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Olympic athletes are finding unexpected celebrity status during the 2020 Tokyo Games not as gold medalists, but as TikTok stars. Without the strict social media guidelines of the 2016 Rio Games, Olympians are allowed to make more entertaining content.

I, for one, keep forgetting to watch the Olympics. I’m perpetually behind on which teams are competing, what events are taking place on each day, and who’s winning. The pomp of the Olympics is fun, but the time difference and my inability to pay attention to sporting events tend to outweigh the excitement of actually keeping up with the games. Like I’ve done for the past three Olympics, I usually sleep through the events I actually consider watching, and then catch up through clips posted on Instagram and Twitter.

This year, I’m at least familiar with the athletes competing in the Olympics. Athletic exceptionalism got them to Tokyo, but their delightful TikTok content got them to my For You Page. Regardless of their performance at the Olympics, athletes are building a following based on their digital fluency.

Athletic exceptionalism got them to Tokyo, but their delightful TikTok content got them to my For You Page.

It started with the infamous cardboard beds. Despite allegations that the bed frames provided by the Olympic village were designed to discourage hook-ups — the Olympics are notoriously horny — Tokyo 2020 organizers said the 18,000 cardboard frames and polyethylene mattresses are meant to be a sustainable alternative to offset the overwhelming waste produced during the two-week event.

Olympics athletes started testing the beds themselves, and went viral on TikTok in the process. Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan disproved the “fake news” by aggressively jumping on his cardboard frame.

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Other athletes followed. Team USA volleyball player Eric Shoji posted a video of his teammate Taylor Sander testing the beds’ durability by performing TikTok’s dolphin dance challenge. American Rugby player Ilona Maher posted a video of her teammates trying “various activities” on the beds, including performing CPR, throwing a tantrum, and launching into a WWE-style cage dive knock-out.

Maher ended the video with a cheeky, “And for this last take, Nicole and I will be having sex.”

Irish track star Leon Reid, meanwhile, bypassed the bed testing and went straight to posting about international hook ups.

Olympians started gaining TikTok followings when they posted videos of themselves testing out the infamous cardboard beds.

Credit: Tiktok / ilonamaher

Undeterred by cardboard beds, Olympic athletes are playing into the horny village rumors.

Credit: tiktok / leonreidtrack1

Since the anti-sex cardboard bed rumors, Olympic athletes have dominated TikTok with snippets of their day-to-day lives. The behind-the-scene tours of the Olympic village and clips of mistakes from practice give fans a less idealized view of their lives, but it’s not necessarily new content. Social media brought newfound engagement with the Olympics in 2012. And in 2016, Olympic athletes were divided on whether or not they’d post on Instagram during the competitions.

During the 2016 Rio Olympics, Team USA swimmer Kelsi Worrell and rhythmic gymnast Laura Zeng told USA Today that they thought social media was a distraction, choosing to focus on themselves during the games rather than engage with Instagram and Twitter. WNBA player Elena Delle Donne told USA Today that she planned on “interacting a little bit” to “share some of the experience” with her fans, but posting would be limited because she’d be “pretty busy.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also ruled Olympic social media accounts with an iron fist. Participants, including athletes, coaches, and officials were allowed to post photos from the village and competition venues online, but all audio and video content had to be pre-approved by the IOC. Athletes with non-Olympic sponsors weren’t allowed to post about those sponsorships, either.

By the 2018 Winter Olympics, Instagram stories were the norm and gave athletes the chance to casually engage with their audiences. Participants posted tours of the Olympic village, showed off their gear, and vlogged through the competitions. Ice dancing sibling duo Maia and Alex Shibutani were prolific vloggers, posting makeup routines and outtakes from practice. Their 2018 Olympics vlog, which has since been taken down by YouTube’s stringent copyright policies, was nearly an hour long.

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The IOC eased up considerably for the 2020 Tokyo Games, and while Olympians are still forbidden from posting unapproved spon-con, participants are welcome to share noncommercial video content on their personal pages.

