TikTok introduces text-only posts to rival Twitter

TikTok has announced the introduction of text-only posts — a feature that shares similarities with Elon Musk’s Twitter.

In a recent blog post, the social media platform said the latest feature will provide a “broader way of sharing ideas and expressing creativity”.

TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, said ‘text posts’ will include features like ‘Stickers’, ‘Tags and Hashtags’, ‘Background Colours’, ‘Sound’, and ‘Draft and Discard’.

Users will also be able to add coloured backgrounds and stickers to the posts, which have a limit of 1,000 words.

“At TikTok, we are always looking to empower our creators and community with innovative tools that inspire self expression. Today we’re thrilled to announce the expansion of text posts on TikTok, a new format for creating text-based content that broadens options for creators to share their ideas and express their creativity,” the post reads.

“With text posts, we are expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok, giving the written creativity we have seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine.

“Creators have been able to make content on TikTok across a variety of formats — from LIVE videos to photos, Duets to Stitch. Text is the latest addition to options for content creation, allowing creators to share their stories, poems, recipes, and other written content on TikTok – giving creators another way to express themselves and making it even easier to create.

“We are excited to see what our community will create with text posts, a new way to express and share your creativity on TikTok.”

TikTok’s new feature comes at about the same time when Musk’s Twitter dumped its famous blue bird logo and switched to a black and white X.

The rivalry between social media companies — such as Instagram owner Meta and Musk’s rebranded Twitter platform — has heated up in recent weeks.