Humans of SHS

TIKTOK FAMOUS

@lane.hancock moves closer to 1 million

Abby Doriot | co-editor-in-chief

Junior Lane Hancock turned his TikTok hobby into a paying job that rivals some of the fulltime salaries of adults. What started out just as fun has now grown into hundreds of thousands of followers and a steady monthly income.

With nearly 1 million followers and 11.5 million likes on TikTok, Hancock’s fans watch him smile, wink, dance, and participate in the latest trends, such as grabbing a moving ceiling fan, to the latest trending songs online in his quick, less than one minute videos. He creates a handful of videos daily to keep his account upto-date and to provide his followers the content they want.

“I was just doing it for fun. Some people said I couldn’t do it so I thought I might as well try it,” Hancock said about why he created a Tik- Tok account and began making catchy dance videos. “I saw some other people doing it, and some of my friends said I couldn’t do it.”

Hancock has a wide fan age base, but the majority of them are teenage girls. He also has a wide variety of places that his videos are viewed.

“The majority of my viewers are from the United States, but there’s been some in Argentina and Brazil and other places,” Hancock said.

Top viewed: Lane Hancock (11) participated in the trend of stopping a moving ceiling fan in his topviewed video on TikTok. He has 19.5 million views. The views turn into revenue and free merchandise to wear to promote products in his videos.

Photo from TikTok, @lane.hancock

Hancock said he has been recognized in many places even as far as a Target in California. The fans usually come over and ask for pictures, and he gladly snaps a few with them.

“It’s really cool to meet new people and have an audience that is always watching you,” Hancock said.

With his monthly income, he likes to travel to different places, but he usually sticks to a few main ones.

“I mainly go to California, Florida, and Georgia. My brother lives in California, and then, I have some friends in LA too. My manager lives out there too, so I’ll go stay at his house sometimes,” Hancock said.

As Hancock started gaining popularity online, a manager in California reached out to him to help grow Hancock’s social media presence. His manager at Henson Management tells him how often to post and helps deal with the business side of things. He also receives clothing items from companies for free to promote in his videos.

“I have a manager, a social media manager. He’ll tell me when I need to post on Instagram, but I post like every day on TikTok. Just kind of whenever my analytics say to post. I’ll post maybe two or three videos a day,” Hancock said. “I also have an email that a bunch of companies reach out to me and give me free clothes. I just wear their clothes in my videos and tag them.”

NOW STREAMING

@sh1ftog enjoys meeting Twitch fans

Isabela Diaz | co-editor-in-chief

As gaming becomes more and more popular, teens start to partake in live streams. Platforms, such as Twitch, Mixer and even YouTube, stream top gamers playing their favorite games. Joining the trend, Tyler Roy (11) entered the online world of gaming, and like many others, Roy started by playing video games just for enjoyment alongside a couple of his friends.

“Well I started doing it two years ago because I really enjoy gaming. I had buddies who streamed themselves who asked me to try it out, so I did,” Roy said.

Over the years, the trend of watching gamers play their favorite games stuck. Some popular games on streaming sites include Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5), Fortnite, Among Us and Call of Duty (COD). Roy streams Modern Warfare, Apex and Legends as well as other popular games on different sites.

On Twitch, Roy has 204 followers, but before Twitch, he was on Mixer and had more than 1,000 followers. As he becomes streaming more often, he hopes that number will grow.

Not only does Roy get the enjoyment of playing and meeting new people in the process, he makes money off these streams.

“In my two years of streaming, I have made around $4,000-$5,000, plus what I earn in the games I stream,” Roy said.

Gaming has worldwide popularity, which means new experiences can come from everywhere. Roy said he gets the opportunity to meet new people often, which is exciting.

“My favorite part about streaming is all the new people I get to meet, and the community I have been able to help build over the years,” Roy said.