Analyzing User Engagement with TikTok's Short Format Video Recommendations using Data Donations

Savvas Zannettou, Olivia Nemes-Nemeth, Oshrat Ayalon, Angelica Goetzen, Krishna P. Gummadi, Elissa M. Redmiles, Franziska Roesner

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Short-format videos have exploded on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Despite this, the research community lacks large-scale empirical studies into how people engage with short-format videos and the role of recommendation systems that ofer endless streams of such content. In this work, we analyze user engagement on TikTok using data we collect via a data donation system that allows TikTok users to donate their data. We recruited 347 TikTok users and collected 9.2M TikTok video recommendations they received. By analyzing user engagement, we fnd that the average daily usage time increases over the users' lifetime while the user attention remains stable at around 45%. We also fnd that users like more videos uploaded by people they follow than those recommended by people they do not follow. Our study ofers valuable insights into how users engage with short-format videos on TikTok and lessons learned from designing a data donation system.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI 2024 - Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9798400703300
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 May 2024
Event2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024 - Hybrid, Honolulu, United States
Duration: 11 May 202416 May 2024

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sytems, CHI 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHybrid, Honolulu
Period11/05/2416/05/24

Keywords

  • Data Donation
  • Recommendation Algorithm
  • TikTok
  • User Engagement

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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