TikTok, the app known for short and usually humorous clips of people singing or dancing, is growing up. The platform has recently introduced a new feature: discussion forums. This puts TikTok right in the face of other messaging apps that continue to grow such as WhatsApp and also shows that TikTok is keen on being a one-stop-shop for social media communication.

A New Dimension to Social Interaction

Such a feature as Group Chat new in TikTok allows using an application not only as a source of entertainment but also to communicate with friends or communities. People can now create groups of up to 32 members, making communication and collaboration within an app easy. Hence, this feature can be said to harmonize well with the major intent of the platform as it seeks to connect people socially and create communities.

Group chats allow the users to send messages, photos, videos, and other stuff through the platform, and users don’t have to leave the TikTok application. This integration contributing to the general quality of the user experience and creates an even more centralized platform for entertainment and interaction in TikTok.

Implications for Users and the Platform

The inclusion of group chats is expected to change user’s behaviour on TikTok in the following ways. It could result into more time being spent within the site as users discuss with friends and in communities. Furthermore, this feature has the potential to increase the user base since; it retains users who are most interested in messaging and group conversation.

For TikTok, the ability to join the group chats was implemented as the progressive step for the development of both, users’ engagement and the number of them. Aiming to become one of the popular social networks, TikTok has expanded its range of services, including video sharing and message exchange, as well as group chats.

As the application develops further it would be rather intriguing to find out how TikTok employs group chats to improve the application’s functionalities and increase audiences.