University students are increasingly using TikTok to search for information. Interviews with students found that they appreciate how quickly TikTok surfaces relevant content through its algorithm. Students search for how-to videos, product reviews, and summaries of current events on TikTok. However, they are wary of using TikTok as a source for political, health, or news information due to misinformation concerns. Students decide whether to trust information on TikTok based on the quality of the video and whether the topic is low-stakes. While fast searches on TikTok are appealing, students acknowledge that the platform may shorten attention spans and not provide full context.

1. How university
students use TikTok
to search for
information
And what it means for your
information literacy teaching

6. What searching on TikTok looks like

7. WOU student interviews
“It’s a lot easier to see when something is paid for or sponsored, and to
avoid if you don’t want that, than when searching on Google.”
“Using TikTok to search seems pointless because you know that it’s only
going to show you things that you already like or know because of the
algorithm…there are good things that might get censored and depending
on what you usually watch, more videos will come up for you that are
what you already watch and like, so it’s not giving you all the results.”
“It goes by what you’re interested in and have searched for so once you
search for something you get lots more videos for it, which is a little
creepy.”

8. WOU student interviews
“My biggest complaint with the search is that it doesn’t allow to sort by
date, and the algorithm shows things it thinks you’ll like based on past
likes and things that are popular.”
“I like searching for products on TikTok because you get to actually see
the products in use and hear about them, as opposed to having to read
about them.”
“I don’t personally use it to search, but I can see people searching for
how to do things, or other searches that you’d actually need to watch a
video for.”

9. Adrienne Sheares’ focus group

10. Adrienne Sheares’ focus group
• TikTok shows them relevant content FASTER than Google. The
algorithm knows them WELL, and they love that. No two feeds are
alike.
• They don’t want to read to find information. They will if they HAVE
to, but if they can get a quick video with the answer - that’s what
they prefer.
• The group didn’t really care about misinformation. They know it
exists and will avoid content on TikTok that can easily be false (like
health or news).

11. WOU student focus groups question 1:
“Do you use TikTok?”

12. WOU student focus groups question 1:
“Do you use TikTok?”
“I used to use it a lot more than I should...I’ve been cutting down.”
“I used to be a computer programmer and...it takes a lot of information from
you…Since it takes about 20 times more information than Instagram, it
basically can think for you. So, not only when you’re on the app are you not
thinking, but it thinks for you. And I don’t know who—it’s an algorithm and
somebody set the algorithm—and I think it’s dangerous, basically.”
“I don’t use any social media right now...it was time-consuming so I decided
to take a break from it.”
“Mainly, for me, it’s a good distraction. I really try not to, but it’s so easy to
just get sucked away…But it’s also nice to sit down...after working for the
day or doing homework and I just want a break to not think about anything.”

13. WOU student focus groups question 1:
“Do you use TikTok?”
–Probes: “Why or why not? What do you use it for?”
“I just use it to find funny memes and stuff, or to find nice art people make.”
“The biggest thing I use it for is just after a long day, to turn off my brain
and check out. Just mindlessly scroll.”
“I make videos myself. I make jokes about my problems. It’s a way to help
me cope.”
“I don’t watch the news, but if I’m curious about a certain drama, I search
for it on TikTok and I get a quick, clear summary.”
“Seeing what my friends have been posting, if they post, or scrolling
through just seeing what’s out there. If there’s something I’m particularly
interested in, whether that’s recipes, keyboards, reviews, etc.”

14. WOU student focus groups question 1:
“Do you use TikTok?”
–Probes: “Why or why not? What do you use it for?”
“I think one of my things with TikTok is that it is owned by a Chinese
company…that does play some role for me. Maybe they’re stealing our
information? That’s probably propaganda a little bit? But, to me, it’s just
like, I’m more comfortable with what I’m doing now and doing the other
one is a little bit outside my comfort zone. It’s not that it’s evil, it’s just not
what I’ve chosen.”
“In high school...I refused to download it because I didn’t want to be
influenced [by] the Internet. I got it because I had this tutor that...told me
that I could get some textbooks for free and I asked how and she said,
just look it up on TikTok.”

15. WOU student focus groups question 2:
“Do you use TikTok to search for information?”

16. WOU student focus groups question 2:
“Do you use TikTok to search for information?”
“Honestly, no. I just go on what’s on my For You page and go from there.”
“My main source of finding information is probably Google.”
“I really don’t go to TikTok to search any of these things. I mean, TikTok
isn’t the place to go, especially if you want to find credited reviews about
something or tutorials about something. But, it’s just so fast. You could
type in one keyword and you’ll get thirty, 6-second videos. And the videos
are max a minute.”
“I do think it’s the last case scenario though. Can’t find it anywhere else, I
mean search TikTok and someone has made a video about it.”

