Understanding the Algorithm Behind TikTok’s For You Page

Introduction

The For You Page, commonly known as the FYP, is what distinguishes TikTok from other social media apps. In fact, it is the FYP that pushes some videos to millions of users. For reference, any video with less than 100 K views is not considered viral on TikTok, while some videos get only as little as 50 views. The FYP is described as an “endless stream of short videos that feel personalized just for you” on the app’s page on the App Store. So how does the algorithm behind TikTok’s FYP work? What feeds the algorithm and how does it choose which videos to surface?

Much like other social media apps, TikTok’s algorithm is a secret owned by the company. However, they recently released a press statement somewhat vaguely describing how the algorithm works. In this article, we take a look at what TikTok revealed about its algorithm and what us, the users are experiencing. This article is a compilation of what is known of the algorithm as shared by the app’s users on the internet.

The Matchmaker

We call the TikTok algorithm a matchmaker. It matches the right video with the right viewer. TikTok’s main aim as an app business is to maximize the engagement of its users with the app. To do that, it has to show the most engaging videos to the viewer.

The algorithm uses machine learning to process the data about the video and the viewer in order to calculate the compatibility.

What is the data available that may be fed to the algorithm?

The Video:

The video may be classified with the following features, some of which are creator-specified and others that are calculated:

User-specified features:

  • Soundtrack
  • Hashtag
  • Caption

Calculated features:

  • Video’s own engagement metrics
    • Re-watch rate
    • Shares
    • Comments
    • Likes
  • Creator’s past performance
    • Engagement metrics (likes, shares, comments, etc.)
    • Followers

The Viewer:

TikTok has two sets of data about the viewer: the in-app behavior and external behavior. In-app behavior data refers to all that the user does while on the app which are recorded by the app. This then may be fed to the algorithm.

 The external behavior data refers to the actions taken by the user while on a separate website that uses the TikTok pixel or on an app that uses the TikTok conversion ads. This is referred to as information obtained from “Third-party services” and “cookies” as described in TikTok’s Privacy Policy document.

In-app behavior data:

  • Video views and engagement metrics (percentage watched, re-watch rate, etc.)
  • Likes
  • Shares
  • Comments

External behavior data:

  • Website visits
  • E-commerce events (add-to-carts, purchases, etc.)

App events (app open, registration, purchases, etc.)

The Mechanism:

TikTok Algorithm's Process Flow Chart

Initial Push

Based on the reports shared by TikTok creators in Facebook groups and alike, the algorithm works on a cycle as shown in the flow chart above. This is called the small-batch theory, in which it is speculated that any video posted on TikTok is pushed to a small batch of random viewers. The interesting thing about the algorithm is that any video has a chance of going viral, regardless of the creator’s account and previous performance. This is proven by the reports of accounts whose first video went viral and received millions of views. Below is an example of @ali.shir, whose first video received 10.7 million views.

@ali.shir

This took 2 days to make ##college ##trickshot

♬ Funky Town – The Dance Queen Group

The Cycle to Go Viral

The algorithm calculates the performance of a video after the initial push and determines the next steps. Engagement metrics are the base of the performance evaluation. Although many users speculate on which metrics are more important and what the magic like/comment ratio to views is, no one knows what the actual criteria are. However, it seems that the algorithm favors re-watch rate (how many times a viewer watches the video in the loop) and the shares over likes.

TikTok Tribes

After the initial push, the algorithm looks for viewers who are more likely to engage with your video. Another theory is that TikTok creates tribes of users with similar interests and affinities. The algorithm then uses the data obtained from the initial push to determine which tribes your video might do better with.  

How does a strong following affect a post’s performance?

Depending on the creator’s past performance, the size and the affinities of the initial small batch may change. A creator that has a higher past performance has a higher chance in reaching more viewers with a new post. However, there is no guarantee. Even creators with a strong following may see their videos “flop” (a term frequently used by TikTok creators to describe a video that didn’t receive any substantial views).

If a video “flopped” today, may it get views again tomorrow?