Per the guidelines posted by the IOC, “Athletes and others holding accreditation to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are encouraged to share their experiences with their friends, family and supporters via social and digital media and to preserve the memories of their attendance at the Olympic Games.”

It’s a free for all. The Olympians’ TikTok debauchery mirrors that of college freshmen spending their first week in dorms, if all of said college freshmen were at the peak of human fitness. It’s horny, chaotic, and all around entertaining.

Maher, for one, became an overnight TikTok star for thirsting over other “tall foreign demigod lookin athletes.” American swimmer Drew Kibler tried on all his Olympic gear at once with a viral sound about back-to-school outfits in a video with over 1.1 million views, and Puerto Rican basketball player Ali Gibson snuck booze into the otherwise dry Olympic village. Raven Saunders, who refers to herself as The Hulk, may have broken records in shot put and discus throw, but she was the envy of the Tokyo games as one of the few athletes who was assigned a queen size bed on a non-cardboard frame. The Hulk showed off her bed on TikTok.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old American swimmer Tyler Downs isn’t shy about his admiration for gymnast Simone Biles, and posted several TikToks about hoping to run into her. The American women’s swim team parodied a controversial video of an infant swimming lesson by tossing a teammate into the water and repeatedly snapping at her until she floated to the surface. (She notably struggled much less than the infant in the video did.)

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It’s not the youngest Olympians taking off on TikTok, but the most TikTok literate. Jesse Smith, the 38-year-old Team USA water polo captain competing in his fifth Olympic games, poked fun at his age in a video viewed over 800,000 times.

“When you check in with security for practice, say your sport (water polo), and they ask if you are a coach,” Smith captioned the video, dancing off beat to a popular slowed version of Stromae’s “Alors on danse.”

What makes Olympic athletes’ TikTok presences so refreshing is the unpolished nature of TikTok itself. Instagram accounts for public figures tend to comprise of sponsored content, professional photos, and long-winded podcast or book announcements. TikTok editing is an art form in itself, but the short-form constraints of the platform prioritizes fun over production quality. The best performing Olympic TikTok content isn’t well-produced, but it is organic.

The decision to even hold the Olympics this year was a divisive one; only 23 percent of Japan is fully vaccinated, and 83 percent of Japanese citizens would rather not host a two-week-long superspreader event. The IOC’s stance on marijuana is regressive; Sha’Carri Richardson’s suspension for using cannabis in a recreationally legal state left a bitter taste in many Americans’ mouths, especially after fellow Team USA athlete Megan Rapinoe started promoting her own CBD line. The entire spectacle of the Olympics is a similarly touchy subject. The sheer cost, carbon footprint, and tons of waste generated by the Olympics has some activists pushing for a permanent Olympics location rather than saddling host cities with building infrastructure they may never use again.

It’s difficult to enjoy the Olympics when the IOC’s double standards and the unfathomable environmental impact of the games overshadows its celebrations. The Olympic athlete’s lighthearted videos are a welcome reprieve. That’s not to say that the athletes don’t play into the IOC’s conservative standards, but they’re less entrenched in the institutional issues of the games.

Olympians are compared to deities for their physical feats, as the original games in ancient Greece were held to honor Zeus himself. Their TikTok presences, however, are a reminder that they’re just like any other young person: painfully online.

When TikTok users expressed their surprise at Olympic athletes being so relevant and involved with online culture, Downs took offense.

“Why did everyone think Olympians weren’t funny like c’mon we aren’t just athletic,” Downs posted. “I swear I’m normal.”

And as someone who’s slept through too many live matches and resorted to keeping up through TikTok, I appreciate it.

Big tech is finally taking a stance on vaccinations.

On Wednesday, Facebook said it would require employees to receive Covid-19 vaccinations before returning to work in U.S. Facebook offices. This is a reversal from its December 2020 policies which would encourage, but not require, Covid-19 vaccines for in-office work.