17. WOU student focus groups question 2:
“Do you use TikTok to search for information?”
–Probes: “What do you search for? Examples?”
“I’ve used it in a class. We were looking up health claims and trying to pick apart those found
in media. But also, I recently used it to learn how to tie certain knots for rope rescue or hiking
or stuff like that.”
“When I want to find general information or how to do something or a recipe video, TikTok is
so much better than YouTube.”
“I use it...just to look at friends, people I’m following or that I want to follow. I just search for
people’s names.”
“How to clean better. Some hacks. There are some accounts where they teach you stuff your
dad didn’t teach you.”
“The only time I’ve searched something specifically is for a connection to a movie or a TV
show or something, and I want to see more of that. I’ve also looked up how to crochet
things.”
“I’m in a Bio class that uses a form of coding and…if I’m just looking up for one line of code,
it’s super easy, it’s right there, and there’s a whole bunch of people on TikTok who are also
interested in that.”

18. WOU student focus groups question 3:
“How do you use TikTok to search for information?”
–Probes: “search feature vs. scrolling”
“TikTok is really good at the algorithm. Obviously our phones listen to
everything, anything we search on Instagram will pop up on TikTok, too.
So, if I’m talking to friends, texting, looking up keyboards on other
platforms, my TikTok will know that and then I’ll get those videos there. I’ve
identified that at this point, so I don’t need to go and search.”
“It’s like fast research, It’s like, ‘oh, this thing, I’m going to search this thing
real quick,’ scroll, scroll, scroll, ‘oh! That one. That’s similar to what I’m
looking for,’ done.”
“I will subscribe to certain hashtags if those are things I’m interested in, to
kind of get fed information on those topics. So, in a way that is research
because I’m choosing that topic that I want to learn more about. It’s like an
ongoing search. So it’s not one instance of searching, it could be, ‘this is
something I’m always generally looking to collect information on, so I’m just
going to subscribe to these connecting terms.’”

19. WOU student focus groups question 3:
“How do you use TikTok to search for information?”
–Probes: “search feature vs. scrolling”
“[Search] works for some things, it doesn’t work for others. For
crocheting…it gets straight to the point. But sometimes, with other things,
like TV shows, movies, it’ll only show the most popular videos. And it’s like,
‘oh, I’ve seen this before,’...so you have to search more to delve into things
you haven’t seen.
I click on the hashtags, and then I think there’s a feature—I don’t use
search that much—but I think there’s a feature on there…most recent…so
it’s the newest things that are getting put out under that hashtag or term.”
“For the assignment I did look for keywords, whether it was things like ‘diet’
or ‘covid 19’ or stuff like that. Versus if I was looking for specific knots, I
would just go in and put in the knot name and it would come up with a
bunch of videos related to that.”

20. WOU student focus groups question 4:
“Why do you/don’t you use TikTok to search for
information?”
–Probes: “When/why do you use it instead of a search engine?”
“If I’m trying to just get a grasp of a concept, I’d probably go to Google. But if
it’s something involving how certain people are facing an issue or whatever
topic—especially if I’m trying to look at people from my demographic—then
that’s when I would turn to TikTok. Because I feel like I’m getting the opinions
of the people directly from them, instead of trying to interpret that from a
variety of articles.”
“I like the comments section of videos, and seeing how other people are
reacting to this. Or looking up similar videos, using the tags that they use,
and then once I’ve exhausted those, then I’d probably go to outside sources
like Google.”
“I think that for the things I’m interested in, I don’t want to watch a 40-minute
video on certain topics. Or even a 20-minute video. If I want to, I’ll pursue that
later.”

21. WOU student focus groups question 4:
“Why do you/don’t you use TikTok to search for
information?”
–Probes: “When/why do you use it instead of a search engine?”
“I think it’s a really good place to get a lot of ideas…for books or studying or
random things that I’m like, ‘I wonder how I fix that.’ And if it’s on TikTok it’s
like, ‘oh yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m going to click this and I’m going to go
down this rabbit hole to see if I can find a good place to start,’ and then if I
say, ‘hey, I want to learn more about this,’ then I’ll go to Google. So it kind of
is a jumping off point.”
“I might use something like Google to supplement what I’m seeing, but it’s
usually starting on TikTok.”
“I use and like it more than a Google search. Because the algorithm picks up
on everything, and so I don’t have to put in the effort to search every single
thing that I’m thinking about that’s interesting. It kind of does it for me.”

22. WOU student focus groups question 5:
“How do you decide what information from TikTok to use?”
“I usually go through a bunch of videos and then form my opinion based off,
you know, what I see and try to find a variety of sources [on TikTok]. A
consensus of all the videos.”
“I think if someone is making a video that speaks for a community, I typically
will not listen to it because I don’t think TikTok is a place where that’s always
a trustworthy source of information. If someone is talking about their opinion
in their life, showing something like that...I appreciate seeing how [they] live
life and [their] perspective...So I think for individual opinions it’s great.”
“If it’s a person I subscribe to on Instagram or their YouTube channel, and I
know they also have a TikTok, I’ll trust them a little bit more.”
“It depends on how good quality the video looks, how good quality the food
looks at the end. If it lists the quantity of ingredients, not just what the
ingredients are. Or if it’s too long or too short. If it looks good and the camera
quality is good too, like it looks like they invested time into it, then yes.”

