From Hashtags to Fame: Content Strategies of Generation Z TikTok Influencers in Israel

Abstract

This study investigates the key attributes that characterize popular content produced by leading Generation Z TikTok influencers in Israel. The research seeks to identify the content elements that drive user engagement and contribute to the influencers’ widespread appeal. A content analysis was conducted on a sample of 400 videos created by 18 prominent TikTok personalities, enabling a systematic examination of recurring themes and stylistic features. Findings reveal that highly popular posts predominantly emphasize entertainment while avoiding violent content. However, they also tend to lack substantial informational value. Notably, content produced by female influencers features more sexualized elements compared to that of their male counterparts. Furthermore, collaborative videos involving multiple influencers appear to be more successful in garnering audience attention. The study’s practical implications underscore a strategic shift: Generation Z shows a marked preference for TikTok influencers over traditional celebrities. This trend presents opportunities for marketing and public awareness campaigns seeking to engage younger demographics effectively. On a broader social level, the findings suggest that despite TikTok’s perceived novelty and authenticity, its most popular content often mirrors the norms and conventions of mainstream media. Thus, TikTok may reinforce rather than disrupt dominant cultural narratives.

1. Introduction

Social media platforms play an integral role in contemporary life, serving as key tools for building new social connections, maintaining existing relationships, accessing social support, and fostering a sense of community [1,2,3]. Beyond social interaction, these platforms offer entertainment, facilitate access to information, and empower users with creative autonomy to generate and disseminate their own content [4,5,6,7].

Among these platforms, TikTok has emerged as a dominant force in the digital landscape. It became the most downloaded social media application worldwide in 2021, surpassing platforms such as Facebook and Instagram [8,9]. Its success is largely attributed to its appeal among Generation Z, who are drawn to the platform’s user-friendly tools for video creation, editing, and sharing [8,10]. TikTok’s personalized algorithm further enhances user engagement by tailoring content to individual preferences [11]. Like other platforms, users engage with TikTok for various reasons, including escapism, relaxation, social interaction, information seeking, and entertainment [3,8,12,13].

In the digital era, audiences have evolved from passive content consumers to active content producers and distributors [14]. Prior research indicates that users tend to engage more with entertaining or “soft” content than with serious or “hard” news [14,15].

This study seeks to explore the defining characteristics of viral TikTok content created by influential Generation Z personalities in Israel. Specifically, it investigates the content elements that contribute to the popularity and success of these TikTok stars. By analyzing the 400 most-viewed videos from 18 top influencers in Israel, this research offers a unique and comprehensive examination of TikTok’s cultural influence in the local context. It aims to determine whether TikTok serves as a platform for original, innovative content or simply reflects homogenized messages rooted in mainstream media culture—an issue central to critiques by the Frankfurt School.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

Opinion Leadership Theory [16,17] emphasizes how certain individuals—opinion leaders—mediate the flow of information and shape audience preferences. On TikTok, influencers embody this role by guiding trends, behaviors, and consumer choices among Generation Z. Complementing this view, Uses and Gratifications Theory [18] suggests that audiences actively select media to satisfy cognitive, affective, and social needs. Generation Z, characterized by digital nativity and a desire for authenticity and participation [19,20], uses TikTok for both self-expression and community identification. Integrating these frameworks with the neo-Marxist lens applied in this study provides a multidimensional understanding of how influencer-generated content reflects both agency and ideological control.

2.1. TikTok’s Rise, Features, and Youth Appeal

Launched in 2016 by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok quickly became a dominant force in the global social media landscape. Its unique blend of short-form, user-generated video content, paired with an intuitive editing interface and algorithm-driven content curation, fostered an unprecedented level of user engagement [3,8,13]. Especially popular among Generation Z, the platform allows users to easily film, edit, and share videos, which often include music, filters, and visual effects [10]. The availability of interactive formats such as challenges and duets enhances user engagement by encouraging imitation and collaboration [13].

