https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-npc-trend-pinkydoll-glitch-money-strategy-2023-8

NPC TikTok creator Fedha Sinon, who goes by "PinkyDoll." Courtesy of Fedha Sinon

• Fedha Sinon is a TikTok creator who goes by the name "PinkyDoll" to her 1 million followers.
• A glitch in a stream led her to start the NPC trend while responding to monetary gifts on live.
• By livestreaming every day since, she set herself up for a better life for her and her family.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 27-year-old Fedha Sinon, also known as the viral TikTok creator "PinkyDoll," who's based in Montreal, Québec. Sinon claims to make several thousands a day from her livestreams, but she did not show Insider documentation to verify this claim. The conversation was conducted through a translator. It has been edited for length and clarity.

"Mm, ice cream so good, yes yes yes. Gang gang. Pop pop pop pop."

Do those words ring a bell? I wouldn't be surprised, because I've gone viral for my TikTok videos — and made a great living for my family in the process.

I'm a TikTok creator who goes by the name PinkyDoll, which I chose because I love the color pink and I look like a doll. I first made my account last summer, and I started doing the NPC TikTok trend by accident a few months ago.

Before this took off, I was a stay-at-home mom and an aspiring influencer. When I was doing a livestream one day, my connection cut out, which made the video glitch. Someone commented, "omg, you look like an NPC."

So I leaned into the idea of playing an NPC, or non-player character — an extra character in a video game who is there to fill out the fantasy world. I kept doing it in my videos, and it paid off.

Now, I have 1.1 million followers on TikTok, and I'm able to support my family on income earned through my livestreams. Here's how I do it.

Through livestreams, users can send TikTok sticker gifts

PinkyDoll livestreaming on TikTok. @pinkydollreal

The gifts look like emojis and come in the form of roses, dinosaurs, tiny buckets of popcorn, and ice-cream cones. The gifts cost money for users to send — for example, an ice-cream cone costs $0.01, a dinosaur costs $0.13 and a hat-and-mustache emoji costs $1.31.

I have a catchphrase associated with each one. When someone sends an ice-cream cone, I say, "mm, ice cream so good," which has become my most famous catchphrase. My favorite one to say is "yee-haw, yes, got me feeling like a cowgirl." It's just so fun.

I spend about six hours a day doing livestreams and making content. My other videos bring in a little income, but nowhere near as much as my NPC livestreams.