TikTok You would give special treatment to certain content for your benefit. The app will have a secret button called Heating that will encourage certain videos to go viral and increase their number.

The information was spread Forbes, According to internal documents to which it had access, it found that this is a strategy by which the platform tries to attract more brands, advertisers and influencers.

How does heating work?

This internal tool has a user manual created Bytdencyparent company TikTok. There, the employees have information about what steps to follow in its use, which would initially be to give more diversity to the platform, but it will be implemented to close commercial agreements.

“The warm-up feature is about boosting videos in a channel For you By intervening in the operation to achieve a certain number of video views. Total views of hot videos represent a large portion of daily views, around 1 or 2%, which can have a significant impact on overall key metrics,” the document, accessed by the media outlet, explains.

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This situation suggests that the promotion of the content “potentially benefited some influencers and brands” with whom the app developed economic ties, while those that did not were not.

Other social networks have similar practices, e.g Instagram i Youtube. However, they have set up a label to clarify the situation and make it easier for users to understand why certain content is being promoted, as was the case with the covid-19 videos.

Not really for you

Main food section TikTok is For youWhere videos appear from accounts that are not protected, but an algorithm recommends the user based on previous content views, profiles and searches.

But after learning the details of this button, it’s clear that when videos appear that are outside of the user’s intended range, it’s because there’s an internal push.

“We’re launching multiple videos to help diversify your content experience and introduce celebrities and up-and-coming creators TikTok“, – said the spokesperson of the platform Forbes.

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An ideal embodied in internal documents as an option to “leverage” content, but this has gone further in favor of commercial agreements and attention to brands.

The report by the publication also reveals that the secret button is being used to promote “higher collaborations” such as with NGOs and artists, replacing the original category for which the video was posted with the idea. “Helps the algorithm find the right audience.

A practice that can affect the awareness of content creators about working in social networks, they believe that with consistency and quality they can increase their number to go viral, but in reality TikTok It will not offer the same terms to everyone and will only help those who have the potential to benefit them or with whom trade agreements exist.

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