"... TikTok doesn’t need a critical mass of famous or influential people to use it for its content to prove engaging. The short-video format grabs the user’s attention at a more primal level, relying on visual novelty, or a clever interplay of music and action, or direct emotional expression, to generate its appeal. And, unlike Facebook, TikTok doesn’t require that your friends already use the service for you to find it useful. Though there are some social features built into TikTok, they’re not the main draw of the app. TikTok also doesn’t rely on its users to manually share content with friends or followers to surface compelling offerings. It assigns this responsibility to its scary-good recommendation algorithm.... [T]he app can target a user’s interests with uncanny accuracy in as little as forty minutes of observation.
This rejection of the social-graph model has allowed TikTok to circumvent the barriers to entry that so effectively protected early social-media platforms like Facebook and Twitter...."
Not one word about China in that article, by the way, so don't use the comments to worry about China. The issue here is that TikTok has caused Facebook to move away from its "social graph" model, which requires users to build a network of friends.
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15 comments:
The algorithmic influencer. Steer me, too.
umm isn't tiktok's actual competitor you tube?
Tictoc is invisible hand giving Facebook quite a wank.
"Not one word about China in that article, by the way, so don't use the comments to worry about China."
The New Yorker is not worried about China, so Althouse is not worried about China.
Say, who owns the New Yorker, anyway?
TikTok is not a "connect with your friends and family" site. I find TikTok amusing at times, but I would never expect it to keep me in touch with people I cannot meet in person. I still think there is a market for that, but as the author points out, your other friends have to be using it for it to be effective. I think there is money to be made if someone could design an app where you can curate your profile and have it push out to any and all social media sites and also receive any postings from any of the other sites for and from those people who you authorize. That way you don't have to monitor multiple sites. Maybe Elon can figure that out and turn Twitter into a universal social media app.
Ah, TikTok features on Facebook. The kiddies on Facebook will be thrilled...
I’m not seeing the comparison between Facebook and TikTok. Seems like a different system. However, it demonstrates that eyes are drawn to random interesting stuff, rather than your friends boring pottery pictures.
Perhaps the comparison should be with Instagram, and not Facebook?
My first few years on FB was building my "Friends" list. 4000+ friends fast became unwieldy. So every year thereafter I pared. Earnestly and without apology. Now I have less than 100 friends on FB and It's a wonderful culled small group of people who really are my friends.
I suppose I'll be - what's the term we used so long ago? - with it and download the Tik Tok app and lurk around there to see what the hullabaloo is all about...
"Not one word about China in that article, by the way, so don't use the comments to worry about China."
Jesus.
Don't say China here or your comment will be "moderated." Disappeared.
I don't worry about China, here. I worry about Americans. In America, we're seeing these kinds of comments. From Americans. China is "off limits." Can't say China.
Your inculcation and infatuation with a Chinese social media algorithm is creepy and disturbing.
I find it amusing (ironic?) that this website, a blog that presents longer (dare I say more literate?) commentary seems to see how short attention span TkTok has triumphed over the previous competitors to longer-form commentary.
Are we doomed?
Ann: read any 500-page books lately?
Remember “Short Attention Span Theatre” from the 90s?
It used to be when someone brought out their home movies, everyone made an excuse to leave.
The good old days.
This centralized/decentralized model swing seems to happen periodically in the tech world. The FB model is one-stop shopping for content that comes from your friends and neighbors, as well as recommendations, paid for content, entertainment, messaging, etc. Eventually you end up with bloat-ware that does none of the things particularly well and even works at cross-purposes internally, such as push-content like ads displacing posts from friends and family. People start gravitating to lightweight single-function apps in a roll-your-own style, sharing and commenting on TikToks over alternate communication channels like group texts or Slack (or going old-school to blogs!) Eventually people will want to comment directly on the videos, so TikTok will add a chat function, and then the cycle will start all over again.
On YouTube you can sometimes learn things, and the people who put stuff up on YouTube sometimes bother to educate themselves about something before uploading their clips. TikTok, not so much.
[The Chinese don't want me commenting on this. They keep giving me the "Whoops" message.]
Not one word about China in that article, by the way, so don't use the comments to worry about China.
I'm worried about China. That's why never click on Althouse's TikTok links.
And now China is threatening to nuke us, assuming the Russians don't first.
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