An awesome part of TikTok is that it can help you find your next hobby if you’re in need of inspiration for something to do to fill your free time or if you’re burnt out and need a relaxing activity to recharge.
Maybe you want to improve your cooking skills or learn a new craft like painting, knitting or crocheting. Or maybe you’re looking into delving into nurturing house plants. TikTok can help you.
TikTok Is the Best Place to Find Your Next Hobby
One of the beauties of TikTok is that it offers a place for every single one of its users. Whether you’re a creator or consumer of content, you’re bound to find a corner of TikTok that fits your interests perfectly. BookTok, CrochetTok, PlantTok—so many communities to explore and undertake!
That being said, TikTok is among the best places to browse and try to discover your next interest and passion and make a hobby out of it.
there are so many things you can do on the app to help you on your journey to learning more about a hobby you’re interested in taking up yourself. Here are four ways to discover a new hobby using the app…
1. Utilize the Discover Tab on TikTok
TikTok’s Discover Tab is your best friend. It’s the best way to delve into a new interest to explore and find the right people to introduce you to a hobby and guide you along your way.
You can find the tab in the lower right part of your screen. It lets you search for specific hashtags, creators, or topics and start to follow them. Then, they’ll begin to appear on your homepage once the TikTok algorithm catches onto your interests and transforms your For You Page (FYP) to fit your preferences.
At the time of writing this article, TikTok has implemented a slight change regarding its Discover tab. Where the Discover tab should be, some users will instead find a TikTok Friends tab. Browsing the Friends tab, you find friend suggestions to follow or follow back. It also lets you Invite friends by using the Connect with contacts or Connect with Facebook friends button.
This is not a permanent change, at least not yet. And if you see the Friends tab and not the Discover one, there is a ‘fix’ you can try. If you log out of your account, the Discover tab appears in its place again, allowing you to browse. However, you can’t truly take advantage of it since you’re not logged in, and anything and anyone you follow won’t show up in your account.
2. Follow Everyone and Everything That Fits
As explained, the Discover tab lets you browse your new interest by searching for it on the app. But searching and seeing something on TikTok will do nothing for you unless you use the follow button. So for the best results, follow everything and everyone that shows a potential new hobby.
If you’ve decided to delve into crocheting, for example, and searched for ‘crochet’ on TikTok, you’ll see tons of things pop up that fit that search. There will be creators, hashtags, and shops, so go through the results and follow all that appeal to you. For example, you can tailor your follows to the fact that you’re a beginner at crocheting and follow things that introduce you to the craft.
That way, these creators and all the crochet-adjacent content you followed will start to show up on your feed, and you won’t have to go through the search process every time you want to explore your topic of interest. Follows are free so go wild.
3. Add Hashtags to Favorites
Hashtags can let the algorithm know your interest in something. When you find a hashtag that appeals to you, like “#AcrylicPainting” or “#Crochet”, for example, you can add that hashtag to favorites using the red button.
What that does is create easy access to said hashtag through your TikTok profile. That way, you won’t have to go looking for it every time—you’ll have a shortcut.
You can add hashtags and videos to your favorites and then access them through your profile. It doesn’t only offer quick access but lets the algorithm know what draws you to the app, so you get shown other things like the ones you favorited. So, it’s a win-win.
4. Check Out the Shop Section
Once you’ve browsed through the app and figured out what appeals to you enough to try your hand at it, the Shop section can help you.
TikTok’s Shop offers a ton of things that could prove useful for your journey into a new hobby. You could find supplies to buy, ready-made items to inspire you, and other items too, depending on what your interest is. For example, if you’re set on crocheting, you can find patterns for beginners, yarn, hooks, anything. And one benefit of using TikTok shopping is that you can buy whatever you pick straight from the app without leaving it.
The Shop section appears when you type in a search and see the results pop up. It’s right there on the bar, a little to the right.
TikTok Can Be a Great Creative Resource, So Use It
Unquestionably, TikTok is an addictive app. It appears that people constantly share stories about how they’ve spent hours on the app without realizing how much time had actually gone by. And, though it’s a bit scary to waste hours looking at your phone, it happens for a reason—TikTok houses a ton of helpful creators.
You can do more than find your new hobby on the app. You can also discover people with whom you share that interest and who are willing to share with you and guide you along your way. You can join an already established community, and not just as a viewer but as a fully fledged participating creator. TikTok is a super easy app to navigate, so don’t be intimidated if you’re a beginner, but try and join the fun.
