TikTok launches text-only posts as social media innovation race heats up

TikTok has launched text-only posts as the video platform takes on rival social media giants in the race to innovate.

The new format will allow users to create text-based content to share stories, ideas, poems, recipes or other written content, the app said.

People can add colours, stickers, hashtags and sounds to their text post, and can also “duet” with other users on the platform.

TikTok said: “With text posts, we’re expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok, giving the written creativity we’ve seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine.”

It comes as competition among social media platforms has intensified in recent weeks following the launch of Threads, a spin-off of Meta-owned Instagram.

The platform rivals Twitter in that it focuses on text posts. It allows users to post up to 500 characters of text and up to five minutes of video and links, as well as pictures.

It also looks similar to Twitter and has features such as liking or replying to posts, or quoting an existing thread.

Meanwhile, Twitter replaced its famous bird logo with an X this week, as part of owner Elon Musk’s plans to create an “everything app”.

It marked the first major change since the billionaire businessman bought the platform in October last year, but he has already overseen the rollout of new features.

For example, the “verified” blue tick user status was monetised in April as part of a paid-for subscription service.

Subscribers can also access features such as editing a published tweet or seeing fewer adverts.

TikTok has also launched a monthly subscription service where people can pay to access “Live” creators, which the app said helps popular creators earn money by posting on the platform while also growing their community.

To access the subscription feature, users must have a minimum of 1,000 followers and be over 18.