It’s no secret that TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 1 billion monthly users and more than half of them coming from the United States.
Since it was first launched in 2017, people have been wondering how this app can manage to engage such a vast amount of users so well and, even more importantly, how does it manage to get so much exposure without being available on other major social media networks like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook?
Now that you’ve had some time to play around with TikTok and figure out how to use it, you might wonder what the algorithm behind TikTok looks like. How does TikTok choose what to show you next?
This article will answer all your questions about the algorithm behind TikTok. In this post, I will give a rundown on how the TikTok algorithm works and how it helps you find your new favorite video.
About The TikTok Algorithm
The TikTok app uses an algorithm to decide what video to show you next. The algorithm considers your personal preferences and other factors, like whether or not you tap on a video, how long you watch it and when you last watched a video.
TikTok is able to create personalized videos for each user by analyzing their data with machine learning algorithms. It does this by looking at your digital footprint of all social media interactions, including every post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more.
What’s interesting about the TikTok algorithm is that if you happen to be scrolling through your feed and you click on another video, then TikTok will start recommending different videos that align with those interests.
For example, if you are browsing your feed and click on a James Bond movie, you want to find out who starred in the latest one. Once you finish watching it, TikTok will recommend James Bond movies that are similar in genre because they know your interest in spy films and action movies.
TikTok will also recommend related celebrities such as Ian McKellen, who starred in two James Bond movies with Sean Connery.
TikTok keeps track of which videos you watch most frequently and how long you watch them, but it also considers how many taps users give to the video.
The longer someone watches a specific video, the higher it ranks on TikTok’s algorithmic list. That means if someone only watches 10% of a video, they won’t rank nearly as high as someone who watches 90% of it (assuming there is no indication that person might have closed their screen).
There’s also an algorithm that predicts which type of content users may want based on things like geo-location, timezone, and date so users can still have access to new content even though they’ve already seen everything before.
TikTok has optimized its algorithm over time due to advancements in artificial intelligence. With its dedication to keeping current with technology, TikTok’s algorithm should continue to evolve over time, just like any other social media platform.
Also Read: TikTok Business Accounts vs. Personal Accounts
How It Reads Your Mind
TikTok’s algorithm is a complex beast. Machine learning and artificial intelligence decide what to show you based on your tastes and past behavior.
Plus, it tries to keep you engaged by showing you videos that are more likely to get a reaction from you and less likely to bore you. But how does it ‘read’ your mind?
Let’s look at how TikTok learns about its audience as it goes along. Once you sign up for an account, TikTok starts off with an empty profile; they don’t know anything about you yet.
It starts collecting data on you once you start using the app: everything from how many times per day/week/month/year you use it to how long each session lasts.
How often do new friends pop up in your feed, or if they’re related to people in your phone contacts list?
Where in the world do most of your views come from, what type of content has garnered responses or comments from other users (like if a video was tagged with feeling or love), which ones have received negative feedback, and so forth?
TikTok can also read text messages sent through its chat feature. That way, when one person tags another in a photo, TikTok will automatically recognize who they are and match them to their contact info on the user’s phone.
That way, when someone sends a message with hey, it’ll be able to quickly parse out who they’re talking to without being distracted by things like emojis or hashtags that may not mean much on their own but add context otherwise.
All this helps TikTok understand how best to serve your needs and interests. For example, if you’ve expressed interest in watching funny clips before, then the next time you open up the app, there’ll be some funny videos waiting for you!
And because we know how important variety is, we’ll always ensure something else is going on besides just comedy-related content. A little romance never hurt anyone, right? So if you watch a clip where someone kisses their significant other and go Aww or laugh at it, TikTok will recommend similar clips next time.
Even if you only watch snippets of clips here and there throughout the day or week, TikTok knows how to go about playing your tune.
To figure out what to show you first, it’ll first see how recently you were last active. If it’s been a while since you last logged in, then it might be interesting to find out how often you watch short-length videos rather than full-length ones. Otherwise, if this were just your latest activity after logging back in, it would want to present those full-length videos first since they’re usually your favorites already.
Pros and Cons of the TikTok Algorithm
The advantages of the TikTok Algorithm are that it is able to detect when people are watching your videos. It can also tell the difference between someone who has watched a video before and someone new.
Disadvantages to the TikTok Algorithm are that it can be seen as an invasion of privacy and lacks accuracy in detecting if someone has watched a video before.
Another disadvantage is that TikTok does not have the same features for all users.
As shown with these examples, there are many different interpretations of how TikTok reads your mind.
Some people may view this as beneficial because it offers more freedom of expression, while others may see this as invasive because TikTok knows what you like and what you watch on the app.
In conclusion, each person should decide whether or not they want the app’s algorithm scanning their mind.
If you believe that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, then, by all means, download the app and start using it! But if you think that TikTok is reading too much into what you do on social media without giving you any say in how they do so, then don’t use it.
Conclusion
TikTok’s algorithm is surprisingly accurate at gauging your mood and making you feel understood. It’s so good, in fact, that it can almost read your mind.
TikTok will make you feel like you’re not alone and that there are people out there who understand what you’re going through–whether it be heartbreak or a bad day at work.
However, TikTok’s algorithm can’t fix everything; sometimes, it’s just nice to have someone to talk to instead of scrolling through endless videos on your phone.
There are times when you need a friend to help you get over your sadness rather than getting another video from some YouTuber with half-assed advice.
Nevertheless, if used sparingly and for genuine self-expression, TikTok could be an amazing tool for the mental health community and all those suffering from mental illness.