Teen mum Sarah Magusara, the acrobatic Rybka twins & Mocha the dog are Aussie TikTok sensations

From the YouTube famous to TikTok megastars, Australians have been early adopters of the platform that has dominated 2020.

Australian TikTok sensation Sarah Magusara cleans out her wardbrobe.

From the YouTube famous to TikTok megastars, Australians have been early adopters of the platform that has dominated 2020.

Brisbane-based mum Sarah Magusara (@sarahmagusara), 18, has more than 14 million TikTok followers (1.3 million on Instagram, where she was famous first). Her moves are TikTok bread and butter — short dance memes, exercise snippets and lip syncs often featuring partner Pieta Warbrick and baby Zamira Rose.

Perth’s identical acrobatic twins Sam and Teagan Rybka on TikTok.

She has a relatively modest 347,000 YouTube followers where she posts videos on cleaning out her closet, trying out Korean skincare, and a Q&A over barbecue takeaway chicken where she reveals she met her boyfriend on a blind double date.

At 25, with 11.6 million TikTok followers, Perth’s identical acrobatic twins Sam and Teagan Rybka (@rybkatwinsofficial) sport ripped abdominals and bags of Menulog deliveries thanks to a sponsorship deal. They mostly post videos of synchronised gymnastics on parks and beaches and, yes, the occasionally lip sync.

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As with every social media platform before it, TikTok is a hit with the animals. Australia’s Mocha (@mochaporn), a female Black and Tan Pomeranian, chalked up 5.6 million TikTok followers and has starred in 223 TikTok videos, yelping and cavorting around her home in birthday hats, safety glasses and the like.

Mocha the dog dons safety glasses in one of her TikTok adventures.

There’s the cartoons of gaming video creator “Mully” (@Mullenslays, 8.5 million TikTok followers), the Ninja-like adventures of Brisbane parkour athlete Brodie Pawson (5.2 million followers) and comedy by the Chainz Family (5.2 million followers) featuring “Granny”.

Influencers can make personal fortunes on TikTok as they did with Instagram and Facebook — with some reported to be making up to $US50,000 per post on the platform. Prime-time political press conferences at the height of COVID-19 launched a new form of TikTok entertainment.

Brooke Taylor (@sooklyn) was one of the first TikTok users to record a parody lip sync; her original video overlay of a stoush between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and ABC journalist Andrew Probyn has more than 1.5 million views.

Triple J’s Sally Coleman and Erica Mallett created a dance remix over Duke Dumont’s Red Light Green Light, which Melburnian Jeff Van de Zandt (@jzandt) later filmed himself dancing to on TikTok, accompanied by multi-coloured lights and a fan. It’s had nearly a million views and amassed more than 70k followers. Probyn said in response: “This is the only bit of their dad’s ‘work’ that my kids have taken real notice of … ever. Sad.”

Another favourite is the @faunhub take on the “misogyny speech” by Julia Gillard in parliament, back in 2012.