TikTok is bringing new options to the app that allow resetting
the For You feed, avoiding repetition of content, and limiting exposure to
harmful content.
TikTok is making its algorithmic system more flexible in a
way that allows users to have better control over what they see in the app. More
specifically, users will now be able to have their For You feed refreshed with recommended
content that better suits their preference, if their current feed does not
align with their interests. In TikTok’s words, “This feature allows someone to
view content on their For You feed as if they just signed up for TikTok.” The social
company had been testing the functionality for the past few months and is now
rolling it out to all users.
In a similar initiative, TikTok is also improving its
recommendations systems, which would help reduce repetition of content, especially
that which is potentially harmful, sexually enticing, or triggering. It is
doing so by ensuring distribution of a variety of topics across the app. According
to TikTok, “For instance, viewers will generally not be served two videos in a
row made by the same creator or that use the same sound, and we try to avoid
showing people something they’ve seen before.”
In addition to that, TikTok is ensuring that content that is
viewed repeatedly is safe for viewing even if doesn’t violate the platform’s
policies. The company has designed its systems to detect problematic or triggering
themes within a set of videos that are eligible for recommendation. “If
multiple videos with these themes are identified, they will be substituted with
videos about other topics to reduce the frequency of these recommendations and
create a more diverse discovery experience,” explains TikTok.
Both of TikTok’s efforts towards content viewing and recommendation seem to be great, considering how widely used of a platform it has become and how easily viewers, especially youngsters, are exposed to potentially harmful content on it. Perhaps this would encourage other social platforms to adopt similar strategies as well.
