TikTok adds voice comments, polls and photo carousels to comment sections

TikTok said on 3 September that people can now answer a video with a voice recording, a poll or a set of photos. The company published the change on its own newsroom, and TechCrunch, Engadget and Gizmodo reported it the same day.

Voice comments last up to 60 seconds and are for adults only

A voice comment can run up to 60 seconds. You record it by tapping the microphone in the comment box, and other people tap to listen. TikTok limits the feature to users aged 18 and over. It reaches users around the world over the next month. According to TikTok, sound “has shaped TikTok from the very beginning”.

Polls take five answers and photo comments take nine pictures

Comment polls are already live everywhere. One poll holds up to five answers, and the votes are visible inside the comment while people are still voting. Photo carousels in comments will hold up to nine pictures and arrive over the next month. Live Photos, the short moving pictures an iPhone saves, can be posted in comments now.

TikTok adds voice while its EU moderation team gets smaller

Speech is harder to check than text. TikTok says voice comments follow the same community rules as everything else, and that it uses both people and software, including speech-to-text, to find rule breaks. That promise lands at an awkward moment, because TikTok now has 189 million users in the European Union with fewer human moderators than two years ago. A voice note also carries tone, which software reads less well than words.

Brands will sit under comments nobody can skim

Comment sections sit right under paid posts. A brand buying ads on TikTok, or working with creators there, may soon find voice notes and photo collages under its video. A person can read a hundred text comments in a minute. Nobody can listen to a hundred voice notes that fast. So marketers should ask their agency how voice comments under a brand video will be checked, before a campaign starts. Polls look like the friendlier part: a creator can ask viewers to pick a colour or a flavour, and the answers stay in public view. Platforms have been selling this kind of attention for months, from TikTok’s renewed NFL deal to Reddit’s 15-second video view goal.