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🗝️ How TikTok's Algo Works
TikTok's CEO on their meteoric rise
Kole Ogundipe
May 10, 2023
Hey, Marketers.
Today’s edition: I watched the TikTok CEO’s 40-min Ted Talk, so you don’t have to. Here are three nuggets to understand TikTok's media revolution.
Read time: 2 mins 32 seconds
The Big Idea
☄️ TikTok’s CEO breaks down the keys to its meteoric rise
Shou Chew made his first appearance since that hearing at Congress. He’s undoubtedly one of the most influential people in the world. And he comes across incredibly well as a leader who sure has his work cut out.
🚀 The vision for creating TikTok
The initial vision was three-fold: to provide a canvas for users to showcase their creativity, ensure that talented people have a chance to be discovered, and help users connect with others based on shared interests.
A Canvas to Create 🎨 The full-screen, portrait format creates a much deeper connection between the creator and the viewer than any other form of media.
A Window to be Discovered 🪟 Content should be recommended, not based on who you know, but on what you like. This key idea is what TikTok was built around. TikTok has an advantage over the other platforms which were built first as a social network, which is what their user base still largely expects from them. The “Make Instagram Instagram Again” campaign from last year is a perfect example.
A Bridge to Connect People 🌉 One-off content consumption of recommended content is not the end goal. TikTok wants to use content as a way to help foster communities of specific interests.
🤖 The Recommendation Algorithm
Shou Chew used a simple analogy which I’m paraphrasing:
If I like 3 videos
And another user likes those same 3 videos plus video A
And a further user also likes those 3 videos plus video B…
Then, chances are, I will be shown videos A & B as well.
But what is ‘a like’? TikTok infers you like something when you watch, save, like, or share the video. These actions become the signals that their machine-learning algorithm uses for future recommendations.
🛍️ The Future of TikTok
Expect TikTok to continue to embrace AI and focus much more on commerce.
Shou Chew believes AI will enable creators to unlock new opportunities. Creators will be able to raise their production value with AI and tell stories in new ways.
Currently, there are 5 million U.S. businesses using TikTok today. But that number is expected to only go one way. To that point, in yesterday’s edition, we covered TikTok’s plans to become an e-commerce marketplace to rival Amazon.
Why we care? The clamor for banning TikTok seems to be dying down, at least for now. Shou Chew confirmed that all new US data is stored in the US with Oracle. And legacy data will be moved as part of “Project Texas” by the end of the year.
TikTok’s organic reach potential levels the playing field. In the past brands would need to spend big to get the same kind of volume of impressions. TikTok reports that there are 47.6 billion views of the ‘TikTok made me buy it’ hashtag. For discoverability, there may be no better platform for brands.
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