Adam Aleksik

Later on, you get more cottagecore content.

You might even start to identify with the cottagecore aesthetic.

But here's the thing.

It's all fake.

The entire reason these aesthetics exist is because TikTok algorithm has decided that words like cottagecore qualify as trending metadata.

So creators respond by making more cottagecore content that propagates the word and then more people interact with it, which makes the word trendier.

And this happens because social media algorithms wants to make you identify with hyper compartmentalized labels, since they can then give you extremely specific commercialized content catering to that identity.

Now that you're a cottagecore person, you feel special every time you get a cottagecore video.

You're like, cottagecore?

Well, the algorithm really knows me.

The algorithm gave you that identity.

You might even start buying cottagecore clothing or cottagecore decorations to fit your new lifestyle as a cottagecore person, and that's exactly what they want.

The craziest part is they're not even trying to hide this.

TikTok's business platform openly claims that subcultures are the new demographics and then gives businesses ideas for how to profit off the cottagecore aesthetic.

Essentially, they're driving the mass production of identity building labels in order to profit off all of us.

And while there's nothing wrong with being on cottagecore TikTok,

It is a kind of echo chamber that affirms your cottagecore personality.

The same is true of any niche community created on social media.

And on one hand, this is great for linguistics because language change is always driven by groups with shared interests that have a shared need to invent new words.

On Alive, for example, became a thing because mental health communities on TikTok needed a way to share their stories and spread resources.