— TikTok (@tiktok_us) December 19, 2018
Social media platforms are weird places. While there’s not doubt a lot of good stuff happens on or through these platforms, sometimes the kind of trends that are born here (remember the kiki challenge?) make little sense.
A similar – although not dangerous – new trend has now come to light. It’s called #hitormiss. The caveat here is that it’s currently popular among users of the TikTok app, which has hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
If you take a look at the volume of Google searches about this term, you’ll see the number hit the ceiling in the later part of this year. So it becomes important to know what this trend is and why it became so popular.
Firstly, if you aren’t aware of the TikTok app, it lets you use songs or audio from any other video as the track for your video. Depending on how cleverly you weave everything, the result can be pretty hilarious. Take a look:
Now coming back to the Tik Tok #hitormiss trend, it’s basically a way for TikTok users to detect the presence of other TikTokers near them in physical world. Here’s a compilation:
https://youtu.be/hx8jKEvWhIY
So the trend basically involves going to a public place, and then shouting “Hit or miss!,” followed by waiting for someone to respond “I guess they never miss, huh?.” Funny, isn’t it? So how did it all start?
Twitter user Reed Kavner explained the whole story behind this trend today. It’s worth knowing, take a look. Oh, and do let us know your thoughts on this trend in the comments section at the bottom.
Back in January, an Instagram meme account called trashpump posted a "screenshot" of a fake tweet in which @miakhalifa appears to call out hip-hop artist @smokehijabi for, well, smoking in her hijab. (Context: Mia once wore a hijab in a porn video.) https://t.co/97kTvCFUYh
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
iLOVEFRiDAY responded to the fake @miakhalifa tweet (which they said at the time they believed to be authentic) with a diss track called "Mia Khalifa." One verse begins: "Hit or miss / I guess they never miss, huh?" https://t.co/Qe25viqDBI
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
Enter TikTok. On October 10 (remember when our Google graph started climbing?), TikTok user @nyannyancosplay posted a video lip syncing to the "hit or miss" verse of "Mia Khalifa." https://t.co/zfvcT5mU6k
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
TikTok is primarily organized around hashtags (they use the word "trends"). With @nyannyancosplay's video, the #hitormiss trend began, snowballing in popularity for the past two months. There are now more than 2.5m (!!) "Hit or Miss" lip sync videos.
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
And so the #tiktoktest was born. Go out to a public place, shout "Hit or miss!" and wait for someone to respond "I guess they never miss, huh?" Over 5k #tiktoktest videos have been published, collectively amassing 30m views.
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
So how did the characters in our story do? iLOVEFRiDAY is the clear winner. “Mia Khalifa” has 35m views on YouTube and is currently the #61 song on the platform in the US. It’s #40 on Spotify’s US Viral 50 chart, with 13m plays. I expect it to climb on both charts this week.
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
itsstomahs, the originator of the #tiktoktest, now has 8k TikTok fans (which may be helpful as he’s pursuing a career as a social media guru for small businesses in Boise, ID), but I think he deserves more for his role in this phenomenon. iLOVEFRiDAY should buy him dinner.
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
Oh, one other casualty: TikTok star @jacobsartorius, whose 2016 song “Hit or Miss” (#73 on the Hot 100) has been eclipsed by all this. At least for now.
— Reed Kavner (@reedkavner) December 18, 2018
Update (December 24):
YouTube’s most subscribed channel PewDiePie has come up with a video entirely focused on Tik Tok. Check out our summary of the video here.
Update (December 25):
Our Christmas-special story: 10 Tik Tok videos that’ll make you smile this Christmas and holiday season. Check it out by heading here.
Update (December 27):
From Nazism to white supremacists to hate speech to pedophiles, we bring you what all issues media has recently been highlighting about Tik Tok in our latest story titled Is TikTok safe for kids? App comes under lens as popularity grows.
Update (December 28):
Is Tik Tok being over-advertised? A large number of people are complaining. Check out the complete story here.
Update (January 08):
While you may hear a lot about how kids are having crazy fun on apps like TikTok, Clip, and Kwai, investigations find these apps are also making them vulnerable and opening doors to exploitation. For details, check out out latest coverage here.
Update (January 30):
After ‘hit or miss’, a new meme/trend is taking over TikTokers. It involves Tik Tok videos where users appear to be eating their own fingers. Check out details here.
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