TikTok launches new text-only publishing option

TikTok is introducing a new text-based posting option as part of an effort to better serve its more than 1 billion active users.

TikTok launches text-only publishing: The social media behemoth declared on Monday that it is “expanding the boundaries of content creation” by enabling users to post text messages containing stories, poems, recipes, and other types of written content. Users can add noises and music, stickers, hashtags, and geographical tags to their postings to add variety.

“We’re excited to see what our community will create with text posts, a new way to express and share your creativity on TikTok,” the business stated in a press release.

The addition happened the same day Elon Musk changed Twitter’s trademark blue bird to a “X,” the latest modification to the billionaire’s platform. With the introduction of Mark Zuckerberg’s new platform for open discourse, Threads, Instagram introduced its own text-based option earlier this month.

It’s unclear if the new TikTok functionality is intended to face off against Threads or X. Users can publish 1,000 characters in a text-only post, as opposed to 500 characters on Threads and 280 characters on X. And according to TikTok, the new feature is just a another way for users to express their creativity, while Instagram described Threads in a news release as an app for “joining public conversations.”

X, on the other hand, aims to be Musk’s “everything app” of the future and has lofty objectives beyond just serving as a forum for public dialogue. Musk sees the application as a platform that enables users to carry out a variety of daily chores, like as making purchases and sales and booking appointments.

Concerns that TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent firm, Byte Dance, would give user information to the Chinese government have caused controversy recently. Governor Greg Gianforte claimed that the state of Montana banned the app in May to protect its citizens’ data from China.