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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Culture and Communication
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1453316

From Local Flavor to Global Fandom: An Exploration of the Cultural Presentation and Attitudes towards Using English by Thai Content Creators on the TikTok Platform

Provisionally accepted
  • University of Phayao, Muang Phayao, Thailand

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study explores the cultural presentation and attitudes towards using English among Thai TikTokers, focusing on how they create and present cultural content. Utilizing detailed content analysis of video titles, descriptions, and comments, alongside semi-structured interviews with 20 selected TikTokers, the research reveals the diverse motivations and challenges faced by these creators. The findings highlight a wide range of cultural content, including ethnic, lifestyle, national, subcultures, and youth cultures, which serve to engage audiences and promote cultural exchange. The study also identifies the overlapping nature of cultural presentation strategies, such as visual storytelling, educational content, user engagement, and the strategic use of hashtags and multilingual content. These strategies are designed to increase the visibility and impact of their content, enhancing a sense of global community and cultural understanding. The study categorizes attitudes towards using English into positive, negative, and mixed. While some TikTokers embrace English to broaden their international reach and facilitate intercultural communication, others express concerns about language proficiency, such as accents and grammatical accuracy, which may lead to negative feedback. This complexity underscores the challenges of multilingual content creation, balancing cultural authenticity with global engagement. By linking these findings with existing theories and studies, the research offers a comprehensive understanding of digital cultural representation on social media platforms. The insights contribute to the broader field of social media studies, providing implications for future research on content strategies, cultural communication, and the role of language in digital media.

    Keywords: TikTok, Content creators, cultural content, Cultural Presentation Strategy, Attitude towards English

    Received: 22 Jun 2024; Accepted: 22 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Huttayavilaiphan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Rutthaphak Huttayavilaiphan, University of Phayao, Muang Phayao, Thailand

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.