How the TikTok Algorithm Works : TikTok Algo Explained

How the TikTok Algorithm Works : TikTok Algo Explained

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TikTok has grown to be one of the most popular music streaming apps. In 2019, TikTok is the most-used music app in the US and the second-most-used app for video clips in the world. TikTok is an incredible app for new artists to launch their music and for established artists to gain new fans. The TikTok algorithm is one of the best-kept secrets to getting your video on the homepage and even trending.

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, are masters of algorithms. In fact, the way that TikTok uses personalization to grow its user base is an incredibly fascinating topic for those who want to understand how ByteDance’s monopoly works. To help you understand the inner workings of the TikTok algorithm, we’re going to break down how this amazing platform works.

TikTok Network 

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media apps around. It’s a combination of YouTube, Snapchat and Musical.ly. That’s right – it’s a video-sharing platform that combines the best elements of user-generated content and self-expression with those of brand-generated content and self-promotion.

Famous Hip Hop “TIK Tok” Song 

There is a fun fact associated with the name of social media TikTok that many of you might not have ever heard of. Kesha, a famous pop singer, got so much popularity and made a huge record with her “TIK TOK” song that she launched back in 2009. The song is still a staple for birthday and dance parties. Little did she know that there would be a famous social network to be named after her popular song. 

Tiktok is not just a typical social media network like Facebook and Perfspot. It is a little different from normal networks where people can socialize, befriend each other, and communicate in different ways. I would say that Tiktok is more or less like a great socializing platform for those teenagers who love to create, make, and share their videos online for fun. 

Basic Introduction of Ever-growing Network 

Tiktok is a kind of atypical, unique, and new genre of the subculture, enabling its users to do what they want to do, what they want to express, and what they wish to become. To be honest, here, teenagers are using this platform a bit differently, showcasing their talent, sharing their opinions, utilizing the freedom of speech and some are even mimicking their famous celebrities' idols. You will find all sorts of people on this entertainment platform, and for this very reason, it is growing very fast. It's not too soon to expect that it is a perfect entertaining alternative to Facebook, Instagram, and VK. 

Tiktok is more famous than other networks because its users can enjoy freedom of speech its best by creating videos based on their personal ideas. There are tons of creative features and add-ons that are being added to this ever-growing social network from time to time. 

More Users socialize on Tiktok everyday 

Social networkers, particularly, teenagers are fond of this network. You will find teenagers as young as only 7 years old using Tik Tok framework for making their cute videos, which is kind of very impressive. There has never been a network like this before that allowed its users to portray themselves in any way they desire. According to current social networking statistics, there are more than 800 Million users on this network to this date and this number is expected to grow with time. About 41 percent of Tiktokers are young aged between (10-24). 

This network is famous in almost every country among youngsters and teenagers because it has so many fun features to keep them entertained.

 No Strict Rules and Regulations for Users   

Tiktok does not send its users to the so-called “ temporary Jail” for breaking the rules or regulations, instead it sends out a warning and never disrupts the experience of users. However, there are still some community guidelines issued by the network that every user on the network deems to adhere to, such as abuse in any kind, shape, or form is prohibited. No religious or hate speech against religious, political, or secular institutions is allowed or entertained. This social platform also restricts the users from sharing their personal information such as passport, security number, address, private email address, and private phone number.

 All these precautionary measures are taken in order to protect the privacy of users on the networks and it makes a lot of sense as well. Most users love Tiktok for its best features such as:  

  • The network does not restrict its users from doing what they desire, love, and want.
  • So many great videos and photo features are offered for free.
  • The options to make vines and funny videos.
  • Free add-ons for video bloggers.
  • Options to make and share the video without any fee,
  • No jail time like Facebook.
  • Freedom of speech without strict rules and regulations.
  • Lip syncing feature with the background music
  • Live-streaming

Tiktok Algorithm Explained

Just like any other social network, Tiktok Algorithm works by assessing, evaluating, and scoring the quality of the content shared by its users every single day. Understanding the social network algorithm is quite complicated since their system keeps updating from time to time with new updates. System updates ensure secure networking for the users thereby adapting to new algorithm rules for bringing about better changes than before. In other words, Tiktok apps usually adapt to the changing algorithm in order to display user content on the network. 

The algorithm also impacts how your videos, content, and pictures are shown to other others and how your followers interact with your posts. 

Tiktok Machine, how Does Tiktok Algoritm work? 

