DALLAS — Twenty-three-year-old Daniel Macdonald became a TikTok sensation overnight. In just over two months he has acquired 3.2 million followers on TikTok, and he attributes it to TikTok’s unique algorithm.
“I literally had 20 followers and I got like a million likes in two days,” MacDonald said.
Earlier this year he had the idea to approach people with extravagant cars and ask them “What do you do for a living?"
Since he first posted on September 27 he’s gained over 3 million followers on TikTok and his reach continues to grow.
“For people to get like a million followers they’ll be posting for like months, like years,” MacDonald said." It’s just weird jumping over people that I’ve followed on TikTok and then they start following me! Like pretty much all my favorite creators.”
Despite what the masses may think, this isn’t MacDonald’s full-time job. He spends most of his week working in finance, and creates his TikTok content in his free time.
“On the weekends you know when you’re supposed to be like taking it chill that’s my perfect time to film,” Daniel said.
Originally from Tucson, Arizona, MacDonald moved to Dallas at the end of August. After the platform was threatened to be taken down due to concerns that China was collecting data from Americans through the app, MacDonald is thankful the president gave blessing to a deal that continues to keep the app alive.
“I’m so glad,” Daniel said. “That happened right before I even made my first TiTok. So I would have been like sweating.”
Daniel is thankful the platform allows for anyone with unique and creative content to rise to fame.
“TIkTok’s algorithm is crazy… it’ll show it to people even if you have one follower. Like I had 20 followers at the time,” Daniel said. "If it’s a good video it’ll test it out to 20 people and if they like it they’ll show it more and more and more and then that’s how things blow up.
He hopes to continue on his content creation journey and has high hopes for the future.
“I want someone to buy me a car…like I want a brand like Audi or something like that to by me a car. I don’t drive the nicest car,” Daniel said.