TikTok Adds Features for Photos & Longer Video Captions
In response to Instagram's imitations of its features, TikTok has introduced new editing functions and a ‘Photo Mode’ for using static images within the app.
TikTok Photo Mode
Taking a cue from Instagram, Photo Mode allows users to upload slideshows of static photos. Users can publish a carousel of images that cycle through one after another and add music to the carousel. As shown below, the Photo Mode display also looks very similar to Instagram.
It’s easy to imagine that Photo Mode could lead to new or extended content trends, such as "before and after" photos for fashion and makeup looks or carousels of memes, as a novel way to engage audiences.
So, while still images do not seem intuitive to TikTok, Photo Mode may inspire new forms of expression, provide more creative options, and improve the app's features and usefulness overall.
Improved editing features
TikTok has introduced lengthier captions, allowing users to add up to 2,200 characters to video descriptions. This is a huge increase from the previous limit of 300 and contributes to the app's growing value as a discovery platform, especially for younger users.
Indeed, TikTok appears to be playing a larger part in discovery, and the ability to add more characters to video descriptions improves search and matching, keyword usage, and other capabilities.
Even Google has noted that nearly 40% of young people are now using TikTok and Instagram for search rather than Google!
All of these new TikTok features have merit, and it will be fascinating to observe how users adapt to Photo Mode in particular and whether it will further diminish Instagram's relevance and wrangle away more of their users.
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