“As our offices reopen, we will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated,” Lori Goler, Facebook’s vice president of people, said in an emailed statement sent to Mashable. “How we implement this policy will depend on local conditions and regulations. We will have a process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons and will be evaluating our approach in other regions as the situation evolves. We continue to work with experts to ensure our return to office plans prioritize everyone’s health and safety.” 

On Wednesday, Google announced that it would require vaccinations for “anyone coming to work on Google campuses.” Previously, Twitter was the only big tech company to require vaccines for employees working on-site.

But the situation has changed as the Delta variant causes Covid spikes across the country. While the new infections are occurring largely among the unvaccinated, the CDC also reversed previous guidance around masking, saying vaccinated people should wear masks indoors in places where infections are prominent.

Government agencies are also making vaccine policy changes. City employees of New York and Los Angeles now have a vaccine mandate, as do California state and health employees. At the federal level, frontline health workers for the Veterans Affairs agency must also get vaccinated within two months, and the Biden administration is reportedly planning to announce a vaccine requirement for federal employees, or weekly testing.

The common-sense vaccine requirements may be more controversial than they should be. Some conservatives have conflated getting vaccinated as an issue of personal freedom, not public health; Republican lawmakers have even passed laws preventing businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination. At the same time, big tech companies want to appear politically neutral as they face (unproven) accusations of anti-conservative bias, and anti-trust inquiries on both sides of the aisle.

The moves by Facebook and Google are positive steps to protect employees, encourage mass-vaccination, and plant their flag on the side of public health. Unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy and Covid conspiracy theories have flourished on Facebook and Google-owned YouTube, despite bans of this content by both companies.

The two companies are now doing their part to protect employees and send a positive, pro-science message. However, that pales in comparison to the damage their respective platforms have done by enabling the spread of anti-vaccination misinformation.

Documentaries offer engaging looks at real-life stories and can often be a great way to better inform yourself about current headlines and broader social issues. That being said, the documentary genre is massive – with so much to choose from, it’s easy to get intimidated and not know where to start. That’s where streaming services like Netflix come in handy. Netflix’s library features a wide variety of excellent documentaries that are sure to teach you something new in a compelling fashion.

If you want to get better acquainted with the world around you, look no further than these 10 documentaries, all of which can be found on Netflix. These films tackle a variety of timely and important subject matters, including climate change’s effect on coral reefs, the racism of the prison industrial complex, and transgender representation in film and television.

Here are 10 relevant documentaries on Netflix to watch if you want to learn something new:

1. American Factory (2019)

Credit: Steven bognar/netflix

American Factory simultaneously tackles two topics that have been discussed in stump speeches from politicians, news podcasts, and daily briefings over the past three years: the American middle class and relations between the U.S. and China. The film centers around the closing of a General Motors plant that left many jobless, an event that has become all too familiar.

When a Chinese business owner reopens the plant and hires back many of the former employees, both Chinese and American workers must reckon with their opposing manufacturing styles and practices. American Factory presents globalization in a localized context, putting real faces to those affected by large-scale issues. The documentary was released on Netflix via Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground, and was directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bogner.

2. The Bleeding Edge (2018)

Credit: netflix

Kirby Dick’s The Bleeding Edge explains that when commercial and consumer culture infiltrate the medical field, unproven and untested devices harm the lives of countless people. Much like the opioid epidemic, profitable sectors of the healthcare industry push products to be prescribed or implanted in patients in order to make money, rather than to actually help them heal.

If you’ve ever seen advertisements seeking out those who’ve experienced the harmful affects of medical devices for a class action lawsuit, you’ve gotten a piece of the story. Bleeding Edge will fill in the gaps on the topic that is malpractice in the American healthcare system.

