TikTok’s looking to further expand its reach by improving accessibility with a range of new translation and captioning tools to help more users engage with the latest trending clips in the app. Since TikTok already does so well when it comes to algorithmic content feeding, it makes sense to also give a little focus on improving certain contextual parameters, adding to the overall sense of ‘wholeness’ for each clip.
If I Understand You Correctly…
First off, TikTok’s adding auto-captions, which provides another way to add text descriptions to your clips. TikTok’s auto-captions will appear on the lower left-hand side of the screen, adding important context to the viewing experience, especially in sound-off environments. Last year, TikTok added a variation of this, with this new update making it even easier for creators to provide captions overlaid on their clips.
On top of this, TikTok is also adding new translations for captions and descriptions, which could help more global users engage with a wider range of clips. Based on official information, users will now be able to provide translated caption text within their clips. So, if ever you’re looking to reach new markets or connect with different audiences, there are now more options to choose from, maximizing performance.
Lastly, TikTok’s also adding translations for text-based overlays and stickers, again, providing more context, especially for non-native speakers. Both of these new translation tools will initially support English, Portuguese, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, and Turkish. It seems that there’s quite a range of these translators to consider, so much so that it’s not impossible if they spark entirely new global trends.
If we take a look at this from a broader perspective, we can see how TikTok is logically moving towards expanding its scale by gradually removing language barriers. So far, TikTok has seen strong adoption in the US and several other Asian countries. If the world’s most popular app has reached more than 1.5 billion users in just these regions alone, then allowing it to tap into other markets might cause it to exponentially grow. However, full regionalization won’t happen overnight and will take a considerable amount of time and investment to fully achieve.
The Wrap
It’s a smart update for TikTok, which continues to expand its audience around the world, and with a plethora of trending clips, these new additions should help TikTok maximize the value of its best performers, regardless of what they uploaded. TikTok reports that it’s still in the early stages of rolling out these new tools, which are present on only a few select videos.
It’ll come in very handy, provided that TikTok is able to stick around long enough by the time that these new accessibility options reach a level of fluency. We say this because TikTok still has to overcome a couple of major hurdles, including a standoff with US regulators, as well as backlash from its own creators due to unoptimized monetization formats.
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