Gaelic language advocate and wild swimmer Calum Maclean, from Inverness, is named Scotland's top TikTok influencer, beating Love Island's Paige Turley and pop sensation Lewis Capaldi
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A Gaelic language activist from Inverness has pipped the likes of chart-topping singer Lewis Capaldi to be named Scotland’s most influential TikToker.
Calum Maclean’s wild swimming exploits have become a global sensation, with his most-watched video of a dip in Loch Morar, the nation’s deepest, attracting over 25 million views.
According to rankings compiled by Forres-based communications agency Spey, the keen cold water swimmer, who now lives in Aberfeldy, tops the list of Scottish influencers on the social media app.
Among those he beat were Love Island 2020 winner Paige Turley, who came second, creator Lewis Buchan who came third, and Forget Me singer Capaldi, who was ranked sixth on the list.
In the past week, Mr Maclean’s search to find the real centre of Scotland clocked up more than 800,000 views, appearing on the For You pages of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
Spey ranked the list according to how often other users interacted with them, rather than just the number of followers they had amassed.
Jennifer Robertson, founder of Spey, said “the impact of posting about issues that really matter to you” was underlined by this year’s diverse list of leading influencers.
“Our top influencer, Calum Maclean, has led renewed interest in the Gaelic language amongst young Scots in particular, which just goes to show the passion we have for our Gaelic heritage,” she said.
“His posts about our breathtaking landscape and waters have also performed really well – in particular, his post where he filmed in the depths of Loch Ness went viral and helped him reach an audience of over four million.
“Ultimately, the results show the power of innovative content and how quality can trump celebrity.”
Mr Maclean, who goes by the username “caldamac” on the platform, had an engagement rate of more than 56% among his 257,500 followers.
That meant his posts were liked and shared more often by those who saw them than any of his fellow Scots on TikTok.
Turley had an engagement rate of 29% among her 420 000 followers, while Capaldi rated 7% among his 4.7 million followers.
Also making it into the top 10 list were newsagent and comedian Yasser Inayat, make-up artist Jamie Genevieve and activist Eddie Walker.
