A teenage TikTok user has gone viral multiple times with educational content. The "TikTok Tutor" Alexis Loveraz uses the platform to take on specific questions about math and science and has turned a neat, helpful idea into an inspiring service that crosses multiple social platforms. Alexis, a student at Harlem Prep High School in New York, is a great example of how social media creates new opportunities for more than just memes and arguments.
TikTok's staggering success isn't just a result of people being desperate for a Facebook alternative. While it's easy to write it off as a Vine clone, one example of the brilliance of TikTok is what it allows people to do with editing. If YouTube proved that the average person is willing to put great sums of time into editing and producing a long video, TikTok is showing that people will put professional-level effort into even a short-form video made for phones. Its tools have allowed for new types of content we don't see other platforms catering to.
Alexis Loveraz's TikTok success comes from a principle people have been trying to nail down since YouTube stardom first became relevant: providing value to a viewer. Alexis's math videos meet a need every grade school student understands, and one of TikTok's primary audiences happens to be people who fall within that demographic. His work was probably not intended as an attempt at social media dominance, but the teen has inadvertently stumbled into an effective marketing strategy. Even beyond TikTok, Alexis continues to educate on other platforms and engages with a like-minded community on his Discord channel.
By solving people's literal problems, Alexis is valuable to his viewers, but for people who don't necessarily need a math tutor, his content is also inspiring. Everything he does prompts people to share his work because it's just neat that someone is using social media to teach math. In that way, seeing another Alexis video in the For You page feed is a reminder that there's still good news on social networks, which probably explains why, despite the relatively small number of people who specifically want to know how to find the third angle of an isosceles triangle, Alexis has amassed over 731,000 followers.
This Is Another Example of Good TikTok
It's difficult to look at any TikTok-related story right now without pondering the potential losses of a US ban on the app. Following the news that India, once the app's largest marketplace, issues a nationwide ban, US government officials including Trump have expressed interest in banning the app in America. The news isn't lost on Alexis, who has already posted a video informing people that he'll continue to tutor on Instagram and Discord, nor is it lost on TikTok's overall user base. Just after Trump's comments about a ban went public, #SaveTikTok trended on Twitter, compelling people to speak about how TikTok is more than just dance challenges and viral comedy. If nothing else, it's the only service that offers what it does right now, so a ban would leave people with no real alternative.
Source: Alexis Loveraz (TikTok)