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| TikTok will display the reason behind the videos on the For You page |
Short video service TikTok has announced a new feature that explains why each video appears on the Recommendations For You page.
TikTok said in a blog post that its system recommends content by rating videos based on a number of factors based on user activity on the app, including signs that users are not interested in certain videos.
TikTok added, “Our goal is to provide a range of relevant and engaging content.
To help users understand why a video is being recommended to them, we'll be rolling out a new tool in the coming weeks. "
The service has now started rolling out the new feature, but it hasn't been fully rolled out yet. Mashable quoted a TikTok spokesperson as saying that the launch "will be expanded over the next few weeks."
Once the new feature is available, you can access it by scrolling down the For You page, clicking the Share button on any video, and then clicking the question mark icon labeled "Why this video." The reason for recommending the video is displayed there. For example, one of the videos with the new feature says why: “You like similar videos” and “This video is popular in your country.”
"This feature is one of the many ways we offer true transparency to the people who use our platform and it depends on the series of steps we take to achieve this," TikTok said in a press release.
"For example, we publish guidelines for categories of content that are not eligible for recommendations, tools for customizing recommendations, and educational resources that explain how our content recommendations work," she added.
Going forward, TikTok promises to continue expanding this feature to make content recommendations more accurate and transparent.
The new feature from TikTok comes amid privacy concerns about how users' data is shared by the platform and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
TikTok has come under scrutiny recently, particularly in the US, where the service is believed to track user data outside of the app and have highly customized algorithms within the app that can be selectively modified. According to a Politico report, the videos people watch are watched.
It should also be noted that several US states have already started blocking the app, which is a recent update.