Tiktok viral video @tiktok ,shorts

Tiktok viral video @tiktok ,shorts
Hi reddit. I'm dabbling in TikTok at the moment to try to understand the platform, how it's algorithm works, what "quality signals" are being rewarded and what type of content is being punished.

I uploaded several videos over the last few days. The first 4 performed okay, a few thousand views, one even managed 100k in one day. The next 4 videos did not even reach 100 views. The type of content is the same (gaming videos), length and "design" as well.

I am asking myself several questions: 1) can you post too much? 2) How important are hashtags compared to IG 3) Is the algorithm more random by design? 4) Is time of day very important? 5) Does it judge your content in the first 5 minutes and if the video does not perform with the first test group it immediately gets shut down?

Any insights? I am very confused as the view differences are not 800 vs 8000 but 80 vs 100'000. Thanks!

Rizwan44