My current research project focuses on creativity within the Venezuelan diaspora in the context of informal economy and entrepreneurship.

My motivation to become involved with this project was due to the diaspora's countless engagements with TikTok. These engagements were not only a way of self-making and creating transnational identities or connections, but also existed alongside practices of advertising and promoting their own businesses. I find this blurring of the personal and professional self fascinating and particularly noticeable on TikTok, where content is usually presented in a less 'curated' manner than other social media platforms.

There is a particular 'community-building' aspect of the platform, enabled by the algorithm which is also unique to TikTok which I hope to explore. These communities are revealed in 'left-wing TikTok', 'mushroom TikTok', 'Scottish TikTok', and countless other examples, that begin to show how an AI-driven matchmaking service can bring people together, or further separate them.

Upon joining the project I began my own TikTok journey to further challenge my own stereotypes of what the app could be. I immediately began recording my own videos. I aim to capture everyday experiences and attempt to engage with the content creation which TikTok enables as a tool. I found creating videos enabled deeper understandings of the app to see who my content was made visible to, and who engages with it. This combined with engaging with the platform as a 'content consumer' led to my interest in the TikTok algorithm, and revealed first hand the sense of ownership that accompanies this.