TikTok is a popular short-form video app that allows users to create, share, and discover short videos. However, unlike other social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube, TikTok does not have a built-in search function that allows users to search for specific videos, sounds or hashtags within the app.
There are a few key reasons why TikTok does not currently have a search feature:
Intentional design choice
The lack of a search function on TikTok is an intentional design choice by TikTok to focus the experience on discovery rather than searching. TikTok wants users to explore and encounter new videos and creators organically through recommendations on the For You page rather than actively searching for specific content.
TikTok’s algorithm is designed to learn each user’s interests based on their interactions and serve them relevant and engaging content tailored to their taste. By relying on recommendations versus searches, TikTok can create a more personalized, curated feed for each user.
Emphasize browsing over searching
In line with the emphasis on discovery, TikTok wants to promote browsing and scrolling through videos rather than having users search for specific content. The infinite, full-screen feed on the For You page encourages endless browsing without disruption.
Adding a search bar would allow users to bypass browsing for tailored videos and disrupt the immersive viewing experience TikTok tries to create. So omitting search puts more focus on the browsing experience.
Concerns around search misuse
TikTok may have concerns around how a search feature could be misused on the platform. Search could potentially be exploited by bad actors to surface inappropriate, dangerous, or false content.
By relying on their recommendation algorithm instead, TikTok can better control the content surfaced to users and prevent abuse of search capabilities to spread problematic videos.
Technical challenges
Building a search feature for the huge volume and variety of short-form video content on TikTok poses significant technical challenges compared to search on text-based platforms.
TikTok would need advanced computer vision, natural language processing, and metadata tagging to make short-form video content searchable by keywords, sounds, people, hashtags, etc. This kind of video search technology is still being developed.
Concerns around creator discoverability
A search feature could also undermine TikTok’s democratizing platform, where new creators have a chance to go viral regardless of their following. Search may favor established creators with higher visibility and make it harder for newer creators to get discovered.
By steering users to search-optimized content, TikTok risks reducing the discoverability of smaller creators that its recommendation engine otherwise gives visibility to.
Potential future addition
While TikTok currently does not allow search, the company is reportedly working on adding search capabilities as the platform continues evolving. As TikTok bolsters its technical capabilities and content moderation safeguards, a basic search feature may be introduced.
But this will likely complement, not replace, the For You page recommendations and emphasize finding creators over specific videos. Care will be taken to avoid disrupting TikTok’s core browsing experience even as search capabilities are added.
Workarounds for finding content
While TikTok does not have an official search feature now, there are some workarounds users have come up with to find content:
- Using specific hashtags – Browsing niche hashtags can surface videos on a certain topic.
- Following creators – Their content will show up in your Following feed.
- Looking through sounds – You can see videos using a particular sound.
- Using TikTok’s limited search on desktop – Some keyword and hashtag search is available.
- Using third-party sites – Sites like TikTokSearch.com let you search by keyword.
However, these workarounds produce limited results compared to a true search engine. They rely on hashtags and metadata added by creators rather than searching video content directly. So finding specific videos can still be a challenge.
Why a robust search feature matters
While TikTok’s approach has proven wildly successful, the lack of search does create some limitations for users and creators:
- Users can’t easily find specific videos they want to rewatch or original sounds/music they want to reuse.
- Influencers and creators have a harder time getting their content seen by interested audiences who would search for it.
- Niche communities and topics get less visibility without users being able to search for related content.
- Useful or informative content can go undiscovered if not served up by the recommendation algorithm.
- Finding and crediting original creators of viral memes, sounds, etc. is more difficult.
So while a basic search feature may get added eventually, TikTok will likely need to develop more sophisticated search technology to allow finding content as easily as users expect on platforms like YouTube and Instagram.
The future of search on TikTok
TikTok is clearly committed to its recommendation-first approach for the foreseeable future. But as it continues to grow, user expectations around search will likely force TikTok to evolve its capabilities in this area.
Some possibilities for how search could develop include:
- Basic keyword, hashtag, and sound search – Help users rediscover specific content.
- Search recommendations bar – Maintain browsing while allowing searches.
- Creator search profiles – Help users find all of a creator’s content.
- Personalized search based on interests – Surface results tailored to individuals.
- Search filters – By duration, category, sounds, etc to refine results.
- Advanced computer vision search – Scan and identify people, objects, text, etc in video.
While a full-featured search engine on TikTok may still be a long way off, the platform will likely need to strike the right balance between maintaining its discovery-first experience and user expectations for robust search capabilities in the future.
Key Takeaways
- TikTok intentionally omitted search to focus on recommendation-based discovery and immersive browsing.
- Building effective video search poses significant technical challenges TikTok is still working on solving.
- Basic workarounds help find some content but lack the sophistication of a real search engine.
- Lack of search creates limitations for finding specific videos and hampers creator discoverability.
- TikTok may add limited search features but discovery will remain the priority.
- More advanced search capabilities will need to develop over time on TikTok.
