TikTok’s Popularity Sparks Rise of “Collab Houses”

Social media puts a very new spin on working from home.

Hype House
Los Angeles's Hype House is one of a growing number of high-profile collab houses where TikTok stars live and work.
Daisy Keech/YouTube

Over the last few years. you may well have been deluged with articles and think pieces about the rise of communal living. Some pegged it as a generational phenomenon — namely, of millennials trying something new — while others found evidence of a broader generational appeal. But a new article in The New York Times explores another permutation of communal living — and it’s one where the lines between living and working are blurred, sparked by a particular social media app. Welcome to the world of the collab house.

Writing for the Times, Taylor Lorenz explores the world of Hype House, a Los Angeles residence where a number of prominent TikTok creators live and work. “So-called collab houses, also known as content houses, are an established tradition in the influencer world,” Lorenz writes. “Over the last five years they have formed a network of hubs across Los Angeles.”

While TikTok is a fairly recent phenomenon, collab houses predate its ubiquity on smartphones everywhere. Lorenz notes that collab houses have also been used by prominent creators associated with YouTube and Vine, among others.

As Lorenz describes it, the search for an ideal collab house is not unlike the search for any other prized form of real estate. Privacy is key; good lighting is a must. And, unlike many AirBnBs in the Los Angeles area, the space must allow filming within its doors.

Hype House is a particularly high-profile example of collab houses. “Four of the group’s 19 members live in the house full time; several others keep rooms to crash in when they are in town,” Lorenz writes. What happens when Los Angeles real estate meets the demands of a popular app’s viewership? Hype House provides one answer to that question.

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