3. Reversing Roe (2018)

Reversing Roe, which references Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement but was released weeks before the fated Kavanaugh Hearings, examines how abortion has become a highly politicized and emotionally charged issue in the years since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

The film’s creators, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, interviewed both abortion rights and anti-abortion activists to provide a two-sided approach to a hot-button issue that is inevitably intermingled with appeals to our nation’s sense of religion, morality, agency, and autonomy.

4. 13th (2016)

Credit: netflix

Before Brian Banks, Free Meek, and even True Justice, Ava DuVernay’s groundbreaking 13th educated audiences nationwide about mass incarceration and the widespread wrongful imprisonment of Black Americans.

The documentary, titled to reference the 13th Amendment — the amendment that abolished slavery — not only elevates the voices of those who have fallen victim to the broken justice system, it exposes those who made such a system possible, such as proponents of Jim Crow-era statutes and the multiple former presidents and political leaders that contributed to the Republican Party’s war on drugs (which enlisted Bill Clinton as well). 13th extensively enlightens viewers on how a majority of black Americans unfairly serve time in the prison industrial complex. It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary.

5. Chasing Coral (2017)

Credit: courtesy of netflix

For must of us, the Great Barrier Reef is the setting for Marlin and Dory’s epic adventure to find Nemo; it exists in our minds as a multi-colored, albeit animated, wildlife masterpiece. But in reality, the Great Barrier Reef, which consists of a massive amount of coral, is deteriorating due to a process called coral bleaching. As Chasing Coral explains, this bleaching occurs as a result of climate change.

Luckily, we are at a pivotal moment. We can still work to reverse the effects of the global heat wave that has been rampantly affecting coral. The film’s creator, Jeff Orlowski, and those committed to combatting climate change at Exposure Lab have put together an action guide that details how viewers can make a difference by transitioning to 100% clean energy and working to put an end to harsh practices like dredging and overfishing. Chasing Coral is an environmental call to action, and its sweeping ocean panoramas can’t be beat.

6. Icarus (2017)

Credit: Netflix

From Bryan Fogel (Race to Witch Mountain), Icarus takes a closer look at Russia through the lens of illegal doping in the Olympics. Doping, as stated in the film, affects the credibility of sports — a form of entertainment and binding part of the cultural identity of many nations.

Fogel originally intended to center Icarus around his experience injecting himself with performance-enhancing drugs, also captured on film. However, when he interviewed Dr. Grigory Rodchenov, head of the Russian anti-doping program, Fogel uncovered how Russia built a legacy of Olympic excellence through longstanding systematic cheating called for by Putin himself. Described as a “geopolitical thriller,” Icarus uncovered truths about a taboo subject and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

7. Amanda Knox (2016)

Credit: netflix

Amanda Knox made headlines back in 2007 for allegedly murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher in the apartment they shared in Perugia, Italy. Knox and Raffele Sollecito, her then-boyfriend who was accused alongside her for the murder, were held imprisoned in Italy until 2011.

Like Casey Anthony, Amanda Knox became synonymous with the image of an unsuspecting white woman who was capable of the unthinkable … or was she? After years of her personal life, choices, and diary being on display, Knox was definitively acquitted in 2015. In her self-titled documentary film directed by Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn, Knox dispels the rumors and tales that defined Meredith Kercher’s murder case — and Knox’s life — for a decade.

8. Get Me Roger Stone (2017)

Credit: netflix

Roger Stone is much more than another one of the notorious key players in the multiple ongoing lawsuits against Donald Trump: He played a big role in defining what opposition research in political campaigns looks like today. Stone worked on the campaigns of former presidents Reagan and Nixon, as well as those of Jack Kemp, Bob Dole, and Donald Trump. Throughout his tenure in Washington, he’s amassed a reputation as a political fixer who has an affinity for playing dirty — think ultra combative political lobbying and a recent association with Wikileaks — and dredging up tidbits on opponents that slander and smear their entire campaigns.

