How TikTok Success — the User Experience

Miaosen Ye
Marketing in the Age of Digital
3 min readOct 2, 2023

TikTok, The world-famous short video platform, has reached 1 billion monthly active users in 2023. It makes me wonder how TikTok built up this gaint empire in such a short time. Today, let’s find out from the UX(User Experience) perspective.

  1. The purpose

Every platform has its purpose for the users; Instergram’spurpose is to give a platform for the user to communicate with others worldwide. For TikTok, it’s a short-form video magic. People communicate and share their lives in a 15–30 second video. Like a commercial video, people will not lose interest for 15–30 seconds.

2. The Brand

Beyond the videos, TikTok embodies creativity and a dash of playfulness with a mix of sounds, filters, endless content, and infinite videos created by the TikTok creator. TikTok has built up the brand image for the user.

3. Crafting Personal Digital Stories: User-Centric Approach

Your ‘for you’ page isn’t just a random mix; it’s a table of your preferences. As you engage, TikTok adapts, showcasing its allegiance to creating a user-driven environment.

4. Simply for use

TikTok is a platform with rich features; besides watching a short video, it also includes online shopping(TikTok shop) and live streaming…. But they create a handful of clear icons to guide the user, making it welcoming even for digital novices.

5. The Design-a treat for the eyes

The platform opts for a modern, monochromatic theme, allowing the vivid content to be the star. This distraction-from design ensures users are glued to what’s essential to the content.

6. Aesthetics

TikTok’s aesthetics emphasize simplicity and user-centricity. Its minimalist, monochromatic design allows vibrant user-generated content to take center stage. Intuitive icons, fluid animations, and a modern interface seamlessly guide users, enhancing content discovery and creation. The design’s visual coherence fosters an engaging and immersive experience.

7. Employing responsive design

Initially designed for mobile screens, TikTok employs responsive design to cater to devices of all sizes. Its mobile-centric layout shines, optimizing for touch interactions and vertical viewing. However, in larger devices, UI elements scale thoughtfully, ensuring a consistent user experience.

8. The Content quality

TikTok offers a diverse range of user-generated content, giving the content creator the most freedom. From comedic skits to informative tutorials. While the platform spotlights high-quality videos, the vast volume ensures a mix of polished and raw content to fulfill the audience’s preferences.

9. Ease of conversion

TikTok streamlines user actions, from following creators to sharing content. Intuitive icons and clear CTAs facilitate seamless interactions, driving user engagement and ensuring effortless content conversion and dissemination.

10. Integration of AI/Chatbots/Interactivity or anything else using emerging technologies

TikTok integrates advanced AI for personalized content recommendations and real-time effects(the feature of ‘guest what you like to watch). While not heavily reliant on chatbots, the platform’s interactive features, such as duets and response videos, leverage emerging tech. These innovations foster user engagement, enhancing the overall TikTok experience and setting it apart in social media.

At the end

TikTok’s UX is a tapestry of elements that create a compelling digital narrative, especially in its mobile realm. By marrying content with personalization, the platform offers an engaging user journey. However, the continuous quest for perfection suggests potential enhancements, particularly for its desktop frontier for any new social media. TikTok has changed the game’s rules and become a leader in the new media industry; it provides a new way to communicate with others worldwide!

References: https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/statistics/tiktok-user-statistics/

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