by By Lily Hodson
Most of us have TikTok installed on our phone, or at least know the general idea of it. If you know TikTok you also know about the “For You Page.” This tab on TikTok is what made the app grow so exponentially. The “For You Page” or “FYP” is the first thing you see when you open the app. It’s more than just a “suggested” page. It’s a highly curated, endless supply of videos for users to watch. The more you watch, like, comment, and engage, the more the FYP learns. Each person’s FYP is different because the TikTok algorithm curates to each individual user.
Not only does it curate, but because of the vast amount of content available on the app, there are different sides of TikTok. Users even mention this in their videos. Asking “what side of TikTok are you on?” This could be anywhere from a FYP full of fluffy cows or endless videos about politics. Sometimes the “sides” can get out of hand. You like one too many cat videos and you’re suddenly on the side of TikTok where people are pretending cats give away fake coins and you can pretend to buy land on other peoples videos. (Yes, this is written from personal experience.) When something like that happens users refer to their FYP as “broken” and try to fix it themselves by pressing “not interested” on videos. Then soon enough, their videos go back to being perfectly curated.
Now this type of social media tactic is not uncommon. Most social apps are curated to individual users based on who they follow. Many other apps have tried to attempt the “FYP.” There is the discover page on Instagram, the browse page on Pinterest, and the for you search section on Twitter. But the thing about the FYP is that it does not show videos from people users follow. Or very rarely do. It is completely based on the algorithm. Which could be the reason it’s so addicting. Users can find themselves mindlessly scrolling for hours on end because every single video they get is something they haven’t seen before, but is something they are interested in. TikTok’s FYP algorithm may be one of the best social media algorithms for curation. For some this intense curation may be scary. For others it’s the perfect way to entertain, discover, and learn in a way that is perfectly molded to what they want to see. Making TikTok the king of “For You” pages.
Hi Lily! I found this blog post really interesting. I know the Tik Tok algorithm for the FYP is extremely confusing, but how you laid it out makes sense. I want to know the coding and intense scientific information behind their algorithm because I feel that it would be cool to see because I use the app like every day. Overall, great blog post, and it is crazy to see different sides of Tik Tok!
Hi Lily! I thought this blog post was very insightful. Ever since downloading TikTok, I have been addicted to the app. During quarantine, I was definitely on different sides of the app but now that I don’t use it as frequently, I am not seeing different sides to my FYP. Good job on this blog post!
Hi Lily! This blog is very relatable and insightful. Like you said, TikTok has done a great job of curating the FYP to each individual user. Our generation is very accepting of this type of algorithm but when will it become too much and too invasive? I honestly am not complaining though, because when I open TikTok there are videos waiting for me that are almost guaranteed to make me laugh.
Hi Lily! I really enjoyed this blog post because the FYP accuracy is something that I think a lot of people can relate to. The accuracy of the algorithm sometimes really surprises me and is honestly scarily accurate at times. I feel like a lot of times I don’t even interact with a video, but it still caters the FYP to what it knows I will enjoy. I do love my FYP though so I can’t complain about it being too accurate.
Hi Lily!
I really enjoyed reading this because it’s so relatable! Sometimes I get freaked out about how accurate my fyp is, but at the same time, it’s nice, and I can’t complain! It does get crazy sometimes when someone talks to me about something, and it starts showing up on my fyp.