But what if your feed is not all it’s cracked up to be? If you find yourself bored with TikTok, we’re here to help fix it. This is what you need to know about how to change your TikTok FYP.
The Mystery Behind TikTok’s Algorithm
For the longest time, it was hard to know what made the TikTok FYP (For You Page) so engaging. The company refused to share its formula for success and left users guessing what made the app know their preferences so well.
However, in a blog post from 2020, the company revealed a bit about how TikTok recommends videos for you. It determined that “the best way to curate your For You feed is to simply use and enjoy the app.” It didn’t go into too much detail, other than the advice to follow new accounts and explore the Discover tab (which the app put to rest in June 2022, and replaced with the TikTok Now tab).
Later, in 2021, some documents about the algorithm leaked to the press. They revealed that watch time isn’t the only factor for recommendations on the app.
According to The New York Times, the equation for scoring videos and including them in your recommendations is a combination of “likes, comments, and playtime, as well as an indication that the video has been played.”
Even with this revelation, it’s not very clear why one video ranks higher than others. To make matters even more complicated, in the summer of 2022, the app released a major update to the algorithm. Since they noticed many users turn to the app for searches, almost as an alternative to Google, they wanted to focus more on that aspect.
Over time, people have tried to break down the algorithm and work out what helps your TikTok video appear on others’ FYPs.
From the other point of view, this information can explain what actions will help improve your FYP to better match your interests. Instead of thinking about how to change the TikTok algorithm, use these methods to help it work to your benefit.
1. Follow Accounts You Like
The first thing you should do once you get on TikTok is to follow accounts that you find interesting. This will ensure you keep seeing those creators on your FYP, and it will also help the app recommend content in the same areas of interest.
2. Watch and Re-Watch
While watch time is not the most important factor, according to leaked documents, it is still a factor. So when the app recognizes that you’ve watched something all the way through, it understands that you liked it. An even better way to stress your enjoyment is to watch the same video several times.
3. Press “Not Interested”
But what happens if you watch something all the way through, only to find out it was clickbait? You know those videos. Those that say “watch what happens next” only to be completely disappointing at the end.
Just because you watch something until the end, doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to more hours of the same content. You can tell the app that you didn’t like this, and avoid similar trends and sounds in the future.
To do that, long-press the screen, until a pop-up appears. Then press the broken heart icon that says Not Interested. The same button also appears if you press the Share button.
If you want to go a step further and completely eliminate a certain creator, you’ll have to block them. Go into their profile page, press the three dots on the top right, and select Block.
4. Like and Share
Another great way to signal to the app that you like a piece of content is to hit the Like button on the right side of the screen. This is also a good way of supporting the creators that you enjoy.
Additionally, every video that you like will enter a special library in your profile for later reference. You can choose to either keep this library private or make it public.
The Share button is a natural companion of the Like button. If you enjoy something enough, you may want to send it to your favorite WhatsApp group, or add it to your Instagram stories. You can do that with the Share button on the right of the screen.
You can also go a step further and hit Save to keep the video on your device, which will also help you to share it with people who don’t have TikTok on their phones. Both of these actions will signal to the app that you want more of the same content.
5. Add to Favorites
You can even go one step future, and add a piece of content to your favorites, so you can come back to it later. Here, you can like more than a specific video. You can add videos, sounds, effects, hashtags, and questions to your Favorites library, which appears on your profile, next to the Edit Profile button.
Not only will this help the algorithm serve you better content, but if you want to create your own content, this library can help you save ideas for later. And you can even organize this library with sub-folders.
6. Comment on Videos You Like
If you’re somebody who mainly watches TikTok, and doesn’t really create videos, you may not be big on commenting either. You probably like to comment only if you have something interesting to contribute to the conversation. This is a mistake if you’re wondering how to change your FYP and curate a better one.
TikTok takes into account any form of engagement to help build better recommendations, which is why comments play a key role. You’ve might’ve noticed that many people comment with lines like “commenting to stay on this side of TikTok”. And if you want to see more of the same content, you should do the same.
7. Use the Search Option
The canceled Discover tab on TikTok was a place to find trending hashtags and sounds, and once you’d watched them, you’d see more of the same on your FYP. Now you have to be more active if you want to achieve the same results. You can use the search at the top to type specific keywords and look for more content you’d like to see. Then proceed to like and share videos from that search, to really make it easy on the algorithm.
Also, when you first press on the magnifying glass, you can see suggestions of videos You may like. These are based on your previous watches, or on what’s trending (those have a fire emoji next to them).
8. Change Your Location
You may have already noticed that TikTok tends to be hyper-local. Sometimes, it will serve you videos from people you know, even if you don’t follow them, and those videos are not viral. This is simply because the app recognizes you live in the same region.
However, if you really want to change things up, you can trick the app into thinking you live somewhere else. For that, you’ll have to use a VPN on your phone.
9. Start from Scratch
If you’re still not enjoying your FYP and wondering how to change your FYP on TikTok, as a final solution, you can start over. You can try to create a better experience the second time around. One way to do that is to open a completely new account.
However, if you’re also a creator, you may not want to lose everything you’ve made. In that case, you can reset your TikTok FYP to get new recommendations.
Support Your Favorite Creators
As you can tell from these actions, making your FYP work for you takes a bit of time and investment. This comes back to the company’s initial statement that the more time you spend on the app, the better it’ll work for you.
However, don’t forget that there are actual people behind the content you consume. So if you like, share, and comment, make sure you also do that to show your appreciation for their hard work.
