Why TikTok Live Video Is Ruining the App!

This is why this particular type of content is ruining the app experience for many users.

1. They are not related

Why TikTok Live Video Is Ruining the App! Picture 1

It's not certain what criteria TikTok uses to suggest live videos to you other than location, as all of the videos are unrelated and simply come from a faraway place. The TikTok feed can be filled with content about animals and funny songs, as well as the occasional post about technology.

But for some reason, when it comes to live video, you get recommended tarot readings, astrology, car auctions, random vlogs from people you don't know, and a bunch of other content you'd never want to interact with.

If a TikTok live video showed live cameras of animals at a rescue center or a tech event, it would be much less annoying. But now when I scroll through my FYP, I see ads and low-quality live videos sandwiched between the actual content I want to watch.

2. They appear frequently in the feed

For a while, users didn't see any TikTok live videos in their feeds. Aside from the occasional ad, the TikTok feed was usually great. However, in late August 2024, live videos reappeared in the feed, disrupting the otherwise fun experience on the app.

Many people spend about 15 minutes a day on TikTok, wanting to avoid wasting too much time on social media. During this limited time, seeing a few live videos significantly reduces the user's enjoyment of the app. Even if you quickly scroll past them, TikTok will get a signal that you don't like the content, but they still appear in your feed, especially around noon.

If TikTok's algorithm doesn't get the message soon, many people may stop engaging with the app altogether.

3. There is no way to eliminate them

TikTok allows you to exclude certain content by keyword. This allows you to filter content with that keyword from your feed. But live videos are a content category, not a keyword that appears in the description or title.

If TikTok had a way to filter out certain categories of content, like reposts and live videos, users would use that to improve their TikTok FYP.

Quickly swiping through videos seems like the only way to limit them. But even swiping through a video immediately is enough to increase the number of live videos that show up in recommendations between days.

You'll probably have to spend the next few days aggressively skipping live videos in the hopes that it improves your feed. But if TikTok continues to serve up this kind of irrelevant, low-quality content, it might be time to take a break from the app.

David Pac

Update 04 September 2024