Created by Daniel DiMauro, Get Me Roger Stone understands that Stone’s ruthless and unique logic is worth comprehending, as it has affected much of recent political history. If you didn’t quite know who Roger Stone was before, you’ll know him now. And, oh yeah, that Nixon tattoo is real.

9. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2020)

Credit: netflix

Crip Camp is a vital documentary that tells the story of the generation of disability activists who first learned to organize while attending the now defunct Camp Jened. Camp Jened was a summer program for children and teens with a wide range of disabilities, and the documentary uses archival footage from the camp’s heyday in the 1960s to show the impact its progressive and accessible space had on its campers.

Some of the same people shown as children in the camp footage went on to lead life-changing demonstrations that improved the social status of people with disabilities in the United States, but Crip Camp’s greatest strength as a film is in showing how early access to inclusive spaces gives marginalized community members the opportunity to dream of and create a better world.* —Alexis Nedd, Senior Entertainment Reporter

10. Disclosure (2020)

Credit: Ava benjamin shorr/netflix

Right now, we’re living through a period of “unprecedented trans visibility,” according to Disclosure‘s executive producer and Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox. But she notes that since 80 percent of Americans do not personally know a trans person, onscreen portrayals have become the only experience for some people. “For a very long time, the ways in which trans people have been represented onscreen have suggested that we’re not real, have suggested that we’re mentally ill, that we don’t exist,” says Cox. “Yet here I am. And here we are. And we’ve always been here.”

Disclosure takes a hard look at the representation of trans people on screen throughout history, which goes back way further than you might think. And with this disheartening analysis comes a discussion of the offscreen impact of that representation, with transgender people portrayed onscreen more often than not as a joke, someone to be feared, or someone who constantly experiences violence. “For decades, Hollywood has taught people how to react to trans people, and that is with fear,” explains GLAAD’s Nick Adams in the film. There is hope, however, in how far we’ve come with the likes of Orange Is the New Black, Transparent, and Pose. The documentary, as writer Jen Richards says, gives a sense of a broader history of trans representation onscreen so trans people “can find themselves in it.” * – Shannon Connellan, UK Editor

Asterisks (*) indicate the entry has appeared on a previous Mashable list.

This story was originally published in November 2019 and updated in July 2021.

NASA is developing a “Solar Sail System,” which will eliminate the need for rocket propellant in some space missions.

Mashable’s Jennimai Nguyen gets her hands on Moment’s telephoto, anamorphic, and fisheye lenses — and puts them to the test while exploring New York City.

Reviews for The Suicide Squad are in, and they are much, much more positive than those for Suicide Squad (2016), which were brutal, to say the least. Critics praised The Suicide Squad for director James Gunn’s re-invention of the “Suicide Squad” concept, as well as its gory action and colorful characters. According to the reviews, these positive elements largely overshadow more awkward storytelling beats and keep the film fresh.

The Suicide Squad is a kind-of-reboot, kind-of-sequel. It keeps some characters from the original film, like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), but also introduces new villains like Idris Elba’s Bloodsport and John Cena’s Peacemaker, who go on a mission to the country of Corto Maltese in order to destroy a sinister laboratory.

Here’s what critics have to say about The Suicide Squad.

A massive improvement

Mashable, Alison Foreman

Instead of a mixed-and-matched mess of half-bakes ideas, The Suicide Squad presents a unified vision from Gunn that, while not without its flaws, actually delivers the initial concept we were all so excited about in 2016. The premise of high-stakes adventure where the bad guys are forced to be good guys was never Suicide Squad‘s problem, and seeing it done even close to “right” is a thrilling experience.

The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey

Gunn’s distinct and self-assured vision, which he’s said was left untouched and unbothered by studio interference, puts The Suicide Squad alongside the very best of modern comic-book filmmaking.

