The companys commitment to fostering educational information for students has made people quite interested in exploring the STEM feed which will appear alongside the For You and Following sections in the application.
Exploring the STEM Feed in TikTok
After the launch of STEM feed in the United States of India last year, the application has seen a sufficient rise in the number of people using the application. There are 33% of people who have used the STEM feed and one-third of teens using the application are visiting the STEM feed every week. This has prompted the application to launch this feature across Europe however, it currently includes two countries: Ireland and the UK.
The Feed will appear to all TikTok users along with the Following and the For You Feed for all the users who are under the age of 18. However, if you are above the age of 18 then, you will have to enable this feature from the content preferences section. It is quite easy for people to enable STEM feed as they simply need to look for the content preferences section in the Settings of the application. The feed has English content with subtitles that will be automatically translated into the languages that you want.
Since the application has seen a 24% growth in STEM-related content after its launch in the United States of America, the developers are hoping for the same results after the new release across Europe. The application has seen around 15 million STEM-related videos in the last three years in all parts of the world.
A New Approach to the Application for Young People
People who are particularly interested in science, technology, mathematics and engineering can benefit from the content present in the STEM feed, and the launch in Ireland and the UK is a part of the wider introduction of the feature across the entire continent. Even before the complete launch of the feed, Irish STEM content creators, Tadgh ODonovan and Captain Mark Maguire have seen a sufficient rise in the number of followers as the views of their videos have also increased.
The auto-translated content has also made the feature beneficial and accessible for people as they can easily watch the videos in the language that they desire without worrying. Marlene Masure, the general manager of operations at TikTok has clearly explained that the company believes that discovery plays an important part in the entire TikTok experience. The company is always looking to provide help to the entire TikTok community which includes people using the application and content creators with new and exciting formats and features.
She has also mentioned that the launch of STEM feed will inspire a new generation of engineers and science enthusiasts who are looking for free inspiration.
Partnership with Common Sense Network and Poynter
TikTok has also expanded its partnership with Common Sense Network and Poynter as these US-based organizations will assess and check all the STEM content that will be available on the platform in Europe. Earlier these organizations used to assess the content that was shared in the US however, after the expansion of the feature in Europe, the organizations will also check the content to ensure that it is appropriate for the STEM Feed of the application.
It is very important to make sure that the information shared in the STEM Feed is not inappropriate and wrong as the reliability of the information is an important thing for users. Contents that cannot cross the checkpoints shared by Common Sense Network and Poynter will not be eligible for the application and it will not appear on the STEM feed.
This new development in the application was made by the application after a lot of users were criticising the harmful content displayed to teens and kids on the application. The addictive design of the application is used by the makers to ensure that teens and kids can access educational content on the application with the help of the STEM feed. However, the European Union is also investigating whether the application has now breached the Digital Services Act which basically makes sure that kids are safe while using the application. The step to include the STEM feed will work favorably for TikTok and with this step, the application is also looking to present itself as an educational platform for the young users of the application.
Read more here: https://mediapract.com/news/tiktok-expands-dedicated-stem-feed-for-european-users/
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