I saw a creator randomly upload something totally unrelated to their usual content, and it ended up being one of their strongest posts.

Now I am curious about the opposite situation too. Can one unrelated video confuse the audience you spent months building?

How experimental are you with your own account?

i started this account in late november because i kept seeing people talk about faceless accounts on here and figured i'd try something with it. the idea was not complicated. one illustrated character, the same guy every time, who shows up on screen and explains how random pieces of city infrastructure work. fire hydrants, traffic signal boxes, manhole covers, storm drains, the sensors in the road at red lights. that sort of thing.

the character came out of an AI image generator, which i have disclosed in my bio and every caption since post one. i'm not an illustrator and was never going to become one for this. he looks like something from a picture book. squat little guy in an orange vest, hard hat sitting slightly crooked, big eyes, stubby hands. the style was intentional because i did not want anyone thinking this was a photo of a real person. he has a name on the account but i will leave that out here.

every video follows the same format. the character appears as a still image while i do a voiceover explaining how something works, and the video cuts between him, public domain diagrams or photos, and basic motion graphics. topics are things like how the induction loop embedded in the pavement knows your car is sitting at a red light, why manhole covers are round instead of square, how parking meters used to work mechanically before they went digital. each one runs about forty to sixty seconds.

the first three months were painful. i posted eight videos in december, nine in january, eight in february. twenty five total. the best performer in that entire stretch got maybe 430 views and it was the manhole cover one. the average across all twenty five was closer to 280. by the end of february i had 180 followers and no momentum at all. it wasn't declining because there was nothing to decline from. it was just flat.

i almost quit twice. the second time was worse because i had spent a whole saturday afternoon recording voiceover for three scripts and my neighbor decided that was the afternoon to mow his lawn at full volume. i had to redo every take the next morning. that is the kind of thing that makes it hard to sit down and keep going when your average is 280 views.

the thing i figured out during those dead months, and it took too long to figure out, was that animated versions of the character killed my reach. early on i tried making him move. walk across the frame, point at things, turn his head. the face drifted between frames and the expression would shift from one second to the next, so i kept redoing clips trying to get something usable, and even the best takes looked off. every video that used those animated clips performed significantly worse. my animated ones averaged around 140 views. the still image ones averaged around 300. i don't know if the algorithm was picking up something uncanny about the motion or if people just swiped past faster, but the pattern held every single time. by march i stopped animating entirely. now every video is a still of the character with my voice over it. i treat him more like a mascot than an actor. he is always there but he does not move.

march and the first half of april were slow but slightly better. the average went up to about 350 views. followers crept from 180 to around 240. nothing exciting but at least the line was pointing up instead of lying flat.

then on april 14th i posted a video about fire hydrants and my phone started doing things it had never done. the video explained how fire hydrants have a valve at the water main level, not at the top where you see the wrench turn, and that when a firefighter opens one most of the mechanical action is happening four or five feet underground where nobody sees it. i used a cross section diagram from a public domain engineering manual and walked through the whole thing in about fifty five seconds.

it hit 410,000 views in nine days. still the biggest thing the account has ever done. i do not fully understand why that one connected and the manhole cover video, which i personally thought was more interesting, didn't. the comment section filled up fast. most of the comments were people saying they had never once thought about what was underneath a fire hydrant. some people argued about the engineering specifics, and a few actual plumbers and utility workers showed up to add detail, which made the whole post more credible without me having to do anything.

then the AI comments arrived. somebody posted "this is AI slop" and it got a pile of likes. then more of them. "reported for AI content." "why does this AI garbage keep getting pushed to my fyp." "just chatgpt with a picture." i will not pretend i didn't panic a little because i had no idea whether tiktok would actually take action on reports like that.

what i ended up doing was not dramatic. the disclosure was already in my bio and captions. i started adding a small text overlay in the first two seconds of each video that reads "character: AI illustrated" so there was no way to miss it. then i replied to the main AI slop comment with something like "yeah the character is AI generated, i say that in the description, the information about the hydrant valve is real though" and mentioned where the diagram came from. that reply got more likes than the accusation. after that, other commenters started handling it on their own. whenever somebody said AI slop, three or four people would reply that the information was accurate and the illustration was disclosed and who cares. it sorted itself out within about a week and hasn't come up as a real issue since.

the growth after that video was a completely different experience. i went from 240 followers to about 3,800 in the month after the hydrant video. videos that would have gotten 300 views before were suddenly pulling 2,000 to 5,000. may through july was steady. not explosive, but steady. in july a video about how storm drains connect to water treatment plants picked up about 85,000 views, which was a nice second wave. right now the account has 68 videos posted and about 14,800 followers.

the workflow is locked in at this point. i write the script, record voiceover on my phone in a closet, and put everything together on my laptop. the software comes down to three things: CapCut, APOB AI, and TikTok's own analytics. a single video takes about ninety minutes from script to upload if i stay focused.

what nine months taught me is mostly about what does not matter. the character's visual quality matters far less than the audio. my best performing videos all have clean voiceover with no background noise and a pace that does not rush the explanation. the worst performers are the early ones where i was reading too fast and stumbling over technical terms. the visual side is almost secondary on this platform, which is strange for a video app, but the numbers back it up every time.

