Zoë Schiffer: Booktok has completely immersed me in the romanta world. Now I am unable to read normal literature. Thank you.
Lauren Goode: I'm going to assume that romantasia is romance and fantasy?
Zoë Schiffer: Oh, yes that's it. Dragons. There are fairies, there are dragons. I am not proud of this, but I think I am not proud of it either.
Lauren Goode: Wild.
Michael Calore: Lauren, you have to spend more time on Tiktok.
Lauren Goode: I know. Zoe, this is a whole side of you that I was not aware of as my podcast Cohost. Respect.
Zoë Schiffer: Yes, I generally not lead it, I will really be.
Michael Calore: Lauren, what is your favorite video?
Lauren Goode: A friend sent me the moth girl.
Moth [Archival audio]: Two years ago I found this gigantic moth in my driveway.
Lauren Goode: Her handle on Tiktok is TalalovesYouart. But she is the motte girl.
Moth [Archival audio]: … with wings, hell scared me.
Lauren Goode: Actually, because Tiktok was about to be banned and my friend panicked a bit. She said, “Beautiful makers like this cannot reach the audience.”
Moth [Archival audio]: But I had no idea where I was about to go into myself.
Lauren Goode: I tore up a bit. There were onions in the room. It was really beautiful. What about you, Mike?
Michael Calore: My favorite tick personality is Smac, Smac.
Sarah McCreanor [Archival audio]: I don't know why you followed me, it was probably for dance or whatever.
Michael Calore: Sarah McCreanor, she is an Australian interpretative dancer and comedian and creative person. She is also known as Hydraulic Press Girl because she took the videos of viral hydraulic press crushing things and made interpretative dances of them
Zoë Schiffer: Oh my God.
Michael Calore: With costumes that are great.
Lauren Goode: Wow.
Michael Calore: She's great.
Zoë Schiffer: To be honest, creativity on Tiktok is quite unparalleled.
Lauren Goode: It's real.
Michael Calore: Too bad it all goes away.
Zoë Schiffer: Aw.
Michael Calore: This is Wired's Creepy valleyA show about the people, strength and influence of Silicon Valley. I am Michael Calore, director of consumer technology and culture here at Wired.
Lauren Goode: I am Lauren Goode, I am a senior writer at Wired.
Zoë Schiffer: I am Zoe Schiffer, director of Wired Business and Industry.
Michael Calore: Today we are talking about Tiktok. What makes this app so unique and so uniquely vulnerable? We all have our favorite Tiktok -Personalities and our favorite videos and our favorite subsections. But what is Tiktok anyway? Where does it come from? When did we start being obsessed with it for the first time? And why are we so obsessed with it?
Zoë Schiffer: The short answer is that Tiktok is a Chinese social media app with around 170 million monthly active users in the United States. And specifically, a lot of young people. It really has a choke grip on Gen Z specifically.
