Why Young Nigerians Are Flocking to TikTok

TikTok is a micro-video sharing social media platform where users can create short, usually funny and/or informative, videos and share them on the same platform and beyond. It's very popular with young audiences - and Nigerians are no exception. TikTok is gaining dominance by the day, and is gradually diverting young Nigerians from other social media platforms, like Instagram. Of all the social media apps in existence, TikTok gained a 31,9% market share in Nigeria in 2020, writes Chinwe  Uzochukwu and Silas Udenze for The Conversation.

Research shows that young Nigerians, who are renowned for their ingenuity in entertainment spaces - can and do use TikTok as yet another positive space to build their personal brands, create connections and bolster their mental health.

This became evident at the start of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when lockdowns and isolation was the norm. Some even described it as therapeutic. Mental health content is burgeoning on the platform.

For instance, the hashtags #mentalhealth and #therapistsoftiktok have 15.3 billion and 318 million views, respectively. Even licensed therapists are using it to provide professional counseling and mental health support.