A POPULAR IRISH TikTokker from west Cork has described the Ploughing Championships as a “rite of passage” in rural Ireland.
Gordon Forbes, who has nearly 70,000 followers on the social media app, is among content creators to attend the Championships in Co Laois this week at the platform’s tent.
More than 90,000 people attended the first day of the Championships yesterday, which has returned in full for the first time since before the pandemic.
The TikTok tent, dubbed the “Tigh Tik Tok”, is one of the busiest attractions and is particularly drawing in young people.
Speaking to The Journal, Forbes said that his videos with an agricultural slant have found a home among youths in rural Ireland since he started using the platform in 2020 during the pandemic.
“I would have been acting by trade so I decided to start making videos on Tiktok and it got a bit of traction and it led me to where I am,” he said.
“Because I’m from rural Ireland, west Cork specifically, a lot of my content would be based around agriculture and the colloquialisms and whatnot that goes on in rural Ireland.
I find that a lot of people relate to that because I’ve grown up with it and now they’re growing up with it.
“The Ploughing is a rite of passage and coming here, I see that with the demographic that’s here and the people coming through.”
Forbes said it was “great craic” to be back at the Ploughing again.
“Because it’s been gone for two years, it’s really great to see it back and to be able to meet people.”
The theme of the TikTok tent at the Championships is focused on encouraging online safety.
“Because it’s a young demographic, social media grew so fast that they need to be aware of the pitfalls and whatnot, and that online safety is of paramount importance when they’re engaging with it,” Forbes said.
“What a lot of people forget, and with the theme of online safety, is when you see a number next to a video, you don’t actually put into context that a number is a person that sees [a video], and people will say, if I was watching something, I would forget that there’s a person behind that screen,” he said.
“But then when you come to events and you realise that there is people behind that and it’s really heartwarming to see people engaging. It really pushes that online safety message that you have to be responsible for what you’re doing.”
Rebecca O’Keeffe, Content Partnerships Manager at TikTok, said that the platform has noticed an interest in content related to agriculture and farming.
“Over the past few years, the agricultural community has embraced TikTok in a big way,” O’Keeffe said, adding that hashtags such as #FarmTok and #GirlsWhoFarm have received millions of views.
She said that content can range “from sharing the ins and outs of lambing season to talking openly about the challenges and isolation of life on the farm” and that farmers are “bringing their lifestyles and knowledge to new audiences on TikTok”.
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