The Swiss Prince of TikTok

While we expected to come across a student obsessed with selfies and disconnected from reality, Malwyn Burkhalter imposes by his maturity and his state of mind. From the height of his 18 years, the young Vaudois is an ambitious entrepreneur. “Today I am submitting a letter to the management of my business school to stop my studies. I decided to dedicate myself 100% to my career as an influencer, as well as to my clothing brand”, reveals from the outset the Prince Romand of TikTok, an ultra-popular network with 12-25 year olds. “I had to convince my mother, but after I presented my business plan to her, she supported me,” he adds with the charming smile that most of his followers love on the famous Chinese social network.

In November, after 590 videos, Naswyn (his online nickname) is followed by 3 million people. But how, in less than a year, has this screen pro built such a large community on the most popular application of 2020? Thanks to her model look, first, but also with her imitations of video game characters. Because the Swiss-Ivorian captivates Internet users with his deep low range inherited from his father. "Everyone comments thinking it's not my real voice," he laughs. It must be said that one of the flagship activities of TikTok is lip sync – or play-back – on the hits of the moment. "I also tested at the beginning of small numbers of humor, but I quickly gave up to go in the niche more aesthetic and daily life." Good strategy because one of his microposts has been viewed 45.3 million times. It's almost as if the entire Spanish population had discovered Malwyn's escapades in their living room.

A visibility that allowed him to attract major brands who followed him on Instagram to sponsor him. “In Switzerland, on TikTok, there is not yet any monetization of posts like in the United States, where influencers earn a lot of money.” The most fashionable today are millionaires. They have learned to generate what they call engagement, playing between attractive content and strategic hashtags. "TikTok's algorithm is complex because it is random, unlike other networks where you appear on your subscribers' feeds as soon as you publish something new," says Malwyn.

Since the start of the pandemic, he is by far not the only one to devote a real passion to offbeat challenges, the hallmark of the successful application. The craze around TikTok is not going away. A study conducted by Unicef ​​Switzerland/Liechtenstein with Academic Alpha – a consulting and market research company closely linked to the University of Bern – analyzed the content of 54 young Swiss influencers from March to May 2020 (on different platforms) . The objective was to understand how the under 20s managed their emotions with the restrictions linked to the crisis. Report? While only 25% of influencers used TikTok in 2019, they were 69% last spring.

Is TikTok a digital anti-blues remedy for confined Gen Z? All of them share ultra-short videos about their rants, their dismay, their boredom… while not forgetting to wow the gallery with entertaining (and sometimes stupid) challenges. “TikTok is for fun! Last summer, I wanted to raise awareness about the movement against racism #BlackLivesMatter, but it does not work at all, this type of content”, regrets the young Métis.

Alert, he is fully aware of the dangers and risks of addiction. "It's such a time-consuming app, I also got lost in the stream of videos for hours a day and realized I had to get my life back together." He then returns to the football fields, swims and hangs out with his friends (covid permitting). For him, TikTok can be potentially toxic, a digital terrain conducive to the trivialization of insults. “I'm lucky that I've received very few negative comments on my account! I have an aura that fights haters (hate, editor’s note)”, smiles the young man. “But on the other hand, you are judged very quickly when you put yourself on the stage, it's not your personality! Me, I am perceived as arrogant on TikTok. Fortunately, my relatives know me, ”adds Malwyn, who ends by criticizing the somewhat superficial side of the swipe, the action of quickly scrolling through the content. “This dopamine is not necessarily the one we need!”

For the end of the year, the TikTok ace has other more “stimulating” projects. A seasoned young businessman, he has just launched a clothing brand. Since he was a little boy, he also dreamed of being a professional YouTuber. Supervised by his manager Max Perrin – who pushed him to make his online presence profitable – he decided to launch his channel in December to share “positive” videos. It should be noted that the influencer already lives well from his digital interventions. We will not know his exact salary, but it is “comfortable”, in the range of 5000 francs (or even more) per month. Not bad for a first job when you're 18!

In five years, Malwyn Burkhalter sees herself living in the United States, because there are more opportunities to evolve in the web professions. In Switzerland, the precursor sometimes feels misunderstood. “But first, I have to conquer Europe,” he concludes with a big smile.