PC Doctor June 13, 2022

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Dear PC Doctor:

I have a TikTok account. My friend is always telling me about all the great stuff she watches on TikTok – stuff about exercise and strength training, foraging, interesting things about reading and learning. All I see are silly cat videos and people trying to look sexy. How do I find interesting content that’s not wasting my time?

Signed,

Ready to Sign Out

Dear Ready:

To find TikTok content that truly interests you, there are a few things you can do. First, open the app and log into your account. Along the bottom, you will see Discover. If you tap that, you’ll see trending videos, hashtags, creators, and sponsored content. If you want to see more of any of those, tap on them to continue. If you really like something, tap the heart to like it. This will help the app send you more videos you might like.

You can also use the Search function. Tap the search icon in the top right of your screen. Enter what you're looking for in the search bar and tap Search. Be as specific as possible. For example, you can type the name of the content or the username of a creator. The most relevant results will show in the Top tab. Explore the other search tabs—Users, Videos, Sounds, LIVE, and Hashtags—for related content. (Note: The hashtag page displays the videos that started the trend first, and then other popular videos relevant to the trending hashtag.)

If you’re looking to see what your friends are posting to TikTok, you can find friends from your contacts. To do this, tap Profile in the bottom right. Tap Find friends, located on the upper left corner. Tap Find contacts. Allow TikTok to access your contacts.

Another thing you can do is change which videos TikTok shows you by letting the app know when you don’t like something. When it shows you a video that’s not on a topic you’re interested in, hold your finger down on it. You’ll get a menu that includes Not Interested. Tap Not Interested. TikTok will stop showing you videos like that. You can also choose the More menu and indicate that you don’t want to see anything from the account that created that video.

The more you tell the app what you like and don’t like, the better your experience will be. How much time you want to spend using TikTok is up to you.

I hope this helps!
Until next time,
Happy Computing!
PC Doctor

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