TikTok is adding text posts

TikTok users can now post text-based updates in addition to videos and series of photos — just as platforms like Meta’s Threads are vying to take on Twitter’s microblogging dominance.

Text posts appear similar to Instagram Stories visually: users can add a background color, edit how text appears, and add music and stickers to the post. Posts have a 1,000-character limit (yes, I tested it to find out). Other users can also engage with the post similar to how they interact with video — by stitching, dueting, and commenting.

Seeing the company responsible for the tidal wave of shortform video add text features is interesting on its own, but the timing is worth noting. Platforms like Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and a litany of others are trying to position themselves as a viable replacement to Twitter — or at least something that approximates what made Twitter fun. But as the platform increasingly loses features, traffic, and even its iconic bird logo, the window for other apps to jump in is open. TikTok appears to be at least a little interested.

Meta, TikTok’s main competitor in shortform video, had a record-breaking week following the release of Threads earlier this month. But will it stick? Daily active users have plummeted since its peak, and the lack of a feed strictly filled with accounts a user follows has turned some people off (Meta insists that’s in the works).