BBC News, South East
Jed StoreyA father from Kent has described the “whirlwind” experience of going viral on TikTok for his light-hearted videos with his 18-year-old daughter.
Jed Storey, a 45-year old train driver, and his daughter Chloe, began creating content in February 2024 as a way to help Chloe who is autistic, suffers from anxiety and has an auditory processing disorder.
“At first it was just about spending time together, and cheering Chloe up,” Mr Storey told the BBC.
The pair, who live in Dartford, have more than 223,000 followers on the social media platform and their content has got up to 40m views.
Their videos include dances, rating games and popular challenges.
Mr Storey said they never expected the account to “take off like it did” and that the whole experience had been a “whirlwind”.
Their account, @dadandcloshow, quickly gained attention, building up 100,000 followers in the first five months of posting.
Chloe was struggling at college, Mr Storey explained, and the TikTok account was partly started in response to this.
“We’ve always been close,” he added.
They said they sometimes get recognised and have even been invited to apply to a few TV reality shows, but were not sure they would act on the offers.
Why do certain videos go viral?
The science behind why certain content is more attractive and spreads faster than others is unclear.
Prof Ben Lowe, from the University of Kent, told the BBC that the most technical explanation is the computer programmed algorithm, “a mathematical formula that the platform uses to promote content”.
Prof Lowe specialises in marketing and consumer behaviour and explained that “social media is definitely not an exact science” and that there is no formula which “convincingly explains” the trends.
He acknowledged that videos tend to be popular if people feel they can relate, if they focus on a current issue or if they have a short and snappy hook.
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