There is a “big conversation” happening about pensions on TikTok and more of the industry should join the social media platform to use it as a listening tool, a digital anthropologist has said.

Speaking at the PLSA Annual Conference 2023 in Manchester yesterday, 17 October, digital anthropologist, Rahaf Harfoush, said TikTok is “the most underutilised listening tool for corporations, leaders and executives today”.

Prior to her presentation, Harfoush searched for pensions on TikTok and found several topics of conversation on the subject.

“People are talking and I went online and I was looking at UK pensions, I was looking at the UK cost of living [crisis] and there’s a whole conversation happening… there is a very big conversation happening right now, across generations, especially from Gen Z about things like the future, about things like is it even worth it to have a pension, will we even have a future?”

She continued: “So whenever I hear people say things like ‘oh, I really wish we knew what the younger generation thinks’, I think to myself well they are talking. They are talking a lot, you’re just not in a place where you’re listening. This is why I think you don’t have to post on TikTok yourself but just go and listen. If you don’t like TikTok there are so many other places on the web where amazing things are happening because digital spaces are revealing these profound shifts in societal values.”

Harfoush spoke at length about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and the new tools that are emerging as a result of this new generative technology.

“Digital culture can only be understood through experience. Here’s the thing, it’s changing so fast that nobody really knows what’s going on, so you shouldn’t feel like you’re too late, or you’re behind… you just have to get started, the more you play around and the more you experience these the better you’ll be at recognising the value of a new tool that comes up,” she explained.

“The question I want you to ask yourself is: What digital space should you be exploring? Where are your customers? Where are your employees? Where are they talking about things? Where are they gathering? Where are they having fun? Are you there listening? Because if you’re not, it’s just a missed opportunity.”

She gave an example of a UK pensions company that trained an AI pensions expert, which was found to have reduced error by a “significant amount” – going from an error rate of about 15-30 per cent with a typical customer service representative down to 2.5 per cent.

“They said that what was really interesting is the higher the level of expertise of the people using the tool, the faster the service is going to be and the more powerful the tool is going to be for you to use it in your business.”

Harfoush believes the future will see sponsored content where, for example, American athlete Tom Brady could be giving pensions advice. Meta (Facebook) announced recently that it was partnering with celebrities including Brady and model, Kendall Jenner, where their AI selves are used as chatbots for people to talk to them about a variety of topics.

However, she warned of the ethical challenges surrounding the use of AI relationships and intimacies.

“Leaders must embrace their discomfort with complexity and uncertainty because just because something is a good business idea, just because something is technologically possible doesn’t actually mean that they should do it.”

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