Factual Friday: The TikTok Algorithm
We’ve all been scrolling through TikTok on our FYP and have stumbled upon a video so accurate, and so specific to ourselves, that it’s almost scary. How is it that I’ve reached “traffic cone TikTok'' while I have a traffic cone proudly displayed in the living room of my college apartment. Or that I’ll see a TikTok about a restaurant I just went to last week? The content we see on our FYP feels so specific to us, in a way that social media never has before. You just can’t help but wonder, how is this even possible? I figured it’d be beneficial for us all to understand the app we spend so much time on. This week’s Factual Friday is uncovering the truth about the TikTok algorithm.
(Photo from pexels.com)
First thing’s first, the word “algorithm,” as defined by techterms.com, means, “A set of instructions designed to perform a specific task. This can be a simple process, such as multiplying two numbers, or a complex operation, such as playing a compressed video file” (techterms.com). So, when I say “TikTok Algorithm,” I am simply referring to the instructions the app follows to display TikToks on our FYPs.
I think it’s easy for us to quickly assume TikTok has to be data mining, due to how personal the content on our FYP feels but, before we even dive into some research, let’s just think critically about the nature of TikTok. On Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, you’re friends with/follow people who are your friends, family, coworkers, classmates, etc. in real life. TikTok is generally not a social media you use to keep up with your friends and family, it’s a social media you use purely for entertainment. For that reason, it’s gonna feel way more specific to you, than your Instagram feed of people you haven’t spoken to since middle school. So, since TikTok is entertainment and Instagram/Snapchat/Facebook are for keeping up with people, of course it makes sense that TikTok feels more personal to you.
Okay, so now for the research part. According to wired.com, this is how a video can go viral: “When a video is uploaded to TikTok, the For You algorithm shows it first to a small subset of users. These people may or may not follow the creator already, but TikTok has determined they may be more likely to engage with the video, based on their past behavior. If they respond favorably—say, by sharing the video or watching it in full—TikTok then shows it to more people who it thinks share similar interests” (wired.com). This process will continue on and on until something goes viral. Meaning, when TikToks don’t go viral, it’s because the people most likely to engage with it, didn’t end up engaging with it. Of course, there are also the TikToks that end up somewhere in the middle with a few hundred or few thousand likes.
This brings up the question that we’re all dying to have answered, “How does TikTok know me so well?” TikTok is able to gauge what you like based on a few different things. The first, most obvious factor, are the TikToks you like. “Like” as in, press the heart button, not “like'' as in just generally enjoy. Additionally, according to independent.co.uk, “One of the strongest indicators of interest is whether a user finishes watching a longer video from the start to finish, which adds greater weight to the recommendation algorithm than other factors such as geolocation” (independent.co.uk). The article goes on to explain that sometimes TikTok will throw something seemingly random into your FYP just so they can continuously gauge your changing interests. This is also so TikTok can get a, “‘better sense of what's popular among a wider range of audiences,’ so they can perfect the balance between content the user wants to see, and new content the user might enjoy” (independent.co.uk). Other ways in which TikTok is able to accurately determine your interests is, “whether you shared it (the TikTok you watched), and if you followed the creator who uploaded it afterward” (wired.com). Wired.com goes on to say, “The For You page algorithm looks at other elements, like song clips, hashtags, and captions, to categorize them and then recommend more videos like them. That’s why you may have noticed that your For You page often includes videos with the same sounds'' (wired.com). In short, TikTok pays attention to how you pay attention/respond to things.
I think the reason the FYP and TikTok algorithm can seem scary is because it’s a new phenomenon; we’ve never had social media pay attention to us. We’ve always told our social media, “This is who I want to follow, this is who I care about” but the reality is, maybe we don’t know that about ourselves as well as we think we do. Once again, I am only a girl with the internet, I don’t have formal training in AI or whatever is being utilized here. But, in my less than professional opinion, it seems like TikTok just figured out a new way to do things.
And with that, I wish you a Factual Friday and a fun weekend!
Xoxo,
Zoe
Sources:
https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-finally-explains-for-you-algorithm-works/
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