Tom Brady Just Won TikTok
Tom Brady isn’t always known for having a playful personality, but there are times when he has some jovial moments, usually involving his various social media accounts. He had one of those moments recently on one of the newer social media apps when he posted a video on TikTok that went viral. In fact, some people might say Brady “won” TikTok thanks to his clip. Here’s a look at Brady’s “winning” TikTok video and some of his other social media highlights through the years.
What is TikTok?
TikTok launched in 2017 as an app that allows people to create short music videos or lip-sync clips ranging from three seconds to 15 seconds long, as well as looping videos that can run for as much as 60 seconds.
It quickly gained popularity, thanks in part to a merger with similar app music.ly. TikTok was the most downloaded app in the United States in October 2018. By February of this year, it reached the billion-download mark globally on iOS and Android.
Tom Brady and TikTok
Brady signed up for TikTok shortly after the NFL reached an agreement with the social app in an attempt to reach a younger audience. Brady has posted several videos since joining the social network, including one that used some video editing to make it look like he was throwing a pigskin to himself.
But the TikTok video that is the one that shows his blocking skills, interspersed with other random video clips, set to the tune of Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again.”
Tom Brady’s other social media highlights
TikTok isn’t the first social platform on which Brady has had a clip go viral. After all, when you’re as famous as he is and have so many followers, you’re bound to have social media posts that get spread all across the Internet.
He has used social networks to announce his (fake) retirement on more than one occasion. The first time was in December 2018, when he “retired” in an Instagram video he posted after reaching 1,000 rushing yards in the NFL.
On April 1 of this year, Brady announced another phony retirement — this time it was after he joined Twitter, and it happened to coincide with April Fool’s Day. Unlike with the Instagram video, Brady simply tweeted out a few sentences, “I’m retiring. In my spare time, I’ll be tweeting #LFG.” He didn’t let the joke linger for long because just over an hour later, Brady replied to the tweet, asking “was this a bad joke?”
Another time when Brady found himself in the social media spotlight was in early 2018, when he starred in a documentary series on Facebook Watch and other platforms called Tom vs. Time.
The series, which lasted six episodes, gave viewers an intimate look at Brady’s off-season training regimen, in addition to his home life with wife Gisele Bündchen and their children.
Episodes of the show featured Brady explaining how football is both a mental and physical game for him, as well as a brotherhood bonding experience at Yellowstone National Park for Brady and some of his closest teammates. The series, which was created and directed by filmmaker Gotham Chopra, won a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Serialized Sports Documentary in May 2019.
Is Brady’s play suffering because of social media?
Brady has become more active on social media over the last year or so, and is it hurting his play on the field? The Patriots’ offense hasn’t been up to par through the team’s first six games of the season; Brady has thrown for 1,743 yards, 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions.
Social media usage could be a factor that explains Brady’s subpar performance — per his standards — so far, but the retirement of Rob Gronkowski and injuries to Brady’s offensive teammates are the actual factors if we’re being honest with ourselves.
