Socializing on the internet is both easy and difficult.
It's easy because there are lots of ways. People may not run out of options because there are more than plenty to choose from. But it's also hard because the many options mean that some people can be on one platform, whereas others on other platform, and the rest on others.
The market is so diluted with too many options.
As if the choices aren't too much to handle already, TikTik, the popular social media app, is making things even more crowded.
This happens when it announced features to help users "share your favorite TikTok moments."
In a post on its website:
First up, TikTok is finally adding a long-requested feature for its social network: Group Chats.
The company revealed that users should be able to watch a video with a larger group of users at once.
"TikTok inspires self-expression, providing an easy way to share authentic and relatable content. Group Chat harnesses this power, allowing you to create a shared viewing experience with friends, family, and communities. Watch, comment, and react together in real time, making every interaction more dynamic and connected. People can curate dedicated groups with up to 32 people through group chat and easily share their favorite videos," said TikTok.
For security and privacy reasons, TikTok is not making this feature available for users with age 13-15.
For teens who are older, age 16-17, they can use this feature, but TikTok said that it's taking "important steps to block communication with strangers."
What this means, everyone, including teens, can only be added to a Group Chat by their friends (people they follow who also follow them), and if a teen receives a link to join a group conversation, they will not be able to join unless the group includes at least one mutual friend. And, if they are eligible to join, they will be required to make a proactive decision to join.
When a teen creates a group conversation, by default TikTok is requiring them to review and approve new joiners.
TikTok knows how to play its dice because of how ubiquitous its platform is.
Unlike many others in the competition, TikTok is already one of the biggest players in the social media industry. All it takes is just create and launch a new feature, and let billions of people become potential users.
"People can curate dedicated groups with up to 32 people through group chat and easily share their favorite videos," said TikTok.
Besides the Group Chat feature, TikTok is also introducing a way for users to create and send videos with each other.
"We always look for ways to up our game and create real and visually entertaining tools for our community," said TikTok.
In this case, TikTok is introducing stickers to its Direct Messaging feature to "provide fun and creative visual chat options."
Users can send stickers by tapping on the Emoji button in the message bar. They can also send video stickers by tapping on a video sticker to send it in DMs.
For sticker sets, users can save them by tapping Add, and have that set added to the sticker panel.
Users can also create new stickers by tapping on the Emoji button and tapping on the Create sticker option.
TikTok hopes that the community will use this feature to create and upload their own custom stickers for everyone else to use.