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ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

reuters.com

171–180 of 204 posts

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#171
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As said in some other comments, TikTok does not use a "follow" model, new content is algorithmically recommended to you. Therefore there is no problem with the content creators you're following burning out or your follow list getting stale. For example my highschool friends are no longer that active on facebook, and in 2020 I'm no longer asking random people to add me to FB, therefore facebook is now kind of dead to…

I haven't installed TikTok, so I'll ask you instead. If there's no follow model, how do I see stuff that I want to see? Say there's a particular guy I like, I want to see a bunch of his content. Do I have to like it and hope the algo gives me more?

there's a follow model, it's just secondary. when you log into tiktok, the first page you see is called the For You Page, where content is pushed to you algorithmically. to see the content you actually subscribed to, you'd need to swipe left.

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#172
post #14

Many are suggesting that TikTok would be overvalued at $50B. If that's the case, do you believe FB is overvalued at $662B? Instagram, as of 2018, was estimated to be worth around $100B on its own (with about 1b MAUs, versus TikTok's 800m). TikTok seems at least equally addictive, and its algorithm does a fantastic job at quickly showing good content that matches your interests.

Apps are easy to install... and easy to uninstall. Where's Snapchat these days? What about Vine? What about tumblr? These companies make apps to try to monetize a community, but communities are fickle and easy to scare off. If I were an investor, I'd value these apps for the computers in their offices and the code their developers write and that's it. Maybe $100mil if you get me on a good day. You can't value them fo…

The provided examples don't compute well. Snapchat for instance is doing well, worth lots of billions. One doesnt have to be No 1 to be successful. And with TikTok it's not unlikely that they will actually overtake some of Facebook services in the next few years.

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#173

I think this is extraordinarily cruel & I can see lots on these comments where people agree but are divided (probably the ones who disagree are from the US) As someone who grew up outside the US or a western country I don't really see anything wrong with TikTok. If they do something Facebook or Google or your runt of the litter tracking script will do it. I am also not brought up in China or a country involved in thi…

Bytedance is not some startup launched in the basement by founders living on ramen noodles. It’s a product of the CCP.

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#174
post #14

Many are suggesting that TikTok would be overvalued at $50B. If that's the case, do you believe FB is overvalued at $662B? Instagram, as of 2018, was estimated to be worth around $100B on its own (with about 1b MAUs, versus TikTok's 800m). TikTok seems at least equally addictive, and its algorithm does a fantastic job at quickly showing good content that matches your interests.

How much is Facebook projecting each user to be worth? I’m trying to figure out how the $662B valuation makes sense. Would love some insight into this, are they factoring in the propensity of the marketing industry to spend to come up with that projection?

Yeah, I think it’s overvalued by several hundred billion, which is scary dangerous when you think about it. That’s a bubble that tech might not be ready to reconcile.

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#175
I wonder if anyone will be able to create a community that's valued as a community rather than only valued as a medium through which to hawk products. What might be achieved with new communication systems that are principled and directed towards humanity instead of private financial profit?

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#176

It's sort to sad to see TikTok being forcibly sold off due to geopolitical factors, rather than on more business ones (e.g. competitiveness). Despite the controversy with its personal data leakage, TikTok has been massively successful and put the established players like Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube on alert. Competition forces companies to improve and just as we need Android to hold iOS accountable, etc TikTok…

> due to geopolitical factors They kind of dug themselves in hole with how sketchy the app is

and how sketchy exactly is it?

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#177
post #24
post #14

Many are suggesting that TikTok would be overvalued at $50B. If that's the case, do you believe FB is overvalued at $662B? Instagram, as of 2018, was estimated to be worth around $100B on its own (with about 1b MAUs, versus TikTok's 800m). TikTok seems at least equally addictive, and its algorithm does a fantastic job at quickly showing good content that matches your interests.

In my personal experience, Instagram ads are shockingly good (they often hit me with something that I actually want) and Tiktok ads shockingly bad (I've never seen one I didn't swipe through immediately). Obviously Tiktok and their advertisers will be doing a lot of work on this, and they've only just begun, but I really wonder about the efficacy of the medium for ads. It seems like a much more difficult forum for th…

I have noticed significant change in TikTok ads over the past year. A lot of the newer ones use TikTok-like format, using a popular meme to promote their product, and I find those quite a bit more effective, if only because they're not obvious to tell apart from normal content.

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#178

I think this is extraordinarily cruel & I can see lots on these comments where people agree but are divided (probably the ones who disagree are from the US) As someone who grew up outside the US or a western country I don't really see anything wrong with TikTok. If they do something Facebook or Google or your runt of the litter tracking script will do it. I am also not brought up in China or a country involved in thi…

Bytedance is not some startup launched in the basement by founders living on ramen noodles. It’s a product of the CCP.

citation needed. It's truly amazing how people justify arbitrary claims to fit their ideological perspectives.

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand I think it’s good for governments to face the consequences of their actions. If the Chinese government wants to treat technology as a surveillance mechanism, they shouldn’t be surprised when other countries want to avoid Chinese apps. Similarly, after revelations that the US government was messing with American companies, we lost business in places like Europe. It is unfortunate that there’s less di…

The comparison doesn't seem proportional at all. American tech companies were not forced to sell their technology to European investors in order to avoid their apps being banned in Europe. They were just fined.

The obvious comparison is that American tech companies are forced to do almost exactly that in China. The absence of reciprocity is foolishness.

Re: ByteDance investors value TikTok at $50B in takeover bid

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well that's why the investors are trying to take it over. As long as China has anything meaningful to say, that won't be enough. > but the type of content that is rewarded on TikTok makes it less exploitable by people who build followings by posting low-effort content that looks good aesthetically. Lol most of the stuff that goes viral on Tiktok is essentially that. People scaring cows ffs (look up "kulikitaka chal…

>Lol most of the stuff that goes viral on Tiktok is essentially that. People scaring cows ffs (look up "kulikitaka challenge"). Can't get much more "crap" than this. That's not what my FYP looks like and I don't think most people would agree TikTok and IG content aesthetics are similar... but even scaring cows sounds more entertaining than a picture of an influencer on the beach.

Cow memes and beach photos of vapid nobodies. We truly do live in the future, and it's as amazing as we all hoped. And anyone saying there's a bubble doesn't understand the value of eyeballs. I mean influencers.
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