Collab Houses, Zoom University on TikTok, @richcaroline

Get recaps and extras from episode nine of the 2 Old 4 TikTok podcast.

This was a particularly fun episode. We invited our friends, Sam and Catalina, to create our very own “collab house” this week.

As a self-proclaimed “TikTok stan” and academic, Catalina helps us explore the photographic illusion of the TikTok world. While also defining e boys and soft boys.

Sam, a TikTok lurker and archival film expert (and NYC vagabond), comments on the intentionality of all content. While hitting upon the younger generations’ ability to perhaps be more authentic simply because they’ve grown up with social media. She also viciously claims that Melissa would not have been TikTok famous at eighteen.

If you’ve been missing hanging out with friends during quarantine…this episode should give you warm fuzzies. We sure had fun making it, hope you have fun listening!

What are TikTok collab houses?

TikTok collab houses are essentially mansions in Los Angeles that a group of popular TikTok stars live in. They focus on “collabs”—which is short for collaboration—with other popular TikTok creators to expand their reach. For brands, these collabs can results in 10x more viewers than one content creator alone.

We talked this through on the podcast and realized collab houses are basically The Real World for Gen Z. Put a bunch of young beautiful people in a house, watch what happens. But maybe because they’re creating their own content (rather than being filmed by MTV), there’s not a clear storyline to follow. They just post snippets of their daily life and TikTok trends.

There are actually a handful of different collab houses. The Hype House is the most famous one. Catalina made a good point on the podcast about having facial blindness when it comes to the stars that live within the collab houses’ walls. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you the names or specialities of any of these people.

Here’s what all their videos look like:

I don’t know. I don’t know.

What is Zoom University on TikTok?

Zoom University on TikTok shows us what school is like during the pandemic. Students use the term Zoom University to describe the switch to virtual learning via the video platform Zoom.

Students and teachers alike have been showing snippets from their Zoom University experience. The technology causes a ton of awkward moments. It’s also ripe for recording and posting to TikTok without anyone in the class really noticing.

Catalina and Sam discussed how the shift from in-person meetings to impersonal black boxes on Zoom might affect the student-teacher relationship.

In an attempt to get to know your fellow classmates, many schools are requiring intro videos like this:

Micheal would 100% be in our Hype House.

Our favorite creator this week:

@richcaroline

Caroline Ricke shocked the hell out of me when I saw her on TikTok. I’m not used to seeing such high quality content on this platform. She had very well written jokes. Fully-scripted skits and parodies.

I assumed she was a professional comedy writer and just looked super young. But after some research, I find out she actually is pretty young—just out of college I think, but she’s been a popular YouTuber for a few years now.

This Spring Break video was one of the first ones I saw of hers several months ago.

Since then, she’s produced a ton more content. She even created a fake Hype House to parody the ones we discussed above.