Jasmine Williams
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) – Social media can likely shape consumer behavior and one viral trend on the platform TikTok — the popular hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt — appears to be influencing the purchase decisions of young adults, including Winthrop University students.

Dyson Clark, a 2023 Winthrop graduate, said he finds himself drawn to products promoted on the platform.

“I would say as far as buying items, probably a lot, I do spend a lot of time on TikTok,” said Clark. “Every time that I see something I like, I probably would save it and then come back to it later, and I probably will buy it most likely.”

TikTok’s algorithm repeatedly promotes similar content to users, contributing to increased spending.

Clark said he recently bought a book about saving money after seeing multiple ads. 

“I think during the times that I was trying to save a lot of money and it was just like I kept on seeing these same books over and over and over again about saving money,” Clark said. “I feel like just hearing people talk about their experience with the book and the book was $3.99, so usually this book runs for like $20. So, I was like I’m going to go ahead and get it.”

Clark said TikTok trends heavily influence his purchasing habits.

“I definitely think that it impacts your purchasing habits. I would say, just in like the realm of just like seeing things that you may want to get, it’s basically just going to influence you. You keep on seeing the same things over and over again on your feed,” he said. “I think that it’s going to push you to be like, ‘Okay, I think that I might want to get this,’ so I feel like that’s something that’s really impactful as far as buying stuff on TikTok.”

Dr. Philip Gibson, a professor of finance and the director of certified financial planning at Winthrop, said TikTok can influence consumer decisions by targeting people searching for specific topics.

“What you’ll find is there’s a product that is connected to that topic and then it’s marketed to you over and over again,” Gibson said.

He said h advises students to be cautious about impulsive spending influenced by social media.

“Students need to be careful about being influenced by these TikTok trends. Remember, that these are there to promote sales and revenue and at the end of the day, if you are not careful, you might end up overspending.”

Gibson said it’s important to following a budget and use thoughtful decision-making.

“It’s important that you decide, is it something that you want? Or is it something that you need? If it’s something that you want, then you can put that in the ‘only if I have the luxury to spend’ category, but if not, then you put it in the ‘if it’s something that you need’ category,” he said.

Clark said it can be a challenge of balance the urge to follow a trend and maintain a budget.

“Budgeting is very, very hard. Even with things that you do want, sometimes you have to think about if you actually need them. And again, during that time I actually needed to start saving money, so I would say it just really depends on your wants and your needs,” Clark said.

According to Gibson, setting financial boundaries is the key to avoiding impulse buying.

“Setting up hurdles, for example, removing systems like Apple Wallet or Google Pay from your devices, can help reduce impulse buys. If you have to go find a card that’s in the bottom of a drawer, that will help create a barrier and slow you down,” said Gibson.

While TikTok has introduced affordable product options, Gibson warns students about the long term financial consequences of impulse purchases.

“Impulse buying leads to debt, potentially leading to more debt, and it’s impossible for us to build wealth whenever we have bad debt,” he said.

While Clark has noticed changes in his spending behavior, due to social media, he said he remains committed to managing his finances.

“I’m trying to get very like honed in on my budgeting, even if I do want to get whatever I do see on TikTok. I always have the option to come back to it and purchase it later,” Clark said.