TikTok Algorithm

By Isabelle Restori

We’re in a time warp back in 2020, and everyone is stuck in their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. While people were initially happy with all this newfound freedom and time, they instantly found that too much free time is not necessarily the best thing. People began to turn to an upcoming app that would later take the world by storm called TikTok (even though I guessed that you would have known which one I was talking about before I stated it).

From trending dances to comedy skits, there is a variety of content that TikTok has to offer to its viewers. One thing that I personally noticed is whenever I would log into the app, the first page that popped up was something that I would enjoy. This puzzling thing I noticed is not a mystery- it is intentional as it is known as the “For You Page (FYP)”, and it is referred to as the TikTok algorithm. This concept is something that I found interesting, so I am going to talk about how that works in this article.

User Activity

            This is a huge reason why a video will reach a larger audience. Every time I log into TikTok and see a video on my FYP, it is never one with a low amount of likes or few comments. The more user activity a video has, the more likely it is going to reach a larger audience. The following are things that you want to see higher to ensure the video will reach a large audience:

·      Likes

·      Comments

·      Shares

·      Compilations and re-watches

Subject Matter

            The way that TikTok decides which video reaches a certain audience is through subject matter. When users are wanting to find their cup of tea or niche on the app, they use various ways to find that content; TikTok utilizes this to personalize the content per individual user. They use the following that users might input:

·      Caption keywords

·      Sounds

·      Hashtags

·      Effects

·      The actual content

Location and Language

            Something that is a both a bit creepy and surprising to me is that TikTok actually utilizes the user’s location to personalize their experience with the app. They track the following when you log into the app:

·      Posting location

·      Language preferences

·      Type of mobile device

Based on where one posts a video from can determine the type of content that one will be delivered on the app. For example, if someone posts a video about their typical day in the life in New York City, they might see videos from other creators from the same city. The same goes for the type of language used based on where a user posts a video from. For instance, if someone posts from Italy, the app will probably gear that user’s content in the Italian language.

Not Interested Feedback

            When users are on the app, they go on there to find enjoyment from creators that they actually find pleasant. This also serves in TikTok’s best interest as their goal is to keep users on the app for as long as possible because that is how they make money. To do this, the app needs to serve content to them that they actually enjoy. The following are the ways TikTok finds out what their users enjoy:

·      Videos people have marked as “not interested”

·      Users people have hidden

·      Videos people skip through

Conclusion

            My goal for you after reading this article is for you to hopefully have a better understanding of how TikTok’s algorithm works. This is for two reasons. First, to improve your experience on the app through hopefully personalizing it a bit more. Second, to understand how it actually works as it just simply interesting. Hopefully both goals were accomplished!