TikTok has announced a new set of features designed to give users greater control over the content they see, helping them explore their interests, discover new favourite creators, and personalise their TikTok experience.

The “For You” feed lies at the heart of the TikTok experience. It’s where users discover new interests, and where creators, communities, and small businesses find their audience and grow.

Stories like Tricia Mpisi, an entertainment creator who was discovered on TikTok, auditioned for a movie now available on a streaming platform, and grace_the_cookist, who inspires her audience with her home cooking recipes , demonstrate the power of the For You feed to elevate voices and spark connections beyond traditional boundaries in South Africa.

“The For You feed is what makes TikTok a place like no other to discover your favourite new interests or grow a thriving community. With our new features, you can manage topics you want to see in your For You feed and limit keywords and hashtags you’d rather skip, so that it’s easier than ever to find creators, hobbies, and content you love.” — Adam Presser, Head of Operations & Trust & Safety.

The new updates include:

Manage Topics:

A new feature that allows users to customize how frequently they see content related to over 10 popular topics, including Creative Arts, Travel, Nature, and Sports.

With just a few taps, users can shape their For You feed to better reflect their unique interests.

These settings won’t eliminate any topics entirely, but can influence how often they’re recommended as peoples’ interests evolve over time. This makes it even easier for communities to discover new topics and creators that they love.

Smart Keyword Filtering

TikTok has introduced a new Smart Keyword Filter, a technology-driven setting that expands filtering to include synonyms and related terms, helping users filter a broader range of content more effectively.

The enhanced feature will help users easily limit content they may want to avoid or see less of in their feeds.

To give people more fine-grained ways to shape their experience in the months to come, TikTok will also be doubling the number of keywords users can include to 200, making it easier to add keywords in bulk, and enabling people to see and select which related keywords they want included in the Smart filtering.

TikTok’s custom keyword filters have long helped users tailor their feed by limiting content that includes specific words or phrases. This tool has been used more than 190 million times by our global community.

Empowering through education

As part of the continuous effort to help people understand how the For You feed works, TikTok is also launching a new educational guide which empowers people with tips and tools to understand and shape their feeds in one easy place.

The guide will include features that show why content was recommended, and educational videos that have received over 180 million views around the world

All the new updates are eligible for both teen and adult accounts, building on tools and safeguards that help people have a great For You feed experience.

These include:

• Applying strict For You feed eligibility standards to restrict content that isn’t appropriate for a general audience from recommendation in For You feeds, and working to prevent content with mature or complex themes from reaching teens through Content Levels
• Offering additional For You feed tools to help people refresh their For You feed, indicate they’re “not interested” in a video or turn on Restricted Mode to further limit content that may not be comfortable for broad audiences.
• Taking steps to interrupt frequent recommendations of some types of content that may be problematic if seen too often.

All these updates will further empower audiences on TikTok to explore, learn and discover content and creators they love.