The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated TikTok’s global reach, as people turned to social media for escapism during lockdowns [21,22]. By 2021, TikTok had over a billion monthly active users, with nearly 80 million in the U.S., about half of whom were Gen Z [23]. It became the most downloaded app globally, surpassing Facebook and Instagram [7,9,23]. In Israel, while TikTok ranked fourth overall in general use, it was the most-used platform among teenagers [24].

TikTok’s accessibility, ease of use, and compatibility with the attention spans of younger generations contribute to its popularity [25]. Videos are typically between 15 and 60 s long and can be watched in short bursts, making them ideal for mobile consumption in everyday moments [12,26]. Popular genres include lip-syncing, dance trends, comedic sketches, and imitations, with dances being the most frequently shared category [27,28,29]. However, concerns have been raised about inappropriate content, including cyberbullying and harmful challenges, particularly due to the platform’s appeal to adolescents [13,30].

2.2. Virality, Influencers, and Representation on Social Media

TikTok’s design and algorithm support the rapid dissemination of content, leading to what is often described as “virality.” This term refers to the widespread and rapid sharing of media by users, driven by the transformation of consumers into content producers [14]. Studies suggest that content is more likely to go viral when it is emotionally evocative or entertaining; users prefer “soft” content over “hard” news [14,15,31].

The algorithmic structure of TikTok has been particularly effective at amplifying trends and increasing visibility for emerging creators. However, this same structure raises concerns around the spread of misinformation, political extremism, and sensational content [32]. Influencers, or users with large followings who are seen as opinion leaders, play a crucial role in driving virality. Their content receives disproportionate engagement and attention, shaping online communities and reinforcing particular norms [33,34].

Gender representation is another central issue in digital media. Traditional media has long perpetuated fixed gender roles and stereotypes, often portraying women as passive, dependent, or objectified [35,36,37]. Although recent shifts—such as “femvertising”—attempt to promote female empowerment in advertising [38], these are not always reflected consistently in social media spaces. On platforms including TikTok, female users often gain visibility through physical expression and self-presentation, sometimes reinforcing stereotypes. However, social media also offers opportunities for empowerment through inclusive hashtag movements such as #fatkini, which promote body positivity and self-expression [39].

Recent scholarship has deepened understanding of the algorithmic infrastructures that underlie these dynamics. Studies show that TikTok’s “For You” feed continuously recalibrates exposure through engagement feedback loops that privilege emotionally charged, easily consumable material [40]. Other analyses reveal how creators strategically tailor pacing, sound selection, and captioning to satisfy algorithmic thresholds for retention and replay. These insights highlight the mutually constitutive relationship between platform design and creator behavior, reinforcing the theoretical claim that TikTok’s architecture embeds commercial and ideological logics within everyday content production. Integrating these recent findings strengthens the temporal relevance of the present framework and situates the study within current debates on algorithmic mediation of culture [40].

2.3. Theoretical Lens: A Neo-Marxist Perspective on TikTok

This study employs a neo-Marxist theoretical framework to examine the cultural and ideological functions of TikTok within the broader context of contemporary media and capitalist society. Rooted in the critical tradition of Marxist thought, neo-Marxism extends classical economic critiques of capitalism to include its cultural dimensions, especially the ways in which mass media acts as a tool of ideological reproduction. According to this perspective, media platforms are not neutral spaces for free expression but rather serve to reinforce the dominance of the ruling class by promoting hegemonic worldviews, consumerist ideologies, and political passivity [41].

In this view, social media platforms such as TikTok operate as mechanisms of ideological control, subtly embedding messages that align with the interests of capitalist elites. Through constant exposure to consumer culture, idealized lifestyles, and repetitive aesthetic trends, users are socialized into accepting and internalizing dominant cultural norms. These norms often prioritize individualism, competition, commodification of the self, and the pursuit of pleasure through consumption. The algorithmic nature of TikTok further reinforces these tendencies by privileging content that performs well within these ideological boundaries—often light, entertaining, and visually stimulating—while marginalizing or deplatforming critical, dissenting, or politically subversive voices.

