TikTok has introduced Bulletin Boards, a new feature intended to revolutionize the methods by which brands and creators interact with their audiences. With Bulletin Boards, profiles can share updates through text/image/video formats through group direct messaging, rather than on social posts. Most importantly, the Bulletin Boards provide creators with a new way to roll out communications such as announcements, promotions, or behind-the-scenes happenings to their audiences on a single page in a more expedient manner. Bulletin Boards will allow fans to follow curated updates instead of having to scroll, as is the main use of normal TikTok videos, while still giving audiences the chance to engage with their favorite brands or creators by maintaining the usual way of connecting with them, albeit in a friendly way.
How Bulletin Boards Work for TikTok Profiles
Once creators or brands open Bulletin Boards, they can create them straight out of their inbox by tapping a plus icon. After doing so, they will name the board, add a description, and determine if they want a "join" button to appear on their TikTok profile for easy fan access. These bulletin boards give a structured message stream very different from regular video updates. The creators can post up to 20 bulletins to a Bulletin board each day, giving fans a consistent information feed without overdoing it. Each bulletin can have up to 1,000 characters, giving creators direct messaging capabilities that are concise and impactful, with the intention of not overloading the audience. This daily bulletin difference allows creators the option to curate well-thought-out content without spamming their followers each day; in other words, for creators, it provides a balance of consistency vs. oversaturation.
Fan Interaction and the Future of TikTok Engagement
Fans can react to the Bulletin Board posts by liking or emoting them. There is no way to reply to these posts, thus retaining tighter control over the line of communication for the creator. Some users might find this an impingement on their two-sided conversational capability allows some level of freedom for creators to share time-sensitive information without the commitment to personally respond. Provided this limitation, however, Bulletin Boards could still serve as a hole into the change of audience engagement on TikTok, allowing the sharing of exclusive content timely yet repetitive manner for brands and influencers, with the possibility of going beyond merely a single story. Most importantly, this functionality provides an avenue for creators to bind their community tightly while retaining authenticity and being highly professional.
