TikTok’s wants its users to provide more context on their content. It is giving them more ways to connect with interested users, with a big extension to its video descriptions character limit.
Woah…! TikTok has increased video description character limit to 2,200 characters!
This is huge for creators and massive in terms of TikTok’s plans for becoming a search engine pic.twitter.com/kGhnL97uUM
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) September 23, 2022
TikTok users can now post text descriptions of up to 2,200. This is a 730% increase from the old 300-charater limit in the space available to outline your clip.
“This allows you to express more details about your creations, describing what your videos show, giving you the opportunity to get closer to your audience, generating more engagement while becoming more searchable and better recommended by TikTok to viewers,” explains TikTok.
TikTok is now a key search platform for younger audiences.
“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram,” said Google’s VP Prabhakar Raghavan.
Search already functions in the TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin. Many users are turning to it for more customized discovery.
“On Douyin, which has been monetizing short-form video search for years, videos are often tagged with the names of stores and other locations, and tapping on these links takes users to in-app pages where they can take advantage of large discount coupons or special bookings,” explains Connie Chan of Andreesen Horowitz.
“Thanks to the algorithms and user behavior on Douyin, the app can push new places to a user that he or she would never have thought to search for. Short video effectively enables the continuous discovery of the best places around you, and it gets better with every swipe as the platform better understands you and your interests.”
TikTok wants to leverage the same feature using extended video descriptions.