A foundational concept in this analysis is Herbert Marcuse’s [42] critique of the “one-dimensional society,” in which media and technology manufacture desires and satisfactions that pacify the public and reduce their capacity for critical thought. TikTok’s endless stream of short videos, often centered on viral dances, humorous skits, and consumer trends, exemplifies this phenomenon. The platform’s structure is designed to keep users continuously engaged in a cycle of passive consumption, offering the illusion of freedom and creativity while subtly channeling attention toward ideologically “safe” content.

Moreover, TikTok presents a false sense of empowerment and democratic participation. While users can technically create and share content, their creative outputs are often shaped by platform incentives and limited by what the algorithm deems worthy of distribution. The result is a homogenization of expression: even when videos appear diverse in content, they often follow highly standardized formats, audio tracks, visual aesthetics, and popular trends. This creates a cultural environment in which novelty and critical engagement are subordinated to repetition, popularity, and conformity.

From a neo-Marxist standpoint, such dynamics are not accidental but integral to the role of media in sustaining capitalist hegemony. The popularity of certain influencers, trends, or aesthetics is not only a reflection of user interest but a systemic outcome of algorithmic curation that privileges content aligned with marketable identities and values. This ensures that digital labor (content creation, self-promotion, and peer engagement) serves the platform’s commercial interests, turning users into unpaid laborers in a system that commodifies attention.

Furthermore, the commodification of identity and social interaction on TikTok aligns with the neo-Marxist critique of late capitalism, wherein even leisure, creativity, and self-expression become objects of economic exchange. The “influencer economy,” in which visibility and engagement can be monetized, incentivizes self-branding and reinforces neoliberal ideals of success, entrepreneurship, and individual meritocracy: values that obscure structural inequalities and reproduce dominant ideologies.

In sum, the neo-Marxist lens reveals that TikTok, while ostensibly a platform for democratized content creation and youth expression, functions as a sophisticated apparatus of cultural and ideological control. It encourages users to participate in a system that valorizes conformity, discourages dissent, and promotes content that aligns with the broader capitalist logic of consumption, entertainment, and distraction. This theoretical approach invites a more critical interrogation of the power relations embedded within the seemingly innocuous world of short-form video content.

2.4. Operationalization of the Neo-Marxist Lens

To move beyond the declarative level of theory, the present study translates key neo-Marxist constructs into measurable variables consistent with the quantitative content analysis. Following Marcuse’s [42] critique of the “one-dimensional society,” ideological conformity was operationalized as the prevalence of standardized, entertainment-oriented formats—such as viral challenges, lip-syncs, and dance trends—that prioritize pleasure and repetition over reflection. Likewise, the commodification of the self was represented by indicators of self-branding (presence of logos, slogans, or promotional material) and commercial intent (use of business pages or explicit product promotion). The concept of false empowerment was reflected in the use of collaborative or “duet” videos that simulate egalitarian participation but in practice amplify visibility through algorithmic design.

These operational choices informed the study’s hypotheses. Specifically, H1–H2 capture the Marxist expectation that market-oriented and affective content dominates attention economies; H3 links gendered self-presentation to the reproduction of existing hierarchies of visibility; H4 tests the assumption that collective participation reinforces rather than disrupts commodified relations of production; and H5 examines whether content outside these boundaries—namely, violent or controversial material-is algorithmically or socially marginalized. In this way, the theoretical lens becomes empirically embedded in the research design, allowing the ensuing analyses to test how ideological reproduction manifests within TikTok’s content ecology.

2.5. Research Question and Hypotheses

The primary aim of this study is to examine the key characteristics that contribute to the popularity of content produced by leading TikTok influencers among Generation Z in Israel. Specifically, the research investigates which content elements are associated with higher levels of viewer engagement and popularity on the platform.

