• At 91 and 87 years old, Claude and Josette are TikTok stars. Accompanied by their grandson Valerian, aged 27, this retired couple is followed by 1.4 million people.
  • The family trio publishes several humorous videos every week that make several thousand views.
  • And this senior couple, originally from Essonne, is not the only one to hit the platform. For several years, dozens of "silver influencers", elderly people who have become content creators, have built a large community.

"I'm having fun like crazy, it breaks my monotony as a retiree." Since launching his TikTok account, Claude has been "living again". At 91, this senior shoots weekly humorous videos with Josette, his 87-year-old wife - all supervised by Valerian, his 27-year-old grandson. Blindfolded pancake recipe, fashionable choreography, "prank" between the two spouses, vocabulary of "djeun's", video game tests and even partnerships with brands... The family trio - which takes up the codes of today's young tiktokers - is a hit with its 1.4 million subscribers.

And as often for videos featuring elderly people, it was Valérian, the grandson of the couple of Essonniens, who had the idea of this account, baptisé@valeriandh. "In the family, we always had a camera in our hand. We've been making videos as a family since I was little, we used to send them to our family or friends," explains the young man. It was "by chance" that he downloaded TikTok in the summer of 2020 and posted some of the videos. "And then it was a hit," says Valerian, who has since quit his job to take care of the account full-time, before launching his own agency specializing in social networks.

"I love being with them"

As a result, the family trio's account now has nearly 400 videos, each of which accumulates from tens of thousands to millions of views. "The first year, it was incredible, we gained a million followers, the numbers were increasing every day," says Valerian. If the little family is delighted with this audience, it is far from being their primary objective: "It is first and foremost a fun, it allows us to be together, to share something," explains Claude. A pleasure also shared by Valerian, who "loves being with them": "The three of us spend a lot of time. In three years, we've done incredible things together," he adds.

It is undoubtedly this complicity in life and on screen that pleases their community, according to Claude: "We bring them smiles, joy, a little moment of happiness. It makes me happy to please." And if it works so well, it's also because people identify with their own grandparents, adds Valerian: "There are people who write to us, who mention themselves in comments between brothers and sisters, or between cousins, who tell us that they recognize their grandparents in this or that video or that they would like to try this challenge as a family," continues the thirty-year-old.


Script, shooting, editing... If Valerian is in charge of the TikTok account from A to Z, his grandparent is far from passive: "When I have an idea, I write a small frame and send it to Valerian for approval," explains Claude. But the grandson sometimes has to curb his grandfather's overflowing enthusiasm: "Some ideas are not technically feasible and others would not work on TikTok, I have to sort it out." A way of working that totally suits Claude: "Valerian is the boss and we are the two actors," he says with a laugh.

@valeriandh

Who's the grandfather to whom? 🐄

♬ Original sound - Valerian x Josette x Claude

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Sarcastic recipes, tips and videos

But it's not just Claude and Josette who break the Internet. Other seniors have also done well, forging a large community. Like Andrée, 84, aka Mamie TikTok, who also became a star of the platform. His roommate with his grandson Mathieu, documented on their compte@mamie_et_math, is followed by two million subscribers. Between culinary recipes, humorous videos and everyday scenes, their videos garner hundreds of thousands of views.

On their compte@mamie.antoine, Antoine and Mamie Zizette, 80, have a total of one million followers. "How to clean the joints of your shower", "how to peel an onion without crying", "relieve a mosquito bite"... Several times a month, the octogenarian reveals his "grandmother's tips and recipes".

@mamie.antoine

A good tip to know to stop crying when peeling onions 👵🏻✨ | Subscribe for more tips#tiktokacademie #astuce #conseil

♬ original sound - Mamie x Antoine 👵🏻

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On another note, Syrine and her sister have created the TikTok@pepe_moujo account, in which they share funny and moving videos of their 93-year-old grandfather, who has Alzheimer's disease.


On the other side of the Atlantic, the American Lillian Droniak, 92, has no less than 8.6 million fans, a figure comparable to some beauty influencers. On his compte@grandma_droniak, his sarcastic videos get tens of millions of views each time. One of them, where she wears makeup to return her ex-husband's funeral, has even been viewed nearly 59 million times.

@grandma_droniak

Replying to @ayanaiscoolerthanyou grwm 4 my ex's funeral. Rip Bruce I hope you like my outfit and that lipstick was for you

♬ Original Sound - grandma_droniak

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Silver influencers who defy stereotypes

These senior content creators - between 60 and 90 years old - have a name: "silver influencers". According to a study conducted by Dr. Reuben Ng for The Gerontologist, this new category of influencers mostly creates content around three main themes: "challenging age-related stereotypes," "shedding light on vulnerabilities," and "denouncing ageism."

"The primary goal remains fun, but if it works, indeed afterwards we can say that we fight clichés and ageism," Valerian admits. And for Claude's grandson, it is also a question of showing that social networks do not only belong to the younger generation: "At 91, we are able to understand the codes of today's society if someone takes the time to explain to us. TikTok doesn't have to be just for young people."

And this aging of users is clearly visible. According to data recently published by Statista, in 2022, 51% of people aged 60 to 69 were present on at least one social network, and 27% for those aged 70 and over. This is enough to twist the idea that older people are disinterested in technology or are passive users of social networks.

  • Tech
  • By the Web
  • TikTok
  • Social Media
  • Senior