Popular social media platform TikTok has just confirmed something which had been suspected for a long time by users – certain members of staff have the power to make videos go viral at their own whim.
The Chinese-based app confirmed to news platform Forbes that some of its US employees have the ability which is known as ‘heating’ in inner circles.
Heating is the ability to boost videos ad it is usually used to help the app ‘introduce celebrities ad emerging actors to the TikTok community.’
The heating button basically sidesteps the algorithm itself and pushes traffic through to clips on the platform. This comes after years of speculation of there being a hidden feature which can catapult view counts to global audiences.
The little tool is used to make sure that feeds aren’t always the same two trends on repeat. According to documents obtained by Forbes, heated videos reportedly make up around 1 to 2 per cent of total daily video views.
Also according to Forbes, most of the other major apps engage in some form of boosting with the aim of amplifying specific posts to users to keep the app rolling forward.
However, the main difference is that when a video is boosted, it is usually labelled. Heating is not signposted, which makes it all the more sneaky.
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