‘Link in bio’ is a familiar term we’ve all seen on Instagram and TikTok where creators provide you with useful links to products, apps and websites. However, a recent tweet from Sendit’s co-founder, David Tesler, noticed TikTok has begun blocking links to app stores in creators’ bios. Find out more about what this means for creators and businesses below.
So, What Happened?
Tesler tweeted that he and others tested the functionality across many accounts and found that links to app stores no longer worked, even on third-party link-in-bio solutions like Linktree. When clicking on any app store link, it returns an ‘action can’t be completed’ message.
However, he found an exception with accounts that are running paid ads on the app. In these cases, the links will still go to the app store.
What Does This Mean for Businesses and Influencers?
Although it’s not unheard of for social platforms to want to limit traffic leaving their site, this could hurt influencers’ roles on the app. Blocking app store links could have a huge impact on Cost Per Install campaign deals between creators and brands.
However, website links can still be used on the app as normal. And if you’re a business looking to market your app on TikTok, don’t fret. TikTok business accounts will still have the functionality to link to app store pages with no additional fee!
What’s Next?
TikTok says they’re planning to roll out a new ‘download app’ button for business accounts to use. They believe this will make the distinction between business and personal accounts clearer.
This shift is clearly to steer more revenue towards TikTok rather than creators with creators having to spend on ads to be able to direct to app stores.
TikTok has had an increasing amount of influence over the App Store’s top charts. Not just because it’s the most downloaded app worldwide, but because of the links creators would add to certain apps in the app store. With more people heading to the app store to download these apps and increasing their popularity in the top charts, naturally more people will also discover it.
With the block of links to the app store, this may not give apps the same chance to climb those charts as before.
