Question
For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine
Kalley Huang
2022
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When Ja’Kobi Moore decided to apply this year to a private high school in her hometown of New Orleans, she learned that she needed at least one letter of recommendation from a teacher. She had never asked for one, so she sought help.
“Teacher letter of recommendation,” she typed into TikTok’s search bar.
Ms. Moore, 15, scrolled TikTok’s app until she found two videos: one explaining how to ask teachers for a recommendation letter and the other showing a template for one. Both had been made by teachers and were easier to understand than a Google search result or YouTube video, said Ms. Moore, who is planning to talk to her teachers this month.
TikTok is known for its viral dance videos and pop music. But for Generation Z, the video app is increasingly a search engine, too.
More and more young people are using TikTok’s powerful algorithm — which personalizes the videos shown to them based on their interactions with content — to find information uncannily catered to their tastes. That tailoring is coupled with a sense that real people on the app are synthesizing and delivering information, rather than faceless websites.
Write: How does the algorithm affect TikTok's content?
Complete the sentence starter in the space below:
The algorithm affects TikTok's content by...
short answer
Kalley Huang
2022
Font Size
Medium
When Ja’Kobi Moore decided to apply this year to a private high school in her hometown of New Orleans, she learned that she needed at least one letter of recommendation from a teacher. She had never asked for one, so she sought help.
“Teacher letter of recommendation,” she typed into TikTok’s search bar.
Ms. Moore, 15, scrolled TikTok’s app until she found two videos: one explaining how to ask teachers for a recommendation letter and the other showing a template for one. Both had been made by teachers and were easier to understand than a Google search result or YouTube video, said Ms. Moore, who is planning to talk to her teachers this month.
TikTok is known for its viral dance videos and pop music. But for Generation Z, the video app is increasingly a search engine, too.
More and more young people are using TikTok’s powerful algorithm — which personalizes the videos shown to them based on their interactions with content — to find information uncannily catered to their tastes. That tailoring is coupled with a sense that real people on the app are synthesizing and delivering information, rather than faceless websites.
Write: How does the algorithm affect TikTok's content?
Complete the sentence starter in the space below:
The algorithm affects TikTok's content by...
short answer
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The algorithm affects TikTok's content by personalizing the videos shown to users based on their interactions, ensuring that the information they receive is highly relevant to their interests and preferences, which enhances user engagement and satisfaction.