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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

#331

Post by crowbahr »

akomtu wrote: post #107

I dare to guess that TikTok's secret is their objective: they want to know what's on your mind and they want to foresee your thoughts and actions. The end goal, I believe, is a database of comprehensive personality profiles on the american youth, so by the time they become adults, CCP will have profiles on them. Those profiles will be so accurate that TikTok will know you better than you know yourself. TikTok's doesn…

Conspiracy minded delusion say work here.

TikTok shows ads constantly. They know less about you than Google but are well placed to show sponsored content and ads, to the extent that every 5-10 videos is an ad or sponsored content.

It's a money printing machine.

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

#332

Post by rchaud »

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's more likely they've replicated whatever makes pop music and television work for a lot of people.

This seems to be a good explanation. TV commercials have figured out some of these tricks, like using a louder volume than the TV show itself, or using a song that's a cover of a more famous, older song.

I find it irritating, but it probably works because older viewers recognize the song and pay attention, while younger viewers mentally attach the cover version to the product being sold.

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

#334

Post by adamrezich »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #310
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 am curious about the "authentic" part. My wife shows me her favourite daily tiktoks and they all seem... Distilled and optimized and high density, well researched or naturally selected and evolved. Their "authenticity" seems almost desperately infused. Like twitter posts, optimized for engagement in 160chars (I find Washington post and random tatoo artist tweets have same medium-indiced optinized feel), after a few…

my fiancée is hopelessly addicted to TikTok and just about everything she shows me from there is wholly devoid of actual authenticity—it's all fake as hell. "cute" moments between couples that were obviously staged and rehearsed instead of being impromptu as implied, young mom's desperately making a big deal out of everything their kids do because she needs Content for the Channel, and more.

I kind of get the feeling that we are passing or have passed some threshold where many, possibly most people can no longer identify Actual Authenticity due to social media overexposure, and I for one find this distressing.

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

#335

Post by HL33tibCe7 »

EamonnMR wrote: post #325
HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s worse

Smoking can't be harnessed to control people, social media can be.

Also, smoking is socially neutral at worst, arguably even positive. You don’t stop seeing your mates because you really want to stay at home chain smoking. In fact, you probably smoke with your mates.

On the other hand, the constant drip feed of dopamine from social media sites does make people care less about real social interactions.

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

#336

Post by agumonkey »

rchaud wrote: post #328
agumonkey wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was instagram genuine and organic at first ? it would be interesting to understand why IG became a faux marketing department, or if it quickly became so naturally. It's nice to see that tiktok doesn't devolve into a soul sucking fake life stream.

It's the Eternal September effect but for self-promotion. IG was "genuine" when people were fleeing there in droves to escape the parents and grandparents that had turned FB into a PG-rated blandscape of baby and family pics. At the time, IG was this new thing that seemed to focus on artistic self-expression. This was when IG filters just recoloured your photos, and didn't smooth out wrinkles or add dog ears and tong…

God.. beyond the sad but obvious pattern. It seems the web is just a incoherent runaway. New "platform" > bubbly phase > distortion for bad incentives (money, fame, else) > rot > abandonment for next "platform".

It was fun to observe that during the myspace days but it's getting annoying.

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

#337

Post by benjiweber »

Been trying to signup to tiktok for years now every time I get

Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'name')

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwWV3BWXAAQ5cKD?format=png&name=...

When signing up with email. Tried with multiple browsers, multiple email addresses, multiple devices. How are other people signing up?

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

#338

Post by danielvaughn »

zippergz wrote: post #312
NikolaNovak wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious about the "authentic" part. My wife shows me her favourite daily tiktoks and they all seem... Distilled and optimized and high density, well researched or naturally selected and evolved. Their "authenticity" seems almost desperately infused. Like twitter posts, optimized for engagement in 160chars (I find Washington post and random tatoo artist tweets have same medium-indiced optinized feel), after a few…

TikTok’s super power is tailoring the feed to the user, so this uncanny valley stuff is what your wife likes.

It really is wild. You can decide exactly what you want to be shown by how long you spend on a video. You can literally feel the algorithm working alongside you, like you're using river currents while paddling in a kayak. Fucking crazy.

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

#339

Post by rchaud »

I have a spare Android tablet I keep around for website testing. I installed TT on it, didn't create an account.

Probably the only good thing about it is that you can jump right in, without a login wall spoiling the fun.

I also don't get the "algorithmic panopticon" effect so many are claiming, but maybe it's because I've already seen the curated, good quality stuff that gets shared on Reddit and Twitter.

In TikTok itself, I feel like I'm having to trudge through a giant pile of garbage first. Imagine if Google/Bing UI made you load and view every single site, instead of just showing a list of page titles.

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

#340

Post by danielvaughn »

adamrezich wrote: post #334
NikolaNovak wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious about the "authentic" part. My wife shows me her favourite daily tiktoks and they all seem... Distilled and optimized and high density, well researched or naturally selected and evolved. Their "authenticity" seems almost desperately infused. Like twitter posts, optimized for engagement in 160chars (I find Washington post and random tatoo artist tweets have same medium-indiced optinized feel), after a few…

my fiancée is hopelessly addicted to TikTok and just about everything she shows me from there is wholly devoid of actual authenticity—it's all fake as hell. "cute" moments between couples that were obviously staged and rehearsed instead of being impromptu as implied, young mom's desperately making a big deal out of everything their kids do because she needs Content for the Channel, and more. I kind of get the feeling…

I agree. Especially with younger people, you can really tell they're pushing their faces to display the right amount of emotion.
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