To guide this investigation, the following hypotheses are proposed, grounded in existing literature:

H1: 

Entertainment-oriented content is positively associated with video popularity.

H2: 

Informative or functional content is less prevalent but positively correlated with engagement when present.

H3: 

Female influencers are more likely to employ sexualized imagery than male influencers.

H4: 

Collaborative videos receive higher engagement than solo videos.

H5: 

Videos featuring violent or controversial content receive lower engagement.

Content Features and Popularity

There is a positive association between the popularity of a TikTok video (as measured by views, likes, or shares) and the presence of specific content elements. Based on prior research, it is hypothesized that videos featuring entertainment value [10,14,15], informative messages, or functional content (e.g., tips, how-to videos) are more likely to achieve higher levels of popularity [24].

Prevalence of Controversial Content

Building on literature that highlights concerns regarding the presence of harmful or inappropriate material on TikTok, this study hypothesizes that violent and sexually explicit content is commonly found in popular videos on the platform [13,30].

Gender Differences in Content Presentation

In line with previous findings on gender representation in social media, it is hypothesized that female TikTok influencers are more likely than males to use sexual suggestiveness and revealing clothing as part of their content strategy [39].

Collaborations and Popularity

There is a positive association between a video’s popularity and the presence of collaborations. It is further hypothesized that collaborations with mainstream celebrities (e.g., musicians, actors, TV personalities) will be more strongly associated with high engagement compared to collaborations with other TikTok influencers [43].

2.6. Methodology

This study employed a quantitative content analysis to examine the characteristics of popular TikTok videos produced by influential Israeli content creators targeting Generation Z.

Sampling Flow and Justification

The sampling strategy followed a structured, multistage procedure designed to ensure both relevance and representativeness within the Israeli TikTok ecosystem.

Influencer Identification

Eighteen influencers were selected using a combination of TikTok’s “Top Creators 2024” national ranking, public analytics dashboards, and cross-verification with local media coverage. Selection required a minimum of 500,000 followers and at least 5 million cumulative views to ensure statistical stability of engagement metrics.

Video Selection

For each influencer, the twenty most-viewed videos posted between 1 January 2023 and 30 June 2024 were extracted. Duplicate reposts, advertisements exceeding 60 s, and videos with fewer than 1000 views were excluded. This yielded a final dataset of 360 videos, which aligns with or exceeds the sample sizes employed in comparable TikTok content analyses.

Audience Verification

To confirm demographic alignment with Generation Z, the twenty most active commenters for each creator were manually reviewed. Age cues were inferred from profile metadata, self-descriptions, and linked Instagram pages. Profiles inconsistent with the target age group (18–27 years) were removed from consideration when computing engagement ratios.

Reliability and Reproducibility

A 10% subsample was independently coded by three trained coders. Inter-coder agreement exceeded 90% (Cohen’s κ = 0.86), confirming the robustness of the coding framework.

Although the dataset does not permit full statistical generalization to all TikTok activity, it offers a sufficiently large and diverse corpus to identify salient content patterns and gender-based differences among high-visibility creators-consistent with best practices for exploratory quantitative content analysis in social-media research.

2.7. Sample Selection

As explained, the sample consisted of 18 prominent TikTok influencers who primarily engage young adult audiences. The selection process was based on three key criteria:

• Follower Count and Engagement: Influencers were chosen based on having the highest number of followers and video views in Israel.
• Target Audience: Preference was given to creators whose content clearly targeted young adults within Generation Z.
• Audience Verification: The identities of the top 20 commenters on each creator’s most-viewed videos were reviewed to confirm that their audience aligned with the study’s focus demographic.

For each of the 18 influencers, their 20 most-viewed videos were selected, resulting in a total dataset of 360 videos for analysis.

2.8. Codebook Development and Variables

The coding framework was adapted from established TikTok content analysis methodologies, including those used by Zeng, Schäfer, and Allgaier [44] and Li et al. [27]. A detailed codebook with 33 items was developed to systematically evaluate and categorize each video.