Yes! Unlike other social media apps, TikTok’s algorithm may start pushing a video from a several weeks prior, even after it “flopped” after the initial push. This shows the importance of sticking to a certain niche and not deleting any of your older videos.

When a video goes viral, many viewers also visit the creator’s profile and watch the older videos. If the creator stuck to a specific niche, it is more likely that the viewer may engage with the older videos as well. When TikTok detects new engagement with the older videos, it starts serving them to similar viewers.

Conclusion

TikTok’s algorithm’s inner workings are a secret. The company won’t share details of how the algorithm works, much like any other social media app. However, we know that the algorithm is designed to match the right video with the right viewer and therefore maximizing the engagement. This is provided the algorithm does a good job of that, content remains as king, and high-quality content prevails.

Creating a TikTok Ad

We’ve written a simple, step-by-step guide for creating a TikTok ad. You don’t need to have a lot of experience to advertise on TikTok. Follow the steps in our guide to start advertising on TikTok today!


1. Create a Campaign

1.a Choose Your Objective

TikTok Campaign Objectives
TikTok Campaign Objectives

Define what your business goals are. Think of what you want your audience to do when they see your ads. When you have a precise strategy in place, you can choose the correct campaign objective for a successful campaign.

You can choose from 5 different campaign objectives (as of June 2020):

  • Awareness:
    • Reach: The only option under awareness. Choose this option to reach the maximum number of people for the minimum budget. The app optimizes your campaign to show your ads to a maximum number of people.
  • Consideration:
    • Traffic: Choose this option to optimize for traffic. The app shows your ad to users who are more likely to click through the destination link you define in your ad.
    • App Installs: Use this objective to have the platform optimize for app installs.
    • Video views: Pick this objective to optimize for video views. This option shows your ads to users who are more likely to watch through your video content.

1.b Define Campaign Name and Budget

TikTok Campaign Settings
Campaign Settings

Choose an appropriate name for your campaign and set a budget for your campaign. The platform generates a random name for your campaign. Change this name to a name that makes sense and is easier for you and others to understand. 

As for the budget, you can set a daily budget or a lifetime budget. The minimum setting for daily budget is £50 (or $50, depending on geographical location). Don’t worry, you can change these settings later.

2. Ad Group

2.1 Placement

TikTok Ad Placements
Placement Settings

This is the element where you choose where you’d like your ad to be published. There are two main options here: ‘Automatic Placement’ and ‘Select Placement’.

If you choose ‘Automatic Placement’, TikTok will publish your ad on TikTok and other apps owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. Some of these apps are only available in certain regions and countries.

If you choose ‘Select Placement’, you will be able choose manually from 5 different placements:

  • TikTok
  • News Feed App Series (TopBuzz/BuzzVideo/News Republic/Babe)
  • Vigo (ads available in India only)
  • Helo (ads available in India only)
  • Pangle (Available in Japan, Korea and Taiwan)

2.2. Ad Details

TikTok Ad Details Settings
Ad Details

Depending on your campaign objective selection, you will see several fields to fill in this part.

In the ‘Ad Details’ section, you will need to provide a ‘Display Name’, a profile image, and ad category and tags for your ads. The display name replaces the username in a regular TikTok and the profile image replaces the user’s profile image. You also need to choose a category for your ad, this will be the category of the business or the product or the app you’re promoting. Many categories also have subcategories, for instance, ‘App Install’ has two subcategories: ‘Mobile Game’ and Mobile App’. Both of these subcategories also have sub-subcategories and these are the genres of the apps. It’s important to choose the category that best represents your business and also fill out ‘Ad Tags’ too, since the information you put in both of these fields will help the algorithm to find the optimum audience for your ads. 

Based on your choice of campaign objective, the ad details section will have additional settings.

If you chose ‘Traffic’ as your campaign objective, you will need to input the destination URL you’d like to draw traffic to. You can also activate a TikTok pixel associated with this URL.

If you chose ‘App Install’ as your campaign objective, you will need to choose the app which you would like to promote (you need to set up your ad in TikTok for Business beforehand).

