Like many other popular social media apps, TikTok has added a Stories feature to its app experience. In this article, we'll look at how TikTok Stories work, and why you might choose to post a TikTok Story instead of a regular TikTok post.
What Are TikTok Stories?
In March 2022, TikTok released its Stories feature; the same feature we've seen on other social media apps, including Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.
Like other platforms, TikTok allows audiences to view Stories for 24 hours. These Stories appear on the For You Page like regular TikTok videos. You are also able to like Stories and leave a public comment. This is something that sets TikTok Stories apart from other platforms, where you can typically only reply to the person who posted the story.
While TikTok Stories can appear on the For You Page, they don't appear on profiles in the same way a regular video would. You can find them by tapping on a user's profile picture. If someone has posted a Story to TikTok, they will have a light blue circle encasing their profile photo.
How to Post a TikTok Story
If you're looking to add something to your TikTok Story, here's how:
Make sure you have the most recent update of TikTok installed on your device. Go to your profile page. You will see a blue circle with a white plus sign next to your profile picture.
Tap on the blue circle. At first glance the screen used to capture TikTok Stories appears to look the same as the screen you see when you go to post a regular TikTok video, but because you clicked on the blue circle to add a story you will notice that the option "Quick" is selected at the bottom of the screen.
You can also toggle between "Photo" and "Video" depending on what content you would like to post to your Story. It is crucial to have Quick capture selected in order to post a Story.
Capture a photo or video, or upload something from your camera roll, and add the desired effects and/or sounds. This step will feel a lot similar to what it is like to post an actual video on TikTok, because all the same features are still available to edit your content before posting.
Post your Story. Once you are ready to post your Story you will see a white Post to Story button. You should click this button to post your content to your TikTok Story. The regular "Post" button will lead you to post the content to your TikTok account like a regular post instead of just your Story. A blue ring will encase your profile picture once your Story has successfully uploaded.
Unlike Stories on other platforms, likes, views, and comments are all public information. When you click on your profile picture, your Story will pop up. You will notice that you can see how many people have viewed your Story in the bottom left corner, and whenever someone interacts with your video, those analytics will appear the same way it would on a typical TikTok video.
Why Should You Use TikTok Stories?
TikTok Stories are a great way to quickly capture and post something for your followers. Because Stories only last for 24 hours, they can be good for things like getting advice in a timely manner, sharing clips of a live event, or just to post something you don't care to have on your profile for more than 24 hours.
While they're not to everyone's tastes, Stories are now a fundamental part of most social media apps, so you should start using them occasionally or risk being left behind.