Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 653 posts

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#401

Post by mikhmha »

winternett wrote: post #22

I don't think it's the privacy issues that will defeat TikTok, I think it's the deception of a success economy being possible on the platform. In the past few weeks I've been observing a lot of marginal content trending on the platform which indicates to me that a lot of the more quality posters aren't posting new content. The minute quality creators leave a platform is the minute it dies. TikTok has not really been…

I think TikTok will stay for a while but you are onto something regarding the deception. An issue with TikTok is that the shelf-life of its content-creators is pretty short. Usually they hit it big with 1 video that gets picked up by the algorithm. And then all their subsequent videos are them trying to recapture that lightning. You can keep it going for a bit and develop a decent following but eventually it gets boring.

How do most users interact with TikTok? through the FYP (for you page) which is the algo curated feed that you can endlessly scroll through. From my observations - FYP starts out by showing you content from creators in your geolocation (drains so much battery cuz it loves to use location services). From there it will try to associate you with trending hashtags in content you are more likely engage with. Most important engagement metric is watch-time. So if you complain that your tiktok is full of porn/horny content then you probably have high watch-time in these areas. It will alternate between showing you vids of high user engagement (1M+), medium engagement (So the content and trends move very fast. Eventually your schtick gets old.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#402

Post by woodruffw »

jimmytucson wrote: post #197
woodruffw wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

85% of US teenagers would be debased by the poor and foreign morals of James Joyce, if only we could get them to read Ulysses.

It’s possible that the first generations who read Ulysses were worse off than the ones before—who thought Ulysses was harmful—but still better than the generations now, who don’t read much at all. If today’s next generation spent their time reading literature that was considered obscene 100 years ago, I think we’d all agree they’d be better off than spending 3 hours a day scrolling.

> but still better than the generations now, who don’t read much at all.

By Plato's standards[1], we're doing better than ever!

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)#Discussion...

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#403

Post by Calvin02 »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #253
Calvin02 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. China and Russia are the biggest geopolitical threats to the world. It is surprisingly that simple. While the US and the western governments have their issues, they are still largely law abiding. China, however, is not. Additionally, under Xi, it has become more authoritarian and more willing to undo the rules based order that has someone kept the world somewhat sane since WWII. I don’t know why anyone would be…

You would be surprised if you polled non-US, non-China citizens about what country is the biggest geopolitical threat to the world. Wait, I don't even need to talk in conditionals. I Googled it and apparently it has indeed been done several times, and the results are what I expected. https://brilliantmaps.com/threat-to-peace/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/us-threat-demo...

Polls from 2017 and 2021.

Do you think that the answer to this question will be the same post Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?

And, in the same light, China’s increasingly threatening rhetoric against Taiwan?

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#404

Post by anothernewdude »

Calvin02 wrote: post #403
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would be surprised if you polled non-US, non-China citizens about what country is the biggest geopolitical threat to the world. Wait, I don't even need to talk in conditionals. I Googled it and apparently it has indeed been done several times, and the results are what I expected. https://brilliantmaps.com/threat-to-peace/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/us-threat-demo...

Polls from 2017 and 2021. Do you think that the answer to this question will be the same post Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? And, in the same light, China’s increasingly threatening rhetoric against Taiwan?

Actually the first poll is from 2013, the post is from 2017. And the second is from 2020, again the post is from 2021.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#405

Post by ugjka »

lmm wrote: post #310
wyre wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive. Facebook, Twitter, and HN hold a different behavior because they are used for asynchronous communication between general users while TT is full of parasocial relationships between the created and fans. FB and Twitter also offer more utility than TikTok, an example being small businesses using Facebook and Twitter instead of a website.

> Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive. I tried it for a week or so, found it not very interesting and gave up.

It took me a month before TT actually figured out my interests. For some reason it thought I would be absolutely interested in the local content of Latvia (where i live)

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#406

Post by [deleted] »

Calvin02 wrote: post #223
madeofpalk wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-US, non-Chinese citizen, is there something that makes TikTok espionage and Facebook not? Or is it just "china scary"?

Yes. China and Russia are the biggest geopolitical threats to the world. It is surprisingly that simple. While the US and the western governments have their issues, they are still largely law abiding. China, however, is not. Additionally, under Xi, it has become more authoritarian and more willing to undo the rules based order that has someone kept the world somewhat sane since WWII. I don’t know why anyone would be…

[deleted]

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#407

Post by sumnole »

bluepizza wrote: post #105
dijit wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might sound like a fallacious argument; but do you think the same about Europeans who consume almost exclusively US media and interact almost exclusively with US social media platforms? The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances. If you're discussing ties to government, Twitter and Facebook have members on their boards publicly who are sitting and/or former members of government including…

> The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances. Far from me to defend American imperialism, but this is not true, is it? The USA has a decent list of long standing alliances, that include a variety of countries: Japan, Australia, Canada, UK, South Korea, among others.

America has been to war with Japan, Canada and the UK - which supports the fact that allies can always turn.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#408

Post by winternett »

dburflzz wrote: post #384
jacooper wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The minute quality creators leave a platform is the minute it dies. TikTok has not really been rewarding creators fairly, and pushes the idea that organic growth is possible, and that people have become really successful, but many creators realize after months of working for little to no reward that it's a false narrative. I heard the opposite story from 2 creators in my local language. Their growth on Tiktok is cr…

How do users know that those followers are human?

Based on what I've observed, most organic followers are scripts, and views are carefully metered and pre-determined based on each account's personal characteristics. The merit system isn't conducted without bias.

TikTok forces use primarily of it's app, and only offers limited use in web browsers, which makes their methods less transparent.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#409

Post by Calvin02 »

notyourwork wrote: post #398
Calvin02 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. China and Russia are the biggest geopolitical threats to the world. It is surprisingly that simple. While the US and the western governments have their issues, they are still largely law abiding. China, however, is not. Additionally, under Xi, it has become more authoritarian and more willing to undo the rules based order that has someone kept the world somewhat sane since WWII. I don’t know why anyone would be…

Why is it surprisingly that simple? You lost me with that claim and I’m a suspicious US citizen.

Well, let me try it this way: if massively popular social networks weren’t a threat, both China and Russia wouldn’t have cared about Twitter, Facebook, or any other “western” internet company operating in their countries.

Clearly, they think that these are important sovereignty issues such that they’ve clamped down or disallowed these services entirely.

The ability to manipulate people via state sponsored algorithmic tweaks to TikTok’s ranking algorithm is a powerful tool.

You don’t need to do much to sour US’s support for Taiwan in the eyes of just a minority. Or you don’t need to do much to tweak the algorithm such that content about politicians friendly to China is ranked higher than others.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#410

Post by calsy »

judge2020 wrote: post #358
calsy wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't the states just pull out of Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation? Or is that last years news? 20 Years! Edit: Downvotes, whats the best way to deal with colossal failure... pretend like it never happened. Afghanistan, huh? what are you talking about.

Afghanistan is quite infamous for being the most difficult region to take over; the Brits and the Soviets tried before long the US did https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasions_of_Afghanistan

Well maybe those in power should have read up on their history before trying to 'take over' Afghanistan. Might have been a good idea for a country half a world a way, separated by a large ocean.
Post reply on HN