Tiktok views are inflated, here's why.
Ever thought that Tik Tok views are a bit inflated? It's illegal to boost likes and comments on social media but it's a fact that many shady businesses still offer their service. Some even blatantly advertise their messages to the public. I strongly believe that Tik Tok is inflating their views for gains and recognition.
Since its late launch in 2016, Tik Tok has garnered up to 5 trillion views in from 2020 to 2022 alone. To put it into perspective, take Youtube, the second most visited website on the planet, with daily views of 5 billion, and a total annual view of 1.8 trillion views per year, which is still 1.4 trillion views short of the 5 trillion Tik Tok gathered over 2 years.
I think there are 3 possible reasons for this.
- TikTok clips are much shorter than Youtube videos, at 3s to 60s max. Which incites people to go from one video to the next faster, which increases views per video. While Youtube’s average video length is 12.9 minutes, making it harder for viewers to watch more than a dozen in each sitting.
- TikTok creators boost their like way too much, take Addison Rae, a person of no outside fame (entertainer, athlete, or politician) for example, she boasts 5.6 Billion Likes, which is close to the number of people in the world with smartphones (6.6 Billion people). So that means 85% of people who own phones are fans of Addison Rae. They’re not even hiding it anymore, search results on Google for “Tiktok like” come up with hundreds of websites where you can buy Internet points from.
- If you don’t have the money, then Tiktok offers you “a taste of virality”. This means it utilizes the “for you” section to automatically feed your content to other users. Apparently, creators only needed to make sure their content is short (no more than 45s), and use the proper hashtags, as shown in Youtuber Jack Gordon's video "I Rigged the TikTok Algorithm To Make Me Go Viral".
So, what do you think? Why are the views inflated for certain long-time users, or anyone can make it big on Tiktok? Why does TikTok allow like-boosting on their site? What is the bigger picture, does Tiktok do this so they can beat their competitors?
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I disagree with the second statement logic.
The 5.6 billion likes are accumulated likes and not unique likers. Which makes the statement "So that means 85% of people who own phones are fans of Addison Rae" hilariously wrong.
But I do agree that TikTok seems to be inflating their numbers.
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I’m not surprised. In the clout business, Tiktok services are the cheapest. You can get more than 10k views for just $1. So, there you go. Any nobody can work a minimum wage job, and buy their way into being an ‘influencer’.
This happens on Insta, FB, YT, Reddit, Discord, Twitch, you name it. A lot of ‘influencers’ are faking it, at least a little bit.
Of course the platform allows this because it bloats the overall numbers which means more publicity, more advertisers, and more investors (stock prices).
It’s a freaking disease is what it is.
that's the whole point, the higher the clicks the better the business model they have and thus generate ad revenues. I have a background in SEO and crypto and in both industries it is virtually impossible to state data in its raw format for fear that money will be lost. the end-user is always the source of income for anyone in control. Tiktok is no differerent.
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while it's valid to question inflated metrics on TikTok, it's important to recognize that the platform's success isn't solely due to this. TikTok's popularity stems from various factors, including its algorithm and user-friendly interface. While concerns about engagement manipulation exist, TikTok must balance these with maintaining a vibrant creator community.
All social platforms do this. They make creating content akin to pulling the lever on a slot machine. TikTok has a pretty smart approach in which you (the creator) have a sense that you're winning the game with all your newfound likes & followers. But one day that will suddenly go away unless you're consistently creating great content and have enough of an audience to get you "over the hill" to the general FYP.
Its manipulative and promotes creators to create until they reach an impasse. The artificial inflation of views isn't artificial. It's real. It's real enough that if you don't do enough with it, you lose it permanently and have to start over or play the game everyone is playing of virality.
I can't really get behind these numbers though, kinda feels like you "inflated" them to fit your post. 85% who own phones have heard of Addison Rae because of her like counts? Stop with the nonsense. If there's 1 billion TikTok active users and ~6 billion people who own a smartphone, it just sadly doesn't add up. These likes and views come from a dedicated majority of TikTok users, and this can't just be applied to general smartphone users as many people haven't even used TikTok.
What people don't realize is that many people buy followers and inflate their social platforms. Go look at any popular creator you follow who has mostly stagnated growth after reaching a huge milestone, and see their engagement rates. Also if you wanted to have fun with it, search for users by country and you'll see some pretty interesting results. I know somebody who reached over 500k on TikTok somehow and can't obtain 3k views on videos and has lower engagement rates than creators 1/5 the size. Yet the world doesn't care if you "faked it till you make it" because you'll still be able to "fake" that to get sponsorships and make a living from it.
