A few month back, TikTok announced that it would make its operations more transparent. In this regard, they launched a new Transparency Center in L.A. where it planned to invite journalists, politicians, and regulators to show how their systems worked.
With this initiative, TikTok aimed to respond to any negative press they had received during the previous years.
However, COVID-19 happened and due to the restrictions, TikTok was forced to postpone the visits, but this week, the social media network announced a virtual tour of their Transparency Center. It also opened its doors to selected journalists to share how their new algorithms work.
One of the key strengths of TikTok’s algorithm is that it categorizes content according to the popular trends – instead of showing them by who you follow. As TikTok had shared earlier, their engagement is based on a variety of factors including, direct interaction, completion/watch rates, video information (specific song or hashtag), device and account settings (including language, region settings, and device type)
Based on these elements, TikTok customizes the user’s feed with topics of their interest and not people.
Simply put, TikTok’s algorithm is all about showing content correlated with the viewer’s interest rather than pushing them to follow more users. By collecting user’s data, TikTok determines the content that is more appealing to the audience and pushes it forward on the app’s main dashboard.
The approach by TikTok is rather interesting – reports Axios. Unlike other social media networks that focus more on showing you the users you have engaged with, TikTok emphasizes on the content.
And clearly, the tactic is working very well for the social media network that has reached 689 million users from 54 million in a 2-year span. The app is especially popular with the younger audience who enjoy the short video content greatly.
Additionally, Twitter is working on filter bubbles that can be used to understand user preference better. The company admits that this may increase misinformation on the platform but it is working on ways to minimize false information and keep the users updated with relevant content.
TikTok revealing information about its inner workings is rather interesting and boosts the company’s reliability. It also shows the company’s confidence that its system cannot be copied by the other networks.
Read next: Senior TikTok Official Blames Increased Scrutiny for TikTok’s Woes
With this initiative, TikTok aimed to respond to any negative press they had received during the previous years.
However, COVID-19 happened and due to the restrictions, TikTok was forced to postpone the visits, but this week, the social media network announced a virtual tour of their Transparency Center. It also opened its doors to selected journalists to share how their new algorithms work.
One of the key strengths of TikTok’s algorithm is that it categorizes content according to the popular trends – instead of showing them by who you follow. As TikTok had shared earlier, their engagement is based on a variety of factors including, direct interaction, completion/watch rates, video information (specific song or hashtag), device and account settings (including language, region settings, and device type)
Based on these elements, TikTok customizes the user’s feed with topics of their interest and not people.
Simply put, TikTok’s algorithm is all about showing content correlated with the viewer’s interest rather than pushing them to follow more users. By collecting user’s data, TikTok determines the content that is more appealing to the audience and pushes it forward on the app’s main dashboard.
The approach by TikTok is rather interesting – reports Axios. Unlike other social media networks that focus more on showing you the users you have engaged with, TikTok emphasizes on the content.
And clearly, the tactic is working very well for the social media network that has reached 689 million users from 54 million in a 2-year span. The app is especially popular with the younger audience who enjoy the short video content greatly.
Additionally, Twitter is working on filter bubbles that can be used to understand user preference better. The company admits that this may increase misinformation on the platform but it is working on ways to minimize false information and keep the users updated with relevant content.
TikTok revealing information about its inner workings is rather interesting and boosts the company’s reliability. It also shows the company’s confidence that its system cannot be copied by the other networks.
Read next: Senior TikTok Official Blames Increased Scrutiny for TikTok’s Woes
