WATCHING TIKTOK: AN EYE-TRACKING STUDY OF VISUAL ATTENTION PAID TO SHORT-FORM VIDEOS

Lucia Škripcová — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 23:20:16 +0000

ABSTRACT:

The study focuses on how young viewers visually process short-form videos on TikTok and how the distribution of attention between the main image and the platform interface changes in the process. In an exploratory laboratory experiment, 16 participants watched ten videos of four different types of content (lifestyle, educational content, fast-paced potentially risky videos, multi-screen formats), while their eye movements, facial expressions, and electrodermal activity were measured simultaneously. Eye-tracking analysis revealed three recurring modes of visual attention: stable, segmented, and fragmented. The stable mode was mainly associated with lifestyle and reference educational videos, where the gaze focused on one or two dominant areas with low physiological activation. Multi-screen formats elicited a segmented mode with rhythmic switching between multiple streams without signs of attention breakdown. Fast-paced, thematically sensitive videos were characterised by a fragmented, reactive mode with shorter fixations, more frequent shifts between areas of interest, and repeatedly increased electrodermal activity that did not always correspond to visible facial expressions. The results suggest that short videos do not represent a uniform processing format, but that the formal structure and type of content are closely related to how young viewers divide their attention and how they are physiologically engaged in the process.

KEY WORDS:

eye-tracking, short-form video, TikTok, visual attention, youth

05_Novanska-Skripcova_CT-1-2026 Download

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34135/communicationtoday.2026.Vol.17.No.1.5

Motivations and Incentives of Community Media Content Creators: A Case Study of SpodNás

Lucia Škripcová — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 17:14:45 +0000

ABSTRACT:
Community media are a natural extension of the various lives of communities within this world. They serve as a platform for sharing content, ideas and views which the communities deem important. They are equally important to the content creator himself and the information recipient. The uniqueness of community content creation begins with the process of creating as such; as the authors are usually the same people as the recipients, the situation in question is very unlike the production processes we know from mass media. This case study aims to map one of the communities situated in the city of Trnava that calls itself SpodNás. It analyses the whole process of creating a zine and related community activities via participant observation of the content creation related to this community’s everyday life. The author also strives to define the boundaries whichdivide a passive and an active recipient, primarily through directly surveying the content creators themselves.

KEY WORDS:
audience, community, community media, media production, participatory culture, zine

03_Škripcová_CT-2-2017 Download

Lucia Škripcová – Communication Today

WATCHING TIKTOK: AN EYE-TRACKING STUDY OF VISUAL ATTENTION PAID TO SHORT-FORM VIDEOS

Motivations and Incentives of Community Media Content Creators: A Case Study of SpodNás