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Show HN: HN as TikTok, welcome to HN hell

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Re: Show HN: HN as TikTok, welcome to HN hell

#32

Post by Noumenon72 »

MasterScrat wrote: post #6

I think both of these projects miss what makes TikTok (and reels in general) so effective. A good TikTok video gets "injected into your brain". You have zero effort to provide and suddenly this stuff is in your mind. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I realize the danger, but that's the core mechanism. A friend in marketing describes this in terms of "brain calories". Eg if people have to think in order to understand…

The algorithm would never work if the user had so little choice as to be "injected" with whatever they were shown. In fact we have full agency over whether we are interested enough to listen and trust the arguments, just like any other persuasive message. If not, we swipe up and injection fails.

This reminds me of the exaggerated claims made around subliminal advertising and brainwashing. People love to model others as weak-willed simpletons rather than accept that thoughtful people are persuaded because their perspectives differ.

Re: Show HN: HN as TikTok, welcome to HN hell

#37

Post by harrall »

MasterScrat wrote: post #6

I think both of these projects miss what makes TikTok (and reels in general) so effective. A good TikTok video gets "injected into your brain". You have zero effort to provide and suddenly this stuff is in your mind. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I realize the danger, but that's the core mechanism. A friend in marketing describes this in terms of "brain calories". Eg if people have to think in order to understand…

What made TikTok (and reels) effective was that it also added personalized discovery.

Most other social media services focused on showing stuff you that were either already subscribed to or were very similar to it. At some point, you would exhaust your feed. You more or less saw everything.

Of course, short videos are easier to scroll through than long YouTube videos but even to this day, the content of my YouTube feed has basically not changed in years.

Re: Show HN: HN as TikTok, welcome to HN hell

#38

Post by ceroxylon »

harrall wrote: post #37
MasterScrat wrote: post #6

I think both of these projects miss what makes TikTok (and reels in general) so effective. A good TikTok video gets "injected into your brain". You have zero effort to provide and suddenly this stuff is in your mind. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I realize the danger, but that's the core mechanism. A friend in marketing describes this in terms of "brain calories". Eg if people have to think in order to understand…

What made TikTok (and reels) effective was that it also added personalized discovery. Most other social media services focused on showing stuff you that were either already subscribed to or were very similar to it. At some point, you would exhaust your feed. You more or less saw everything. Of course, short videos are easier to scroll through than long YouTube videos but even to this day, the content of my YouTube fe…

I agree, Youtube still feels like "this thing held your attention once so that's what you get eternally". The "refresh your feed" option appears occasionally but it only makes things worse and shows you the raw fire-hose of humanity.

Re: Show HN: HN as TikTok, welcome to HN hell

#40

Post by electrovir »

AirMax98 wrote: post #23
busymom0 wrote: post #21

Bug report: On iPhone (with Safari url bar set to bottom), the titles are all clipped at the bottom. I think it has to do with your website using the screen height instead of the visible part only.

100dvh is your friend.

I coincidentally just discovered this unit today for work! What a godsend.
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