How To Tell TikTok Your Interests Have Changed

TikTok has more than two billion users. Several million of them regularly create content, and they upload about 25 million TikTok videos every day.

The content covers just about every imaginable subject and interest, and that has an important implication for TikTok users. With all of that material clogging the system, it could be extraordinarily difficult for users to sift through all of the TikTok posts that appear on their feeds to find videos they really want to watch.

A major reason the platform has become so large and popular is that it developed a ground-breaking set of algorithms designed to determine users’ interests. The TikTok algorithms track people’s behaviors on the app to see which types of videos they regularly view and engage with, and then tailor their feeds to show related videos more often.

The algorithms do work from a starting point. When you sign up for a TikTok account, you’re asked to tell the system how interested you are in a number of general content categories. That establishes an initial profile of what you’d like to see on the app, and the algorithms take over from there.

The TikTok curation process is much more effective than the ones that competitors use, but it isn’t perfect; you’ll still see some TikTok content that doesn’t interest you in any way. Over time, though, the app’s profile of your preferences is refined, and much of the content you find irrelevant is filtered out.

Is there any way to speed the process along, particularly if you find that your interests have evolved significantly?

There are several ways you can point the algorithms in the right direction; let’s explore them.

How To Tell TikTok That Your Interests Have Changed

The best starting point is modifying the list of preferences you gave TikTok when you originally joined.

1. Open your TikTok profile by hitting the “Profile” icon at the bottom right of your home screen.
2. Tap the “Menu” icon (three horizontal lines) at the top right of your profile page.
3. Select “Settings and privacy” from the popup menu, and then scroll down to click on “Content preferences.”
4. Tap “Manage topics” and move the sliders for each topic to the left to indicate a lack of interest in a subject, or to the right to indicate stronger interest.
5. Tap “Save” and then hit the “Back” link.
6. If desired, click on the “Filter keywords” link, which lets you avoid seeing posts with specific keywords appearing in their descriptions, titles, or stickers. For example, if you don’t want to see any videos related to makeup, add the keyword “makeup” to the list.
7. Return to the “Content preferences” screen once more. If your interests have changed since you first joined TikTok, you can click on “Refresh your For You feed” to reset the algorithms and eliminate any content preferences they’ve recognized in the past.

Helping the Algorithms Refine Your Profile on the Fly

As the system builds and updates its profile of your preferences, it makes note of the videos you watch and interact with. As you scroll your feed, however, there are two ways you can give the algorithms extra information that will speed up the process.

1. When you watch a video and would like to see similar content, be sure to fully engage with it. Watch it all the way through, like it, share it, comment on it — the more interaction the algorithms see, the more likely they’ll be to include videos about the same topic and from the same content creator in your feed.
2. If you see content that you have no interest in and would have preferred not to see, let the algos know. Press and hold on the video until a popup appears, and tap “Not interested.” You can also hit the “Share” icon (a sweeping right arrow) to access the “Not interested” icon. You should see fewer similar videos moving forward.

This fine-tuning process can take a while, but it does work. Just be patient, and you’ll eventually see your TikTok For Your page (FYP) matching your interests more and more accurately.