TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms in recent years, with over 1 billion monthly active users. One feature that set TikTok apart was the ability for users to see who has viewed their profile and content. This allowed creators to track their growth and provided valuable analytics. However, in early 2023 TikTok began removing public profile views for users globally.
There has been much speculation around why TikTok decided to get rid of this popular feature. Some believe it was done to protect user privacy and prevent “stalking” on the platform. Others think it was an attempt to reduce social pressure and jealousy amongst users comparing view counts. There are also theories that TikTok wants to reduce the focus on “vanity metrics” like views and followers, in order to promote their new push into ecommerce and shopping features.
While TikTok has not provided an official reason, the change aligns with the app’s recent attempts to clean up the platform and focus more on video quality over quantified popularity. However, the removal of public profile views has still caused confusion and frustration amongst many users.
Growth of TikTok
TikTok has seen explosive growth in popularity and active users since launching outside of China in 2017. According to statistics from Backlinko, TikTok hit 1 billion monthly active users in September 2021. As of December 2022, TikTok has over 1.5 billion monthly active users globally across iOS and Android.
Some key milestones showing TikTok’s rapid growth include:
- Reaching 2 billion global downloads by August 2020, making it the 2nd most downloaded app that year behind WhatsApp.
- Generating over $4 billion in in-app spending globally on iOS and Android by end of 2020.
- Being downloaded more than Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger combined in Q1 2021.
- Having 689 million global monthly active users as of December 2020, making it the 7th largest social media platform.
- Generating an estimated $6.2 billion in revenue in 2021, a 5x increase from 2020.
Clearly TikTok has tapped into the viral nature of short video content and become a pop culture phenomenon and social media juggernaut within a few short years. Its massive growth shows no signs of slowing down as TikTok continues expanding its userbase across geographies.
Purpose of Profile Views
Before the recent changes, the profile views feature on TikTok allowed users to see how many people had visited their profile page. This provided users with a way to gauge their popularity and level of engagement on the platform.
As influencer marketing has grown on TikTok, profile views became an important metric. Creators could demonstrate their reach and influence to potential brand sponsors by showing high numbers of profile views. For individual users, it served as validation that their content was being seen.
Having visibility into profile views enabled users to compete for higher view counts. Some strived to get more views through posting viral videos or participating in engagement pods. For TikTok stars, view counts could also translate into income if leveraged properly.
Why Remove Profile Views?
According to TikTok, the decision to remove the profile view count was made to “focus more on video content than popularity metrics” and to “reduce social pressure and comparisons among users” (TikTok Support). By removing the public view count, TikTok aims to place more emphasis on the quality of videos rather than how many views a profile receives. This change shifts the focus away from popularity and social status, which TikTok believes can negatively impact mental health and wellbeing.
Additionally, the view count has been criticized for fuelling competitiveness and toxicity between users. Without the metric being publicly displayed, the social pressure to accumulate profile views is reduced. While users can still see their own private view history, the change means they no longer have to worry about how their view count compares to others. Overall, the decision aligns with TikTok’s goals of promoting authentic and positive forms of self-expression.
User Reactions
Many users have expressed disappointment and frustration over TikTok’s removal of profile views. As reported by FM104, some users felt “sick” after finding out their view counts had dropped dramatically overnight [1]. On Reddit, users complained about the change, with one saying their profile views were “automatically turned on” without their consent [2].
For many TikTok creators and influencers, profile views have been an important metric to quantify success and measure growth over time. Removing this key statistic makes it harder for creators to track their progress and identify what types of content perform best. As TechTimes reported, some feel TikTok has taken away an essential tool for understanding their audience [3].
Impact on Influencers
The removal of public profile views has made it harder for influencers to determine their reach and influence without seeing a view count. Influencers previously relied on high profile view numbers as a metric for their popularity and to demonstrate their value to potential sponsors.
Without public profile views, influencers will need to turn to other metrics to gauge their reach, such as number of likes, comments, and shares on their videos. However, these may not paint as complete a picture as profile views did. An influencer could have a popular video with lots of engagement but not as many dedicated followers viewing their profile routinely.
According to research by this Quora post, influencers are concerned about the impact on perceived authority and negotiating brand deals without the profile view metric.
Impact on Businesses
Many businesses relied heavily on TikTok’s profile view counts to gauge interest and engagement with their brand’s account and marketing efforts on the platform. The removal of this feature has left businesses without one of their key metrics for measuring marketing success on TikTok.
According to a Reddit user, after switching their personal TikTok account to a business account, their view counts immediately dropped to zero, despite previously getting around 1,000 views per video consistently.
With profile views gone, businesses now need to find alternative ways to benchmark growth and engagement on TikTok. Some metrics they could look to instead include follower growth, likes, comments, shares, video views, and traffic referred from TikTok to their website or store. However, none of these provide quite as direct an indicator of interest as profile views did.
Overall, the disappearance of profile views has disrupted many brands’ existing social media strategies on TikTok. It will likely force them to adjust their approach and find new benchmarks for success until TikTok potentially reinstates the feature.
Alternatives for Users
Most users relied heavily on profile views as a metric of success on TikTok. With this metric now hidden, users need to adjust their strategy. A few alternatives include:
Users can still view their own private analytics for profile views in the Creator Tools section of the app. So the data is still available, just not publicly displayed. Focusing too heavily on profile views can shift priorities towards vanity metrics anyway.
The best advice is to focus more on content quality rather than chasing views. Engaging stories, useful advice, and entertaining videos tend to naturally attract an audience over time. Relying too much on profile views can encourage lower quality content meant to temporarily boost numbers.
Users can also watch for other metrics like likes, comments, shares, and watch time to gauge audience interest. Quality watch time where people fully view videos tends to signal better content than just brief profile visits.
TikTok is encouraging creators to build relationships with loyal fans rather than chasing clout with passive viewers. So users should take the change as a chance to strengthen connections with their community.
TikTok’s Future Plans
In response to the widespread criticism over removing public profile views, TikTok has indicated that they may test showing views only to creators in the future. As stated in a blog post, TikTok is continuing to refine the platform for the optimal user experience, which involves regularly testing new formats and iterations.
While TikTok has defended the decision by saying it levels the playing field, they recognize the importance of metrics like views for creators. One possibility being explored is showing profile views only to account owners, while keeping it hidden from the public-facing profile. This could be a way to provide valuable insight for creators to track their growth, while avoiding the pitfalls of public view counts impacting user experience.
It remains to be seen exactly how TikTok will balance the needs of creators who rely on metrics with the goal of an inclusive platform. But the company has suggested the profile views change is not necessarily permanent, and that they are open to revising the format based on feedback. TikTok’s willingness to experiment points to more shifts around metrics and visibility as they work to refine the optimal experience.
Conclusion
In summary, TikTok’s decision to remove public profile views was likely driven by a desire to emphasize the quality of videos over vanity metrics. This change impacts different users in different ways – while influencers and businesses may need to adjust how they measure reach, regular users may find it refreshing to post without worrying about view counts. It’s unclear if or when TikTok may reinstate public metrics, but the platform continues evolving rapidly. Their stated intent is to design an experience focused on creativity and entertainment over chasing viral fame. While the loss of public metrics is an adjustment, TikTok seems committed to this direction for a more positive community.
