POV: TikTok Introduces Text-Only Posts

Background:

As social media platforms continue to try and expand their offerings to keep users in their universe, TikTok, the app known for its short-form videos, has announced it is introducing text-only posts for users.

Details and Implications:

TikTok is making text posts available to all users in the app so they can create text-based content without visual backgrounds. The company says that the new format: “broadens options for creators to share their ideas and express their creativity”.

“With text posts, we’re expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok, giving the written creativity we’ve seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine,” said a company spokesperson.

The service will be accessed by the user through the app’s Camera page, where they will be able to choose from three options: photo, video and text. Selecting the text option, takes the user to the text creation page, where they can type out the content of their post. The content can be customized by adding sounds, tagging a location, enabling comments and allowing Duets. Stickers can also be added to text posts, along with tags and hashtags and there is an option to choose from a variety of background colours. TikTok said that the features will make text posts just as dynamic and interactive as any video or photo post.

The latest move is a departure for TikTok, but it comes hot on the heels of the launch of Meta’s Threads earlier this month and follows Twitter’s rebrand as ‘X’. The timing of this latest launch may suggest that the Chinese-owned video streaming app feels this is an opportune moment to lure users and creators to its platform with a similar service.

TikTok also recently launched a new music streaming service to rival platforms like Spotify and Apple music. The service called ‘TikTok Music’ launched in Brazil and Indonesia initially and last week the company rolled out a beta version in Singapore, Mexico and Australia.

TikTok said that the service would allow users to: "listen, share and download the music they have discovered on TikTok, as well as share their favourite tracks and artists with their TikTok community".

Summary:

TikTok is layering on more features to attract and retain users on its platform, a strategy adopted by most of the social media platforms in the West. They are all vying to create digital ecosystems that users never have to leave, emulating the successful super apps found in Asia.

Further Reading:

BBC | New York Times | Social Media Today | TechCrunch | TikTok Blog