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As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

economist.com

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Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#411

Post by winternett »

1337biz wrote: post #329
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…

I noticed a similar narrative and noticed it even first hand on some accounts I am following on Instagram which only recently started moving to TikTok. The growth is insane. Comedians with something like 10k followers on Instagram getting 1-2m views on their TikToks in their first few vids. But they are fully adjusting to the TikTok format and dynamic. On instagram I am increasingly seeing ads for popular sports and…

They constantly tweak the bias of what is shown on these platforms to keep engagement high. By the minute we talk about a trend online, the bias has already changed to a new focus. All of these sites are driven by manipulating users into compliance and over-investment of time and money. That is how they make ad revenue to pay overhead, and create product dependency.

The problem is that there are so many people addicted to the possibility of being a popular influencer that no one is being honest about how little real success and money they make on these platforms... In truth it may be a possibility that most users are completely faking social media success.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#412

Post by winternett »

mikhmha wrote: post #401
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 bor…

Not everyone is cut out to be an entertainer. That quickly becomes apparent when scrolling through TikTok, but it's good at pushing endless encouragement, tips, and other hype that keeps people believing they can be famous for sharing their personal life details. If I was a parent, this would worry me terribly, because children are so impressionable.... But even grown adults overshare on the app frequently...

Not everyone is meant to be an entertainer, but now pretty much everyone invested in social media operates as if a camera is constantly on them.. This ego-centric self-esteem-influenced social media "influencer model" drives even terrible things now too, like school shootings and personal harm.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#413

Post by ArrayBoundCheck »

madeofpalk wrote: post #216
mkl95 wrote: post #212

TikTok is the most successful espionage operation of the 21st century so far, and it is based on a simple idea - people will happily give away their data and privacy if you consistently entertain them. In my opinion the application should be shut down as soon as possible, but there are many lessons to learn from it. And most of them have little to do with technology.

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

Lets take this silly example.

Lets say apple engineers all have kids who use tiktok and some of the kids or engineers do something shady and someone gets blackmailed. As a consequence apple launches 3months later and in the meantime someone from china launches a killer phone with the same or almost as good tech specs. Sure the apple fans may wait it out but that could be a billion dollars of sales to china that would have went to USA

That's one of the point of espionage. To get a competitive or monetary advantage. If facebook did this to other companies within the states, at least the country isn't losing money

The other would be things used to jail innocent people but for the most part I don't think thats how tiktok is being used

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#414

Post by arroz »

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...

Non US, non China citizen: the pool is from 2013, China and Russia got much worst with time

Trust me, Russia and especially China is a much bigger threat to democracy nowadays

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#415

Post by winternett »

CommitSyn wrote: post #149
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…

Now that YouTube has shorts I wonder how many creators are switching. Part of the reason you can get so many followers on TikTok is the video length. When it started you could only post a 15-second video. Later on they allowed you to link 15-second videos up to a minute in length. Then it was 3 minutes, and in February they changed the maximum video time to 10 minutes.[1] Viewers can watch a lot more 15-second or 1-m…

They are all portrait mode videos though, not very versatile and useful in the long term... Actually, portrait content was dying off before TikTok...

It's bewildering how they warehouse so much content that will really not endure, at some point they're likely going to need to archive a lot of TikTok user posts, because the content is very low quality overall, and a lot of the content generated is limited by it's context.

It probably be a huge sticker shock to see the monthly cloud hosting bill for any one of these apps.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#416

Post by 199X »

ectopod wrote: post #21

China passed a law a couple of years ago requiring all Chinese companies to give the government live access to their databases. Is TikTok exempt? If not, statements that the government hasn't requested any data are misleading. They don't need to.

USA did the same in the name of anti-terrorism, after (possibly) blowing up their own twin towers. If I were an USA citizen I rather give my information to a Chinese company than to a USA company, since at least the Chinese can't raid me if they don't like me.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#417

Post by winternett »

dcchambers wrote: post #147

The addictive nature of TikTok scares the shit out of me. It's like the culmination of 20 years of social media research and testing purposely designed to create the most addictive product possible. Such a large percentage of young people use it...it's absolutely terrifying.

It's addictive, based on what I've observed, mainly because of the pandemic we're experiencing... If people were actually able to go out and meet others in real life more and perform live (with less Covid risk) the deceptions on social media effectiveness and celebrity status would be more glaringly obvious... And app usage probably wouldn't be as high as it is.

The platforms have all been highly opportunistic upon captive audiences since the pandemic began, and they probably know their days are numbered I imagine.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#418

Post by skinnymuch »

ThalesX wrote: post #303
skinnymuch wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it social media then?

How is it not social media? It’s literally media that is distributed in a social way.

I mean how is it social media for the person if they don’t use any social aspect of it.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#419

Post by skinnymuch »

voisin wrote: post #177
gardenhedge wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is the social aspect if you're not connected with anyone?

This is a valid point. I am not the poster you are responding to but the top level poster. I too don’t follow people I know and perhaps that’s the difference from the social platforms. In that regard it is more like YouTube, but unlike YouTube, the algorithm isn’t radicalizing me other than making me want to learn guitar again. So what is it about YouTube that makes people more likely to become radical incels willing…

Has no shooter etc been linked to tiktok usage? I assume it’s just because tiktok is newer and it has a more specific demographic

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#420

Post by winternett »

Brybry wrote: post #229
dcchambers wrote: post #147

The addictive nature of TikTok scares the shit out of me. It's like the culmination of 20 years of social media research and testing purposely designed to create the most addictive product possible. Such a large percentage of young people use it...it's absolutely terrifying.

I wouldn't worry too much about TikTok's impact on the youth as a population (rather than specific individuals with evidence of actual struggles). Similar fears were expressed about music corrupting the youth. And TV rotting their brains. And video games turning them into mass murderers. And yet, even with all the actual addictive poisons generations of youth have imbibed, those youth turned into us and here we are p…

Back when we only had TV, we weren't sharing videos of ourselves twerking, crying, and doing illegal, controversial, or questionable things as children with the entire world... Things are different now in many ways.

This drive to post personal content to the entire world (in order to be popular) is pretty harmful, lasts potentially forever, and can be devastating to reputation for children and even adults in years ahead...

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