The Hollywood Reporter, John DeFore

Gunn’s gleefully violent new picture mostly ignores David Ayer’s 2016 dud but isn’t a reboot. Not only does it find the nastily enjoyable vibe that eluded its predecessor, but it also tells a story worth following — while balancing its most appealing character with others whose disposability (they aren’t sent on suicide missions for nothin’) doesn’t prevent them from being good company onscreen.

IndieWire, Dave Ehrlich

While the tone of Gunn’s film isn’t far removed from that of its misbegotten predecessor, this one actually has the chutzpah (and the creative freedom) to make good on Harley Quinn’s whole “we’re bad guys — it’s what we do” routine.

Credit: warner bros

A delightful new squad of characters (and actors)

SlashFilm, Hoai-Tran Bui

Gunn performs the magic trick we’ve seen him do time and time again: he makes us care for these terribly immoral, most likely doomed, characters. (Well, except for Weasel, he can go back to the dumpster from hell that he crawled out from.)…It’s clear that Gunn cares for each of these characters, bringing to The Suicide Squad some of the earnest empathy that he honed in his Guardians movies.

Variety, Owen Gleiberman

As Bloodsport, a mercenary with a complex set of guns that only he can use (and a teenage daughter who hates him), Idris Elba takes a while to come into focus, but he ascends in authority as the movie goes on, his charisma seeping in kill by kill, putdown by putdown. John Cena is perfectly cast as Peacemaker, a square-jawed douche who wears a modified Captain America suit topped by what looks like a toy metal helmet (which Bloodsport, at one point, accurately compares to a toilet).

USA Today, Brian Truitt

Those who adore Rocket Raccoon and Groot from Gunn’s Guardians will get a kick out of Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), a nap-happy young woman who can control rats, and Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), who has a death wish as well as an inter-dimensional virus that spawns destructive polka dots. Sylvester Stallone also voices the man-eating, scene-stealing King Shark and it’s pretty much as awesome as it sounds.

More than earns its R-rating

Entertainment Weekly, Leah Greenblatt

In last year’s Birds of Prey, Quinn’s homicidal tendencies were a clearly marked but mostly cartoonish add-on. Here, Gunn seems to revel in the squishy viscera of it all, earning his hard-R rating again and again with a kind of casual brutality that treats collateral damage like a bonus, not a bug; why merely kill a man when you can rip him in half sideways, then watch his spinal cord waft in the breeze?

The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey

Where 2016’s Suicide Squad was all posturing, Gunn’s follow-up delivers the goods and never flinches while doing so. The death toll is high and surprisingly indiscriminate. Thanks partially to the presence of King Shark (played by Steve Agee, but voiced by Sylvester Stallone), there are enough torn limbs and blasted brains to ensure that no one ever forgets Gunn’s roots in B-movie style horror.

SlashFilm, Hoai-Tran Bui

The Suicide Squad is brutal in such a way that I started to feel my limits for gross-out violence being tested. To count the number of heads that are exploded or faces that are ripped off would involve sitting here all day, but the deaths in The Suicide Squad are admittedly so absurdly imaginative that you’re never in danger of getting bored.

The Suicide Squad is in theaters and streaming on HBO Max (with the ad-free plan) Aug. 5.

The Williams sisters’ undeniable dominance in women’s tennis is one of the 21st century’s greatest sports stories, and King Richard is the movie that will finally dramatize their rise to the top. King Richard stars Will Smith as Richard Williams, whose dedication to turning his children into tennis legends famously began before they were even born. The trailer references the 78-page plan he wrote to ensure his daughters’ success at the sport and shows his role in the beginning of both Venus and Serena’s astounding careers.

King Richard hits theaters Nov. 19 and will simultaneously debut for a one-month window on HBO Max.

As people, we love a shortcut.

Whether it’s online, or if it’s just another way to get home, we love an easy way to do things faster.