Key variables included:

• Engagement Metrics: Video length, number of views, likes, and comments.
• Video Attributes: Use of business pages, hashtag labeling, and video format (e.g., sketch, dance, lip-sync, tutorial, challenge).
• Accompanying Text: Captions or on-screen text.
• Participants: Number of people featured in the video.
• Content Elements: Presence of sexual innuendos, entertainment, violence, informative or functional content, sales or product promotion, and influencer branding.
• Characterization of Participants: Presence of celebrities, collaborations between creators, and use of revealing clothing.

2.9. Coding Procedure and Reliability

Content analysis was conducted by three trained coders. The coding process began with a comprehensive training phase, where all categories were explained and demonstrated using sample videos. To ensure coding consistency and reliability:

• A reliability test was conducted on 10% of the sample.
• Categories with less than 90% inter-coder agreement were revised through additional training and calibration until the desired reliability threshold was met.

This rigorous methodological approach ensured the accuracy and validity of the data collected for further analysis.

3. Findings

The descriptive statistical analysis revealed several key patterns associated with the popularity of TikTok videos among Generation Z in Israel. These findings highlight the prevalence of entertainment-driven content, limited informational material, and notable gender-based differences in content presentation.

3.1. Content Composition and Engagement Patterns

A striking trend across the sample was the minimal use of business-related features. Only 5.6% of the videos were tagged with business pages, and a mere 4.7% included content that promoted the influencer’s personal brand. In contrast, collaborative content emerged as a dominant feature, with 83% of the most popular videos involving multiple participants, indicating the central role of social interaction and collective performance in driving engagement.

While informative or awareness-raising content was relatively rare, appearing in just 14% and 11% of videos, respectively, emotional appeal proved to be a major factor. A substantial 78% of videos relied on emotional content, with 22% blending emotional and rational elements. In contrast, only 1% of videos were classified as purely rational, underscoring the emotional orientation of content that resonates most with audiences.

3.2. Entertainment as a Dominant Factor

Entertainment was clearly a central driver of popularity. In total, 65% of videos featured entertainment elements, which corresponded with the frequent use of platform-specific features: 79% of videos used music, 60% participated in viral challenges, and 50% involved dancing or lip-syncing. Skits were less common, appearing in only 16% of videos.

These patterns suggest that TikTok’s structural affordances—such as music integration and challenge formats—strongly shape the content that gains traction, reinforcing the platform’s orientation toward light, visually engaging entertainment.

3.3. Negative and Sexualized Content

Instances of violent content were rare, with only 5% of videos containing such material. However, sexual and provocative elements were considerably more prevalent. Revealing clothing appeared in 35% of videos, and sexual innuendos were present in 32%.

3.4. Gender-Based Differences

Clear gender disparities were evident in the presentation of sexualized content. Among female TikTok stars, 53% of their videos included revealing clothing, compared to only 14% among male counterparts. Similarly, 46% of women’s videos featured sexually suggestive content, in contrast to 14% of men’s videos. These findings reflect significant gendered trends in self-presentation and possibly audience expectations within the TikTok environment.

4. Summary

Overall, the findings highlight that emotional and entertainment-oriented content, especially that which features collaboration, music, and challenge-based formats, plays a crucial role in determining video popularity. At the same time, the data point to the underrepresentation of informative content and a notable gendered divide in the use of sexualized imagery, suggesting broader cultural patterns within TikTok’s content ecosystem.

5. Statistics

5.1. Celebrities

To examine whether there are differences in the average number of likes between videos that have a celebrity and those that have a collaboration with a TikTok star, a T test for independents was conducted, and it was found that there is no significant difference (p > 0.05). (See

Table 1. Independent Samples Test.

		Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances		t Test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	t	df	Sig. (2-Tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Likes	Equal variances assumed	1.012	0.317	−0.769	88	0.444	−123,627.294	160,678.843	−442,942.730	195,688.143
	Equal variances not assumed			−1.764	87.886	0.081	−123,627.294	70,077.550	−262,894.210	15,639.623

).