With time, Tiktok has made numerous changes to its networking features and tools. Among many notable ones are algorithm updates they work by making use of pre-defined statistics, figures, and measurement tools to evaluate the content as well as the quality of every video a user uploads on the network. Now the question is how does the Tiktok machine work?  How does it assess your content for good or bad quality, its worth, usefulness, and engagement? The answer is simple; when you post a quality video, you get views, followers, and likes and it is likely that your video will get viral on the network leading to your social success. I would explain it further in the following steps:

  • A random user creates a video using any content of his choice. At first, Tiktok does not know what the content is all about, and if it is even worth distributing on the network.
  • As soon as a new video is posted, the Tiktok machine starts gathering data about it. As there are tons of videos being posted on the network all around the world, the Tiktok Algorithm machine 2020 works according to pre-set rules to evaluate more videos at a time.
  • First off, the machine sends the videos on trial by presenting to a limited number of viewers or users. The step allows the machine to note down some graphical data of the video to show on the graph whether the content is engaging or not.
  • Tiktok Algorithm actually is a kind of measuring tool that makes a graph of how long your video is being watched, how many likes, shares, comments, or views it has earned, and so forth.
  • Tiktok Algortitm for views also notices the retention time of the users on the content or video. If a video has garnered more views in a short time period, it is shown to more users for further evaluation.
  • When a video is shared within a matter of seconds or minutes, it is shown to more users. More users would mean more views and eventually, if the content is great, it becomes viral over the network and henceforth gathers success over different social networks.
  • Every like, view, and share triggers the Tiktok algorithm in some ways. So if a user earns more than 10k views within hours, this would mean, his video is likely to go viral. If a video earns at least 8 “likes” every 12 views, it usually means that the content is really interesting and engaging.
  • Tiktok algorithm 2020 depends on the velocity of the engagement that a video gets on the network. Any video generating 20 likes out of only 25 views is likely to go viral within a matter of minutes.
  • To cut the chase out, If good, engaging, and interesting content is posted in the videos, the user is sure to get the social success that he is trying to achieve through the natural algorithm of Tiktok. Earning 10 likes for every 12 views is a great success, however, if one user manages to get 12/12 (12 likes over 12 views), the success rate would definitely be huge.

 Any Video Can Go Viral 

Unlike other networks, you don’t need to have tons of followers in order for your video to go viral. Even if you have no followers whatsoever, your content is presented to some users during the test. The test lodges important data into the Tiktok Alroritm machine to further decide whether your video should be shown to more users or not. So if you are not even a celebrity on Tiktok, a famous athlete with millions of followers, or a hip hop, pop, rock, or metal singer, you can still get success and make your videos go viral. You need to follow the steps mentioned below if you are looking to get the attention of more Tiktokers: Be creative. 

Come up with a great idea to attract the attention of Tiktok users. Think of your content with the intention to deliver a good moral message. Do not use vulgar, offensive, or curse words ever in the video. Make a good video on any subject. It could be music, acting, vine, prank, or anything you believe could entertain others in a positive way. Inspire others and share good content because the content is king. If you share high-quality video content, you will attract views from all around the world. Your video should be productive, funny, and ethical. 

Never try to make or create videos with hate speech against other religions, human beings, creatures, or any brand. Be rational and logical while creating the content and script. When you post great videos, you start to receive a good response from the users immediately. If you cannot make a video every day, make at least one in every week to create some following base on your social account. Watch videos of other users, engage in conversation, and do live streams. You can also check the feed to get an idea about the content that you should post to get followers, likes, and shares. 

Whatever type of video you choose to post or share, it has to be ethical, according to the community guidelines. If you want to trigger Tiktok Algorithm to make your video go viral, you must keep your video short in length. Ideally, you should create a video lasting only 15-20 seconds or even shorter if possible. Users don’t like to watch lengthy videos that take more time to watch. Besides, a long video may be a bit boring to watch as well since users don’t want to waste their time. Instead, they love brief content with a good message. You can make the best of the Tiktok features to bring about your creativity while shooting the videos such as funny stickers, music backgrounds, funny faces, and so on. 

Needless to say, Tiktok is going to evolve with time for certain and it will have probably trillions of users. You can make a brand of yourself, attract users, gather views, garner likes, and receive appreciation for your work, skills, art, and talent if you share good content with the viewers. A lot of self-made Tiktok celebrities are surfacing these days on the news channels, you could be one of them if you use your creativity to make entertaining videos.  

TikTok is Better than most networks 

Tiktok is the only unbiased and partial social media network of the 21st century which is far different from other networks in terms of strategies, terms, rules, and ways of improvising the user experience. It is not partial, which means it allows every single user to come to the front and showcase his talent, skills, and art to the world. Tiktok algorithm has been put in place to examine the videos of every user. It precisely determines how good or bad video is, unlike other networks that are not spare to help promote the talents of users unless it is paid marketing. 

One great fact about the TikTok algorithm is that it does evaluate all the videos using the same technologies without dividing the content on the basis of geographical, gender, and age. The algorithm does a pretty job of scoring the video on a scale of ten views to ten hundred million views. Moreover, the retention time of your video also helps the algorithm in deciding whether the video should be distributed throughout the network or not. Retention time means how long a user has watched your video and for long a particular percentage of users interact with your content. 

For instance, if a user does not watch your video even for a minute, it means the quality of the video is not good. In the same way, if almost 100 viewers watch your two-minute video to the full length in every session, Tiktok Algorithm determines easily that your video has something really interesting that should be shared with more users. The distribution of your video grows with the increased retention time and so on. Meaning that it is much easier to get 10 to 1000 to 10000 to 100,000 views on your video, only if you deliver quality content to the right audience.