TikTok is adding a new Live Intro feature, allowing users to add description boxes to their livestreams. The platform’s also taking an inclusivity-forward stance, allowing users to add their preferred pronouns to their profiles.
TikTok has become such a massive platform in such a relatively short time, that it’s honestly astounding. There is absolutely no doubt that much of this success was carried forward by the youth of today, with Gen Z individuals considered to be the poster children for the platform. Kids usually have the energy and creative drive needed to make platforms like TikTok work, and such a site also provides them with an outlet to be creative and express themselves. Of course, expression is a concept that can’t be half-hearted. With Gen Z, and millennials to an extent, there’s been a recent rise in inclusivity and self-acceptance that goes beyond the borders of one’s own mental space. Specifically, the issue that I’m trying to bring up is one of gender. Being a heteronormative cis-gendered individual myself, I won’t spend much of my time commenting on difficulties and societal ostracizing that non-binary individuals face. However, I believe it’s fair ground to state that Gen Z has been pivotal in making the strides necessary for gender as an abstract concept to at least be discussed, if not widely accepted.
H/T: Matt Navarra / Sam Schmir
Social media acceptance of diverse gender identities isn’t necessarily the most important of all avenues to begin with, since many such moves end up feeling detached and corporate anyways, but it’s an important step nonetheless. Instagram started us off by adding pronouns to one’s profile, with a user labeling themselves however they currently feel. Of course, since gender is more on a spectrum than anything else, such users can also choose to change their pronouns whenever they feel necessary. TikTok’s also brought this feature onto its platform, allowing users to label themselves as they’d like. With TikTok being a major platform used to discuss such issues, even if said discussions are accompanied by pop songs and dancing teenagers in the background, it’s still an acknowledgement on the platform’s behalf. Even if the motivation was more likely than not a monetary one.
Treading on a much lighter subject, TikTok is now introducing intros to live videos on the platform. With the livestream format of videos getting a lot of love across the board, Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram being prime examples, TikTok also seems to be adding to its own version of the concept. Now, before Live videos go, well, live, a small description box will show up on the video at hand. The text, written by a user when setting up the livestream, will act as a guide for users who have no idea what the video’s about. Think of it as a preview, but written as opposed to displayed via video snippets.
Read next: TikTok to rank as the third-largest social network of 2022, ahead of Snapchat and Twitter
TikTok has become such a massive platform in such a relatively short time, that it’s honestly astounding. There is absolutely no doubt that much of this success was carried forward by the youth of today, with Gen Z individuals considered to be the poster children for the platform. Kids usually have the energy and creative drive needed to make platforms like TikTok work, and such a site also provides them with an outlet to be creative and express themselves. Of course, expression is a concept that can’t be half-hearted. With Gen Z, and millennials to an extent, there’s been a recent rise in inclusivity and self-acceptance that goes beyond the borders of one’s own mental space. Specifically, the issue that I’m trying to bring up is one of gender. Being a heteronormative cis-gendered individual myself, I won’t spend much of my time commenting on difficulties and societal ostracizing that non-binary individuals face. However, I believe it’s fair ground to state that Gen Z has been pivotal in making the strides necessary for gender as an abstract concept to at least be discussed, if not widely accepted.
Social media acceptance of diverse gender identities isn’t necessarily the most important of all avenues to begin with, since many such moves end up feeling detached and corporate anyways, but it’s an important step nonetheless. Instagram started us off by adding pronouns to one’s profile, with a user labeling themselves however they currently feel. Of course, since gender is more on a spectrum than anything else, such users can also choose to change their pronouns whenever they feel necessary. TikTok’s also brought this feature onto its platform, allowing users to label themselves as they’d like. With TikTok being a major platform used to discuss such issues, even if said discussions are accompanied by pop songs and dancing teenagers in the background, it’s still an acknowledgement on the platform’s behalf. Even if the motivation was more likely than not a monetary one.
(NEW) Live intro on TikTok which shows introduction during live session @MattNavarra pic.twitter.com/qDE20DolOv
— Jonah Manzano (@jonah_manzano) December 21, 2021
Treading on a much lighter subject, TikTok is now introducing intros to live videos on the platform. With the livestream format of videos getting a lot of love across the board, Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram being prime examples, TikTok also seems to be adding to its own version of the concept. Now, before Live videos go, well, live, a small description box will show up on the video at hand. The text, written by a user when setting up the livestream, will act as a guide for users who have no idea what the video’s about. Think of it as a preview, but written as opposed to displayed via video snippets.
Read next: TikTok to rank as the third-largest social network of 2022, ahead of Snapchat and Twitter