COUNTY CLERK'S ACCIDENTAL FAREWELL TIKTOK VIDEOS GOES VIRAL

Thanks to a few accidental farewell video uploads, and a misunderstanding of how TikTok works, all of TikTok is also bidding goodbye to Connie. 

The account @deputyclerk uploaded several videos, bidding one of their colleagues a farewell, and has now reached more than 117,000 likes across its eight videos.

Well, here is where it gets fun. Each video is some variation of the same goodbye message to someone named Connie. Some are shot vertically, and a handful is shot in landscape. 

In some videos, the employees take turns coming in and out of the frame. In others, they're all lined up. Another dramatic video is shot in black and white, leading up to a goofier video that features some singing. All eight videos thank Connie for her work and wish her well. 

 
A male deputy-clerk starts one video with; "Congratulations from the Orange County clerk's office," then steps out of the frame where a woman then hops in. She says, "We wish you the best in your future endeavours." Another woman then takes her place, adding, "We appreciate the good job that you have done for the state of Indiana." Finally, the last clerk steps in and ends the message with a ""Goodbye, Connie!" 

The Connie they are referring to is Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, who was retiring after nearly a decade in office. Connie has served as Secretary of State for the longest period in Indiana history. She has definitely won the hearts of the state's municipal employees during her years in local government. 

Elizabeth Jones, who manages the Orange County clerk's office, explained that the office didn't mean to post the videos on TikTok. They only used the app for the in-app filters to record a loving farewell message. 

It was made clear after stating that nobody in the office had ever actually made a TikTok before. Deputy Clerk Olivia Griffith first thought she was saving rejected videos to her phone. However, she accidentally uploaded them to the office's public TikTok account. 

"I thought it was just going to the photo gallery on my phone," she added. 

The videos have gained so much attention due to the app's algorithm-generated For You Page. TikTok will first show the video to a small group of other users and see how they react. If that group engages with the video by liking it, commenting or watching the full video, then TikTok will show the video to a larger group of users. This continues until the video ends up on hundreds of thousands of For You Pages. 

The videos are just odd enough to be funny, which is how the seemingly mundane messages went viral. 

Even though the funny videos have gone viral, the County Clerk is unsure if they will continue posting more content. Especially considering that it was not their intention in the first place.

Jones added, "The one where I'm singing, that definitely wasn't supposed to be seen by anybody else."