TikTok's "Teamwork IFB" Trend Helps Smaller Creators Grow Their Following

The trends on TikTok take all sorts of different shapes, and sometimes, they're paired with phrases or acronyms that are difficult to understand. One recent trend that has been popping up for many on the platform is something called Teamwork IFB. This trend is taking over the app, and many people are confused about what it means.

While teamwork itself is not an unusual word, when it's paired with an acronym, it's understandable to feel a bit perplexed. Here's what we know about both of this new trend and what it means.

IFB is an acronym that stands for "I follow back," and it is designed to be a signal to another user that if they follow you, you will follow them back. It's meant to create a virtuous cycle in which both creators increase their follower accounts through following one another.

The Teamwork trend is related, which is why you often see the acronym paired with the word teamwork.

Small creators are including the word either in comments or in videos themselves to help juice one another follower counts, engagement, and views on the platform. Basically, the trend is encouraging users to band together to help one another reach their goal of having more followers on the platform. Teamwork extends beyond just following someone back (although that is still important), and also includes engaging with another creator's videos.

Most creators are hoping to get their follower counts to over 10,000, as that is the point when TikTok starts monetizing their videos, and they could begin earning money for their posts. Of course, that money likely won't be a huge amount unless the content itself is interesting to a large group of people, so juicing your account only works if you're confident that the videos you put out will be interesting.

While the idea of juicing one another's TikTok accounts may sound good in theory, what's also true is that this trend is not going to suddenly create a bunch of new TikTok stars. Many of the most famous or well-known TikTok accounts got that way because they serve a particular audience incredibly well and have created a relationship with them that caters to their interests or helps them in some other way.

Just having 10,000 followers is not going to suddenly unlock a wealth of money that didn't exist before. Unless your content merits your follower count, and unless you can continue to grow it even more, you're not likely to be able to quit your day job.

That's not necessarily to say that only the very best stuff rises to the top on TikTok. Its mysterious algorithm makes it difficult to say exactly what might explain why some things are popular and some aren't. Even so, teamwork may be nicer in theory than it is in practice, at least for the vast majority of users who give that strategy a shot.