The Brief: The writing hand emoji ( ✍️) comment trend is indicative of creators taking notes on one another's content.
DEEP DIVE
Just like dances, different types of comments come and go on the TikTok. The latest comment trend sees Zoomers playfully poking fun at memorable moments and quotes from videos using the writing hand emoji ✍️. It has come to symbolize “taking notes.” This comment rose in popularity in early October.
These types of comments typically include a quote or a description of a moment from the video with the writing hand emoji between each word to illustrate “taking notes.” This sort of comment is intended to be funny.
For example, in the video below, a creator pretended to be the publicist for the fly that landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s head during the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate. The creator’s remarks about his assistant needing to remember the word “buzz” became a noteworthy moment.
@jtfirstman
There’s also this video of a creator who appears to enjoy play-fighting with his girlfriend. Viewers left thirsty comments in which they “took notes” on how they would try to entertain the creator in a risqué fashion.
@vhackerr ty for a mil on insta btw !!
These comments can yield an incredible amount of likes. Though, it is unclear whether the high engagement on this type of comment increases the follower count for the account who left the message.
Previous comment trends have seen TikTokers enlisting their followers to troll other creators in an effort to move traffic to their own accounts. This was the case in January 2020, when creator Austyn Brown @ajrbrown asked his followers to leave the comment “Austyn already did this” under popular videos on their “For You Page.”
This is sort of activity is typical of TikTok cults. Members perform whatever task is asked of them, this includes leaving unrelated messages or changing their profile pictures to the same image.