This is the best summary I could come up with:

The company appears intent on changing that, though: its parent company ByteDance is hiring for a slew of roles on a team called “TikTok Social,” which seems to be tasked with turning TikTok into a much more powerful messaging system.

“Our team’s mission is to facilitate meaningful user connections through TikTok’s messaging experience, which is still in its infancy.” Another listing, for a backend tech lead, says the person’s role will include collaborating with teams across countries and regions “to deliver a distinctive TikTok social solution such as messaging.” A product manager for the TikTok Social team will apparently need “passion and curiosity for Social direction to create great impacts.”

Ultimately, it appears that while the rest of the industry chases TikTok’s vertical video, creation tools, and seemingly magical algorithmic feed, TikTok is going to try and build the rest of what makes those other apps work.

How far it will go will be fascinating to watch: Will TikTok try and displace Snapchat as the go-to messaging app for young people?

It’s testing a dedicated music app, trying to bring more shopping to the platform, and embracing podcasts.

It even recently added text posts, which might fit nicely in a more messaging-focused part of the app.

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