Do you ever feel like your TikTok videos aren't gaining traction? It turns out that having a good relationship with the company could do you some good. TikTok confirmed that its US employees are capable of boosting videos so they would appear on the "For You" page.
A Little Nudge
As it turns out, the short-form video platform has a "heating" button, which can determine which videos will end up on your For You page or the equivalent of a Suggested posts page. The tool will ignore TikTok's algorithm and place certain videos on your feed.
It is not based on the activities of the users who will see them like their interests or previously-liked videos. It's entirely up to TikTok employees when deciding which videos will get the special treatment.
Although, the company claims that it's not merely to favor particular videos, says Jamie Favazza, a spokesperson for TikTok. It's also meant to diversify the feed of a user and make sure that they are not limited to one or two trends, according to The Verge.
They added that it's not something that is done often and that it only makes up .002% of users' For You feeds. However, internal documents show that boosted videos might actually make up around one to two percent of total daily views.
Reports say that TikTok uses this for promoting certain content, which will then convince politicians and businesses to use TikTok as a platform. With TikTok as a trendsetter, it's a huge selling point on its own.
There isn't any indication of whether or not certain contents are heated. There are no labels as opposed to ads or sponsored posts. They will appear like the normal videos that TikTok users see on a regular basis.
The Good and the Bad
Heating posts can help new or current creators that have yet to establish their accounts. It will bring them more viewers which can help them grow along with organically trending posts. It will also prevent the For You page from becoming repetitive showing just one topic or trend.
There are limitations to the use of the "heating" button, as mentioned by TechTimes. Employees refer to the MINT Heating Playbook, an internal TikTok document, which contains Heating Operation 101, Heating Quota Guidelines, TikTok Heating Policy, and US Heating Strategy Guidelines.
Although, reports say that some employees do not abide by the rules and guidelines. There have been instances when employees would boost content that they shouldn't, like content from friends, partners, or even their own posts.
That can be grounds for doubt or resentment when a user fails to garner views while others are favored to be seen due to the heating boost. Since there are no indications of when a post is boosted, you can't really tell if suggested videos are from your activities or from employees.
Even if its intentions are to provide the users of the platform with more content that they would otherwise miss, it could still be seen as unfair seeing as heated videos are basically receiving free boosts, while others will have to do the extra effort to get views.
