TikTok’s comments section is getting an upgrade. The social network announced on Thursday that it’s rolling out new features for its comment sections, including voice comments, comment polls, photo carousel comments, and Live Photo comments.
With the additions, the app is borrowing features from messaging apps as it looks to deepen engagement on its platform. By bundling voice, polls, and photo comments, the company aims to make comment sections places where people linger and interact with each other, rather than simply leave feedback underneath a video.
“Sound and music have shaped TikTok from the very beginning, turning songs into trends and audio clips into jokes shared across the app,” TikTok wrote in a blog post. “Now, we’re bringing that same energy to the comment section with Voice Comments, a new way to post and listen to audio messages directly under any video.”
To leave a voice comment, users need to tap the microphone icon in the comment box and record a message up to a minute long. Once the voice comment is posted, anyone can tap to listen.
A TikTok spokesperson told TechCrunch that voice comments are subject to the same Community Guidelines as other content on the platform. The company uses a combination of human and automated detection tools, including speech-to-text transcription, to identify and remove content that violates its policies.
Voice comments are rolling out globally over the next month to users 18 and older.
Additionally, creators can now add a poll when commenting on their own videos, a feature that had been previously available to some, but is now available globally.
TikTok says the polls can be used for things like voting on the next video idea, picking an outfit, deciding what to cook, and more. Creators can choose up to five options for viewers to vote on and then set a timeframe for the poll. As votes come in, creators can follow results directly in the comment section.
With photo carousel comments, people can now add up to nine photos in a single comment, after previously only being able to add one at a time. Plus, users can now upload Live Photo comments, which TikTok says will allow for “a brief burst of motion” that allows others to see a quick preview of the moment before viewing the full image.
Live Photo comments are now available globally, while photo carousel comments are rolling out globally over the next month.
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