Photo: Shanua Davitt Instagram (@shauna_the_sheep)
By Cillian Doyle
TikTok has become one of the biggest social media platforms on the planet!
You could spend days, and speaking from experience, you could literally spend HOURS scrolling on the apps For You Page.
But how do you become a famous TikTok star? How do you burst onto the nations FYP?
IT Carlow has recently launched a new course to help young people learn the ins and outs of social media.
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"Digital Hustle" will run from June 21st until June 26th.
The 5-day course, which is free of charge, will aid secondary school students to learn about building a personal brand and how to grow their following.
Dr Irene McCormick, Media lecturer at IT Carlow has said that 40 out of the 60 spots in the course are filled.
Guest speakers will include Carlow's own Lauren Whelan, who is a Media and Public Relations student at IT Carlow.
@laurenwhelxnThis may or may not be me… ##fypシ
Whelan, a former member of the "GO House" will be joined by fellow GO housemate Nia Gallagher to give advice and in-depth knowledge to young entrepreneurs hoping to become social media influencers.
Shauna Davitt, also known as Shauna the Sheep, is from New Ross, Co. Wexford.
@shaunadavitt123Like it’s so hot how are you not sweating ##fyp ##foryou ##bubblejacket insta- shauna_the_sheep
The Wexford native has over 208K followers on TikTok and a whopping 10.8M likes on her videos.
In an exclusive interview with Beat, Shauna shared her story about how she started her TikTok career, brand deals and some of the pros and cons that come with growing an online presence.
Shauna says that she downloaded TikTok way before the pandemic:
"I actually downloaded it when it wasn’t really popular - people were like 'you have TikTok? Why are you on that for?' I had it back then."
"I just uploaded a video just because my friends said upload something funny - and they got a good few views in Ireland and I was like oh jeez that’s crazy."
"I just kept going at it - I never even thought 'I want to go on there and get a few followers' - it literally just happened by accident."
Shauna also shared her own views on the new course at IT Carlow:
"I think it would be a good idea to get young people to learn all about that kind of stuff, if they do want to be influencers, they should learn how to edit, manage your own page and all that stuff - people could end up saying it isn't for me, it's not my thing or they could end up loving it."
Listen to the full interview below:
