From "Friends' Posts" to "Recommendations for You" — How TikTok Redefined Internet Norms

What TikTok Changed — A Decade Driven by "The Next Video"

Before going to bed, just one video. After finishing watching a cooking tutorial, next comes a view of an unfamiliar city's landscape. Then a review of a new book flows by, and before you know it, you're interested in a product you hadn't planned to buy.

The changes surrounding TikTok are encapsulated in this casual experience. People don't always come looking for something specific. Yet, the screen continues to offer up things that might pique their interest next.

An article distributed by dpa and published by the German newspaper Tagesspiegel on September 14, 2026, looked back at TikTok's journey over a "decade." However, the starting point here is not the release date of the international version of TikTok. According to the original article, the prototype, the Chinese version Douyin, began on September 20, 2016. The international rollout followed in 2017, and then the integration with Musical.ly continued in 2018. Thus, as of September 14, this is a retrospective on the eve of Douyin's 10th anniversary.

With this distinction in mind, the meaning of the decade becomes clearer. It wasn't just the scale of a single app that changed. It was the very order of connecting people and information.

From "Who You Know" to "What You React To"

The experience symbolized by traditional social networks was following posts from friends, acquaintances, and favorite celebrities. To gather information, you first chose whom to connect with.

TikTok's "recommendations" significantly shifted that premise. Even if you don't know the poster or follow them, you can encounter videos that catch your interest. This approach, which emphasizes connections based on interests rather than human relationships, is called the "interest graph."

However, this doesn't mean human relationships have disappeared. TikTok also utilizes actions like following. The difference between the two lies in what they strongly rely on for encountering information.

In TikTok's explanation of its recommendation system published in 2020, likes, shares, follows, and information attached to videos are used as criteria. Watching a longer video to the end was cited as a stronger indicator of interest than the viewer and poster being in the same country. Additionally, the number of followers itself was explained not to be a direct factor in recommendations.

This suggests that even creators with low recognition have a chance to be discovered. However, it doesn't guarantee that everyone can easily succeed. The public explanation alone cannot definitively describe the entire scope of current recommendations or how individual videos gain traction.

A feature of this mechanism is that it reduces the effort for users to articulate their preferences. Before searching for "videos I want to watch," the act of continuing to watch influences the next candidate. While the burden of searching is lightened, it becomes harder to see what you chose and what was chosen for you.

A Few Seconds of Reaction Is Not the Same as Life's Aspirations

From here, let's consider the implications of this mechanism.

There isn't just one reason for watching a video for a long time. It might have been entertaining, or perhaps you watched it again because you couldn't understand the explanation. Sometimes, you couldn't take your eyes off it because it made you angry.

Viewing behavior can be a clue to interests. However, it doesn't directly represent the time someone truly wants to increase or the values they cherish in the long term.

For example, a night spent watching stimulating debates and a night satisfied with learning a hobby skill could both be recorded as long usage times. Even if the time spent in front of the screen is the same, the sense of fulfillment after closing the screen differs.

TikTok itself has acknowledged the risk of "filter bubbles," where similar content is lined up due to personalization, and has explained its approach to interspersing diverse videos. The point of discussion is not whether recommendations exist but what is considered a good outcome and how much users can verify it.

Voices from SNS ① — BookTok Brings Reading Back into Life

Those recommendations can also lead to rich encounters.

Regarding the TikTok community "BookTok," where people recommend books to each other, there's a post on Reddit's r/TikTok titled "Booktok was such a joy." The poster reflects that it was a place where friends with similar tastes recommended books and that it became an opportunity to discover new genres and small-scale authors.

In the replies, there are stories of people who, through BookTok, rediscovered their love for reading, and seeing this, their husbands also started reading. They began listening to audiobooks together and attending events.

These are self-reported by the posters and not changes in life verified by third parties. Nevertheless, they provide clues to what users value about TikTok.

Short videos lead to long reading times. Recommendations on the screen nurture shared hobbies outside the screen. Viewing TikTok merely as a time-killer doesn't capture this function.

Additionally, in another discussion about BookTok recommendations on Reddit's r/books, there are both complaints that popular books don't suit them and voices of people who were able to resume reading after having drifted away since graduating from university.

For some, it may be a biased shelf of bestsellers, but for others, it becomes a shelf where they find their first suitable book. In personalized services, even if using the same app, the world experienced can vary greatly.

The voices from SNS discussed here are summaries of past public posts that could be confirmed in Japanese. They are not direct reactions to the original article or the 10th anniversary but rather voices about TikTok usage experiences and do not indicate the proportion of approval or disapproval among all users.

Voices from SNS ② — The Place of Discovery Starts to Look Like a Marketplace

Contrasting dissatisfaction can be seen in discussions about TikTok Shop on Reddit's r/AskIreland.

In a post asking if others feel that TikTok has been ruined by TikTok Shop, the poster complains about frequent videos promoting projectors and gaming consoles, making it difficult to use.

In the replies, there are voices expressing frustration over the abundance of product introductions. On the other hand, some users find it easy to adjust by quickly skipping or using "not interested." In contrast, there are replies stating that even with the same actions, the changes are not as expected.

This discrepancy is intriguing. The discussion extends beyond whether there are too many ads to whether users feel their preferences are reflected on the screen.

