TikTok’s experimenting with its own variation of broadcast channels, which enables brands and creators to share message updates with their audience in the app.
As you can see in this example, shared by creator economy expert Lia Haberman, some brand profiles on TikTok now have a new link to what it’s calling “Bulletin Boards.”
Bulletin Boards in this context are one-to-many DM chats, with these profiles then able to post updates, including text, image and video content, that their fans can follow.
As reported by social media expert Lindsey Gamble:
“Creators with access can create a Bulletin Board directly from their inbox by tapping a plus sign. From there, they can name it, write a description, and decide whether to display a ‘Join’ button on their profile. Inside a Bulletin Board, creators and brands can share text, photos, and videos with a limit of 20 bulletins daily.”
Each individual bulletin is restricted to 1,000 characters, with the posts then displayed in a message-like feed.
Here’s another example, posted by TikTok user Ayaz QA:
Fans can react to these messages, but they cannot reply, providing another means for creators and brands to feed updates through to their TikTok audience.
Which is very similar to Instagram’s Broadcast Channels, which it launched back in 2023. As part of its effort to meet users where they’re most active, Instagram added Broadcast Channels to help creators tap into the rise of messaging in the app, and provide another means for both creators and brands to stay connected with their audience.
Because as Instagram chief Adam Mosseri noted earlier this year:
“If you look at how people share on Instagram, creators aside, there are more photos and videos not including text shared in DMs than there are in Stories every day, and there are way more photos and videos shared into Stories than into feed every day.”
So the main feed is now third on the list of overall engagement, with more and more people turning to private chats to maintain connection.
Broadcast Channels, then, provides a valuable connective option, and TikTok is now leaning into the same, as sit looks to expand its usage.
YouTube also has its own variation, in Communities, which enables channels to share social-like updates with their subscribers (though users can reply to these posts).
TikTok has actually been testing its Bulletin Boards in some regions for the last few months, with some creators highlighting the option to their fans back in March.
I asked TikTok for more info on the roll-out of the option, and how it works, but they had not got back to me at the time of publication, though TikTok has confirmed to TechCrunch that it is now testing the option with a range of users.
It could provide another engagement and community-building option in the app, where brands can share exclusive promotions, sneak peeks, etc.
I mean, DMs are not as big of a deal on TikTok, so getting people to follow your Bulletin Board could be a little more difficult, but some of the initial boards already have hundreds of thousands of followers.
Those include big-name brands, like football club Paris St. Germain and the Jonas Brothers. It’s a little easier for these profiles to gain followers in the app, but as more of these Bulletin Boards come online, that will then build more habitual following behaviors, which will expand opportunities.
It’s another consideration either way. As noted TikTok, hasn’t shared any info on its roll-out plans, nor who has, or will have access to the option. But it seems to be rolling out to more brand and creator profiles over time.
We’ll update this post with more info if/when TikTok shares it.
