Live Comments for TikTok Photo
TL;DR
Growing user engagement and building communities with "Live Comments" for TikTok Photo.
TL;DR
TL;DR
Turning ambiguous problem space to tangible & shippable design: "Live Comments for TikTok Photo", growing user engagements and building communities.
Timeline
Timeline
Timeline
9 weeks
June - Aug. 2024
V.1 launched in 2025
Skills
Skills
Skills
Interaction design
Prototyping
User research
Micro-interaction
Team
Team
3 UX designers
2 Product managers
4 Engineers
1 UX researcher
Tools
Tools
Figma
ProtoPie
Lottiefiles
Timeline
9 weeks
June - Aug. 2024
V.1 launched in 2025
Skills
Interaction design
Prototyping
User research
Micro-interaction
Team
Team
3 UX designers
2 Product managers
4 Engineers
1 UX researcher
Tools
Tools
Figma
ProtoPie
Lottiefiles
My Impact
My Impact
Turning ambiguous problem space to tangible & shippable design: "Live Comments for TikTok Photo", growing user engagements and building communities.
I designed "Live Comments", a north-star vision to create more dynamic interactions between viewer-and-viewer; with phase one launched in 2025.
+23%
monthly engagement rates
monthly engagement
+4M
daily active users
DAU
V.1 launched
on 15+ TikTok global Asian apps
on 15+ TikTok apps
on 15+ TikTok Asian market apps
Context
Context
Context
Context
The rise of TikTok Photo.
In 2024, TikTok aimed to diversify its content ecosystem by promoting more consumption and creation for TikTok Photo.
In 2024, TikTok aimed to diversify its content ecosystem by promoting TikTok Photo.
The Challenge
The Challenge
The Challenge
The Challenge
However, on a video-first platform, users don't feel engaged enough with static medium such as photo.
Highlights
Highlights
Highlights
Highlights
See what the crowd thinks! Live Comments creates a video-like watch-party effect for photos.
Live comments are publicly and autoplayed on photo feeds, emphasizing on connecting and forming communities between viewers.
Feeling inspired? Join the conversation on the big screen.
Feeling inspired? Join the conversation on the big screen.
Viewers can comment, react and express their thoughts directly on the big screen; emphasizing on the viewer-to-viewer connections.
Viewers can comment, react and express their thoughts directly on the big screen; emphasizing on the viewer-to-viewer connections.
Found your people?
Connect with them now.
Found your people?
Connect with them now.
Live Comments give viewers the opportunity to engage with individual photo: like, reply and connect with like-minded people.
Live Comments give viewers the opportunity to engage with individual photo: like, reply and connect with like-minded people.
Personalize the viewing experience!
Personalize the viewing experience!
Viewers can personalize the viewing experience with control settings such as speed, text size, transparency, line density, etc.
Viewers can personalize the viewing experience with control settings such as speed, text size, transparency, line density, etc.
Scroll for more detailed process
Why design?
Why design?
Why design?
Why design?
Compare to video content (700M+ DAU), TikTok users don't feel engaged enough with photo content (54M DAU) .
Compare to video content (700M+ DAU), TikTok users don't feel engaged enough with photo content (54M DAU) .
Data from existing feature shows...
Data from existing feature shows...
Data from existing feature shows...
Data from existing feature shows...
TikTok is a video-first platform, and users are naturally more drawn to content with motion.
TikTok is a video-first platform, and users are naturally more drawn to content with motion.
71% - highly engaging
Livestream Comments
54% - highly engaging
Video Live Comments
Static contents require active discovery with higher cognitive load, which TikTok users are not used to.
Static contents require active discovery with higher cognitive load, which TikTok users are not used to.
37% - semi engaging
Short Text Overlay
31% - semi engaging
Paragraph Overlay
10% - low engagement
Static Photo
9% - low engagement
Text as Photo
High-Level Principles
High-Level Principles
High-Level Principles
High-Level Principles
Design for video-like viewing experience, leveraging existing motion patterns that users are familiar with.
Motion
Users prefer content that feels more dynamic.
Involvement
Users want to feel involved with the content.
Community
Users enjoy forming online-communities.
Ideation - Aligning to Existing Video Features
Ideation - Aligning to Existing Video Features
Ideation - Aligning to Existing Video Features
Ideation - Aligning to Existing Video Features
Ideation - Aligning to Existing Video Features
How do Live Comments show up?
Where to position the CTA button?
