For years, social media fame has been associated with the red carpet glamour of the Kardashians and Cristiano Ronaldo’s megawatt sporting celebrity, but millions of users globally are increasingly turning their attention to unassuming heroes drawn from everyday life.
TikTok says a range of accounts, from a bird enthusiast to an Italian grandmother and a doubledecker bus fan, have grown in popularity this year as social media users latch on to authentic voices.
A Cotswolds-based pensioner has become an Instagram hit thanks to his posts celebrating his garden – including a fondness for red cabbage. Gerald Stratford, who has 370,000 followers, has starred in a photoshoot for Gucci off the back of his grassroots success.
Rowland Smith, the creative director at Billion Dollar Boy, a UK-based advertising agency that works with creators, says Stratford is an example of the authenticity and passion that online audiences are seeking as their channels become overwhelmed with AI-generated “slop”.
Pointing out that the demand for everyday content appears to have increased this year, he says: “We are getting a lot of AI content on social media and I think this is an antidote to that. A lot of material like Gerald’s has an educational element as well. Audiences are wanting to get more out of their feeds than just scrolling every three seconds.”
TikTok is viewed as a good platform for lesser known creators because its algorithm prioritises relevance and resonance over celebrity, according to Smith.
“Audiences are becoming quite fatigued with polished, overly stylised creator content. We are starting to see a push away from it.”
At this year’s TikTok awards for UK and Ireland, the platform handed the Voice for Change gong to Tola and Kevin Andu, a mother and son, for their @raisingkevin_ account, which documents Kevin’s journey as a young autistic man. Badged “autism joy”, the videos detailing 20-year-old Kevin’s daily experiences, from trying new foods to having a job, receive millions of views. The account has more than 700,000 followers.
Tola says Kevin’s online popularity has given him opportunities that have “truly changed his life”, including a permanent job. “I’m incredibly proud because I remember the nights I lay awake worrying about him, what his future will look like and worried sick about if the world would ever understand and accept him,” she said. “So now to see millions of people choosing to follow his journey and celebrate him is an answered prayer for me.”
Elsewhere on TikTok in the UK, “bus aunty” Bemi Orojuogun and the ornithologist Jack Baddams have proved popular.
“When people have a niche and are passionate about it, it tends to blow up,” Smith says.
In the US, unlikely creator hits on TikTok include the seventysomething identical twins Wayne and Dwayne Haneline, who were a singing duo before serving in the Vietnam war and have returned to entertaining several decades later. Their unique take on AC/DC’s Back in Black has had nearly 80m views alone. Another popular US veteran is Asena Johnson, from Hawaii, who posts about post-army life and Samoan and Tongan culture.
In Europe, Nonna Silvi, an 84-year-old from Tuscany, has become a hit with posts from her son’s bakery. She now offers her own line of bakery products. Solange Fugger, another Italian creator, has won plaudits for her educational videos as the youngest head of the emergency department at a major hospital in Rome. She has 600,000 followers.
Madolyn Grove, the head of creators at TikTok for the UK and Ireland, said the creativity of “everyday people” had captured the hearts of users this year.
