Short-form Video Platforms and Participatory Culture: A Literature Review of TikTok's Impact on Digital Engagement
Abstract
The rise of short video apps has greatly changed the way people consume and participate in digital media. In this paper, we explore how TikTok is reshaping the participatory culture of the digital age. Based on a literature review of academic studies published from 2018 to 2025, this research reviews how participatory culture has evolved from its earlier Web 2.0 context to a new form of algorithmic mobile participation. The research uses systematic literature analysis methodology to explore peer-reviewed articles, academic monographs, and empirical studies on TikTok, short video, and participatory culture theory. The research findings show that TikTok is a new stage of evolution of participatory culture. Technical affordances of algorithms, easy creation tools, and democratized virality all mediate the participatory culture in a new way. These technical affordances make unprecedented levels of participation in creative activities possible, but also bring about many issues related to algorithmic mediation, agency of creators, and authenticity. This literature review helps reader understand how technical affordances of contemporary digital platforms change the ways of participation in digital culture, and what new patterns of digital cultural production are emerging.
References
- Jenkins, H. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide [M]. New York University Press, 2006: 290-293.
- Anderson, K. E. Getting Acquainted with Social Networks and Apps: It is Time to Talk About TikTok [J]. Library Hi Tech News, 2020, 37(4): 7-12.
- Bucher, T. If...Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics [M]. Oxford University Press, 2018: 45-67.
- Zulli, D., & Zulli, D. J. Extending the Internet Meme: Conceptualizing Technological Mimesis and Imitation Publics on the TikTok Platform [J]. New Media & Society, 2022, 24(8): 1872-1890
- Jenkins, H., Ito, M., & Boyd, D. Participatory Culture in a Networked Era [M]. Polity Press, 2016: 1-23.
- Burgess, J., & Green, J. YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture [M]. Polity Press, 2018: 57-79.
- Van Dijck, J. The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media [M]. Oxford University Press, 2013: 19-28.
- Karizat, N., Delmonaco, D., Eslami, M., & Andalibi, N. Algorithmic Folk Theories and Identity: How TikTok Users Co-Produce Knowledge of Identity and Engage in Algorithmic Resistance [J]. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2021, 5(CSCW2): 1-44.
- Abidin, C. Mapping Internet Celebrity on TikTok: Exploring Attention Economies and Visibility Labours [J]. Cultural Science Journal, 2021, 12(1): 77-103.
- Klug, D., Qin, Y., Evans, M., & Kaufman, G. Trick and Please. A Mixed-Method Study on User Assumptions About the TikTok Algorithm [J]. Proceedings of the 13th ACM Web Science Conference, 2021: 84-92.