5.2. Challenges

To examine whether there are differences in the average number of likes between videos that are part of a challenge and those that are not, a T test for independents was conducted, and it was found that the average number of likes in videos that are not part of a challenge (M = 121,703.83, see

Table 2. Group Statistics.

	Challenge	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Likes	Not part of a Challenge	143	121,703.83	454,499.087	38,007.123
	Part of	217	33,235.04	62,220.343	4223.792

) is significantly higher than the average number of likes in videos that are part of a challenge (M = 33,235.04), t(145.515) = 2.313, p < 0.05 (see Table 2 and

Table 3. Independent Samples Test.

		Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances		t Test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	T	Df	Sig. (2-Tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Likes	Equal variances assumed	18.386	0.000	2.829	358	0.005	88,468.784	31,267.477	26,977.772	149,959.796
	Equal variances not assumed			2.313	145.515	0.022	88,468.784	38,241.101	12,889.042	164,048.525

).

5.3. Sexual Innuendos

To examine whether there are differences in the average number of likes between videos with sexual innuendos and videos that do not have sexual innuendos, a T test for independents was conducted, and it was found that the average number of likes in videos that do not have sexual innuendos (M = 85,559.23, see

Table 4. Group Statistics.

	Sexual Innuendos	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Likes	No	245	85,559.23	352,023.627	22,489.965
	Yes	115	31,770.78	57,784.252	5388.409

) is significantly higher than the average likes in videos that do have innuendo sexuality (M = 31,770.78), t(270.907) = 2.326, p < 0.05 (see

Table 5. Independent Samples Test.

		Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances		t Test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	T	df	Sig. (2-Tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Likes	Equal variances assumed	4.684	0.031	1.627	358	0.105	53,788.446	33,056.822	−11,221.514	118,798.406
	Equal variances not assumed			2.326	270.907	0.021	53,788.446	23,126.467	8257.998	99,318.894

).

Testing a significant difference in the number of likes between videos that contain sexuality and videos that do not contain sexuality.

To examine whether there are differences in the amount of sexually suggestive videos between men and women, a T test for independents was conducted, and it was found that there is a significant difference, with women creating more sexually suggestive videos than men: t(352.624) = −7.032, p < 0.01 (see

Table 6. Group Statistics.

	Gender	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Sexual innuendos	M	160	0.14	0.352	0.028
	F	200	0.46	0.500	0.035

).

Testing a significant difference between men and women in the number of sexually suggestive videos.

A subsequent T test for independents was conducted (see

Table 7. Independent Samples Test.

		Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances		t Test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	T	Df	Sig. (2-Tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
sexual innuendos	Equal variances assumed	193.774	0.000	−6.773	358	0.000	−0.316	0.047	−0.408	−0.224
	Equal variances not assumed			−7.032	352.624	0.000	−0.316	0.045	−0.405	−0.228

) to specifically examine the difference in the amount of sexually suggestive videos created by men and women.

6. Discussion and Conclusions

In recent years, TikTok has emerged as one of the most influential social media platforms, attracting not only Generation Z but a broader user base globally [23]. This study explored the factors contributing to the popularity of content produced by leading TikTok stars among Israeli Generation Z users. The findings suggest that popular TikTok content tends to prioritize entertainment over commercial promotion. This indicates that marketers have not yet fully harnessed the platform’s potential for targeted advertising. However, given TikTok’s growing influence, it is likely that commercial entities will increasingly seek collaborations with prominent TikTok influencers to develop strategic marketing content.

6.1. Collaborations and Social Dynamics

A key finding of the study is the significant role of collaboration among TikTok stars. Unlike traditional social networks, where user interaction often occurs within interest-based groups or through content sharing [1,2,4], TikTok fosters engagement through duet videos, challenges, tagging, and video responses. Our data reveal that many of the most popular videos are the result of collaborations, creating a “guild-like” environment where TikTok stars mutually benefit from each other’s popularity. This cooperative dynamic may also reflect a form of peer recognition and shared aspiration among content creators, aligning with literature that emphasizes the importance of social connection in user satisfaction [45].

