What TikTok's For You feed rewards
TikTok has said its recommendations are driven mostly by how people interact with a video: likes, shares, comments and whether they watch a longer video all the way to the end. Information like captions, sounds and hashtags helps too, but it carries less weight.
So a TikTok that travels does three things well. It stops the swipe in the first second, it keeps people watching to the end, and it gives them a reason to comment or share. The checker scores the first two directly and points out where a payoff or a question would give people a reason to respond.
The first second decides the swipe
On the For You feed people swipe fast. The openings that work tend to share a few traits:
- They start mid-action or mid-sentence, not with a wave or an introduction.
- They show the result, the problem or the twist first and explain after.
- They put a short text hook on screen straight away, for people watching on mute.
- Their first spoken word is loud and clear, not buried under music.
Keep text clear of TikTok's interface
TikTok puts your username, caption and sound along the bottom of the screen and its like, comment, save and share buttons down the right. Text in those areas gets covered. The checker flags every second where that happens and tells you where to move it. Pick Reels and Shorts too if you cross-post, and it checks all three layouts at once.
How long should a TikTok be?
TikTok accepts long uploads, and its Creator Rewards Program only counts videos longer than a minute. But length only helps if people stay. A tight 25-second video that most people finish usually does better than a 70-second one they leave halfway.
Your report shows where viewers are likely to drift, so you can see which seconds earn their place and which to cut. For writing stronger openings, see how to write a hook.