TikTok adds voice comments, comment polls and photo carousels.
TikTok has added voice comments, creator-run comment polls and multi-photo comments. Polls and Live Photo comments are live now; the rest arrive within a month.
TikTok has added three new ways to comment, announced on 3 September.
Voice comments let anyone record an audio message of up to 60 seconds under a video from the microphone icon in the comment box. Comment polls let a creator add a poll when commenting on their own video, with up to five options and a voting window they set, with the results shown in the comment section. Photo comments gain two upgrades: a carousel of up to nine photos in one comment, and Live Photos uploaded straight from the camera roll.
The rollout is staggered, and TikTok has said where each stands. Comment polls and Live Photo comments are available globally now. Voice comments and photo carousel comments are rolling out globally over the next month, and voice comments are limited to accounts aged 18 and over. TikTok says more than 1.7 billion comments are shared across the platform every day. On the platform updates desk the TikTok change that matters most here is the poll, because it is the one format the account owner controls rather than the audience.
What is unchanged, and what is not said
Text, photo and video sticker comments carry on as before; the new formats sit beside them in the same box.
The announcement does not say whether a creator can switch voice comments off under their own videos, whether audio is moderated the way text is, or whether business accounts get comment polls as well as creators. It gives no date beyond “over the next month” for the two staggered formats.
What it means for creators
A comment poll is a decision your audience makes in public, under the video, with the count visible. TikTok’s own examples are an outfit, what to cook, or the next video idea. A vote gives a viewer a reason to come back to the comments, so it is a retention tool as much as an engagement one.
Voice comments cut the other way. An audio thread under a video is a moderation job your team does not have yet, with nothing to read and up to 60 seconds to listen to each.
One thing to do this week: pick one video where you would act on the result, run a comment poll on your own account, and decide who on the team listens to voice comments once they arrive.
Sources
The NBK Social briefing
Our TikTok coverage, and everything else we publish, by email.