Abstract:

‘Academic TikTok’ is full of academics distributing their knowledge and expertise for free. Higher education institutions certainly do not reward academics for such content in their pursuit of tenure. Academics unaffiliated with an institution or not in tenure-track positions do not receive traditional accolades for such work. However, more and more academics are creating and using TikTok content (Facca, et al., 2022; Yélamos-Guerra, et al., 2022).

Little research exists examining why academics are using TikTok or how TikTok is emerging as a repository for academic-related knowledge. Thus, this integrated literature review (ILR) targets research studying factors related to academics who are TikTok content creators. The theoretical conceptualization of academics’ experiences as TikTok content creators offered in this ILR considers:
1. Academics’ motivations for creating TikTok content;
2. How creating TikTok content could be public scholarship; and
3. How TikTok content is simultaneously an open form of knowledge sharing and a commodification of knowledge due to the TikTok algorithm.
Conceptually structuring academics as TikTok content creators in this manner best positions this ILR to critique and synthesize existing research.

Of specific interest in this ILR is research that moves beyond inquiries into faculty members’ use of social media or attitudes about technology. Rather, we are interested in illuminating factors that contribute to nuanced identity creation online (Jordan, 2020) and technocultural processes (Bhandari & Bimo, 2022) involved in academics creating TikTok content.

An integrated literature review is a review that describes and synthesizes the knowledge about an emergent area of study in an effort to develop new conceptual models and research agendas (Whittemore & Knafl, 2005; Torraco, 2005). This approach is in contrast to systematic literature reviews which generally aim for a complete compilation of the literature on a mature topic. The objective was to target representative (rather than comprehensive) channels of research to examine aspects of academics as TikTok content creators.

Our theoretical conceptualization of academics as TikTok content creators reveals holes in the research literature. A research agenda is set forth calling for more specific attention to the affective considerations and technocultural processes inherent in academics creating TikTok content.

References:
[1] Bhandari, A., & Bimo, S. (2022). Why’s Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media. Social Media+ Society, 8(1), 20563051221086241.
[2] Facca, D., Jacob, A., King, J. P., Ozceylan, M., & Grimes, S. M. (2022). Academic TikTok report.
[3] Jordan, K. (2020). Imagined audiences, acceptable identity fragments and merging the personal and professional: how academic online identity is expressed through different social media platforms. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(2), 165-178.
[4] Torraco, R. J. (2005). Writing integrative literature reviews: Guidelines and examples. Human Resource Development review, 4(3), 356-367.
[5] Whittemore, R., & Knafl, K. (2005). The integrative review: updated methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52(5), 546-553.
[6] Yélamos-Guerra, M. S., García-Gámez, M., & Moreno-Ortiz, A. J. (2022). The use of Tik Tok in higher education as a motivating source for students. Porta Linguarum Revista Interuniversitaria de Didáctica de las Lenguas Extranjeras, (38), 83-98.

Keywords:

TikTok, social media, academics, higher education.