TikTok’s looking to enhance friend connection in the app through a new set of updates that will enable collaborative engagement, as well as a new greeting card option that you can send via DMs.
First off, TikTok has a new “shared feed” option, which will provide a combined stream of recommended content, based on your shared interests.
As explained by TikTok:
“Shared Feed can help two people stay connected by surfacing new content tailored to both of their tastes, from sports to holiday winter activities and even their favorite fashion creators. Each day, friends and family members will find a curated selection of 15 videos in their private chat aligned with their interests.”
Sounds familiar?
Yeah, it’s a lot like Instagram’s “Blend” feature, which it launched back in April, with the aim of enhancing connection and engagement, and aligning with sharing trends.
Because these days, most people share Reels with their friends via DM, and the idea of these new feed options is that this will provide a more communal, shared variation of the same thing, enabling shared discovery through interest matching within the feed.
Though I’m not sure that people actually want that.
In fact, I’m pretty sure that curating content for your friends as you scroll through your own feed is the main allure of this approach, but both IG and TikTok are both clearly trying to lean into trends, by building this in as a function within each app.
Along the same line, TikTok’s also rolling out “Shared Collections,” which will enable friends and family to save posts to a collaborative set.
“Whether it's content from their favorite creators, inspiration for a home design project, or a new skill they're learning together, Shared Collection makes it easy for people to stay organized as they discover and save on TikTok. For instance, if a person discovers a festive gift-wrapping video and shares it with a friend on TikTok, they can then save the video and create a Shared Collection to access this video at any time.”
So, Pinterest boards, but collaborative ones, with TikTok videos as the Pins.
Yeah, neither of these additions is hugely original, but they do provide more options to create shared experiences within the app.
I’m just not sure that they truly align with how people actually use the platform.
Finally, TikTok’s also launching new greeting cards within its messaging platform.
You’ll be able to select a seasonal greeting card option, then send it to friends in the app, with the cards opening to “a festive animation” of some kind.
So another connection feature, which could add another element of interest for the holidays.