2.3 Creative Type

In this section, you can turn on ‘Automated Creative Optimization’. This function will automatically generate combinations of your creative assets (images, videos and ad copy) and test these combinations within this ad group.

We recommend this option if you have several video assets and ad copies that are centered around the same concept and you would like to test random combinations of these.

2.4 Targeting

TikTok Ads Targeting
Targeting Settings

In this section, you define the audience you would like your ad group to target. If your app or business has previous custom audience data, you can use it on TikTok. By clicking on the ‘Create New’ button next to the audience field, you can get to the ‘Audiences’ page. There you can create custom audiences or lookalike audiences. There are four options to choose from while creating a custom audience:

  • Customer file: Upload a file containing customer information (name, email, location, etc) and find matches with people on TikTok to create an audience.
  • Engagement: Create a list of people who saw, clicked, or engaged with your content.
  • App Activity: Create a list of people who took specific actions with your app (download or in-app actions)
  • Website Traffic: Use TikTok pixel to create a list of people who visited or took specific actions on your website.

You can also use the ‘Excluded’ field to exclude some people from your audience, for example people who already downloaded your app.

Under ‘Demographics’, you can narrow down your audience based on location, gender, age and language. Choose the appropriate options here to pin down on your target audience.

Interest Targeting

TikTok has a vast selection of categories when it comes to interest targeting. Here you can choose from many categories and subcategories. For app promoters, you can choose interests in many different genres of apps. For game promoters, you can choose from different game genres. 

Device Targeting

You can target based on device as well. TikTok lets you target based on the user’s devices’ operating system, connection type and carrier. You can even define a device price range, which means TikTok has the device brand and model information of users.

Audience Size

TikTok Audience Size Dial Indicator
Audience Size Dial

It’s important to be aware of your audience size. If your audience size is too narrow, TikTok may not be able to serve enough ads to spend your budget. If your audience is too broad, then your ads may be shown to people who are less likely to take the desired action. Depending on your campaign objectives and your budget, the audience size diagram on the right of the screen will show your audience size in a dial diagram. It’s recommended to keep the dial in the center.

2.5 Budget and Schedule

TikTok Ads Budget and Schedule Settings
Budget and Schedule Settings

You can define a daily budget for your adgroup. You can also define a schedule for your ad group. You can either choose your ad group to run continuously or define a start date and an end date. Furthermore, you can also choose specific time periods of the day for your ad group to be running.

2.6 Bidding & Optimization

If you chose as your campaign objective ‘Reach’, you can select a frequency cap for your ads.

If you chose as your campaign objective ‘App install’, for ‘Optimization Goal’ you can choose between ‘Install’ and ‘Click’.

If your campaign objective is ‘Conversions’, for ‘Optimization Goal’ you can choose between ‘Conversion’ and ‘Click’.

If your campaign objective is ‘Traffic’, your ‘Optimization Goal’ will be ‘Click’ by default.

You can choose from two different bidding strategies: ‘Standard Bid’, ‘Max Conversion’. Depending on your business requirements, choose your bidding strategy and define a bid. The table below shows advantages and trade-offs of each strategy:

Bidding StrategyRecommended UsageBudget SettingBid SettingDelivery Expectation
Standard Bid More control on cost per result.Your target budget.Your target cost per result.1. Daily spend may fluctuate.    2. Stable cost per result and possibly lower than the bid.
Max Conversion(Without Bid)More stability in daily spend.Your target budgetNo need to provide a bid.1. Daily spend is stable.2. Daily cost per result may fluctuate.
Max Conversion (With Bid)Willing to trade a higher cost per result for more spend.Your target budget.Your target cost per result.1. Daily spend fluctuates within a certain range. 2. Daily cost per result fluctuates within a certain range.

3. Ad

Your ad can be in the form of an image or a video.

You can upload the file from your computer or from the library on TikTok for Business. There is also a video creator, which helps create ad videos from your existing assets. Additionally, you can use video templates, which will help turn your assets into more engaging TikTok videos. 

There is also a Smart Video Generator. This software uses AI to cut your videos to match the music beat and add video transitions, according to the number of shots in your uploaded video. You can even choose video style: dynamic or peaceful.

