The TikTok platform and the videos that are released on it resemble a separate world with its own laws, which will be difficult to understand for people who are not deep in this topic. And given the phenomenal popularity of the application, this virtual world somehow seeps into the real one. TikTok even has its own fashion, which is called trends and changes very quickly. In this article, we will touch on this topic and talk about what is opposed to this fashion. And at the same time we will answer the question: “What does Alt mean in Tik Tok?”.
Long answer
Initially, when launching the application TikTok on his smartphone or browser, the user watches exactly the videos that he could expect – dancing to music, the so-called lipsinks (lipsink – singing a song with lips alone, may be accompanied by facial expressions), various challenges in the style of “Answer a question for a thousand rubles” and so on. The point of these commercials is that they are originally designed for a wide audience, in a sense they are glamorous, even if they contain original ideas. But often it’s still about patterns, in other words, it’s all about indulging trends.
This side of the Tik Tok platform is called the Straight (from the English Straight). Someone might think that we are talking about the heterosexual orientation of the authors, but the meaning is somewhat different. This name came about because this content is suitable for everyone, and the author is “normal”. Even if he proposes some new idea or even a new format, he still creates it with the expectation of large views.
But this is only one side of TikTok, which can be called the top or the bright side. It is shown immediately to all newly arrived users. But if you carefully follow the recommendations feed, avoid such videos, then the other side of the platform will open, the dark one. It is also called Alt (from the English Alt). That is, this is an alternative for mass trends or “not for everyone” content, which in the end can still become popular. 
What are the characteristics of Alt-side videos? They are focused primarily on opposing all current trends or demonstrating something abstract. For fun, you can open a keyword search, enter the query “Alt” or Alt and see what happens.
There is another interesting question – how exactly did such a division come about? One of the sources indicates that the main movement began in the spring of 2020 and concerned foreign content, and after that it moved to the Russian-language segment. The “alternative” TikTok existed in the ideological plan before due to the impressive number of authors with their own vision, but the corresponding term appeared around that time.
At the moment, there are several characteristic features for this kind of content:
- Using trends to make fun of them, for example, using something completely non-standard, atmospheric, frightening or just abstract as a background music for a video.
- The appearance of very unusual trends or memes, such as the cult of tree worship.
https://www.tiktok.com/@lara_studio_official/video/6838688834771864837
- Often, but not always, such authors have a pronounced attribute of one of the subcultures (gloominess is ready, colorful lurid emo style, and so on).
- Very specific humor, literally on the verge of a foul. It is possible and even necessary to laugh at what is not accepted to laugh at.
- Unusual comments under videos, repeated copy-pastes.
In fact, this topic is much deeper than that described in the article. But for its full disclosure, a much larger volume of text will be required. We tried to combine general information and tell. Now let’s briefly deal with the question: “How to get to the Alt side?”.
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Moving to “alternative” TikTok
The purpose of this action is to correctly “train” the application’s algorithms. TikTok has become so popular in large part due to its recommendation system.If a user actively watches one type of content and ignores another, then similar videos will be offered to him automatically. We offer a very simple way:
- Open hashtag search (“Interesting” section) and enter one of them: Alt, AltTikTok, Alt , AltTikTok or something similar.
- Go to the first video you like by the cover. If it hooked you, then be sure to watch it to the end, if you wish, subscribe to the author and leave a comment.
- Skip through the videos you don’t like.
- If you really don’t like some type of video, then when one of them appears, make a long tap on the screen and select the item “Uninteresting”.
- Sit like this for 10-20 minutes.
Now similar content will also appear in the recommendation feed. The more often you watch it, the more it will be offered by TikTok itself. In general, everything is quite simple.
Summing up
Alt or alternative Tik Tok is an interesting phenomenon, because it was originally conceived as an opposition to the main trends of the site, but over time it has become a trend itself. At the same time, not all authors are engaged in ridiculing fashion, many are focused on their own vision, which is tied to the interests of these people. On the Alt side, everyone can find something new, interesting, or even resonating with their soul.
