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A recent study by the Pew Research Center has found that many TikTok users tend to be spectators rather than content creators. The survey, which included 2,745 adult TikTok users, indicated that nearly half (48%) have never posted a video on the platform, and most users haven’t even updated their profile bio.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to TikTok, as it’s common across social media platforms. Historically, the “1% rule” of social media posited that 1% of users create content, 10% interact with it, and the remaining 89% simply view it. Although this rule was formulated in 2006, during the infancy of YouTube, and long before TikTok’s inception, the general principle still applies today: most people consume content rather than produce it.

The extent of inactivity among TikTok users is particularly noteworthy. Samuel Bestvater, the lead author of the study, expressed to TechCrunch his astonishment at the high level of non-posting on TikTok compared to other social networks. For context, a 2021 Pew study revealed that around 50% of U.S. adult Twitter users tweeted five times or fewer each month. Yet, a similar percentage of TikTok users don’t post at all.

One reason for this could be that tweeting, which typically involves sharing brief thoughts, may seem less daunting than creating and sharing videos, which can require more effort, including personal grooming like applying makeup.

Among the more active TikTok users, the top 25% were found to be responsible for a staggering 98% of all public videos. This figure closely mirrors the Twitter (X) statistic from the previous study, where the most active 25% of users generated 97% of all tweets.

The study also examined whether age plays a role in how frequently adults post on TikTok. It found that while users aged 18 to 34 are more likely to use the platform than those aged 35 to 49, roughly half of the users in both age groups never post content. Additionally, 85% of TikTok users report finding the content on their “For You” page to be at least somewhat interesting, with those who post regularly tending to find their feeds very interesting.

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