TikTok has launched five hashtags designed to help users feel more comfortable with and confident about their mental health by finding relevant and helpful content in a supportive environment.
The five hashtags follow the company’s “Mental Well-Being Comes First” campaign it launched last month, with dedicated in-app programming, including LIVEs, effects, and stickers.
The video-sharing platform hopes the new hashtags will each help users looking for support and help with their mental health.
#MentalHealth is designed for heartfelt discussions about personal journeys with mental well-being. #SelfCare is for tips on how to prioritize actions that bring greater peace. #StressRelief should help with relaxation. #HealingJourney is for candid conversations on the many ways healing can take place and finally #WeDoRecover should help foster stories about persevering through difficult times.
The new initiative comes off the back of a survey TikTok carried out with help from YouGov. Gaining the thoughts of 16,000 adult consumers across 13 markets (including United Kingdom, United States, and Australia), the survey revealed some surprising things about attitudes to mental health.
While nine in ten believe mental well-being is either as important or more important than their physical well-being, eight in ten US adults feel uncomfortable talking about their mental well-being.
Surprisingly, people aged 18-54 reported the highest levels of discomfort. In fact, almost half of 18-24-year-olds in the US believe that their friends and family would judge them if they talked about their mental well-being — 12 points higher than the average American (36%). Almost half of respondents said that being open about their mental well-being will negatively affect their future work prospects.
A quarter of people felt that they would be more comfortable talking about their mental well-being if they had access to well-being tools and resources from online platforms. Two-thirds of respondents, however, cited doctors and mental health professionals as their top sources for help with their mental well-being.
TikTok says that its “two-pronged” approach that involves removing harmful content and connecting people to resources demonstrates that it supports its users well-being on the platform with “nuance.”