Interestingly, the study found no significant difference in video popularity when comparing collaborations with celebrities versus those with other TikTok stars. This contrasts with findings from other platforms, where celebrity involvement often increases content visibility [31]. TikTok may thus represent a more decentralized media space, where influence is defined less by mainstream celebrity status and more by native platform engagement and authenticity.

6.2. Entertainment as a Core Driver

The content analysis highlights that entertainment remains the primary force behind video popularity, in line with previous research on virality [14,15]. Popular TikTok stars appear more focused on providing leisure content rather than disseminating information. This aligns with the nature of the platform, which emphasizes short-form, music-driven, emotionally engaging media. Although earlier studies noted that TikTok is also used to share knowledge and practical skills [7,27,28,29], the current study found limited evidence of such content in the most popular videos. Music, challenges, dancing, and lip-syncing featured prominently, reinforcing the perception of TikTok as a music-oriented community [11].

While viral challenges were frequent, they did not necessarily correlate with higher popularity. It appears that users prefer unique and original content over trends that have been widely replicated. This suggests a nuanced preference among followers for personalized content, despite the platform’s trend-driven nature.

6.3. Gendered Representations and Content Norms

The findings also draw attention to gendered differences in content presentation. While violent content was rare, sexual innuendos and revealing clothing were notably more common in videos featuring women, reflecting established patterns observed in earlier research [35,36,37]. Despite this, entertainment-focused content remained the dominant type, suggesting that, while sexual content is present, it is not the primary factor driving video virality.

The prevalence of entertainment content among Generation Z users also aligns with national usage data, which highlights high levels of engagement with TikTok for leisure and escapism rather than information-seeking. This generational inclination likely stems from the platform’s structure and the cultural preferences of its user base [3,7,25].

Although concerns have been raised about the platform’s potential to expose youth to harmful content [30], our findings indicate that TikTok stars generally avoid promoting violence. One possible explanation is that influencers are aware of their public impact and avoid controversial themes in order to maintain a favorable image. Many may aspire to transition into mainstream media or participate in commercial campaigns [46,47], prompting them to adhere to norms set by broader entertainment industries.

6.4. Broader Implications and Future Research Directions

TikTok’s rise represents a shift in media production and consumption, offering a “mainstream bypass” where individuals gain popularity based on audience approval rather than gatekeeper approval. However, despite this democratization, much of the content still mirrors traditional media in terms of cultural representation and ideological messaging. Popular themes such as entertainment, sexualized imagery, and emotional appeal—alongside clear gender divisions—suggest that TikTok reinforces dominant cultural norms rather than subverting them [35,36,37].

In line with the neo-Marxist critique of media [48], TikTok, while seemingly revolutionary, may serve to reproduce hegemonic values through standardized content designed for mass appeal and monetization. Thus, although Generation Z TikTok stars appear to operate within a new media ecosystem, they often conform to existing cultural codes, possibly due to aspirations of integration into traditional media [6,7].

Despite these insights, the study has several limitations. It focused on specific content categories (entertainment, informative value, functional content, violence, sexual content, and collaboration) while omitting other influential factors such as visual aesthetics, algorithmic amplification, and strategic user engagement techniques. Additionally, the study’s scope was geographically limited to Israel, and findings may not be generalizable to other cultural or national contexts.

Future research should investigate TikTok creators’ motivations, strategic choices, and aspirations to better understand the creative logic behind content production. Comparative studies across different countries can illuminate the cultural dimensions of TikTok content, and studies examining the algorithm’s role in content popularity may offer more comprehensive insights into platform dynamics.

Understanding these dynamics can benefit not only content creators and platform developers but also educators, marketers, and policymakers aiming to navigate or regulate the ever-evolving landscape of digital media.