‘Text’ is the ad copy you would like to use on your ad.

You have several different call-to-action prompts  you can choose from:

1. ‘Download’

2. ‘Shop Now’

3. ‘Sign Up’

4. ‘Contact Us’

5. ‘Apply Now’

6. ‘Book Now’

7. ‘Play Game’

What is TikTok and Why You Should Care as a Marketer?

With the best quarter for any app ever in Q1 2020 and surpassing 2 billion downloads globally, TikTok is the latest of the mainstream social media apps. You may be asking, what is TikTok? Who is on it and how can brands use it?

As an overview, here are some important TikTok statistics you should know:

1.   TikTok is now the sixth largest social network in the world. It has 800 million monthly active users.

2.   India, China and the US are the top three countries that account for the 2 billion downloads.

3.   Monthly active users in the US were reported to be 28 million in November 2019, we estimate this amount to be over 80 million after the surge in the app’s popularity during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

4.   TikTok has not disclosed the number of active users in the UK specifically. However, there are several TikTok influencers in the UK that have over 10 million follower counts.

5.   According to a leaked TikTok pitch deck, the average American user opens the app 8+ times and spends over 46 minutes on the app daily.

What is TikTok?

Credit: https://www.themds.com/back-stage/what-is-tiktok-the-new-social-network-to-conquer-gen-z.html

TikTok is a short-form mobile video-sharing app, as described on their website. It allows users to record, edit, and share videos while watching what other users created.

The Content on TikTok

The range of content on TikTok is diverse. The users on the app create videos of a length of 15 seconds up to a minute. Typical content found on TikTok is as follows:

·         Users acting, playing short scripts of jokes.

·         Dance videos

·         Lip syncing

·         Pranks

·         Artists such as comedians, photographers and painters showcasing their skills.

·         Pet videos

·         Cooking videos

·         Educational videos

Along with many more. 

The FYP Page

TikTok’s For You Page

TikTok’s homepage is called the For You Page. The FYP is described as an “endless stream of short videos that feel personalized just for you” on the app’s page on the App Store. The FYP is algorithmically personalized for each user based on the user’s past engagement, interests and demographic. The users don’t need to follow anyone on the app, the algorithm populates the FYP page automatically.

Thanks to the algorithm, the FYP shows popular videos to millions of users and keeps other videos to very limited audiences. The number of views a video gets on the platform may change from as low as 50 views to hundreds of millions. In fact, there is a record holding video that hit a view count of 1.7 billion views.

How do users engage with one another?

Users on TikTok can like videos, comment on videos and share videos. Users can share videos on the app, or across different platforms on apps like WhatsApp, Instagram or even Twitter.

Users can even use the same soundtrack, record reaction videos or duets with one another.

User with over ten thousand followers can do live video sessions, where they can interact with their followers on a more personal basis.

Video Editing, Effects and the Music Library

TikTok’s Music Library

TikTok has over a hundred effects, transitions and stickers. Users can use these tools to make their videos more engaging, more creative and express their feelings or a story.

TikTok has a huge licensed music library. Users can add the music over to their video or dance over the music. They can even incorporate the lyrics into their story play. 

TikTok Profiles

TikTok's Profile Page
TikTok’s Profile Page

Each user has a TikTok profile page. On this page, the number followers and the number of accounts followed are shown. Users can add a link to their Instagram and YouTube account on their TikTok profile.

If you like a video on your FYP page, you can go to the creator’s profile page, follow them and watch other videos they created.

How is TikTok different from other social media apps?

Tiktok is different than Facebook or Instagram as it puts the focus on creativity rather than being social. As described by Josh Constine of TechCrunch, TikTok created a new category of social apps – social entertainment, rather than competing with other social media apps.

Unlike Instagram, TikTok isn’t about sharing what you’re up to on spontaneously captured stories. TikTok is about entertaining your audience – and whatever that takes. To get a piece of TikTok fame, ordinary people from all around the world invent characters, create storylines and act.

Who uses TikTok?

