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TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

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Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#201

Post by kpennell »

ako wrote: post #197
ogwh wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other platforms only look for similar content to what you've already seen. They don't take novelty into account. If you like one picture of a dog on Instagram it'll just show you more dogs and you get bored. Watch a few YouTube videos about one topic and the algorithm gets fixated on it. YouTube is so bad now that if you use it to listen to music the autoplay gets into an infinite loop of songs that sound near identi…

It's interesting that these companies go into these different product directions, while i assume they're both looking at similar metrics, and optimizing for the same outcome: engagement and number of users. Somehow YouTube is seeing more engagement by showing more of the same, and TikTok is seeing even more engagement from showing fresh content. Maybe the risk of an upward trend in outcomes, that blurs the fact that…

this is Hill climbing, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_climbing

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#202

Post by likeclockwork »

inapis wrote: post #195
ogwh wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other platforms only look for similar content to what you've already seen. They don't take novelty into account. If you like one picture of a dog on Instagram it'll just show you more dogs and you get bored. Watch a few YouTube videos about one topic and the algorithm gets fixated on it. YouTube is so bad now that if you use it to listen to music the autoplay gets into an infinite loop of songs that sound near identi…

Same reason why I am absolutely terrified of playing any instrumental music on Spotify. I let one track run till the end and my next 2-3 discover weeklies will be filled only by instrumental music.

I have the same experience with vocal music on YouTube Music, funnily enough. I greatly prefer instrumental music but you listen to one vocal album and suddenly all they recommend is singing.

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#203

Post by HumanReadable »

I tried on multiple occations to get hooked on tik-tok, but each time after spending an hour scrolling through the feed with absolutely nothing interesting appearing I gave up.

Was I doing tik-tok wrong? I am a sociable 23 year old, so it's not like I'm way out of their target audience or anything. I am a bit confused as to why the algorithm seemed to be so poor at finding anything interesting for me, when have needed to disable youtube-recommendations because they take so much of my time.

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#204

Post by kpennell »

AlexandrB wrote: post #198
kpennell wrote: post #4

I'm not sure how I got sucked into Tiktok but I was quickly hooked. There's something so refreshingly playful, authentic, and raw about so much Tiktok content compared to Instagram. Instagram (explore/discovery) is generally pretty people with pretty things in pretty places. That was fun for a while but it's just not that interesting after a while. I don't need to see more pretty pictures of women doing yoga. I don't…

I remember hearing similar things about Instagram vs. Facebook many years ago. Could this just be a honeymoon phase before the SEO experts arrive in force to help make content go viral while ByteDance starts testing different monetization strategies by messing with the feed?

It felt like that for a bit but then they (Tiktok) just pushed a release that removed reposts/memes from the main FYP feed. All of a sudden, it became much more interesting again.

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#205

Post by kpennell »

AlexandrB wrote: post #198
kpennell wrote: post #4

I'm not sure how I got sucked into Tiktok but I was quickly hooked. There's something so refreshingly playful, authentic, and raw about so much Tiktok content compared to Instagram. Instagram (explore/discovery) is generally pretty people with pretty things in pretty places. That was fun for a while but it's just not that interesting after a while. I don't need to see more pretty pictures of women doing yoga. I don't…

I remember hearing similar things about Instagram vs. Facebook many years ago. Could this just be a honeymoon phase before the SEO experts arrive in force to help make content go viral while ByteDance starts testing different monetization strategies by messing with the feed?

But I agree with the overall point that at some point people will learn how to game it.

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#206

Post by vladvasiliu »

kpennell wrote: post #4

I'm not sure how I got sucked into Tiktok but I was quickly hooked. There's something so refreshingly playful, authentic, and raw about so much Tiktok content compared to Instagram. Instagram (explore/discovery) is generally pretty people with pretty things in pretty places. That was fun for a while but it's just not that interesting after a while. I don't need to see more pretty pictures of women doing yoga. I don't…

> Instagram (explore/discovery) is generally pretty people with pretty things in pretty places.

This is kinda baffling to me. I got into Instagram because photography is a hobby of mine and curiosity got the best of me. I follow a few photographers ("actual people", as opposed to aggregators) who only post "normal" photography. Sure, they're "pretty pictures", but I'd say it's not really the kind the general population would think of when mentioning Instagram.

Yet, whenever I go on the "explore" tab, I'm inundated with girls in skin-tight clothes or guys showing off their latest sports cars. The "feed" (home button) does seem to have relevant content, although it's quite repetitive outside the people I follow. And for some reason, I keep getting ads for tiny homes, which aren't even a thing in France, where I live.

Also, only being able to use it on a small-screen phone got old fast. And I'm not interested in hauling around a big-ass phone, I already have a laptop.

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#207

Post by k8sToGo »

I actively try to avoid anything with infinite scrolling now. Youtube Shorts, TikTok, etc.

It is just too addicting. At some point you have seen it all and then you start scrolling even more.

One time I went on vacation and did not use TikTok for a few days and realized how much it stressed me out.

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#208

Post by vmception »

HumanReadable wrote: post #203

I tried on multiple occations to get hooked on tik-tok, but each time after spending an hour scrolling through the feed with absolutely nothing interesting appearing I gave up. Was I doing tik-tok wrong? I am a sociable 23 year old, so it's not like I'm way out of their target audience or anything. I am a bit confused as to why the algorithm seemed to be so poor at finding anything interesting for me, when have neede…

That’s a strange experience, I think you need to deliberately follow a few people and interact with a few things

And then it will attempt to hook you more

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#209

Post by captainmuon »

HumanReadable wrote: post #203

I tried on multiple occations to get hooked on tik-tok, but each time after spending an hour scrolling through the feed with absolutely nothing interesting appearing I gave up. Was I doing tik-tok wrong? I am a sociable 23 year old, so it's not like I'm way out of their target audience or anything. I am a bit confused as to why the algorithm seemed to be so poor at finding anything interesting for me, when have neede…

Same here, I find it bland and annoying. Even after seeding it with contacts and searching for a couple of things I find interesting. Instead, it mostly shows me "sexy" bait and switch videos, cooking videos where I can't tell if it is meant to be appetizing or disgusting, and weird home improvement tips. I assume the algorithm is more hype than anything else.

Social media used to be addicting, before they were social media. When you obsessed about who looked at your profile, whom you are connected with via friends, when you spent hours tweaking your profile to elicit actions from others, and so on. Human social interaction, but without the scary closeness and immediateness, and at the same time amplified.

Re: TikTok is scary good. It's digital crack

#210

Post by vmception »

theshrike79 wrote: post #182
kristopolous wrote: post #23

I've tried it a few times. Even ran an account for a project I do. I don't know. Maybe I'm not the right personality for this stuff but I found it annoying and taxing. Open it up and you get these obnoxious videos and then have to press a button to make them go away. The user-base and interaction is worthless and toxic. Lots of people love it so maybe I'm just too old. Perhaps they've "cracked some psychological secr…

It'll learn. Just pulled up my tiktok account and what I got was: - A dude from Bermuda making food from the early 1900s: @bdylanhollis - A delivery guy who meets new dogs on his routes and befriends them: @christhedogguy - A woman who scratches her ass... donkey: @fortheloveofass - A dude who owns a septic company telling about his day: @wellandsepticlife - Random animal facts: @mndiaye_97 - Typesetting and printing…

You ever get the CCP validating content like a guy teaching Mandarin in a fun way?
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