Social Rocket
TikTok is expanding its comments with Voice Comments, polls, Live Photos and photo carousels. The new formats have been rolling out worldwide since 3 September 2026, turning the comment section into a considerably more standalone space for interaction.
According to TikTok, more than 1,7 billion comments per day are already posted on the platform. For creators and brands, the change is therefore more than a convenience update: reactions can increasingly be used as their own content and community format.
Voice Comments: up to 60 seconds of audio
With Voice Comments, users can record a voice message directly under a video. A microphone icon appears in the comment field. Recordings can be up to 60 seconds long.
TikTok is rolling out the feature globally over the coming month for accounts aged 18 years and older. According to a TikTok spokesperson speaking to TechCrunch, Voice Comments are subject to the same Community Guidelines as other content; automated systems, including speech-to-text, are also used for moderation.
For creators, voice is likely to be most interesting for personal reactions, Q&As and community formats. At the same time, moderation effort increases when audio, not just text, has to be processed as a response.
Creators can place polls directly in comments
Comment Polls are already available worldwide. When commenting under their own video, creators can set up a poll with up to five answer options and define how long voting stays open. Results appear directly in the comment section.
This creates a very low-threshold form of community research: instead of sending followers to a separate post or external link for a vote, the question can be asked directly beneath the relevant video.
For marketing teams, this is especially useful for simple decisions such as prioritising topics, product variants or choosing the next content format. Our guide to social media goals and KPIs shows how such interactions can be translated into measurable objectives.
Photo comments become considerably more extensive
TikTok is also expanding its existing photo comments. With Photo Carousel Comments, up to nine images can be posted in a single comment. When opened, the images are shown as a scrollable carousel.
In addition, Live Photo Comments are available worldwide. Moving Live Photos can be uploaded directly from the smartphone gallery as a comment. Photo carousels, by contrast, are rolling out globally over the coming month.
For community management, this makes the comment section more visual and potentially longer-lived. Brands should therefore not treat comments merely as a moderation task, but monitor them as their own content space. Our comparison of social media monitoring solutions gives an overview of suitable processes and tools.
That TikTok is also automating its advertising platform more heavily is covered in our article on TikTok Ads, Agentic Hub and Symphony.
What changes for brands
The new comment formats mainly increase the number of possible reactions. That does not automatically mean more reach. In practice, however, the chance grows that discussions under a video last longer and that creators can derive new content ideas from comments.
For brands, the poll function is particularly interesting because it enables quick feedback directly under an existing asset. Voice and photo comments, by contrast, are likely to matter most where communities already rely heavily on personal reactions and visual responses.