Tictoc makes it easy to control (and not) what is in feed for your ‘for you’

Tiktok’s “for you” algorithm does not fully understand how it works, or why it sometimes sends users a very specific rabbit holes. But the company is making this A little easier To control any of the elements that appear in the recommendations.

In an attempt to add more personalization to consumer feeds, the company is creating a setting to “manage matters” in the app for all consumers. This setting, which began to provide the company in the United States last year, allows people to specify how often they want to appear in specific types of videos in their recommendations. Sliders cover a dozen simple elements such as nature; Food and drink; Fashion and beauty; And pets. For each interest, you can pull the slider that “to see more” or “look less”.

Tictoc claims that these application controls are “completely eliminated”, so sliders do not prevent any sports content from seeing in your feed. But this setting says, “Your interests are developing over time and affecting how often they are recommended,” the company says.

For those who seek greater granular control over their feeds – at least when preventing specific types of content – Tictoc also expanding its keyword filtering option, which allows people to choose specific keywords they do not want to see. Now, the app uses AI to make those filters wisely by adding additional keywords for similar content. For example, if you choose to filter the “rebuild”, the app can also choose to add “rebuilding” to your filtered words. The app can automatically prevent alternative spellings of things like “cat” or “C @T”. These “smart filters” are “more accurate because more people use it over time,” the company said, and eventually it allows users to add 200 keywords.

Both features are now available in the settings of Tictoc in the app’s “content” preferences section.