Instead of clicking around with a mouse, you can more effectively use your time on your computer by becoming a power user of keyboard shortcuts. These commands, especially when memorized, can speed up a variety of different tasks and help you work faster,

Not that they’re only useful for working, of course. Keyboard shortcuts help do things as simple as copying and pasting by skipping a few tedious steps in the process.

Mac users, this one’s for you. Here are 30 keyboard shortcuts that will save you time online, as well as increase the quality of life of your Mac experience.

1. Command X

Cut the selected material

2. Command C

Copy the selected material

3. Command V

Paste the selected material

4. Command F

Search a page or document for specific words, phrases, symbols, etc.

5. Command +

Zoom in page by 10 percent

6. Command –

Zoom out page by 10 percent

7. Command Z

Undo the previous action

8. Shift Command Z

Redo the undo

9. Command M

Minimize the current window

10. Option Command M

Minimize all windows

11. Shift Command 4

Open screenshot tool

12. Shift Command 3

Take instant screenshot

13. Shift Command 5

Take a screenshot or start a screen recording (macOS Mojave or later)

14. Shift Command N (in Finder)

Create a new folder

15. Command N (in internet browser)

Open a new window

16. Shift Command N (in internet browser)

Open a new incognito window

17. Command T

Open a new tab

18. Command W

Close current tab

19. Option Command Esc

Force quit an app

20. Command Delete

Move selected item to Trash

21. Shift Command Delete

Empty Trash

22. Command “Mission Control”

Immediately show desktop

23. Option Shift “Volume Up”

Increase volume in shorter portions

24. Option Shift “Volume Down”

Decrease volume in shorter portions

25. Fn “Left Arrow”

Scroll instantly to the top of a page

26. Fn “Right Arrow”

Scroll instantly to the bottom of a page

27. Option Command F5

Show accessibility options

28. Control Command D

Dictionary (shows the definition of a selected word)

29. Command O

Open menu to select a file to open

30. Shift Command ?

Open the “Help” menu

Check out Apple Support for even more Mac keyboard shortcuts.

So you’ve made your TikTok account. What now? Maybe you want to follow some of your friends that are already on the app?

The easiest way to see the content you want to see is by interacting with content you like and following creators who make that content. Maybe you have some people in mind already. That’s great! Now, how do you find them?

There are a couple ways to do this, and in this article we’ll cover everything from simply searching names and usernames, to syncing your contacts and Facebook friends.

Search from the Discover page.

1. Navigate to the Discover page by tapping the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your screen.

Navigate to the TikTok “Discover” page.
Credit: andy moser / tiktok

2. Type the name or username of the creator you’re looking for in the search bar.

Let’s say you’re looking for Miley Cyrus. You can sort results by users, videos, sounds, and more.

If you’re looking for Miley Cyrus, type her name into the search bar at the top.
Credit: andy moser / tiktok

3. Tap the account you’re looking for, and you’ll be taken to their profile. Done! Tap the Follow button to follow that creator.

Search from your profile page.

1. Instead of tapping “Discover” at the bottom of the screen, tap “Me”.

2. Tap the “Find friends” icon in the top left corner of the screen.

“Find friends” using the button on the top left corner of your profile page.
Credit: andy moser / tiktok

3. Type the name or username of the account you’re looking for in the search bar.

Finding a TikTok account using the “Find friends” button on your profile page.
Credit: andy moser / tiktok

4. Tap the account you’re looking for and you’ll be taken to their profile. Tap the “Follow” button to follow that creator.

Find friends via contacts or Facebook

You can also use the “Find friends” button to find TikTok accounts from your contacts or Facebook friends.

To do so, you’ll have to go into your phone settings and allow TikTok access to your contacts. For Facebook, the app will prompt you to sign in to your Facebook account, displaying a warning that says “This allows the app and website to share information about you” like your Facebook name and profile picture.

Either method involves potentially widening your TikTok network and sharing your account with others. Additionally, you’ll be handing over some of your personal data to TikTok, so before you decide to follow the next steps, make sure this is something you comfortable in doing.