TikTok has reportedly over 800 million monthly active users in the world. TikTok is available in 150 countries in the world. TikTok has the most users in India, followed by China and the US.

According to a leaked TikTok pitch deck dated 2019*, the audience stats are as below:

·         Age 16-24: 69% vs Age 25+ 31%

·         Female 60%:40% male

·         Android 46% – Apple 54%

Age breakdown:

·         Age 13-17: 27%

·         Age 18-24: 42%

·         Age 25-34: 16%

·         Age 35-44: 8%

·         Age 45-54: 3%

·         Age 55+: 4%

*The current data is not readily available. However, we estimate that the average age of the user base has grown, as the older generations started adopting the app.

Rise in TikTok’s Popularity During Covid-19 Lockdowns

By November 2019, TikTok already hit 1.5 downloads worldwide. At that point, the growth came from countries such as India and Turkey. The app also had 28 million users in the US. It started gaining traction by the promise of fame, as some users such as @charlidamelio had already over 10 million followers. Luring in many more users, especially from the Gen-Z population, the app continued its growth in to 2020, when something much unexpected happened: COVID-19 lockdowns.

Growing interest in TikTok coincides with covid-19 lockdowns in Google Trends

As the COVID-19 breakout caused many major cities around the world to be under lockdown, the interest in TikTok grew. Check out the graph above taken from trends.google.com showing the interest in worldwide searches containing the keyword, “tiktok”. The leap on the graph coincides with the dates lockdowns around the world started.

@darnbee

Quarantine or family bonding? ##wishmeluck ##fyp ##foryoupage

♬ Fabulous – mollscar

Lockdowns were great for TikTok’s organic growth, as it kept different generations under the same roof for extended periods of time. Empty nesters had their households full again as college students went back home. It wasn’t long before there were several videos showing parents with their kids doing their takes of popular TikTok dances.

At the same time, millennials started discovering the app and started flocking to the app. #millenial got over 1 billion views.

#millenial on TikTok

How can Brands use TikTok?

There are three main ways brands can use TikTok:

1.   Building a page on TikTok and posting videos

2.   Paid ads

a.   Performance marketing

b.   Brand marketing

3.   Influencer marketing

Building a TikTok Page for Your Brand

Due to the nature of the platform, great and well-crafted content can reach millions. However, creating great content for TikTok is a challenge.

TikTok is a platform where having a great number of followers does not guarantee great reach. If your content doesn’t gain attention from viewers it will surely “flop” (a term used by TikTok creators to describe videos getting very little views).

Using existing assets to create TikTok content

The branded content you use on your Instagram page or Facebook page won’t work on TikTok. TikTok context is entirely different than that of IG’s and FB’s.

A brand may boast their product’s function or benefits in Instagram and gain reach to their followers, but that same content in TikTok may get as little as a few hundred views. TikTok is a platform where people tune in to be entertained.

In order to reach hundreds of thousands of viewers on the platform, you will need to repurpose your existing assets to include the entertainment element. Your content needs to show the fun side of your brand.

You can also create new content by having your brand hop on one of the ever-changing trends on TikTok. Every week a new trend, challenge or song is popular on the app. You can create content adapting to these trends and maintain a fresh, up-to-date brand image on the platform. 

Watch below a piece of content by Boss, where they showed the fun side of the brand by surfing in a suit:

@boss

Kitesurfer @victor.borsuk gets airborne for his ##SuitChallenge – follow @boss and show us yours

♬ Originalton – boss

Paid Ads

Performance marketing

TikTok has a self-service ad platform just like Facebook and Snapchat. The ad platform is pretty new and it has a lot of catching up to do to get on the same level of functionality like that of Facebook’s. However, we have seen that it is quickly developing by adding new features onto it every day.

The ad platform lets you run ads in the in-feed video placement of the TikTok app. The platform also has a few more placements from other media channels ByteDance, TikTok’s owner company, has. The ads are 5-15 seconds long, auto-play, and audio-on. The ads are designed to feel like native advertisements. This is accomplished by the ad looking just like another video in the feed and the call to action appears only after the 9th second.

