Young people increasingly use TikTok as a search engine to find everything from nearby restaurants to news. As a result, TikTok search results reflect this change. This week, we noticed the app had quietly added Wikipedia snippets to some search result pages. Wikipedia links appeared in search results for The New York Times, Taylor Swift, and Thanksgiving.
When searching on TikTok, Wikipedia snippets now show up between videos in some results. Clicking leads to the full Wikipedia article. They added partnerships with Wikipedia to share easy facts directly in the app. This has been happening for a few months quietly.
Not every search gets a Wikipedia part. For example, New York and Los Angeles do but not Chicago. A search for the New York Mets showed their 2015 season specifically. Snippets also pop up in languages like Russian for some users. It’s unclear what decides which searches get Wikipedia info.
TikTok continues improving search. They already let sponsored content between organic videos and link movies/shows through IMDb Partnerships. These also have IMDb snippets in searches sometimes.
Google says other apps like TikTok are taking search share, especially from young people. Many don’t use Google Maps or Search for lunch spots – they go to TikTok or Instagram instead. TikTok adding Wikipedia makes searching there more helpful for learning on the go.
