TikTok is truly a global phenomenon. It launched in 2017 in most markets and – accelerated by the hunger for human connection and entertainment during the COVID lockdowns – was quickly taken up across the globe.

Incredible milestones mark its progress – 1 billion global downloads recorded in February 2019; first account to reach 100 million followers in November 2020 (teenager Charlie D’Amelio if you are checking); 1billion monthly active users as of the last quarter 2022.

It’s moved beyond its origins as a platform for amusing synchronised dance moves and lip syncs to provide a wide range of entertaining content and is a fast-growing news source for all ages, particularly teenagers.

Perhaps the biggest tribute is how competitor platforms have been forced to develop their own TikTok-style offerings, such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

Bow to the brilliant design

How has the Chinese-owned app managed this trick? One simple answer, design. 

TikTok’s user experience (UX) is finely tooled for ease of use and to deliver exactly what the viewer wants. It delivers an optimised experience to engage the user with content perfectly matched to their interests in a seamless flow that has no apparent end unless you actively shut the app.

From onboarding to interacting with the content, the TikTok experience is fast and effortless. 

As a user once you’ve created your TikTok account and signed in you are up and running. As soon as you open the app you are viewing a video – there’s zero buffering or waiting for things to happen and there’s no complex learning process or frustrating menu to figure out.

The engineering allows this trick of frictionless video serving. The back-end servers used by the platform are fine-tuned for optimum performance like a Formula 1 car engine. Behind the scenes there will be three or four videos cued up and pre-loaded for when the user tires of or finishes the one they are viewing.

The reward principle that keeps people engaged 

Fast service is one thing. Delivering content that the user finds compelling is another. 

This is TikTok’s whole goal. From a user’s first interaction, be it a swipe up for the next video, a like or a share, or a subtle stall and watch. This engagement feeds the algorithm and determines what content is selected and served up next. It is absorbing the user tastes in music, foods, pets and much, much more.

The app’s ability to ‘read’ user attention is highly calibrated – and it can propagate a video’s distribution at speed. Content could be shown to one hundred people and if attention metrics show the video is received in a certain way the reach will be scaled to 1,000 users, then 10,000 and within 24 hours could have tens of millions of views. This is how a clip can go viral at incredible speed.

From a  psychological viewpoint the app acts in the manner of an end of pier slot machine with the carefully calculated level of rewards it gives out. The user gets a dopamine hit from watching something they enjoy and wants to have that feeling again as soon as possible. 

Swiping up to move to the next video is like hitting the big red button on the fruit machine in the hope there’s another reward coming.  It even seems like the algorithm is even clever enough to intermittently serve up something less satisfying or more random in a bid to get the user to refocus if they are building up a tolerance to the infinite scroll.

Everyone can be a moviemaker

The flipside is encouraging the creation of content – TikTok is dependent on people producing  videos. Again, ease of use is to the fore. The app provides incredibly powerful video creation tools for editing and adding effects and filters that a novice can get to grips with in no time.

It also understands the psychological boost that will encourage amateur content creators to keep making videos. The first content created by new users will be given an artificial boost in reach so creators receive gratifying feedback and reactions quickly. This should prompt them to make more content and feed the TikTok universe’s insatiable hunger for ‘stuff’. 

TikTok’s user experience (UX) is finely tooled to deliver an exceptional, engaging experience to the user, an experience that provides content perfectly matched to the user interests and desires that never seems to run out. Its genius (and some might say its fiendishness) is that all aspects of the design are in the service of addressing the low boredom threshold of the user and keeping them scrolling.

The app’s staggering success has not come without challenges. There are concerns about its Chinese origins alongside worries that it serves up potentially harmful content to young people without enough checks and moderation.

Macroeconomic forces and regulatory decisions may yet derail TikTok’s growth – but even if it does disappear rest assured there will be other social media platforms waiting in the wings who have absorbed its lessons.

Simplicity, speed of responsiveness, instant immersion, providing value to users from the get-go. These attributes all mark TikTok out as a best-in-class app and its approach to design principles will leave a huge footprint for years to come.

Sam Drury, Head of UX at UIC Digital