If you’re a TikTok user, you may have noticed that the platform doesn’t allow you to search through the accounts you follow. When you try to search your following list, you’ll get a message saying “No results found.” This can be frustrating if you’re trying to find a specific account you follow but can’t remember the exact username.
There are a few reasons why TikTok doesn’t allow users to search their following list:
Privacy and security concerns
Allowing users to search their following could raise privacy issues. If someone gets access to your account, they could exploit this feature to search your following list and see who you interact with on TikTok. This exposes information about you that you may want to keep private.
TikTok aims to give users control over their privacy settings. The inability to search your following makes it harder for others to access your personal information without your consent.
Technical limitations
With over 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok has an enormous user base. Building a scalable search infrastructure that can handle queries across billions of follow relationships is technically challenging and resource intensive.
Unlike Facebook, which allows searching your friends list, TikTok is focused on serving short-form videos. The infrastructure required to support searching following lists may not be a priority for TikTok right now.
To encourage exploring new content
A core part of the TikTok experience is discovering new content and creators organically. If users could easily search their follow list, they may be less likely to explore content outside of their existing network.
Not having a following search encourages you to view content from a broader range of creators. This helps keep the TikTok experience fresh and makes it more likely you’ll encounter new videos that you enjoy.
To reduce social pressure
The inability to search your following also reduces the social pressure and expectations often associated with following someone. You can’t easily audit who you are following or who follows you back.
On other platforms like Instagram and Twitter, people feel obligated to follow back those who follow them. By removing the ability to cross-reference follows, TikTok aims to make following more casual and worry-free.
Alternatives to searching your TikTok following
While you can’t search your following list directly, there are a few workarounds to find accounts you follow on TikTok:
Check your notifications
Open your notifications tab on TikTok – this shows recent activity from accounts you follow, such as comments, likes, or mentions. Scroll through notifications to jog your memory on who you follow.
Look through your comment history
Go to your profile and tap on Comments. This will show all the comments you’ve left on videos. The usernames you’ve commented under are likely accounts you follow.
Review accounts you’ve collaborated with
If you’ve done collab TikToks by stitching, duetting or mentioning other creators, you can find these videos in your profile. The accounts you’ve collaborated with are likely ones you follow.
Check “Liked” videos
Under your profile, view the videos you’ve liked. Many of these will be from creators you follow, though it can also surface new accounts to follow.
Use TikTok’s suggestions
TikTok’s “Following” feed shows content from accounts similar to those you follow. While not a direct match, it can surface accounts you’ve forgotten about.
TikTok also suggests accounts to follow based on your interests. Reviewing these recommendations can remind you of creators you already follow.
Restart following
As a last resort, you can unfollow everyone and restart following accounts. This is time consuming but will give you a blank slate to refollow creators.
Consider using a third party app
Some third party apps claim to let you search through your TikTok following list. However, most don’t have official API access and could violate TikTok’s terms of service.
Proceed with caution if choosing a third party app and do your research to ensure it’s not scraping data without consent.
Why a following search feature would be useful
While TikTok has valid reasons for not offering a native following search tool, there’s also a strong case for why the feature would be useful to have:
Easily find accounts you want to watch
When you follow hundreds or thousands of creators, it can be difficult to manually locate the handful you most want to watch at any given moment.
Quickly access accounts for collaborations
Searching your following makes it easier to find and reach out to fellow creators to set up collaborations like song challenges.
Identify inactive or poor quality accounts
A follow search lets you audit accounts you rarely watch anymore. You can then unfollow these inactive accounts to declutter your feed.
Manage who you interact with
Reviewing your full following list can help you identify accounts that no longer align with your interests or values. You can then unfollow them.
Will TikTok ever add a native follow search?
It’s unlikely TikTok will add an official search your following feature anytime soon. They seem committed to their stance for privacy and product experience reasons.
However, as the platform continues to grow, a first party tool could become more viable with the right privacy safeguards. But this doesn’t appear to be a priority for TikTok currently.
For now, use the workarounds suggested above or consider an approved third party app if you need to urgently find a specific account you follow.
Key takeaways
- Searching your following isn’t possible on TikTok due to privacy, product experience and technical reasons.
- You can find accounts you follow via notifications, comments, collaborations and liked videos.
- Third party apps provide a following search but have risks.
- TikTok is unlikely to add an official follow search feature anytime soon.
