Social Usability Evaluation of Douyin and TikTok

Social usability is an indicator of how easily social activities are performed on a platform. It also determines user motivations to engage in community software over the long term. Douyin and TikTok are two popular mobile social networking applications. Douyin is the original version of the application, available only in China, while TikTok is its international counterpart. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the social usability of Douyin and TikTok from the perspectives of social atmosphere, purposes and interests, richness of interaction, self-presentation, and support for formal interaction; and (2) to propose design recommendations to increase user engagement. In this study, forty Douyin/TikTok users were recruited to complete the social usability questionnaire and received follow-up semi-structured interviews. Independent sample t-tests were conducted on the rating score of each questionnaire item. Content analysis was conducted on participants’ verbal responses in the interview. Results showed that both applications received high ratings (over four on a scale of one to five) for “media richness in communication,” “ease of building identity,” and “ease of operation,” and low ratings (less than three) for “users feeling close to each other,” “users treating each other with mutual respect and courtesy,” and “accuracy of information.“ Results also showed a significant difference in the rating score of “Return on efforts.“ To enhance social usability and further foster customer loyalty, this study made design recommendations to address user experience issues in social atmosphere and accuracy of information.