Team Otters

Inspiration

We noticed that TikTok often rewards clickbait and fake engagement while authentic creators are overlooked. This inspired us to design a system that values originality, meaningful interactions, and positive social impact.

What it does

Our project introduces the TikTok Authenticity Checker, powered by the TikTok Value Score (TVS).
It evaluates content across five dimensions — Authenticity, Impact per Minute, Ripple Effect, Sentiment, and Social Good — and gives creators actionable insights through a dashboard.

The TVS formula is defined as:

$$ TVS = (Engagement \times WatchTimeFactor) + (RippleEffect \times Sentiment) + AuthenticityBonus + DiversityBonus + SocialGoodBonus $$

How we built it

We developed a web app using Next.js 15, React 19, and TypeScript with Tailwind CSS, Radix UI, and Lucide Icons for styling.
Sentiment analysis and originality checks are powered by mocked APIs, simulating integration with TikTok’s data.
Visualizations are rendered with Chart.js.

Challenges we ran into

Limited access to TikTok’s closed APIs — we had to simulate metadata.
Designing metrics that balance authenticity, impact, and fairness.
Building a system that is simple for creators yet rigorous behind the scenes.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating a functioning web app that demonstrates a new scoring system.
Designing a comprehensive TVS formula that ties authenticity to measurable outcomes.
Building an intuitive dashboard that feels familiar to creators but adds professional analytics.

What we learned

How difficult but essential it is to design fair reward mechanisms.
The importance of combining technical metrics with social values like authenticity and mental health.
How to rapidly prototype a system that can scale with real data.

What's next for Team Otters

Integrating with TikTok’s actual APIs for real-time authenticity scoring.
Expanding the Social Good Index with advanced AI for impact detection.
Building a mobile app for creators to monitor scores on the go.
Partnering with platforms to promote transparency and healthier creator ecosystems.