TikTok took the world by storm in 2018, after buying out and rebranding the app Music.ly. With over 1 billion active users, and a 786.86% user growth rate, there is no debate that the app has become a prominent social media network. A main thing that sets TikTok apart from its competitors is its highly personalized “For You page” algorithm that keeps audiences engaged for long periods of time, but what is this algorithm and how does it work? Here are three main aspects of the TikTok algorithm that are good to keep in mind as you use the app.
- Video Information
Video information comes from the content that you search or tend to seek out. For example, if you wanted to make a video to a specific viral song and searched for the sound, it would be considered a video information signal. This also includes things like hashtags, filters, captions and trending topics. TikTok uses these searches to know what trends you like and put them on your page more often.
- User-viewing Habits and Interactions
TikTok also tracks how you interact with other accounts on the app to further suggest more videos you’d like in the future. This comes from posts you’ve liked and shared, accounts you follow, comments you’ve posted, videos you’ve added to your favorites, content you create on your own account, videos you’ve reported, and so much more.
For instance, if you follow a specific creator and hit the like and share button on a lot of their videos, their potential content will show up on your “For You” page in the future. This is another thing that makes TikTok’s algorithm so unique and individualized.
- Account Settings
Lastly, the account settings are what you set when you download the app. These are things like language preference, country setting, type of device, and categories of interest you set. Although these do not have as much influence as user interaction and video information, they are still important because they give a baseline of your general identity and interests to start you off strong and reel you in directly after downloading the app.
All of these components combined are how TikTok’s algorithm personalizes your adequately named “For You” page but another common question is how exactly does a video go viral? This part of the algorithm works a little differently since it is a more collective action with a large group of users. A video becomes viral when multiple people watch a video to completion. Watching a video in full shows that people are obviously interested, leading the algorithm to be more likely to place it on others pages. Crazy, right? It is important to understand how all of this works to know the best way to approach your own content creation.
If your TikTok or other social media accounts could use a hand, check out our services or contact us at hello@oliverandco.social for a personalized quote!
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