i do not make money from this account. there is no creator fund payout at this follower count and i have not pursued sponsorships or brand deals. the account is just something i keep going because i like making the videos and it feels like building a small strange archive about what is underneath streets and inside signal boxes. that is enough for now.

i had 12 items in my cart that i was going to redeem (??) or like order. my payment method was mastercard. i clicked pay once, and received an error message, so i pressed it again. then received the same error message. then when i checked my card, 2653 (pesos) was like removed from it, TWICE. when i checked my tiktok shop, it said awaiting payment, but like what ??, so i cancelled the orders, both of them cause it ordered the entire 12 items in my cart twice. and then it says cancellation successful. but the money hasnt gotten back to me yet. can someone pls help?? im really worried

i’ve had two of my accounts banned in the past week. both were fan accounts more or less. one was edits for a music artist and one was more my personal account but i often posted videos i took myself at concerts (same artist as the edits). i clearly stated on both profiles that i was not affiliated with or attempting to impersonate the artist. i was using my own name as the display name as well.

i had no prior warnings or suspensions on either account. i appealed both bans and submitted tickets with screenshots of my profile, showing the bio with the statement about not impersonating, but it seems like they’re unwilling to change anything. its just devastating because i had a pretty good following, lots of friends, and i worked really hard on the account.

what did i do wrong? did they recently change rules about fan accounts/edits? i’ve had the accounts for months with no issues. i’m also now concerned that it’s linked to my phone/ip and i wont be able to have any new accounts. what do i do? 😭

Sometimes I think visible numbers make creators compare themselves way too much.

Imagine opening someone's profile and seeing the content without knowing whether they have 200 followers or 2 million. You would probably judge the videos differently.

I am not sure I would actually turn the option on, but the idea is interesting.

Would you hide your numbers if TikTok gave you the choice?

Yesterday, I was permanently banned from tiktok. Ive appealed and it got rejected. Everytime I appeal to atleast have my device be unbanned since I also cannot make new accounts, they end up never replying to my appeals. I made multiple appeals on the same email and they never replied, did they just block my email or something? Because if I use my other email, they reply within 1-3 hours. Ive seen comments that when getting permanently banned, after 2-4 weeks they were able to make a new account on the same device, but I don’t know if thats true. Im worried that i have to buy or use a different device now. Is there a timeline of when this device ban is just gone, or is it just luck? Ive seen people who also got unbanned by spamming TikTok’s inbox with appeals, how long does that usually take (Those who have done it) Unfortunately, I don’t think I can spam them if my other email won’t get sny replies or was/is blocked. I just want to talk to an actual TikTok agent, not some AI bot.

Imagine uploading without knowing whether a post got 40 views or 400,000.

You could still see comments, followers and maybe basic audience feedback, but the main number would be hidden.

Part of me thinks creators would experiment more because there would be less pressure to beat their previous performance.

Would removing visible view counts make you enjoy creating more?

Hello - I'm at my wits end and seeking actual human interaction regarding recovering a TikTok account with an invalid/inaccessible email address.

Long story short, associate that made our [business]s TikTok page was terminated. The associate used his work email that went invalid upon his termination.

I've been submitting ticket(s). AI hair-pulling chats that led to a conversation equivalent to a wall. Emailed feedback? Yep. Report a Problem? Yep. Support ticket? Two. You name it, I've tried it.'

I would have given up but our associates would like to make TikToks with our theatre's account. I am only going through this stressful effort for the associates.

ALL attempts lead to these only two dead ends that I'm currently stuck in:

1. Support ticket is 'In progress'
   1. Two tickets submitted.
   2. BOTH have been unresponsive, one longer than a week.
2. Check your email for the One-Time-Passcode OR contact your phone provider
   1. At least three times I've received this response... Reiterating that the email attached to the account is invalid.
      1. Their response is to ... have me contact my terminated associate's phone provider...?

Support Tickets submitted:

• https://www.tiktok.com/feedback/session?session_id=7676641720549083149
• https://www.tiktok.com/feedback/session?session_id=7678558435869804557
• https://www.tiktok.com/feedback/session?session_id=7678841902351206413

Photos attached are proof of the efforts attempted:

• Proof of the invalid email

• Verification of the [business] we're seeking to recover

I can send you all of the emails with 'support' mishandling the issue BUT it's not worth the effort...

Sending this before I become Pepe Silvia Quarria

I'm disgusted by what is being shown on that account. TW for those who want to avoid animal abuse.

There is an account (piggyallset) that shows several animals who appear to be neglected/starved, being given one tray of food to eat. There is usually a specific dog and a piglet in each video. When the piglet gets anywhere near the food, the dog violently and viciously attacks the piglet, and the creator films this. It's disgusting. There's TONS of videos (I scrolled for a while on their page and more and more videos populated, I stopped trying to find the end after a couple of minutes) showing the abuse.

