TikTok is trying increasingly more like Yelp

TikTok is a component algorithmic tv, half Nextdoor group, and more and more, half journey agent — a job the platform appears to be leaning into.

Customers have been capable of tag their geolocation for some time, however now, the corporate seems to have revamped the landing pages for sure areas like Boston, New York, and Texas. Now, as an alternative of simply exhibiting movies that tag that location, TikTok has created classes like “meals & drink,” “accommodations,” and “buying” which can be full of related movies.

Clicking a button labeled “discover extra locations” opens up an Apple Maps integration exhibiting a map of companies within the space which were tagged in TikTok posts. Beneath the map is an inventory of areas with particulars like their tackle, worth degree, and what number of tags the enterprise has on TikTok. It appears much less just like the For You web page and extra like Yelp or a journey website.

TikTok didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about when the options had been launched, however they seem like comparatively new. The up to date location web page isn’t out there for all tagged areas.

In the previous few years, TikTok has come to resemble different platforms on the market — and in some instances, it has efficiently changed rivals, not less than for youthful folks. TikTok isn’t but an ideal Google Search alternative, nevertheless it does drive important enterprise to native eating places when a video goes viral. Personally, I don’t actually use websites like Yelp to discover a new restaurant to attempt; I simply seek for suggestions on TikTok. Likewise, journey is big on the platform (has anybody else seen companies that publicize their “TikTok-famous” standing?), and the corporate’s choice to collect and arrange any such content material in a single place appears like an acknowledgment of that.

The deluge of paid influencer content material makes it exhausting to totally belief TikTok — and honestly, different social media platforms — for suggestions. However when you’re already scrolling on TikTok and see restaurant suggestions in a metropolis you’re planning to go to? TikTok is betting that customers would possibly simply take them.