TikTok Stories: How Long Do They Stay Active?

Almost all major social media platforms have added Stories sections in recent years, patterned after the Snapchat feature that was a big hit when introduced in the mid-2010s. They share the same basic features, too, including a very short lifespan before the content disappears forever (except for Pinterest Stories and YouTube Shorts, which stay live indefinitely).

In that regard, the short videos (and photos) posted as TikTok Stories are no different than those on most social apps.

The Life of a TikTok Story

TikTok Stories are only viewable for 24 hours — and unlike regular TikTok videos, they can only be 15 seconds in length. If you upload a longer video as a story, the platform will automatically split it into 15-second segments.

Why would content creators bother to produce a 15-second video for TikTok Stories if it’s just going to disappear the next day? There are several explanations.

• The Stories format was originally designed to let people drop a quick update on their day, so it was created specifically to showcase vids with a short shelf life.
• Users have discovered that Stories provide an outstanding format for Q-and-A responses; 15 seconds is a perfect amount of time to answer most fans’ questions.
• Stories are a great way to promote a longer video a creator is going to post soon, heightening anticipation.
• Brief “behind the scenes” clips that don’t make sense in a standard TikTok post can be posted as Stories for an appreciative fan base.
• 15-second Stories that are only live for a day allow users to experiment with different filming and editing techniques, and gauge viewer response, before using those techniques on longer videos.
• Creators’ profile pictures are highlighted with a blue circle when they’ve uploaded a new Story, calling attention to their TikTok accounts and reminding followers to check out their latest TikTok content.

Those aren’t the only motivations behind Story creation, but they help explain why the feature has been popular on TikTok and most other platforms — even though the short TikTok videos vanish after 24 hours.