings of the digital as an extension of the ‘real’ world, rather than a separate space to be studied (Hine, 2015; Pink et al., 2016). This approach to digital spaces emphasises the importance of the human element of this study as it recognises the interconnection between online and offline spaces as well as the ubiquity of digital spaces in the everyday lives of young people.

The full study, as undertaken for my doctoral thesis, involves an initial ethnography immersion and broad analysis of the app and content (stage 1), a close analysis of content (stage 2), and interviews with TikTok users (stage 3). In this paper, I focus on the findings Stage 1, which focused primarily on the app itself. This immersion into the social world of Climate TikTok was open-ended and driven by the wide range of climate content that exists on the platform (rather than seeking out a specific type of content e.g., climate activism content). Drawing on Hall (1974), I consider this to be a long preliminary soak in the social world of Climate TikTok. This phase involved a research walkthrough of the app, in which I observed TikTok through the algorithmic affordances of the app. I downloaded and used the app as if I were a first-time user and took notes on both the technological systems as well as the symbolic meanings made through TikTok’s design and interface. To explore the content on Climate TikTok, I utilised the app’s search functionality and its algorithmic homepage. I then sampled and analysed a range of content that exemplifies common sentiments and affects that are shared within the social world.

Contribution
This research firstly contributes to understandings of the functioning of climate communication on TikTok. TikTok is a relatively new and under-studied platform, and this paper develops understandings of how the platform functions through the inclusion of algorithmic affordances in the study design. The second contribution is towards understanding the relationship between affect and climate change. A range of studies have already investigated how climate change brings up a variety of affective responses in individuals and collectives (see McKenzie, 2017; Mosquera & Jylha, 2022; Norgaard, 2006; Pitton & McKenzie, 2022; Verlie, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2022). This research adds to this area of study by focusing specifically on how this manifests when mediated by a social media platform. Finally, there will be implications for climate education. This research will consider the ways in which young people understand climate change in informal settings. This, in turn, may allow for the development of formal climate education programs that incorporate understandings of how climate change affects young people. In other words, understanding what is ‘affective’ for young people may help to foster engagement with formal programs.

Author

• Keara Quadros, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne