TikTok Has Its Own Instagram Broadcast Channel Competitor In Bulletin Boards
Over the past few months (since around April), TikTok has quietly rolled out a new feature called Bulletin Boards to select creators and brands. Similar to Instagram’s Broadcast Channels and YouTube’s Communities, it’s a many-to-many messaging feature.
Here’s how it works, who has access based on some digging, and what it means for creators and brands on TikTok.
How It Works
Creators with access can create a Bulletin Board directly from their inbox by tapping a plus sign. From there, they can name it, write a description, and decide whether to display a “Join” button on their profile.
Inside a Bulletin Board, creators and brands can share text, photos, and videos with a limit of 20 bulletins daily. Followers who join can react with emojis but cannot yet respond with messages or comments.
Who Has Access So Far
Access is currently limited to mostly high-profile accounts in publishing, sports, music, celebrity, and mega-creators. Examples include:
Publishers: People Magazine
Sports: Inter Miami CF, Paris Saint-Germain
Musicians: The Jonas Brothers, Zara Larsson, Lauren Spencer Smith, Alan Walker
Celebrities & Digital Creators: Martha Stewart, James Charles
Some smaller accounts in certain regions also have access, indicating regional testing, too.
Why It Matters
TikTok has long excelled at discovery through the For You Page but lacked robust tools to deepen engagement with those who decide to tap “Follow.” Bulletin Boards address this by offering creators and brands a reliable way to communicate independently of the algorithm.
This enables use cases like:
Announcing new content or series before it goes live to drive early views and engagement.
Sending reminders for livestreams or live events to drive attendance and encourage repeat engagement.
Promoting TikTok Shop listings, especially for time-sensitive drops, discount codes, or bundle deals, to drive sales.
Teasing exclusive or behind-the-scenes moments such as product development, event access, or content creation workflows.
Using polls to gather quick feedback on upcoming content, product features, or creative direction.
Sharing links to off-platform content that might otherwise get lost in Stories.
Social Platforms Doubling Down on Community & Messaging Features
TikTok joins a broader trend of social platforms building in-app community tools and expanding messaging capabilities. While these might resemble platforms like Discord or Circle, they don’t offer the same level of control or community ownership; instead, they function as integrated content formats within the platforms.
These tools provide convenience, letting creators engage audiences where they already are, avoiding the friction and often low conversion rates of sending followers elsewhere.
Why a Multi-Platform Community Strategy Matters
Audiences behave differently across platforms, so creators and brands should use each platform’s native community features, tailoring content and frequency to fit the unique culture and expectations of each audience.
Just as creators adapt short-form videos to fit TikTok, Reels, and Shorts with subtle but deliberate tweaks, community channels should be strategically customized to each platform’s unique audience behavior and cultural norms.
For example, messaging is a big part of Instagram, so users there may be open to more frequent updates, while messaging isn’t as natural on TikTok, so it’s important to test how users respond to different types of updates before flooding a Bulletin Board.