Interesting share. I also found their numbers to be inflated.
Wild to see the business of inflated likes grow to this point. But you mention it's illegal? Why isn't more being done then to prevent it or curtail this behavior?
It's illegal in some jurisdictions and the data can be used to manipulate certain monetary contracts in other forms. Perhaps its not illegal directly but the exaggeration of views is indeed the source of fraud for many future scenarios.
While TikTok's view counts might appear inflated due to the nature of short videos and algorithm-driven content, it's crucial to maintain authenticity and integrity in online engagement.
It is not surprising that TikTok services are the cheapest in the clout business. For just $1, you can purchase more than 10k views and become an "influencer" overnight. This practice of buying engagement is not limited to TikTok, but rather exists across multiple social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Discord, and Twitch. Many so-called "influencers" are faking their popularity to some extent.
The sad truth is that these practices are not only unethical but also harmful to the authenticity and credibility of the social media space. However, the platforms themselves often turn a blind eye to such fraudulent activity, as it serves their own interests. By allowing these inflated numbers to exist, the platforms can boast higher overall numbers, attract more advertisers, and increase their stock prices.
In essence, this phenomenon is nothing short of a disease plaguing the social media landscape. It undermines the true value of genuine creativity, talent, and hard work, and instead promotes a culture of artificial success. It is imperative that we as consumers and content creators strive for authenticity and hold these platforms accountable for their complicity in perpetuating this issue.
Their numbers really look a bit too much sometimes but don't forget they beat Google in getting most traffic, so they really have massive audience.
Even TikTok downloaders like Snaptik(https://snap-tiktok.com/snaptik/) is in top 10 trending query so there is a lot audience around TikTok
I see nothing bad in boosting the number of likes and followers. I think that it's a possibility to have passive income for a minimum of work. Or even an opportunity to become famous. Who doesn't want that? And why didn't you mention Instagram? People buy followers and like there much more intensively than on TikTok. But I like TikTok for being the easiest platform to use. And yes, I buy TikTok followers and likes from time to time. I don't think it's illegal. Why not? What's all the fuss about? Do you guys agree that it's okay, or am I the only one who thinks so?
Very interesting article! Tik Tok is a popular platform that surpasses even YouTube. The TikTok platform is designed to attract and retain newcomers, so the first posts of all users can potentially attract many fans. The number of subscribers and likes determines popularity in Tik Tok. Each user strives to increase the number of video views, so TikFreeFollowers will help you achieve this goal. The first thing I recommend to new Tik Tok users is to read the rules and algorithms of the application carefully.
I thought it was inflated when it first released. However not for the reasons above.
First we don't know what is a "view" in the context of tiktok.
For example if I scroll through twitter, all those tweets gets an impression even tho I don't read a single word. Same may apply to tiktok, if it does a request to load the video it may consider it viewed. So with a single scroll on the for you page may generate 20-30 impressions for various creators. But visiting youtube's homepage doesn't change any video's watch count.
About likes, there might be some physiological trick there. I believe it's not possible to see other people's likes or get a list of users who likes a video. Almost an anonymous interaction. Many people put a notice in their bio for a reason "likes or retweets are not endorsement." I believe instagram also stop showing who likes a post or the count IDK. And it's easy to do, button is right under your finger and the content is created mostly for entertainment.
Or we simply ignore that all around the world people loves to you use and interact with that application.
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First of all, I must admit, I had a typo. Thank you for pointing out that Tiktok is launched in 2016. The 5 trillion views Tiktok gained were from 2020-2022 alone.
Second of all, regarding like or follower boosting being illegal. What I meant was, it is banned on certain media such as Instagram. But in my opinion, it should be illegal to artificially increase these numbers because they can affect the decision of advertisers and collaborators.
Third of all, the likes are definitely inflated. Look at Addison Rae's statistics on Socialtracker.io. Her average likes per video are 1,704,739, she has made 1631 videos, with simple maths, she has approximately 2.8B likes, a far cry from 5.6B. Also on Socialtracker.io, you can visually see that Addison Rae gained consistently 100k followers every few days or so, which obviously points to boosting.