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ASEAN Trend 

Tip Top – The Easiest Way to Express Yourself 

Written by Park Jun-han, Author of Good Morning, Myanmar

Quite some time has passed since an invisible virus began changing everyday life around the world. However, no matter how devastating the impact of the virus has been so far, it has not discouraged people from caring about one another and trying to find ways to connect. Online platforms are one such way and their popularity has grown exponentially as they represent a safe place to meet.

   In Korea, people often send instant messages via KakaoTalk as soon as they get up and usually keep up to date with the latest news and trends through the Korean web portal Naver and YouTube. In Myanmar, Facebook has long been the dominant platform where people do all of the above. Lately, however, the video-sharing platform Tip Top, where aspiring actors and singers share their videos to gain a following, has been all the rage among people in Myanmar. This was in part sparked by the success of Phyu Phyu Htwe, a young woman from a rural village, who became famous through her Tip Top videos. Now, virtually everyone tries their hand at creating Tip Top content on the popular SNS.

   Phyu Phyu Htwe grew up in a poor family, but she was determined to succeed from a very young age, telling her mother that she would grow up to become an actor. Despite the hardships of her childhood, she soon stood out for her performances in plays in her village and never gave up on her dream. When she entered college, the Tip Top content was just becoming popular. Phyu Phyu Htwe recorded various role-playing videos with friends from her dormitory and posted them on Facebook. As her videos gained in popularity, the number of her Facebook followers quickly grew, and before long, she had become so famous that her official Facebook page received the coveted blue badge, confirming it as an authentic page of a public figure. Phyu Phyu Htwe is now a well-known celebrity and actor and has fulfilled her childhood dream, just as she had told her mother when she was young.

   Phyu Phyu Htwe currently lives happily in a detached house in Yangon, a place famous for its high property prices. The simple girl from the countryside may have become a famous celebrity, but she certainly has not forgotten her roots. Like her country, which regularly tops the World Giving Index as the most charitable country, she is renowned for being charitable. The story of her life reminds us that we should never forget difficult times, and that we should donate to those in need in our own hometowns or elsewhere.

   Phyu Phyu Htwe’s success has set off a new trend in Myanmar. After seeing her rise to fame through her Tip Top videos, many people hope to emulate her success. If you browse through Facebook, you will find video after video of people showing off their talents. Many create videos in which they lip-sync to famous songs or sing and dance as though they were famous music stars already. Travel writers may perpetuate stereotypes of Myanmar people as being shy, but a look at the avalanche of Tip Top videos will soon disabuse you of that notion. People also upload videos that capture vivid, albeit brief, scenes from their daily lives. These videos do not have s or subtitles like you would expect from well-edited broadcasts, but many people in Myanmar have fallen in love with these heartwarming clips from everyday people.

The content of this article may differ from the editorial direction of the ASEAN Culture House Monthly.