Videos

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Videos are one of TikTok's elements. Videos can be found in "For You" page, but also found in "Discovery" or in search.

Information

For You

Main Article: For You

Videos are often featured in For You.

Videos can be up to 10 minutes in length, (previously 3 minutes, and before that 1 minute) with "original sounds" or background music playing in the background. Users can interact by commenting, liking, sharing, and more. Videos are often found on the "For You" page, where users can swipe down or up the feed to watch another or previous video. The feed's algorithm has an AI that recommends videos based on app activity, such as whether the user watched the whole video, language preference, and whether the user is "in the same country as the person who posted a video". Users can change the feed by selecting "Not Interested" as "negative feedback" in the "Share" option.

In September 2020, TikTok refused to let any US buyer hand out its "source code". In July 2021, the algorithm was sold to a few companies by ByteDance's BytePlus., an app for "platform services". The app has another feed called "Following", which is another feed that only shows videos that are uploaded by the users a person is following. Users can also see live-streams from them.

In-feed ads

Main Article: Advertisements

Brand Takeover is the ads that appears when opening the app.

Videos can also be used as advertisements and are limited to 60 seconds in length. TikTok added a feature called "Ads Manager" to help brand advertisers create ads that will appear in the "For You" feed. TikTok added this as an effective way to communicate with a younger audience, as "over 60% of TikTok's user-base is Generation Z". One of the examples is "In-feed ads", which uses the TikTok's standard ad format with the same name to embed a video ad that auto-plays in the "For You" feed.

Another example of advertisements is Brand Takeover, which is a full-screen advertisement that appears when opening the app. Because the entire screen is clickable, they can tap it to hide it. Advertisements have the following types: "In-Feed Video Ad", "TopView", "Brand Takeover", "Branded Hashtag Challenge", and "Branded Effects". In addition, Advertisements max file size is 500mb and TikTok videos is 200mb.

TikTok supports mp4 and .mov files as file types for the video. Videos that are advertisements are supported as .avi and .gif files. Additionally, The video's aspect ratio is 9:16 and it's dimension is 1080×1920.

Discover

The "Discover" feed searches for trending videos, hashtags, creators, and sponsored content. The first few hashtag videos are the ones "that started the trend, as well as other popular videos related to the trending hashtag." Users can use the search bar at the top of the page to look for a specific video. The results will be displayed on the Tap tab.

Share

Users can share their videos on social media or through other apps. They also have options to report, duet, stitch, react, add to favorites, and download a video. Users can copy and paste the video's URL to be redirected to the video. There is another option, "Other" that is used for users to share on other apps. There is also the option for users to set the video as their wallpaper, but this is not recommended for phones that drain fast.

Features

Videos have 5 features: Duet, React, Live-stream, Stitch, and Stories. Duet is the first feature for videos as it was first introduced on Musical.ly. Musical.ly introduced this feature with the American singer Bruno Mars for his song "That’s What I Like".The "React" feature was later featured after TikTok merged with Musical.ly. A tutorial video was soon uploaded to YouTube on September 22, 2018. Formerly, the "React" feature was used to display their reactions instead of videos covering the screen.

In January 2020, TikTok added a "Live-stream" feature for creators who are under 16. TikTok began adding more features in the next year. Stitch, a similar feature to "React", was then introduced to TikTok on September 4, 2020. As in "Duet" and "React" features, Stitch can be found on "Share" option. Videos made with Stitch attribute the original creator in the caption. Stories. In August 2021, TikTok later added another feature similar to Facebook Stories, where users could create their own "stories" for up to 60 seconds with editing features.

TikTok allows users to choose who can perform duets/react/stitch their videos. Users can adjust these settings to fit their "personal preferences" in the Security and Privacy menus. This means that users can decide who can duet and react to every video before uploading it.

Duet

Main Article: Duets

One of the examples of duet is #PepsiChallenge, a challenge where users show off their skills in duets.

There is a duet option that allows users to create content that includes an initial video and a second video that appear side by side on the screen in a square format. The user can create a duet with any TikTok from a brand, influencer, friend, or even themselves, as long as the original video's creator has granted permission for the video to be used in the app.

Instagram mimics TikTok's "Duets" with its "Instagram Reels" feature, which allows users to build on top of the original clip. This is one of the latest features that resemble TikTok's short-form video format.

React

Main Article: React

A "React" feature records users' reactions to videos they watch. Instead of text comments, these reactions will be in the form of videos superimposed on top of existing clips, rather than text comments. React was introduced after one month of TikTok buying Musical.ly. After the next day or two, Reactions became available in the app.

To "react" a video, Tap the Share icon in the lower-right corner and select React from the Share to menu to react to a video. Toggle between the front and rear cameras as needed, tap the Flip button in the top-left corner of the Camera screen. Tap the Mic icon to disable or enable voice and system audio capture, drag and reposition the React window to match the source footage, and then tap the Record button at the bottom to start recording.

Stitch

Main Article: Stitch

Stitch is a new feature that allows users to tag their reactions to other users' videos, which takes a small portion of creator's video and makes a sort of continuation of the video. Users can choose whether or not other users can access their content to create a stitch via their settings.

Livestream

Main Article: Live-stream

"Live-stream" feature allows users to interact in real-time. Creators who are over 16 with 1,000 followers are only allowed to launch LIVEs and can do Q&A questions with the creator. Creators can now schedule and promote their event in advance to build excitement in their community, while users can discover, register, and then receive notifications and reminders when the LIVE Event is about to begin. Users can send gifts to the creator while live-streaming, which can be exchanged with real money.

Stories

Main Article: Stories

In August 2021, some users on the platform got access to 'Stories', and in February/March 2022, the amount of users with access to 'Stories' expanded. After posting a story, it will be available for 24 hours and will then disappear. When a user has posted a story, a blue ring will appear around their profile picture.

Table comparison

Features	Duet	React	Stitch	Live-stream	Stories
Duration (can be up to)	Depends	Depends	60 seconds	No Limit	15 seconds
Effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Upload	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Comments	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Requires	None	None	None	1,000+ followers	None
Music	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (only copyright music)	Yes
Virtual Gifts	No	No	No	Yes	No
Analytics	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Appears on Profile	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Q&A	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Creating a video

Main Article: Videos/Tutorial Guide