Find friends via contacts

1. Go to your profile page and tap the “Find friends” button in the upper left corner.

2. Under the search bar, tap “Find” next to “Contacts.”

3. You’ll be prompted to open your settings and allow TikTok access to your contacts. Tap “Open settings” and ensure TikTok has access to your contacts.

4. Navigate back to your TikTok app, and you’ll see a list of accounts TikTok was able to find from your contacts.

5. Tap “Follow” on all the accounts you want to connect with.

Find friends via Facebook

1. Go to your profile page and tap the “Find friends” button in the upper left corner.

2. Under the search bar, tap “Find” next to “Facebook friends.”

3. TikTok will prompt you to sign in to your Facebook profile, which will allow TikTok access to information about your Facebook account. Tap “Continue” to see more information and sign in.

4. You should see a page that says “TikTok will receive the following info: your name and profile picture and friends list.”

5. Read the warning at the bottom of the page. It will say: “By continuing, TikTok will receive ongoing access to the information you share and Facebook will recored when TikTok accesses it.”

6. If you want to continue, tap “Continue as [your name].”

7. You’ll see a message that says “Facebook wants to open “TikTok.” Tap “Open.”

8. Tap “Find” next to “Facebook friends” just as you did before.

9. You’ll be prompted to sync your Facebook friends list with your TikTok account to find your friends. Tap “Sync” to continue.

10. Tap “Follow” on all the accounts you want to connect with from your Facebook friends list.

If you want to remove your synced contacts or Facebook friends, go into your privacy settings on TikTok and tap where it says “Sync contacts and Facebook friends” (which, of course, you can also use to sync or re-sync friends and contacts). Then, just tap either “Remove contacts” or “Remove Facebook friends,” which will turn off syncing and remove the data you previously synced with your TikTok account.

Tap “Remove” again when prompted, and you’re done.

You can follow all kinds of accounts on TikTok. Follow celebs and influencers. Follow your friends. Follow your friends who may happen to be celebs and influencers. You can even follow brands, if you must.

The more accounts you follow, the more content you’ll curate in your TikTok space. So get out there and start following.

If you want to post a fun Story, but you don’t want your random Instagram followers seeing it, try posting a Close Friends Story.

The Instagram feature Close Friends allows to you to post stories to a select group of your followers. With Close Friends you can choose to post a Story to all of your followers or to just to that designated group. No one else can see who is on your Close Friends list, but individual users know they are on the list because Close Friends Stories have a green circle around them rather than the usual pink and orange circle.

You can also edit your Close Friends list at anytime.

Here is how to post a close friends story.

How to create a Close Friends Story on Instagram:

1. Open Instagram

2. Navigate to your profile

3. Tap the three black lines in the upper right corner

Tap the three black lines to access your settings.
Credit: screenshot: instagram

3. Select “Close Friends”

Select “Close Friends” to create your close friends list.
Credit: screenshot: instagram

4. Select “Get Started”

Tap the blue rectangle to create your close friends list.
Credit: screenshot: instagram

5. Tap “Add” to add people to your close friends

To add people to your close friends, search their username and select “Add.”
Credit: screenshot: instagram

Instagram will suggest people to add to your close friends, but you can also search for users using the search bar.

6. Once you have your Close Friends list, select “Create List” at the bottom of your screen

7. Select “Create Story”

Tap “Create Story” to create your first close friends story.
Credit: Screenshot: instagram

8. Select the photo you want to post on your close friends story

9. Tap the green star icon in the bottom left corner to post your Close Friends Story

Tap on the green star icon to share your Story with your Close Friends.
Credit: SCREENSHOT: INSTAGRAM

Now that you’ve set up your Close Friends list, select a photo or video as usual and instead of tapping on your profile picture in the bottom right corner, tap the green start icon to post only to your Close Friends.

To edit your close friends list navigate to your profile, tap the three black lines, and select “Close Friends.”