Relatable Experts: Constructing Authenticity on TikTok

• In Event: Science, Knowledge & Technology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Lay Expertise and Boundary Work

Abstract

Both food scholars and digital media scholars previously investigated the contentious topic of authenticity concluding that nothing is intrinsically authentic, instead it is socially and culturally constructed. Additionally, food scholars found that the importance of authenticity is not solely limited to the dishes, instead food celebrities need to balance their performance of the authentic with the aspirational. This digital ethnography of TikTok arrives at a tentative theory of authenticity in social media production fields. These findings demonstrate how, in the era of social media, balancing relatability and expertise become important signifiers for performances of authenticity. It also argues that authenticity is something that is constructed interactively on TikTok, between both the creators and the audience.

Author

• Kelli Ann Chiemi Kimura, University of California-Irvine