TikTok’s Unique Algorithm Changed the Social Media Game
TikTok is revising the regulations for how we develop, share and find visual content. The TikTok algorism, specifically the “For You Page” (FYP) feed, has altered the game for social media networks propelling entertainment and discovery to the forefront.
In this article, I am diving into the rise and fall of social media, what led to TikTok’s explosive development, how the TikTok algorithm is different from other socials media, and also how TikTok’s success is influencing various other systems.
The rise and fall of social media.
The rise and fall of social media
As social networks and media platforms improve, so do our routines and actions. Think back to your early social media days. Before the explosive development of apps like TikTok and Instagram, our social media experiences and the content we consumed were mainly dependent on those we chose to “friend” on Facebook (and before that, MySpace).
These connections were bi-directional, with two parties accepting the friendship. Initially, this was with classmates and friends. Later, our connections evolved to add extended family (remember the 1st time you saw Grandma was on Facebook?) and random acquaintances (that friend you met on the bus while traveling abroad). Naturally, we mature out of those connections, and eventually, their content no longer feels as relevant or exciting to us.
In search of a more authentic experience, we seek out recent platforms. For many, this was Instagram and Twitter, or LinkedIn. The differentiator is the capability to one-way follow. This allowed us to tighten that circle of family and friends to simply those whose posts we wanted to see.
Simultaneously, it allowed us to expand our feeds beyond those we know personally to include people and brands we were interested in following– a shift that propelled the rise of influencers, creators, and organizations constructing out their social media existence while fueling our need for more appropriate content. However, it was not long until many of us found ourselves “ruin scrolling” these apps in search of content that can keep up with our changing interests, require for entertainment, and short-term attention spans.
Like many others, I spent excessive time consuming information on my feeds that (again) did not feel important while comparing my life to the social highlight reels of those I follow, all while getting negative news and feeling pressure to share and measure social interactions. This leads to an increased social and also emotional burden of browsing social media, often leading to the desire to shut off the apps totally and turn to Netflix or YouTube videos for passive entertainment.
What led to TikTok explosive development?
Ultimately, social media platforms were created to foster connections, not to uncover and explore our interests. The concern is that we, as users, take on the additional burden and effort of trying to personalize our feeds to feel more important and interesting to us as individuals by muting or unfollowing, making Twitter lists, searching hashtags, and typing subjects into the search bar, etc.
If only there was a platform that individualized our feeds for us without having to lift one finger … and in the blink of an eye, TikTok completely takes the social media world by storm. After years of irrelevant, disconnected news feeds, TikTok has revamped the scrolling experience, enabling exploration and curating interest-based entertainment.
The “For You Page” (FYP) was created to share content with utilizers based on what the TikTok algorism has learned to be the most important and of the highest interest to them. Within mins, FYP feeds are personalized to our interests, beliefs, curiosities, and passions just by passively watching entertaining short-wat videos.
Why is it so included? Because it is explicitly personalized for YOU. TikTok is about exploration, and the algorithm works like a speedy matchmaker, discovering things for you that you did not also realize you wanted to observe. In 2021, TikTok surpassed Google on Cloudflare’s most popular domains.
How is the TikTok algorism different?
Many social media platforms, like Facebook and even Instagram, rely on a “social chart,” They intend to link you within a network of every person you might have any relation to and utilize this insight to inform advertising. Nonetheless, these recommendations are under the assumption that we get the same interests and purchasing behaviors as those we are connected to; that is simply not the case.
TikTok’s key differentiator is that the algorism was improved an “interest graph.” It works by utilizing your interests and content that you interact with, capturing your likes and dislikes, and associating you with other user teams who share those interests.
TikTok does have a social graph facet with their following feed, but the FYP is what has catapulted customer exploration and creator development. A user must watch a few videos without adding a single follower, and the TikTok algorithm can quickly curate what you will like.
How does it function? TikTok utilizes artificial intelligence (AI). It develops to our changing interests in real-time without us having to do much of the work (removing that problem I mentioned earlier). The algorism discovers what is interesting to us while we passively scroll. The short-way videos enable for this to occur at lightning speed. This deletes the burden of other social apps if you want it to. You could remove the social aspect totally. Many utilize TikTok solely as a discovery and entertainment platform.
AI technology is not recent. You have seen it before with buying suggestions on Amazon based on what others with similar tastes have bought. Amazon is not improved a social chart, so they utilize your past behavior and match you with those with similar purchasing behavior.
The difference with TikTok is that it is hyper-personalized and strangely accurate. It is so specific to your personal and professional rate of interests that no two people’s feeds are the same. Try it yourself– go on a friend’s For You Page, and you will observe that the content they are matched with is totally different from what you see on your own. At this point, TikTok might even understand us better than we know ourselves.
How is TikTok’s success influencing other platforms to develop?
An essential item to the TikTok algorithm is the focus on personalized short-form video content. This is a fundamental shift in how people worldwide engage and discover online. With short-form videos, the platform receives information on our behaviors much quicker with enormous amounts of information in a brief quantity of time. They make it fun and also easy for individuals to do the work for them while keeping us entertained along the way.
Short-form videos benefit all events– users, creators, and the platform itself. For users, we can consume a high dosage of personalized content in a relatively short quantity of time. You could get discovered more quickly by creators while repurposing longer-form content into bite-size pieces. Moreover, short-form videos get the information they require faster for the app, so they could personalize the in-app experience and algorithm more efficiently.
It is no surprise that the global leaders in social media are taking note. TikTok’s popularity and also the success of the FYP has literally propelled all the other huge social platforms to create their own short-form video products (i.e., Pinterest Idea Pins, Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Snapchat Spotlight, and son.) and shift their emphasis to prioritizing interest graphs over social charts.
Short-way videos (and specifically, TikTok videos) are essential for any creator’s content strategy in 2022 and the past. Try making your own interest chart for your audience. What could they be searching for? What will make your content important to them? As TikTok keeps growing and other platforms follow suit, creators who are leading their niche in short-way video content will increase their discovery and expand their audience.
Read the original article on Public News Time.
