ALGORITHMIC RUPTURES: TIKTOK’S ROLE IN SHAPING COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES OF DIGITAL NOMADS

Abstract

This study investigates how TikTok’s socio-technical architecture ruptures the online collective identity of digital nomads, a mobile workforce redefining notions of labor and belonging. Digital nomadism exemplifies transnationalism, where privileged middle-class knowledge workers engage in intense, cross-border mobility as a lifestyle. Employing mixed methods—human deductive coding informing computational LLM-assisted content analysis—I examine how platform affordances mediate aspirations and shape digital nomads' online narratives. Using Maslow's theory of human motivation as an analytical framework, I explore narratives across four social practices central to digital nomadism: work, tourism, migration, and pilgrimage. For workers, narratives emphasize geographically fluid employment conditions; for tourists, content highlights desirable experiences of global exploration and leisure. Migrant-focused narratives foreground mobility challenges, economic impacts on destinations, and questions of privilege regarding who can become a digital nomad and where. Pilgrim-oriented narratives emphasize journeys toward self-actualization through continuous phases of "becoming," often involving demanding geographic travel. Findings reveal TikTok as a negotiation space for need hierarchies, challenging Maslow's linear progression while affirming its contextual flexibility. Contrary to Maslow’s ideal—self-actualization as a pinnacle achieved after fulfilling basic needs—TikTok’s digital nomad narratives disproportionately emphasize basic and safety needs. This prioritization of immediate concerns such as housing, affordability, and entertainment aligns with what this study defines as platformized "relational engineering," an algorithmic mechanism rewarding content that mirrors viewers' immediate needs. Thus, TikTok's affordances restructure collective identities by amplifying relatable experiences over deeper reflections on self-fulfillment or systemic inequalities.