Many brands are using the messaging app Discord to forge a sense of community among their fans. If the fast-food chain Wendy’s can have a Discord with over 60,000 members, why not a viral platform like TikTok?
TikTok teased on Twitter that it was making a Discord server, but then confirmed the news on its own app today. Now, on TikTok’s brand new Discord, you can chat with strangers about… whatever you’d want to talk to a bunch of TikTokers about. Maybe the best way to make Emily Mariko’s viral salmon recipe?
“This server’s just like your for you feed: it’s made for you, some of its comments are spicy, and your parents have no idea what it is,” TikTok wrote in the Discord’s welcome channel. Some of the rules on the Discord include no NSFW content and no buying crypto. Before chatting, you have to indicate by selecting a check-mark reaction that you read the rules — this is common in popular Discords to discourage spam. There’s even an option to indicate your gender pronouns on your server profile.
As of publication, there are only 400 people in the Discord, which TikTok told TechCrunch is a “soft launch.” There are 5 moderators from TikTok, which could pose a problem if the server continues to grow. As one user said, “let’s take the advantage [to talk to each other] when there are not 300,000 people trying to chat at the same time.”
To prevent spam (which is also against the rules), TikTok is using “slowmode,” a Discord feature that only lets people send a message every 30 seconds. But users quickly got around the slowmode by making threads, where the time limit between messages doesn’t apply. Soon after, moderators removed the ability to make threads.
Right now, the conversation channels on the TikTok Discord are relatively ordinary, expect for some light trolling. There are chats for introducing yourself, sharing your TikToks, TikTok support, server feedback, TikTok sounds, and more. There’s even a “game room,” indicating TikTok’s growing interest in gaming — right now, the platform is testing a desktop streaming software called TikTok Live Studio.