TikTok is a popular social media app that allows users to create, share, and discover short videos. It has over 1 billion monthly active users globally as of 2022, with over 60% between 16-24 years old (https://hybrid-digital.nl/tiktok-the-social-network/). TikTok’s easy-to-use tools allow anyone to create fun and engaging videos.
Like other social platforms, TikTok has robust search capabilities to help users find videos and creators around topics they care about. Users can search for videos, sounds, hashtags, and people on TikTok. There are also discovery pages like “For You” that recommend content based on users’ interests and engagement. Overall, TikTok search provides an integral way for users to explore the vast amount of video content on the app.
Search Bar
The main way to search on TikTok is through the search bar located at the very top of the app and website. This search bar allows you to search for specific usernames, hashtags, videos, sounds, and more. It works similarly to the search functionality on other social platforms like Instagram and Twitter.
According to the Sociality blog, “If you’re using TikTok on a desktop, you’ll see the search bar at the top of your page. To search for a specific user, video, or type of content, just type a relevant keyword into the search bar and hit enter or click the magnifying glass icon.” [1]
Sounds Page
One way to search on TikTok is by using the Sounds page to look for videos with a specific song or audio clip. You can access the Sounds page by tapping the discover icon on the bottom toolbar and selecting “Sounds” from the options.
The Sounds page shows trending sounds and songs being used in videos on TikTok. You can scroll through the list to browse popular sounds, or use the search bar at the top to look for a specific song or audio clip. When you select a sound, you’ll be taken to a page showing TikTok videos using that sound.
This is an easy way to find TikTok videos featuring your favorite songs or viral audio clips like memes, movie quotes, or sound effects. You can discover new song remixes and trends by exploring the Sounds page. It’s also helpful for identifying a song used in a TikTok video by searching for its audio.
(https://www.tiktok.com/discover/how-to-find-songs-on-tiktok)
Hashtag Search
One of the most popular ways to search for videos on TikTok is through hashtags. Hashtags allow you to quickly find content around specific topics, trends, challenges, or interests. To search for videos by hashtag, simply tap on the search bar at the top of the app and type in a hashtag preceded by the # symbol. For example, searching for #dance will pull up all videos tagged with that hashtag. The more popular a hashtag is, the more videos you’ll find for it. TikTok also displays suggested hashtags as you type which can help you discover trending topics.
According to Most Searched on Tiktok 2022, some of the most popular hashtags in 2022 included #dance, #fyp, and other viral trends. The Discover and Sounds pages on TikTok also showcase top hashtags to explore. Hashtag searching is a quick way to immerse yourself in a specific TikTok community or view the latest viral content.
People Search
One way to search on TikTok is by looking up specific creators by their username. The People tab allows you to enter a username in the search bar to find a particular person’s profile and view their posted content. This is helpful if you want to follow a friend, celebrity, or influencer to see the videos they share.
For example, searching for @charlidamelio would bring up the profile of popular TikTok creator Charli D’Amelio. You can then follow her and watch her videos right from her profile page. People search makes it easy to find and connect with your favorite personalities on TikTok.
According to the TikTok guide “Finding Friends on TikTok,” the People tab allows you to “Look up creators by name” to find profiles you want to follow (source). So if you know the exact username of someone, people search is the best way to search for them on TikTok.
Following Feed
The Following feed shows you recent videos from the accounts you follow on TikTok. This is one of the main ways TikTok recommends content to users. According to The TikTok Algorithm Explained + Tips to Go Viral, the TikTok algorithm considers who you follow and promotes their latest videos in your Following feed.
When you first open TikTok, the Following page is the default view. You’ll see the most recent videos from the accounts you follow in chronological order. The more accounts you follow, the more new videos you’ll see in your feed. TikTok’s algorithm detects your interests based on the accounts you choose to follow. It then populates your Following feed with relevant videos it thinks you’ll enjoy watching and interacting with.
Scrolling through your Following feed and engaging with videos is a major way to train the TikTok algorithm. Liking, commenting on, sharing, and watching videos fully indicates the types of content you prefer. The algorithm then serves you more of that content from across TikTok. So following accounts posting videos aligned with your interests is key to cultivating an engaging Following feed.
Discover Page
The Discover page on TikTok is a great place to search for new videos and content. This page shows you videos that are trending or recommended based on your interests and past viewing history.
When you go to the Discover tab on TikTok, you’ll see different categories like Trending, New To You, Cook, Animals, Comedy and more. Tapping into any of these categories will show you popular and recommended videos in that genre.
The For You page shows videos personalized to your interests, while the Discover page focuses more on what’s trending and viral across all of TikTok. This makes it easy to stay up to date on the latest trends and find new content and creators to follow.
You can also search for specific hashtags, sounds or effects on the Discover page to find videos using those elements. This allows you to dive deeper into niche topics and connect with communities who are passionate about the same things.
Overall, the Discover page is a hub to uncover new videos and creators you may not come across just passively scrolling through your For You feed. It’s a great way to actively search out trending content and expand the variety of videos you interact with on TikTok.
Effects Page
The Effects Page on TikTok allows you to browse and discover new video effects to use in your TikTok videos. It features a variety of effects across different categories like “Popular”, “Beauty”, “Funny”, and more. Some of the most popular video effects on TikTok include the Green Screen effect, Anime Filter, Ghost Filter, and more (Source 1).
To access the Effects Page, tap on the sparkle icon on the bottom of the capture screen in the TikTok app. This will open up the Effects Page where you can scroll through different effects and tap on them to preview the effect. Tapping on an effect will save it to your favorites so you can quickly access it again later. The Effects Page is the best place to find new fun effects to make your videos stand out!
Likes Page
The Likes page on TikTok allows users to view all the videos they have liked. This is useful for finding and rewatching videos you enjoyed but didn’t save or follow the creator of.
To access your liked videos on TikTok:
- Open the TikTok app and tap on the “Me” icon on the bottom right.
- On the Me page, tap on the “Liked” tab at the top.
This will open your Likes page showing all the videos you have liked in reverse chronological order. You can scroll through to find videos you liked further back in time.
The Likes page is endless, meaning you can continuously scroll down to uncover more and more liked videos. If you want to jump to older liked videos quicker, you can tap and hold while scrolling to activate fast scrolling mode.
TikTok does not let you search or filter your liked videos. The only way to find a specific liked video is to scroll through your likes feed.
If you wish to unlike a video, tap on the heart icon below the video to unlike it. This will remove it from your Likes page. You can also tap the Share icon to share liked videos to other platforms.
Your liked videos on TikTok only remain visible to you. No one else can see the videos you have liked unless you specifically show them. Liking a video does not share it on your profile.
So in summary, the Likes page on TikTok allows you private, easy access to all the videos you have liked within the app. It serves as your personal collection of enjoyed videos.1
Search History
TikTok allows users to see their recent search history from the past 7 days. This can be accessed by going to the profile icon > Settings & Privacy > Content and Activity > Watch History. The watch history page will show all videos the user has watched or searched for in the last 7 days (Source 1). According to TikTok’s support page, only searches from the past 7 days are stored and old searches are deleted after that period (Source 3).
While users can manually delete videos from their watch history, it appears TikTok still stores search terms used even if individual videos are removed. However, this search data is also deleted after 7 days (Source 2). So in summary, TikTok retains user search history for 7 days before automatically deleting it.
