Are you part of Group 7?
That is a question that thousands of TikTok users will have asked themselves over the last few days. The only way to find out is to know if certain videos posted by singer Sophia James have appeared on your screen when browsing TikTok. And the artist has generated an experiment on the social network as part of her promotional strategy for her new songs and her new tour.
The singer has sought to promote her new music by testing the algorithm
It all started on October 17, when James published a series of videos on his profile. In the first one, she showed herself sharing that she had received a traffic ticket, accompanied by her song “So Unfair”; while in the second he commented “It has always been and always will be me against the algorithm, and today I have decided that I win“. In the third, he simply opened the envelope with the fine notification and revealed the amount.
In the fourth video the singer began to name groups, writing: “If you see this, you are in group 4“. He added an additional explanation: “I’m posting several videos and seeing which ones reach the most viewers. This is the fourth post of the batch, so you are in group 4“. He did the same with group 5 and group 6.
Although it is true that the data may have been influenced by the viral nature that the publications have achieved, a progressive increase is observed in the number of views of the videos. The first has, at the time of publishing this news, 1.2 million; the third 1.6 million; and the sixth 2.7 million.
The seventh already exceeds 31.2 million views. It is the one that corresponds to group 7 that has become a trend and a conversation in itself within the platform. In the video he explains his experiment again, and comments: “If you’re watching this video, you’re in group 7. I don’t know what that says about you, but welcome!”.
The appearance of the video on users’ screens has caused them to want to join the conversation, feeling part of a group with an apparently exclusive nature. They have fed the conversation with comments and questions about group 7, such as “I declare that group 7 is the most select group.”
In addition, they have boosted the views of the rest of the videos, some of which have not appeared on their screens, by also commenting on them with messages like “I’m here spying from group 7.”
This has caused the social network to be flooded with mentions of the trend, with users pointing out that they are part of group 7. Prominent accounts and figures, such as tennis player Naomi Osaka or the Kansas City Chiefs rugby team, have participated in the conversation.
The experiment has revealed how TikTok’s algorithm works. And those who saw the video of group 7 received a series of other videos from the same group. That is why many users joined the trend by creating a content ecosystem around it.
According to The New York TimesJames’ massive testing has boosted his notoriety to some degree. The singer told the outlet that she has gained more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and has seen a huge increase in views of her music.
The singer has started what she has called “phase 2”, to check if the test works with other songs.
Behind the trend is Sophia James’ promotion of not only her song “So Unfair,” but also her tour. What’s more, on its website it invites the members of group 7 to really get to know each other. “This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen and I think you should meet in person”, he points out in a message that calls for Friday, October 24 at 7 p.m. at The Antelope pub, in London.
As the singer explained to the aforementioned media, the idea arose from a video in which it was pointed out that the algorithm had to be “intimidated” so that your content would go viral. “You just have to publish, whatever it is; Quantity is more important than quality. So, in my quest to get my music heard, I’ve been trying different strategies“James commented.