TikTok lets you run ads to interest-based audiences and choose from available demographic options. You can also create lookalike audiences as well.

TikTok also has the conversion ads feature, where you can set up a TikTok pixel on your website or use measurement partners’ data to feed in-app events to TikTok. TikTok has the ability to optimize these ads based on the conversion data from the client-side.

Brand marketing

TikTok has additional ad products for brands. These ad products have minimum budget requirements. There are three main products:

1.   Brand Takeover

2.   Hashtag Challenge

3.   Branded Lens

A Brand Takeover ad appears upon opening the TikTok app. It is the first screen users interact with as they open the app. It can be a 3-4 second long GIF, image or video. Brand Takeover ads start from $50,000 for 1-day buy.

A Hashtag Challenge is a sponsored hashtag, where users are encouraged to create their own content. This package starts from $150,000.

A Branded Lens is a sponsored special effect added to the effects toolbar of TikTok. Users are encouraged to use the effect and create their own content. This package ranges between $80,000 to $120,000.

The price ranges for the Brand Marketing packages are included in this article only as a reference. These prices were taken from a leaked TikTok pitch deck dated 2019.

Influencer Marketing

TikTok is already a viable platform for influencer marketing. There are hundreds of TikTok influencers with following counts ranging from a few thousand followers to millions of followers.

The TikTok influencer with the highest follower count to date is Charli D’Amelio, @charlidamelio. Charli is a teenage dancer who has over 50 million followers. She’s already struck several deals with brands, including Prada, Sabra Hummus and UNICEF.

@charlidamelio

##prada @prada

♬ CITY OF ANGELS 24KGoldn Funk Remix – llusionmusic

There are several challenges with influencer marketing on TikTok. One is that many influencers struggle with getting consistent views. Since TikTok is a platform that focuses on content, an influencer’s video’s views may tank when they try and promote a brand. For this reason, influencers on TikTok are experimenting with new ways of monetizing their audience without hurting their reach.

TikTok also launched a marketplace for influencer marketing. The platform is called “Creator Marketplace”. The marketplace helps brands and agencies contact select TikTok creators. The marketplace is beta-invite only for now.

Conclusion

TikTok is distinguished from its competitors and has become a mainstream and up and coming channel. Monetization of the channel has allowed more and more advertisers and marketers to start utilizing this channel. As many brands aren’t there yet, it is an opportunity for brands to hop on this new channel and gain a competitive advantage.

What does TikTok’s first-ever UK TV ad tell about the app?

TikTok debuted its first-ever UK TV ad this week, where the app is described as “somewhere colorful, home-made and joy-filled”. The ad aims to position TikTok as an entertainment app, where users would find joy and amusement. How well does the ad reflect the reality of the app? And, what does it tell us about TikTok’s growth strategy?

The Rise of TikTok with Covid-19 Lockdowns

No alt text provided for this image

The ad’s punchline, “A Little Brighter Inside” is meant to refer to the lockdown, from which TikTok benefited hugely by acquiring a lot of new users. The interest in the app grew substantially with the onset of the UK lockdown. Take a look at the screenshot taken of a graph on Google Trends, showing the leap in the interest in the keyword, “tiktok”, coinciding with the start of UK lockdown in March.

The Happier Place

Tom Daley in TikTok TV advert

TikTok positions the app as a happy place, a place where users would find joy and happiness. It’s not a coincidence that the app saw a huge growth in popularity during the lockdown. People used the app to fill in their extra leisurely time, looking for easy entertainment while escaping from the actual world’s problems.

This approach distinguishes TikTok from its main competitor, Instagram. Instagram’s context is focused on self-promotion and trendsetting, whereas TikTok is a place solely for self-expression and entertainment.

Come to talk about self-expression, the ad also deems the app as a place where “cats dance like no other cats are watching“. TikTok aims to position the app where everyone can feel free to express themselves without the fear of judging from others.

Increasing Engagement Through Remaking and Reacting

No alt text provided for this image

Another interesting bit about the ad is that it also promotes “remaking” and “reacting” in the app. This goes hand in hand with the trend culture inside the app. Many users go engage with each other by “remaking” other videos’ using the same soundtrack, or posting reaction videos or even duets. It is clear that the app wants to promote this behavior, and thereby increasing the engagement.