23. WOU student focus groups question 5:
“How do you decide what information from TikTok to use?”
–Probes: “What makes you likely/unlikely to use a video?”
“What types of info are ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’”?
“Politics and health are no’s. Advice in general I’m skeptical of. Unless it’s
something like a college hack, low stakes.”
“Anything that I deem as kind of important and I can find that information
elsewhere, I’m not going to use TikTok. Because obviously there are people
putting good information on there, but there’s just as many spreading more
clickbait-y, not reliable information, so usually just don’t really trust it. And I’m
a really gullible person, too, so it’s better if I just don’t trust it.”
"For news and politics and more important stuff, I don’t really trust anything
that goes on on TikTok."
“Videos that are claiming, “here’s this treatment” or like “here’s my quick fix
for X,” unless it’s like some college hack, I’m not going to listen to it. Versus
if it’s just a recipe, I love finding recipes on TikTok and trying them.”

24. WOU student focus groups question 5:
“How do you decide what information from TikTok to use?”
–Probes: “What makes you likely/unlikely to use a video?”
“What types of info are ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’”?
“I would use it for things that just don’t matter as much in the grand scheme
of things. People aren’t going to lie about how to do this crochet stitch or
something. Or how to mix paint or something like that.”
“I stay away from the political side. I think the information that could be
harmful is if I let social media influence my beliefs and opinions. So, I think
the best way to use it is for instructional videos.”
“I would never trust TikTok for political things, for anything that has to do with
a person not liking someone. I think that TikTok is full of hateful people.”
“If we’re talking politics, if anything pops up on my page, I always pay
attention to the neutrality of the language being used. And then if it’s not
neutral language, I just scroll past it because it’s not a source that I can trust
and I don’t want it influencing me subconsciously.”

25. WOU student focus groups: student concerns about
TikTok
“I do think they’re stealing our information. Because somehow, stuff I was
interested in that people—It was like they were spying on me. All the stuff I
was interested in, the type of dances, the type of subjects for school, it all
started coming up on my For You page. It does creep me out—like are they
looking at my videos? Are they spying on me?”
“P2 It’s super weird. She was talking about it earlier, like you’ll talk about
something with your friends and then the next day it will totally pop up. You’ll
even, when you’re scrolling through, you’ll spend an extra amount of time—
you won’t even like it or follow it—but you’ll spend an extra amount of time
on something and then the next two days you can’t stop getting that thing.
P1 Yeah, like I’ll bet money that after this is over, we’re going to get TikTok
algorithm TikToks.”
“It is sort of shortening our attention spans. And I can see why someone who
is older wouldn’t, it wouldn’t really appeal to them. It’s definitely going after a
younger audience.”

26. WOU student focus groups: student concerns about
TikTok
“I think it can be really isolating because I know that I don’t believe in
something and then everyone’s posting it…then I’m isolated from my peers.”
“You don’t get the bigger picture at all. You just see the little clip like that and
you’re like—And then you see fifty of those in a row when you’re scrolling
and it’s just like, you can only really form one opinion.”
“Personally, I think TikTok is the worst thing ever. I do use it, yeah, but—
Their terms and conditions on TikTok, I mean, they like search your phone,
they get into everything, which is just—I keep it in the back of my head. I
mean, I still have it, I still use it, but it’s definitely a little sketchy.”
“You have to understand it’s not the full story, and I think people don’t
understand it’s not the full story.”
“It really festers judgement.”

27. References
• Brewster, J. (2022, September 14). Misinformation monitor: September 2022. NewsGuard. Retrieved October 25,
2022, from https://www.newsguardtech.com/misinformation-monitor/september-2022/
• Huang, K. (2022, September 16). For gen Z, TikTok is the new search engine. The New York Times. Retrieved
October 25, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/technology/gen-z-tiktok-search-engine.html
• Perez, S. (2022, July 12). Google exec suggests Instagram and TikTok are eating into Google's core products,
search and maps. TechCrunch. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/12/google-exec-
suggests-instagram-and-tiktok-are-eating-into-googles-core-products-search-and-maps
• Sheares, Adrienne. (2022, August 11). Adrienne Sheares, MA on linkedin: #genz #tiktok #search #socialmedia:
396 comments. Adrienne Sheares, MA on LinkedIn: #genz #tiktok #search #socialmedia | 396 comments.
Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adrienne-sheares-m-a-030a2219_genz-tiktok-
search-activity-6963523699035488256-FFo9
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, October 23). TikTok. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok

28. Elizabeth Brookbank
Associate Professor / Instruction Librarian
Western Oregon University
Email: brookbanke@wou.edu
Twitter: @elizabethbrookb