TikTok’s ‘Jump’ bridges creator content with mini apps

TikTok announced today a new way for creators to build out their content with mini apps, giving users a new way to discover and interact with third-party content straight from creator videos. As much of a boon to users and creators, the new feature shows TikTok is willing to work with third-parties to add value to its platform. With the new program, TikTok Jump, creators can add links to their videos leading to additional content built into the app, such as recipes, quizzes, flashcards, movie reviews and beauty tutorials. Several third-party developers have already been testing Jump apps since earlier in the year. Those included in the beta test are Wikipedia, Whisk, Quizlet, Breathwrk, StatMuse and Tabelog. While Wikipedia was one of the first content providers to be featured, TikTok has updated its blog post on the subject to write that neither Wikipedia or its nonprofit parent company the Wikipedia Foundation "collaborated or partnered with TikTok on the Jumps feature." A TikTok creator could share a video about a new recipe they came across and link directly to that recipe on Whisk, or a yoga instructor could link to breathing exercises on Breathwrk or a creator raving about a new restaurant can share a way to reserve a table on Tablelog. Those “beta collaborators,” as TikTok calls them, will be joined by BuzzFeed, Jumprope, IRL and Watcha in the coming weeks, and the platform is now calling for more third-party providers to apply to be part of the program. The application process asks for possible use cases of the content and places emphasis on content safety, asking providers if they have any moderation strategies or content that violates the platform’s guidelines. These mini Jump apps can be built using HTML5. TikTok is positioning the new feature as a way to propel discovery on the platform. “TikTok has become a destination both to be entertained and to learn," writes Sean Kim, U.S. head of product at TikTok, in the blog post. "Through TikTok Jump, we're creating that ‘last mile’ of our community's discovery journey and helping to spark action and deeper interaction both on and off the platform,” Kim writes. At launch, a select group of creators are able to add the links to their videos and the platform will continue to roll out the feature to more accounts. Nick Holzherr, head of Whisk, writes that the new feature allows TikTok users to not only view new content, such as the site’s recipes, but also lets them save them and find new recipes created by TikTok creators themselves. “Not only are TikTok creators using Whisk to add recipes previously published online," Holzherr writes. "They're also sharing unique TikTok recipes that don't exist anywhere else." The integration is similar to the mini apps that can be found on WeChat or Snapchat, which launched its Snap Minis in July 2020. So far, TikTok’s version is different in that the experience isn’t centered on e-commerce, at least not yet. On WeChat there are over a million mini apps and through them, the network sees over $250 billion a year in transactions. On Snapchat Minis, you can buy movie tickets through Atom. As TikTok continues to build out its e-commerce features, however, there’s potential that TikTok Jump could become more of an e-commerce opportunity than how it is currently being positioned. “The use cases for TikTok Jumps are almost limitless, and we look forward to working with selected providers to build innovative Jumps that help fuel the instructive and entertaining content our community craves,” writes Kim. Update: This story has been updated to reflect TikTok's new mention on its blog post that Wikipedia was an original content provider for its Jump feature, but did not partner or collaborate with the platform for the feature.

TikTok’s ‘Jump’ bridges creator content with mini apps

Featured Stories