TikTok Introducing Photo Mode for Still Images & Longer Video Captions

October 14, 2022

TikTok is rolling out a new Photo mode feature that looks very similar to the Instagram model, where TikTok offers still images on the app.

TikTok Photo Mode


As you can see from the example Photo Mode looks like this. Users have the ability to post carousels of images that users can scroll through on the app. Photo mode will allow users to share carousel posts of still pictures that will be displayed one after another. Users will be able to add music as soundtracks for images, and users can swipe through them at their own pace.

This feature is interesting because it is broadening what creators can do on the platform, it broadens their creative palette. This new creative option will presumably enhance the overall offering of the app.

At TikTok, they’re predicting a spark of new trends in many categories, memes, photo dumps, etc.

Additionally, the jump from 300 characters to 2.200 characters can accompany each clip. This is a big jump, and it will allow creators to describe and tell stories in their videos. This feature will further broaden the odds of discovery.

Google has recently noted that almost 40% of young people use TikTok and Instagram for search, instead of Google. TikTok is now playing a role in the discovery, and the new character feature in video descriptions will allow more keywords and more search matching, etc.