Found a paper from 2019 that predicted the TikTok 'crying aesthetic' trend two years early

I was cleaning out my old hard drive and found a PDF from a university study on emotional contagion in social networks. The paper mapped out how sad video content spreads faster than happy content in certain age groups. It had specific numbers showing a 22% boost in shares for videos with a certain facial expression pattern. Then I checked when the whole 'crying on camera' thing really took off on TikTok and it lined up almost exactly. Totally creepy how algorithms can prime people for a trend before anyone knows it's coming. Has anyone else found old research that accurately predicted a current trend?

3 comments

3 Comments

fionam1115d ago

Oh wow, seriously? A 22% boost is such a specific number, it's wild that it lined up that perfectly. I mean, that's creepy but also kind of amazing that someone actually quantified that facial expression thing before it became a whole trend. Idk, it makes you wonder how many other social media behaviors are being mapped out in obscure papers we never hear about.

wader7115d agoTop Commenter

Whoa, that's a great point. I actually remember reading something a few years back about a university study on how people angle their faces in selfies. They found that a slight head tilt to the left was seen as more trustworthy or something like that. It's wild to think researchers are out there looking at all these tiny details we barely notice. Makes me wonder what they've figured out about the way we type or the time of day we post stuff. Kinda makes you feel like a lab rat sometimes, doesn't it?

linda_reed15d ago

The whole "lab rat" thing really hits home. There was a study I saw about how the timing of your posts can predict your mood or even your sleep schedule. People posting late at night were more likely to be night owls or deal with anxiety. It's like every scroll and tap is feeding some algorithm or research paper. Kinda makes you second guess every little thing you do online now.