TikTok Aiming to Cultivate a “Culture of Credit”

TikTok aims to boost creators with new features that provide credit to “trend originators.”

This is part of a larger effort to cultivate a “culture of credit” throughout TikTok. (The effort may also be, at least in part, reaction to recent criticism that original creators of trends lose credit as their original work spreads through reposts and Remixes.)

The tactics TikTok is using to create this culture of credit include:

  • New crediting feature available in the TikTok composition window. You can select a video that you have liked, favorited, posted, or that has used the same sound. Once selected, the video tag will be added as a mention in the caption.

  • “Originators” programming – A series meant to promote and uplift trend creators

  • Educational prompts that encourage users to mention Originators in their posts

  • "Crediting Creators" section in the Creator Portal shares best practices and “highlights the importance of attributing trend Originators for their work.”

Why it Matters

It’s natural that those who create the seed that sparks a viral trend may start to feel that their contribution gets lost in the mix. These new features may be key for TikTok to help keep its most creative users dedicated to TikTok over other platforms.

Of course, it’s worth noting that crediting will still be up to individual users since attribution does not appear to be forced. So it will be interesting to see if attribution catches on for most users.


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