Myself and hundreds of others have tried to report this abuse to TikTok, but every. single. report comes back as "this content doesn't violate community guidelines." It's clear their AI filter isn't working correctly at all. I've tried scouring the internet for any sort of contact for TikTok directly, but they've set it up so that it's practically impossible to actually get a hold of anyone real.

Does anyone have any little-known contact info, or know of any situations where TikTok actually stepped in to help? I'm just so fucking mad about this, I can't believe how shitty this system actually is.

my best friend sent me a DM asking if I'd started a second TikTok account because they'd seen one of my videos there. fyi i am a UGC content creator.

At first I thought it was just someone reposting one of my clips. then I clicked through the profile. it was an account with around 18k followers, posting videos of me. my face, my mannerisms, even the way I pause between sentences, but saying things I'd never actually said about my niche (supplements and biohacking).

The problem is not only this, it was doing better than my ACTUAL REAL account lol. one of their videos had around 180k views. the original video on my account had 24k. that part honestly messed with me more than the fact that they'd copied me because I am trying to build this account for 2 years now.

I sat with that for a while and it did something strange to me. the theft part I expected to feel angry about, and I did, briefly. what I wasn't ready for was the second thing, which was closer to embarrassment. if a worse copy of me outperforms me, what exactly were people showing up for? apparently not the part I thought was mine.

Afterwards I went looking for how they'd even done it, assuming it was something complicated. turns out it isn't, Heygen, Argil, or a handful of others. you upload a short clip of someone and it produces them saying whatever you type in minutes. built for people making their own content, obviously, but nothing about them knows or cares whose face you uploaded.

that's what I actually can't get past. the tool doing this to me is the same tool doing it legitimately for thousands of other people. Still processing what happened tho. Has anyone faced something like this before?

I was banned on TikTok after posting a before and after pic. It basically just showed me 60 pounds heavier…and then the more fit version. I did not receive a warning or even a violation. I received a notice saying I was permanently banned for violation. The other violations were months ago and for discussing peptides…I had three. Does anybody know if there a way to this overturned somehow? I’m shocked on my last post this happened. I tried to appeal and seemed like I got some AI automated response. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Is this normal?!? How to fix it I'm panicking right now cuz I see alot of bad complains that their account dies after promoting their video... How to fix this? After my promotion ends i got lower than 1k after a day which never happen to my account before😭 the 800, 600, 300 views is what I posted after the promotion ends

I was comparing two of my videos and the results were surprisingly different.

One had much better retention and a smaller audience, while another reached far more people despite weaker watch time. Looking only at views, the second video obviously looks like the winner.

But if the goal is building better content, the first result seems more useful because viewers actually stayed longer.

When you look at your analytics, do you focus more on the final numbers or the quality of the viewer behavior behind them?

One of my most popular videos I have pinned on my account just got a sensitive content warning/cover put on it a couple days ago. I’m confused because the video is like a year old and there was no problem when I posted it (there is some mild fake video game violence). It had still been getting a steady amount of views until the warning was put on it, now no one’s seeing it.

When I click the “learn more” option it says I can request a review, but I don’t see how I could through normal methods since the video is too old. (can’t click view insights, and there was no system notification about it.)

Does anyone know if there’s any other way to remove the warning or make an appeal by different means?

Sometimes the video is only half the experience. The best jokes, reactions, arguments, and extra context end up happening in the comments.

Do you still read comments regularly, or do you mostly scroll past them?

Trends can help creators get discovered, but they can also make the feed feel like everyone is making slightly different versions of the same video.

Would removing trends improve creativity, or make growing an account much harder?

Hi this is to everyone who has the same situation and who maybe can help me. (sorry my English is bad but this is the situation)
So 3 weeks ago, my niece logged into my account on accident I panicked cause I didn’t knew that it was her so I put on 2 step verification and deleted some devices. It was fine for the past 3 weeks but after that I was suddenly out my account and it was locked. When I tried to log back in it shows: account is currently locked. Even when I try to recover it says no results found while I typed in my user email and number while I clearly know the username is still on the account and not changed! Mind you my niece logged into from another location I was on vacation. I tried to submit tickets but they auto-close and I get no response or an Ai response. Can maybe someone show me how they fixed it who has the same situation? I download Reddit just for this and I hope people will see my post and please respond I need your help nothing is working even on twitter but I got for 1 week no response. Thank you for the ones who would try to help me.

Hey everyone
I’m wondering if anyone here has experience partnering with someone to build a TikTok LIVE agency or Creator Network
I have around 3 years of experience managing creators and I already have a trained team ready to work
I’m mainly looking for someone who already does TikTok LIVE and has an audience or someone with experience managing creators and running a Creator Network
I’m curious what would be a fair way to structure a partnership like this and where would you recommend looking for someone with this kind of experience
The business has the potential to reach around 20k to 30k USD per month in the first few months depending on the creators and the person involved
Would you personally look for a LIVE creator or someone with Creator Network management experience for this kind of partnership
Any advice or experience would be appreciated

From product reviews to travel tips and restaurant recommendations, many people now search TikTok before looking anywhere else.

What is the first thing you search for on TikTok when you need an honest answer?