My First TikTok Experience: What I Learned from My Students (and AI!)

As someone always eager to understand the latest tech trends, I recently took a deep dive into one of the most popular apps in the world—TikTok. Although I wasn’t a TikTok user myself, I knew it was a favorite among my BA198 students, so I decided to set up an account and explore it firsthand. What I found, thanks to my students and a little help from AI, opened my eyes to the power and potential of this platform.

A Rocky Start: The First 5 Minutes on TikTok

I’ll be honest—my first five minutes on TikTok weren’t great. I didn’t like any of the videos the app suggested to me. It felt random, disjointed, and a bit overwhelming. But I was determined to understand why my students loved it so much, so I asked for their help.

That’s when things clicked. My students explained the magic behind TikTok’s AI-powered personalization algorithm, which learns user preferences based on every interaction—from how long you watch a video to the content you swipe past. The more you use TikTok, the smarter the AI becomes, customizing your experience in ways that are almost uncanny.

This idea of AI learning and evolving based on user interaction reminded me of a recent article I discussed in class, “Creating Winning Customer Experiences with Generative AI” by Nicolaj Siggelkow and Christian Terwiesch. The article highlights how AI, when used effectively, can transform industries by improving customer experiences through three key strategies: focusing on customer needs, learning from interactions, and complementing, not replacing, human capabilities. TikTok exemplifies these strategies perfectly.

Here’s What I Learned from My Students—and TikTok

1. AI-Powered Personalization: Understanding Your Preferences
   Just like in the generative AI article, TikTok’s AI focuses on the user—not the technology itself. My students pointed out how TikTok’s algorithms constantly analyze your behavior to fine-tune your feed, ensuring that the more you use it, the more content you’ll love. The platform doesn’t just recommend content; it identifies unmet needs, responds with new ideas, and learns from every interaction to provide a seamless user experience.
2. Easy Creativity for Everyone: Complementing, Not Replacing
   One of the key lessons from the article was that AI should complement human capabilities, not replace them. TikTok embodies this perfectly. With its easy-to-use video creation tools, anyone can shoot, edit, and share content in seconds. The app enhances creativity without requiring technical expertise, empowering users to create fun, viral videos.
3. Trends Driven by Real People: Learning from Interactions
   My students explained how most TikTok trends come from everyday users, not celebrities. It’s a bottom-up platform where creativity flourishes among regular people who come up with catchy dances, challenges, or “life hacks.” This reminded me of the article’s focus on learning from interactions—TikTok’s algorithm watches these trends, amplifies the most popular ones, and presents them to millions of other users. The learning and feedback loop drives viral success.
4. TikTok as a Shopping Platform: Seamless Customer Journeys
   One of the surprises I learned is that TikTok isn’t just about entertainment; it’s also a powerful e-commerce platform. Creators can embed product links directly into their videos, allowing viewers to purchase items with just a click. This seamless transition from content to commerce echoes the idea in the article about using AI to enhance customer journeys—TikTok recognizes needs, suggests solutions, and responds with personalized recommendations.

The Class Wrap-Up: Our Own TikTok Video!

To bring the lesson full circle, we ended the class by creating and posting our own TikTok video. It was a fun, hands-on experience that gave me even more insight into how the platform operates. And yes, I finally started to see why my students love it so much! It’s not just about mindless scrolling—it’s a personalized, creative, and interactive space where AI and human ingenuity come together in exciting ways.

Conclusion: What I Learned from TikTok and AI

My initial skepticism about TikTok faded once I understood how its AI-powered personalization and creativity tools make it such a hit. What resonated with me most was the parallel to the generative AI article—TikTok, like successful AI applications in business, focuses on the customer first, learns from interactions, and enhances human creativity rather than replacing it.

So, whether you’re building customer experiences with AI or just trying to understand why TikTok is so addictive, the key takeaway is the same: It’s all about enhancing and personalizing the experience for the user.

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