Employees of TikTok revealed that a 'heating' button ensures specific hand-picked videos achieve a certain number of video views, with only .002% videos heated per user's For You Page.
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BERLIN, GERMANY - JULY 06: A mobile phone films participants walking along a red carpet as they attend an event called "The Future of Fashion" held by the short-form video hosting service TikTok, on July 06, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. The theme of the evening was "How Will You Dress 10 Years From Now?"
BERLIN, GERMANY - JULY 06: A mobile phone films participants walking along a red carpet as they attend an event called "The Future of Fashion" held by the short-form video hosting service TikTok, on July 06, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. The theme of the evening was "How Will You Dress 10 Years From Now?"
TikTok's 'Heating' Button
TikTok is known for having an authentic algorithm for its 'For You' page that predicts users' interests based on their behavior in the app. But according to Forbes' report, six current and former employees revealed that the company is deciding what goes viral and hand-picking specific videos to boost views.
This was possible through a "heating" button that employees manually push to practice these stuff. As per an internal document from the company entitled MINT Heating Playbook, around 1-2% of daily total video views are heated by the company for a large portion that can have a significant impact on overall metrics.
While the company confirmed this news, TikTok Spokesperson Jamie Favazza stated that they don't do this often as they claimed that approximately .002% of videos in their feeds are heated.
Compared to sponsored videos and advertisements on the app, heated videos don't come with a label to show that the post has been boosted by TikTok. The Verge reported that these videos appear just like any other videos on their page.
Heated Videos
The 'Heating' button revealed that some of the videos on users' For You page are not there because of their interests and previous-liked videos but also because of TikTok's initiative as they want a particular brand or creator to have more views.
ByteDance, TikTok, and even contractors who work with the company have considerable discretion regarding which content will be heated with more views, as per The Wrap.
The TikTok Heating Policy says that videos can be chosen by employees to attract influencers and brands to entice them with partnerships, which means that some of the popular influencers potentially benefitted at the expense of others with whom it has not.
Aside from this, it becomes a key to some relevant videos that were missed by recommendation algorithms. Favazza also said that the company also "promotes some videos to help diversify the content experience."
While the intentions of the document are substantial, Forbes believed that it was poorly organized. Heating documents exist across multiple teams and regions, including the Content Programming and Content Editorial Team in Los Angeles and the Live Platform and Product Operational Teams in China.
There are also other documents in the MINT Heating PlayBook titled MINT Heating Operation Policy 101, Heating Quota Guidelines, TikTok Heating Policy, and U.S. Heating Strategy Guidelines.
"If you make good use of it, heating resources will bring a leverage effect, a small amount of heating resources will bring about growth of midrange users, and a more diverse content pool," the playbook stated.
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