TikTok experiments with disappearing stories feature
TikTok has begun to experiment with a disappearing “stories” feature, TikTok Stories, in certain countries that expire after 24 hours, similar to features on other social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.
The news comes after Twitter announced it was shutting down its own stories feature, Fleets, last month.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience. Currently, we’re experimenting with ways to give creators additional formats to bring their creative ideas to life for the TikTok community.”
The stories feature may not end up in the final product and is subject to change.
TikTok is currently exploring the stories format for its community to bring ideas to life. According to TikTok, TikTok is striving to create a place that allows authentic expression.
The news follows a trend of social media platforms introducing features similar to other social media platforms.
Recently, YouTube introduced YouTube Shorts, its own short-form video feature, and a competitor to TikTok.
Instagram, which has its own stories feature called Instagram Stories, launched its TikTok competitor Reels in Australia in August 2020.
In April 2021, Instagram’s Reels began to trial advertisements on Reels, which was then launched globally in June.
In the same month, Snapchat, the first social media platform to pioneer the stories function, allowed users to add licensed music to videos. The ability to add well-known songs to videos has been a prominent feature of TikTok.
Twitter recently launched Spaces, its competitor to audio-based social media platform Clubhouse.
According to Hootsuite and We Are Social’s Digital 2021 July Global Stashot Report, TikTok has 732 million monthly active users globally, with 57 million new TikTok app installations in June 2021.
According to the same report, TikTok’s global active users are at 732 million. For comparison, YouTube has 2.291 billion active users, Instagram has 1.386 billion active users, Snapchat has 514 million active users, and Twitter has 397 million users.
