Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re assuming everyone in HN downvotes just like you. How do you know that?
How do you downvote ? I only have an up arrow.
You need 500 karma to do it
TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
211–220 of 288 posts
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most people don't care about privacy issues not because of apathy, but because they have a different sense of privacy than privacy advocates. I believe privacy advocates view private information without nuance, whereas normal people do not. Many people would not care a lick of you could figure out they ate at subway earlier in the day, whereas this is worrying to privacy advocates.
This claim is regularly repeated, but strongly and directly contradicted by literally every study on the topic. Here [1] is one from Pew in late 2019. 81% of Americans believe the potential risks of companies collecting about them outweighs and benefits. 79% are very/somewhat concerned about how the data collected on them is used. The big issue 81% also believe that little or no control over the data collection. Inte…
Stated preferences vs revealed preferences. Saying that you care about privacy makes you appear smart but in practice most people only care about privacy in embarrassing situations
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#213I’m not sure if Tik tok drastically changed their algorithm or if the people generating content changed from the height of the pandemic into this phase but I really can’t think of another app that I found so great and useful becoming so fundamentally boring to me that I deleted it. When I started using it the content it served up was so weirdly specific to my needs and when I lost interest earlier this year it was li…
Big agree. I downloaded it in 2020 and was mildly amused by the videos, but I didn't see the supposedly addictive qualities that everyone (including on here) was talking about. Since then, the algorithm has gotten much worse and I don't even bother watching it anymore. For example yes I'm approaching middle age, but endless Middle America lowbrow humor videos of other middle aged guys complaining about their wives is boring? Why does TikTok serve me a hundred of these in a row? It's like a Walmart comedy special
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#214I have to say that I've never used tiktok on the phone and even on the desktop it's quite engaging. But the only reason why it even exists is because vine was killed by twitter in probably the worst business decision this millennium. So it's neither new, nor unique, nor inevitable. It is just the first non-us social media site and Americans are deeply worried about suffering what they subjected the rest of the world…
TikTok and Vine are both "short video platforms" but there really are meaningful differences. TikTok's creation tools really are important to the culture it has developed. Making it trivial to stitch another video has led to a remixing and reframing culture that is completely novel to the platform - especially regarding audio. The ML curated feed and creator funding model also encourage different kinds of engagement and video creation than Vine. These things really really matter and people who look at a content platform as just the content format without considering the creation tools it provides will miss critical elements.
Consider an extreme analogy - the printing press. If you just understood books as "letters in ink on parchment or whatever" and you ignored the completely new tools for creation of that content you'd be completely baffled about why the sort of things available in books changed so wildly over time.
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#215I feel like such an outlier that I like it and have benefited from it. I’ve learned all kinds of useful info about everything from nutrition to history in entertaining bit sized chunks. And the humorous clips are really funny too. I don’t feel addicted either. Some days I’ll scroll for 45 minutes. Other days I have zero interest.
Lots of old men yell at clouds every time a new media company takes over the people's attention. Here are some criticisms of the first books ever printed. Note the familiar plea to think of the children:
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#216The problem is not the application, it's the people. We've gotten to the point where people are willing to spend endless hours for entertainment (long, or short content). Social (and non-social) media is able to capture peoples' attentions for far too long. Instead of being bored, and having their minds wonder and attempt other tasks, they are endlessly entertained. People no longer have time to try other things, or…
> People no longer have time to try other things, or explore their own creativity and curiosity. They instead turn to media to satisfy that curiosity, and that's the issue. As much as it sounds like a conspiracy theory, we're heading deep down a hive-mind rabbit hole of propaganda.
> The point of a government is to protect it's citizens, and it's failing terribly.
“The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight”.
- Joseph Campbell
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
What purchases, from what source? Same with financial information. Contact info and contacts, only if you allow it? User content, what does that even mean? Search and browsing history is likely just from within the app, I don't see how they would get it from elsewhere.
Updated with more context and source links. The real question is, why does it need all this data to show you videos?
Most of that data is needed to allow you to create videos and pay creators. The app does more than just show videos.
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If anybody has any tips about how to get a better feed, I'm willing to give it another go. I do. Don't waste time by trying to find the stuff you want by explicitly searching for specific tags (aside from maybe for the purpose of the initial seeding, but that's not a must at all). That would indeed bring up just tons of kinda trashy content that seems like it is tailored to either teenagers or the lowest common den…
>A friend of mine who is very seriously into bodybuilding gets some crazy useful (according to him) exercise technique/regimen videos that are very far from the mainstream "exercise routine/fitness advice" videos. yeah, getting "non-mainstream" fitness advice from freaking short form videos is just about the dumbest thing I've heard this month tell your friend to read a book sometimes, there's a reason why they exist…
Technique videos are actually far more useful than a book, you can actually see the exercise being performed and copy that action.
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If anybody has any tips about how to get a better feed, I'm willing to give it another go. I do. Don't waste time by trying to find the stuff you want by explicitly searching for specific tags (aside from maybe for the purpose of the initial seeding, but that's not a must at all). That would indeed bring up just tons of kinda trashy content that seems like it is tailored to either teenagers or the lowest common den…
>A friend of mine who is very seriously into bodybuilding gets some crazy useful (according to him) exercise technique/regimen videos that are very far from the mainstream "exercise routine/fitness advice" videos. yeah, getting "non-mainstream" fitness advice from freaking short form videos is just about the dumbest thing I've heard this month tell your friend to read a book sometimes, there's a reason why they exist…
The medium doesn’t taint the message. I follow a bunch of non-mainstream professional chefs on TikTok who have taught me so much more than I’ve ever learned from culinary textbooks.
Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone
#220China is taking revenge for getting them addicted to Opium during the century of shame from rest of the world.
Chinese aren't any less addicted to it. Entertainment part of panem et circenses is beneficial for CCP.