TikTok Shop brings the experience of discovering products through videos closer to purchasing. The original article highlights "#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt" as a phrase symbolizing experiences where videos prompted purchases.

For buyers, there is the advantage of being able to judge by seeing how to use it. For sellers, there's the possibility of reaching people who don't yet know the product name. However, if the screen opened for entertainment feels filled with promotions, the joy of discovery is diminished.

Herein lies the difficulty as a business. Increasing opportunities to encounter products and making people want to stay in that place don't always progress in the same direction.

An Era Where News Arrives Without Searching

The changes in TikTok are not limited to shopping. It is also increasing its presence as a point of contact with news.

In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in August 2025 among 5,153 American adults, 20% of adults regularly obtained news from TikTok. This is a significant increase from 3% in 2020, reaching 43% among those under 30.

This is a survey from the United States and not numbers for Japan or the world as a whole. Moreover, "obtaining news" and "trusting that information" are separate matters. Nevertheless, it suggests that an app for entertainment has become a daily point of contact with reporting.

What should be considered here is the context in which news appears.

When you open a newspaper, readers are somewhat prepared to read news. In the flow of videos, jokes, personal opinions, advertisements, on-site footage, and explanations from news organizations can appear in close proximity. Viewers must discern the nature of the information and the sender each time.

Short videos have the power to create an entry point into complex events. However, understanding may not be complete with just the entry point. There is a distance between having seen an impressive scene and understanding the circumstances before and after.

For news organizations, the challenge is to first capture attention and then provide verifiable information beyond that. For users, the more emotionally impactful the information, the more important it is to return to the source, date, and other materials.

Not Just Posts, but App Design is Being Questioned

In the latter half of this decade, perspectives on considering platform responsibility have expanded.

On February 6, 2026, the European Commission published a preliminary view that TikTok's design promoting addiction violates the Digital Services Act. The targets mentioned include infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommendations.

The commission also pointed out issues such as the ease of disabling time management features. This announcement is not a final judgment and explicitly states that it does not preempt the conclusion of the investigation. According to AP reports from the same period, TikTok denied the allegations and showed an intention to contest them.

It is not sufficient to view this conflict merely as a binary choice of being for or against convenient features.

Automatic video playback reduces the need for operation, providing convenience. At the same time, it reduces the breaks for deciding to stop. Even if usage time notifications are displayed, if continuing to watch is easier, having notifications and being able to adjust usage do not align.

However, from these points of discussion, it cannot be concluded that all users experience the same health issues. The regulatory authority's points, the company's rebuttals, and individual user experiences need to be received separately.

For Creators, There is Both the "Joy of Reaching" and the "Burden of Continued Selection"

The original article also touches on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, arguing that the vertical short video and recommendation-centric experience popularized by TikTok have become a competitive axis.

From the creators' perspective, this change has two meanings.

One is the opportunity to have their works or products discovered without relying solely on existing recognition. In the earlier discussion about BookTok, there was a person claiming to be an author with publishing experience, stating that many readers came from TikTok. This is also self-reported, but it shows that the fear of losing recommendations is a serious concern for creators.

The other is the burden of constantly worrying about the conditions for being recommended.

From a business perspective, gaining more views is not the same as nurturing stable relationships. Even if a single video is widely viewed, it doesn't guarantee that people will wait for the next work. Even if a product sells, it doesn't guarantee that buyers will remember the brand.

Therefore, it becomes important to connect encounters on TikTok to subsequent relationships. Whether it's leading to the next reading for books, to the entire work for music, or to revisits for stores. It's necessary to look not just at the size of the numbers but also at what actions or trust remain beyond that.

The Next Decade Beyond "Time Spent Watching"

The divided evaluations surrounding TikTok stem from the fact that the same mechanism produces different outcomes.

One person finds a book that suits them, while another gets tired of product introductions. Some people develop an interest in news for the first time, while others face the danger of thinking they understand with just a short explanation. These are not relationships that can be resolved by choosing one or the other.

The decade starting from Douyin's birth demonstrated the great power of reducing the effort to search for information. At the same time, it left the challenge of how to choose one's time in an environment where things are given without searching.

When considering the next decade, playback counts and time spent are not enough. Did you encounter a world you didn't know? Did you get closer to reliable information? After closing the screen, did you have more things you wanted to do?

Before "the next video" plays, can you think about what you want to gain from this time? Whether both the service side and the user side can have that space is also a measure of TikTok's future.

Source URL

1. Tagesspiegel/dpa (September 14, 2026): Referencing the 10-year history starting from Douyin, integration with Musical.ly, and the impact on short videos, recommendations, and shopping.
   https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/medien/dpa-10-jahre-tiktok-16048693.html

2. TikTok Official "How TikTok recommends videos #ForYou" (June 18, 2020): Information used for recommendations, handling of viewing completion, follower count, filter bubbles, and diversity in the official explanation at the time.
   https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/how-tiktok-recommends-videos-for-you

3. Reddit - r/TikTok "Booktok was such a joy": A post about encountering books and new authors through BookTok, experiences of reading habits in couples, and the experiences of a poster claiming to be an author. Summarized as personal claims.
   https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTok/comments/1i4kv1j/booktok_was_such_a_joy/

4. Reddit - r/books "I find many BookTok recommendations not for me": Referencing opinions that recommendations don't suit them and those that led to resuming reading.##HTML_TAG_215