Rubbing Fingers Together / Tiny Violin TikTok Trend

About

The Rubbing Fingers Together TikTok Trend also known as the Tiny Violin TikTok Trend or The Finger Thing is a TikTok trend where users rub their index finger and thumb together, replicating a tiny violin, over a rendition of Eminem's "Stan" with additional violin. The violin video was posted to TikTok in October 2022 and the trend went viral that December, leading many to wonder what the finger rubbing means.

Origin

On October 22nd, 2022, TikToker^[1] @zotov.13 posted a video where he plays violin over the opening of "Stan," garnering over 2.9 million views in three weeks. On December 7th, TikToker^[2] @shan_n.5 posted a video where she rubs her thum and index fingers together over the violin part or the audio under caption, "when he says I'm being real mean today," suggesting she doesn't care, garnering over 1.7 million views in a week (shown below). This is the earliest known video doing the trend.

Spread

The trend spread under the same original sound over the following days, inspiring over 200,000 videos under the original sound^[3] by December 16th, 2022. Some of the most popular examples are a post by TikToker^[4] and pro athlete @chasedemoor made on December 11th, 2022, garnering over 17.6 million views in five days and a TikTok^[5] posted by @sarahmagusara on December 13th where she eats sushi while pregnant, garnering over 20 million views in three days (shown below, left and right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References