TikTok

Quietly Unveiled: TikTok Shop Now Boasts Image Search, Taking On Google’s Dominance

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You could open up the TikTok app and snap a picture of it to find similar items available for purchase on TikTok Shop. The ability to use image search for shopping is something that Google has offered for years with Google Lens, its visual search tool. TikTok recently revealed that TikTok Shop now has more than 15 million sellers worldwide, including over 500,000 in the U.S. It spent more than $400 million on platform safety and created a team of more than 7,500 people to help keep TikTok Shop safe. TikTok has been betting big on e-commerce, as it sees TikTok Shop as its next big potential revenue source.

TikTok Experiments with Streak Features Similar to Snapchat

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In order to have users spend more time on the platform and ramp up engagement, TikTok is testing streaks that are similar to what people see on Snapchat. TikTok confirmed that it is testing the feature but didn’t provide any statement related to it. The company said that it is experimenting with the streaks feature in limited markets and select users. Once you do that, you will get a streak badge displayed on the chat, along with the number of streak days. Y'all don't got TikTok streaks like dis 😝😝😝 pic.twitter.com/LnZc8jAvub — Buzz 🩵 (@trollsbuzz) June 6, 2024Mika welcome to my tiktok streaks pic.twitter.com/hZPRbdintk — CARBY!!

U.S. House Approves Amended Measure to Prohibit TikTok or Compel Sale

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this afternoon that would require TikTok-owner ByteDance to sell the popular social media app or see it banned in the United States. Efforts to ban TikTok go back to the Trump Administration, but the issue has been revived in recent months. The House already passed a similar bill in March — a bill that the Senate showed little interest in taking up. The Senate could take up the package this coming week, and President Joe Biden has said he supports the bill and will sign it. If that happens, TikTok is expected to challenge the bill in court.

TikTok Launches Competitor App “TikTok Notes” in Canada and Australia

Trump To Ban Download Of Tiktok App Before Sunday
TikTok is rolling out its Instagram competitor, TikTok Notes, in select markets. The app is available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in Canada and Australia, the company said. Starting today, TikTok Notes is available for download and limited testing in Australia and Canada. — TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) April 17, 2024“We hope that the TikTok community will use TikTok Notes to continue sharing their moments through photo posts. Earlier this month, TechCrunch reported that the Bytedance-owned company’s Instagram competitor is likely to be named TikTok Notes.

ByteDance Must Produce DSA Risk Assessment for TikTok Lite within 24 hours for EU Review

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The EU’s latest concerns about TikTok’s DSA compliance center on the launch of TikTok Lite. TikTok has been given 24 hours to provide the risk assessment for TikTok Lite. It’s not clear whether TikTok conducted a DSA risk assessment for the new reward program ahead of launching TikTok Lite in the two EU markets. But the regulation’s focus on systemic risk essentially makes such a step obligatory for features that are likely to appeal to minors. TikTok did tell us it requires TikTok Lite users to verify that they are 18 or older in order to collect points through their use of the app.

AXS and TikTok Join Forces to Offer Global Ticket Sales for Live Events

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Tiktok said today that it has partnered with ticketing company AXS to sell tickets for events worldwide. Users in these regions can tap on the events highlighted in videos or on artists’ profiles to buy tickets through AXS. TikTok had signed a similar deal with Ticketmaster for U.S.-based events in 2022, and expanded the partnership in 2023 to sell tickets in 20 more countries. The short-video platform said it will let certified artists promote their live events by adding AXS event links to their videos, and sell tickets via an in-app ticketing feature. Last October, TikTok onboarded Tickets.com as a partner to sell passes for its first live music event.

Experimenting with AI Search Functionality: Meta Trials on Instagram

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Apart from testing Meta AI chatbot with users in countries like India on WhatsApp, the company is also experimenting with putting Meta AI in the Instagram search bar for both chat with AI and content discovery. The search query in the search bar leads you to a conversation in DM with Meta AI, where you can ask questions or use one of the pre-loaded prompts. Separately, a few users TechCrunch talked to were able to ask Meta AI to search for Reels suggestions. Meta confirmed its Meta AI experiment on Instagram with TechCrunch. You can find a ton of posts about the quality of Instagram search.

Taylor Swift Resumes Sharing Music on TikTok, Defying Ongoing UMG Dispute

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After 10 weeks of being absent from the platform, Taylor Swift’s music has returned to TikTok — or at least her more recent songs and “Taylor’s Version” cuts, since she owns those masters. Taylor Swift’s music, and music from all artists signed to Universal Music Group, was pulled from TikTok when the two parties were unable to come to a renewed licensing agreement. UMG framed its refusal to come to a deal with TikTok as a means of standing up for emerging artists. By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars,” UMG wrote. Her “Taylor’s Version” recordings are back on TikTok, but songs from records like “Reputation,” which doesn’t yet have a “Taylor’s Version,” are still absent from the platform.

“Exploring the Reinvention of the Internet: TikTok and Meta’s Recent Actions Reflect a Rise in Commercialization”

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TikTok is working towards launching a new app called TikTok Notes that will allow users to post images in an apparent bid to rival Instagram, a service best known for its static-photo sharing feature. Instagram, of course, has expanded into video and stories itself, taking pieces of other services and incorporating them into its own product. As is nearly every social service you can imagine. If it works for one social media service, expect the rest to follow in some manner at some point — probably sooner rather than later. Expanding a feature set can bolster engaged time, and therefore how much revenue a social media service can earn.

YouTube Introduces Fresh Shopping Tools for Creators to Boost Product Promotions and Increase Profits

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YouTube announced on Tuesday that it’s launching new Shopping features that allow creators to curate shoppable collections, better plan their shoppable videos, quickly monetize older videos and more. The launch of the new features come as TikTok Shop is seeking to take on YouTube Shopping and other competitors in the space. TikTok is reportedly aiming to grow the size of its TikTok Shop U.S. business tenfold to as much as $17.5 billion this year. YouTube is launching “Shopping Collections” to allow creators to curate products from their favorite brands for users to browse through. By allowing users to connect their Fourthwall shop, YouTube is making it easier for users to create and manage their content directly in YouTube Studio.