TikTok was introduced in the United States only a year and a half ago. Norms, particularly around credit and attribution, are still being established. One of the more popular pieces of content on the network involves dancers who perform and share their choreography with others online.
Most of these dancers identify as Dubsmashers. This means, in essence, that they use the Dubsmash app and other short-form social video apps, like Funimate, Likee and Triller, to document choreography to songs they love. They then post (or cross-post) the videos to Instagram, where they can reach a wider audience.
For Dubsmashers, and those in the Instagram dance community, it’s common courtesy to tag the handles of dance creators and musicians, and use hashtags to track the evolution of a dance.
This piece by Taylor Lorenz shares the challenges that occur as a creator’s content becomes popular online, and then is ultimately co-opted by the TikTok masses.
Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash
