Emma Chamberlain’s return to TikTok
Written by Lana Hall
Emma Chamberlain’s return to TikTok – the reprise of long-form content
“I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m bored. I‘m really really bored” Emma Chamberlain informs me from the seat of her car. The pov on my phone screen switches from her sunglasses adorned face, to a service station where she’s picking up snacks. Back to the car. Emma chats about the aforementioned snacks. The TikTok is just under four minutes long and is the quintessential Emma Chamberlain vlog style that made her famous, which so many vloggers have borrowed for their own content.
This TikTok vlog comes around three years after Emma left the short form video platform behind. Despite establishing her career with her distinct YouTube vlogs, we now tend to see Emma bringing her sarcastic and relatable humour to stars on the red carpet, or mulling over pop culture in her Spotify podcast ‘anything goes with emma chamberlain.’ Her return to TikTok has been met with united pleasure going by the comments: ‘This is a level of comfort I can’t even explain,’ ‘im loving these short vlogs,’ ‘this feels nostalgic.’ ‘Emma coming back to save the Tok.’
Emma Chamberlain’s return to posting vlogs on TikTok feels part of a significant swing in the content we are now favouring, after years of snappy videos and edited trends. Longer videos have been able to be shared on TikTok since they increased the max upload to ten minutes long, a couple of years ago. However, it’s taken some time for the long-form to become common on the platform. TikTok has been pushing long-form content since late last year, by giving more exposure to videos over a minute long. This change in the algorithm sparked discussions that short-form would soon be out.
TikTok’s unique fyp provided social media users a fresh way of consuming content. The standard feed became an endless stream of content from anyone that the algorithm deemed relevant to you. Who knows how many TikToks I’ve watched from creators that I’ve never seen on my screen since? It’s vastly different compared to Instagram and YouTube, which requires the user to seek out creators they want to see from, in order to build a feed and suggest content.
This way of consuming on TikTok has meant that the user’s experience was always more detached from the creator than in the heydays of YouTube, where followers would flock to a new video as soon as it was published.
In the last couple of years there’s been countless TikTok trends which utilised slick editing or creative filming – like the insanely inventive adult swim videos, last year’s popular Wes Anderson imitation vlogs, and the unattainable Tube Girl recreations that saw people trying to perfect the snappy camera movements that Sabrina Bahsoon blew up for. These trends all had stylisation at their core, highly different from the casual videos that tend to fill our feeds these days. Whilst connection may have been feltthrough the shared experience of all trying to create something similar, short gimmicky content doesn’t build lasting connection and community. TikTok’s move to promoting long-form content in the algorithm has firmly shifted the platform, and attracted videos like Emma Chamberlain’s, to be front and centre.
It’s not hard to find exactly what people enjoy about Emma’s vlogs. The comments praise her for the friendly, unpolished energy of her posts. ‘this literally feels like being on a FaceTime with u’ one commenter shares on Emma’s car snack video (which at least 364 people agree with, going off the amount of likes.) A compliment that I’ve seen pop up on other creators’ sit down chatty videos, like GRWMs. It’s the nature of long-form videos that creates a friendly atmosphere for viewers. The duration of the video means that more information is required. It answers the who, what, when, where, and why that short-form videos on the platform never could. Having these areas addressed naturally means users feel closer to the subject of the video.
The enjoyment we get from watching videos that feel like FaceTiming a friend, shows that we’re craving intimacy and connection, and we’re trying to get it through the content we’re consuming. We want to feel like we’re in the creator’s life, like they know us as much as we know them. After being bombarded with stylised videos and snippets of strangers lip syncing on the train, we’re shifting towards desiring relatability from the content we consume. We want the questions we have to be answered, and to see others living a life similar to us, whether that be in the products they use or the story times they tell.
Perhaps we want this relatability to make us feel better about our own lives, as many of us face cost of living challenges, and to fill that human need for connection given we’re inhabiting the digital space more than ever. Seeing influencers in mundane spaces, or sharing personal story-times resonates with us as we struggle through our own personal instabilities.
As always, TikTok plans to capitalise on this. Pushing long-form videos to build stronger community with creators and their followers means we’re more likely to buy products they recommend, and stay longer on the platform, generating ad revenue. Meanwhile, we passively consume to fill the void, rather than actively participating in our lives and FaceTiming our IRL friends.
