A NEWPORT family who grew a massive TikTok following during lockdown have now become social media sensations - making it their full-time job.

Cat Keenan, 30, and Shaun Nyland, 29, both began making TikTok’s in November last year - right when the craze for the social media app began.

They noticed that their following started to grow rapidly during the lockdown period, and now both create family-friendly content for the app as their full-time jobs - along with their children Tommy James, 7, and Leo Nyland, 3.

“I realised I could make money from TikTok when I made more than my monthly wage in one day,” said Miss Keenan.

“I was a dog walker prior to my TikTok fame, and my partner worked for Parcelforce as a sales manager.

“When lockdown happened my business really suffered, people were working from home, so no one needed their dogs walked. If it weren’t for TikTok I would have struggled to live.

“Life has changed dramatically financially and emotionally. We were always worried how we was going to afford things like our own home, but now TikTok has given us that opportunity”.

2020 has been a tough year for everyone across the country, but Miss Keenan said she is happy to be making people smile during these uncertain times.

“We started realising we were helping change people’s lives and helping with their mental health by making them smile and giving them something to laugh about,” added Miss Keenan.

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“It’s lovely to know we have an impact on people’s lives”.

It is safe to say that TikTok is not the typical job for a Newport family, so what does a working day look like?

“A typical day for us is preparing our content,” said Miss Keenan.

“We spend the morning planning what we are going to film, then in the afternoon we get filming.

“I suppose the hardest part is preparing content for our audience to enjoy.

“It started with a sponsored post here and there, then it became more frequent. Then instead of sponsored posts we started to receive long term sponsorships and brand ambassador roles to guarantee a fixed income.

“I don’t think it’s really hit us yet how many followers we have.

“To have over 3.5 million followers between us both is pretty insane”.

You can follow Cat on TikTok at @itscatkeenan.

You can follow Shaun on TikTok at @shaun.nyland