TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms amongst teenagers this year, with more than 250 millions teen users worldwide creating, watching and interacting through dance and entertainment videos.

Gaining popularity? Building a loyal following through the app? Snagging millions of views? That is the most difficult and sought after challenge to achieve among the TikTok elite.

Maize South junior Samuel White has received some fame in the Tiktok world and is quickly gaining popularity everyday on his account, Laffytaffysammy.

“In the beginning I started TikTok just to get a good laugh from the videos but some of the trends I thought I would give a shot,” White said. “I started by making videos that I thought only my friends would see because becoming famous didn’t cross my mind. Then one day I saw that my views went up and it just grew from there.”

White originally created his account in 2018 in his freshman year. After his recent 16th birthday, he began attracting thousands of followers to his account. Currently, his account has 306.5k followers, which is 9k more than just three days ago when we started talking for the story about his TikTok fame.

“I think I’ve gained so many followers because I’ve followed the trends and created my own versions of the trends. Sometimes thinking outside of the box for content is good!” White said.

His account ranges from his favorite pickup lines he receives from fans, various trends across the TikTok community, and his hilarious voice impersonations that he’s practiced and perfected.

“The videos that get the most attention are my impersonation videos but specifically it’s my Grinch impersonation that everyone loves,” White said.

His Grinch impersonation TikTok videos all have at least 100k views. Two shot-from-scratch videos have received over a million views with half a million likes each. Some fans comment on his videos asking for him to do another impersonation video with other famous Jim Carey Grinch quotes. 

While many teens would have trouble finding any disadvantages to having so much attention on TikTok, but with power comes great responsibility. White knows the possible backlash from posting content for the world to see, but feels that “You’re always going to have haters, but you get that with everything. I’ve coped with that pretty well I like to think but you really have to pay attention to what you post.”

White’s favorite part about his growing popularity is random people realizing they know him from TikTok. Although he has yet to be recognized while out on the own, he has been noticed at school by other classmates and enjoys the experiences that have followed from his TikTok fame. 

“My favorite part of having a famous TikTok is definitely the attention I get at school. People recognize me in the halls and they message me later through Instagram and say ‘hey do you go to Maize South?’ It’s definitely been a great experience for me.”

With such an increase of followers in such a little time, White is waiting to see what is next. 400k followers? Two million views? The teen is living life while documenting his day-to-day shenanigans, jokes, and thoughts through the platform.

“My next and overall TikTok goal is just to see how far I can get. The world has endless opportunities ready for the taking! When I hit 100 thousand followers my parents bought me a cake and we celebrated.”