The ad also featured a popular TikTok creator, Granddad Joe (@granddadjoe), and as well as other clips where youngsters are dancing with their parents. The app seems to be aiming to keep up the momentum of interest coming from older generations, breaking the notion that TikTok is only for Gen-Z’ers.

Conclusion

TikTok wants to keep up the momentum gained during the lockdown. They are looking to achieve this by promoting the engagement from older generations. The app also wants to further distinguish itself as a platform for social entertainment.

Watch the advert below on YouTube.

How did TikTok grow during Covid-19 Lockdowns, and Why?

With the best quarter for any app ever in Q1 2020, as well as surpassing 2 billion downloads globally, TikTok is the newest up and coming mainstream social media app. TikTok has been around since 2016, and the app was already seeing an increase in the momentum of its growth in 2019.

However, what caused the exponential growth reported in 2020, and what did COVID-19 lockdowns have to do with it?

The Best Quarter for any App Ever

TikTok Global Downloads by Quarter - SensorTower

Source: https://sensortower.com/blog/tiktok-downloads-2-billion

In the graph above by SensorTower, TikTok showed a steady growth in both 2018 and 2019, but what happened in 2020 that caused the download numbers to skyrocket? In order to investigate this, we took a look at Google Trends.

Google Trends Snapshot of Interest in TikTok

Google Trends show that the interest in the keyword “tiktok” grew exponentially in the second week of March – coincidentally when most major cities in the world implemented lockdown measures due to the looming COVID-19 pandemic. Evidently, the lockdown allowed TikTok as a platform to achieve a surge in popularity. The question that remains, however, is how exactly did the lockdown and stay at home orders contribute to this growth?

How did COVID-19 Lockdowns contribute to TikTok’s growth?

Lockdowns were great for TikTok’s organic growth, as it kept different generations under the same roof for extended periods of time. For example, empty nesters had their households full once again as college students returned back home.

Due to this, it wasn’t long before TikTok grew populated with several family dance videos, featuring parents and children dancing along to popularized TikTok moves.

No alt text provided for this image

Here is a TikTok of a family attempting the #blindinglights challenge.

No alt text provided for this image

At the same time, millennials began to discover the app and started flocking onto the platform to find out what the hype was about. This is in contrast to TikTok’s previous younger audience demographic, comprised mostly of teenagers. In fact, “#millenials” received over 140 million views! Some millennial creators even jokingly posted videos, claiming that millennials were the generation to invent social media and that they would take it over again!

No alt text provided for this image

The Escapist’s Paradise

TikTok is a platform for humor and entertainment. There is no pride, politics, or quarrel on TikTok. This is the most important feature of TikTok, which distinguishes it from the plethora of available social media channels.

Unlike other channels, there are no negatives on TikTok. This is in contrast to individuals showing off their perfect moments only on Instagram, or talk of politics on Twitter.

For this reason, it was no coincidence that TikTok’s popularity surged when a catastrophic pandemic was taking over the world, and people evidently needed some humour in their lives.

No alt text provided for this image

The quarantine hashtag received over 54 billion views on the app. This hashtag and similar hashtags are made up of videos showing how people coped with the quarantine lifestyle.

How about after all of this is over?

When the lockdowns around the world are finally lifted, people will go back to work and school. People won’t have as much time for watching or creating videos on TikTok. Instagram, after getting wind of TikTok’s popularity, has already started copying TikTok’s original lenses and effects (much like it did with Snapchat).

ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is aiming to keep up the growth by promoting the app on many other media channels, including the other social media apps and TV.

Conclusion

TikTok, an app for pure entertainment and humor, had an advantage of engaging its users more during the difficult times of COVID-19 lockdowns. People used the app as an escape from the harshness of their real lives.

As people will go back to their normal lives, TikTok’s advantage will slowly dissipate. With that being said, TikTok will surely try to retain their new user base. However, challenges may arise for users who associate the app with their days in quarantine.