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Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

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Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#171

Post by atomicfiredoll »

AuthAuth wrote: post #140
root_axis wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'll never find sports, guns, cars, comedy and a lot of other mainstream content on these platforms even though there is nothing inherently offensive about it. What are you talking about? Sports, cars, and comedy are present everywhere on the internet. Guns are more of a niche and not without controversy, and it's certainly true that the incumbent networks place restrictions on some gun related content.

I know they're everywhere on the internet. I'm specifically talking about loops/mastodon. I want loops/mastodon to be a diverse place that has content from all over the internet.

> I want loops/mastodon to be a diverse place that has content from all over the internet.

I think a lot of Fedi people want that, but the community is still small. It's a bit of a chicken and egg, so I would encourage you to create the content or communities you want to see.

I'm not a Loops user atm though.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#172

Post by niam »

I have no horse in the short-form video race, but I recognize that it has material affects on the world (whether I'd like it or not). Scorn for the principle of an open platform here seems misplaced. It seems too young of a format with too few examples to confidently say it's irredeemable.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#173

Post by notpushkin »

8organicbits wrote: post #164
deminature wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selecting a server is one of the reasons the fediverse appears to have not seriously challenged incumbents. As soon as a non-technical user sees this, they bounce.

Checking the Mastodon app, new users are asked to "Join mastodon.social" or "pick another server". If you just mindlessly click the primary button, you'll get an account on mastodon.social so I think the server selection challenge has largely been addressed.

This does solve the problem, although I do hope it doesn’t turn into another Bluesky this way.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#174

Post by spaceman_2020 »

niam wrote: post #172

I have no horse in the short-form video race, but I recognize that it has material affects on the world (whether I'd like it or not). Scorn for the principle of an open platform here seems misplaced. It seems too young of a format with too few examples to confidently say it's irredeemable.

HN is generally the place you come to to hate anything new in tech. No new piece of tech released in is ever liked here. Everyone nitpicks, strawmans, and complains that the v1 of the product is not perfect. It’s honestly so tiresome

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#175

Post by colechristensen »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #174
niam wrote: post #172

I have no horse in the short-form video race, but I recognize that it has material affects on the world (whether I'd like it or not). Scorn for the principle of an open platform here seems misplaced. It seems too young of a format with too few examples to confidently say it's irredeemable.

HN is generally the place you come to to hate anything new in tech. No new piece of tech released in is ever liked here. Everyone nitpicks, strawmans, and complains that the v1 of the product is not perfect. It’s honestly so tiresome

Unhelpful nitpicks and people complaining about them get downvotes.

At this time the top comment on this post is complaining about the rest of the comments. This is not how things should be around here.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#176

Post by notpushkin »

beloch wrote: post #161

One thing that's awesome about this and is 100% better than TikTok: No burned-in branding. No trailing brand screen. No trademark brand noises. ---- Tiktok videos have omnipresent logos burned-in and a full-screen trailer with an annoying Tiktok brand sound. The few random loops that I looked at had none of these. I hope this doesn't change and, if it doesn't change, I hope loops displaces TikTok. I despise being con…

Bombarding with branding is how TikTok got people on, and I don’t think it’s a bad strategy per se. In fact, I can’t think of any other way to overcome network effects with a product like this (word of mouth would be the best, but you’ll need a ton of creators first).

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#177

Post by Morromist »

mortsnort wrote: post #154

The reality is that the addictive algorithm of commercial social media platforms is the product . These alternative platforms are like nicotine free cigarettes. They might garner small communities, which is totally cool and valid, but they will never slay the giants.

Old-school social media can be addictive too. I don't use any social media where complex algorithms decide what I see, but I have trouble wasting far too much time on discord.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#178

Post by notpushkin »

Bayko wrote: post #155
hmokiguess wrote: post #135

Aw man can we not flip the script and maybe build less of these things? It’s saturated and not really helping society but rather creating more addiction machines.

Based on what I have seen, read and experienced, a tech doesn't just go away. It evolves (unless you know one company was building it and then got shut down). Social media in the current form if it went away, would get replaced with something even worse.

From what I’ve heard, people burned out on TikTok are switching to more mindful alternatives. Perhaps what Loops could do is try to capture those people as well?

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#179

Post by atomicfiredoll »

umrashrf wrote: post #98

How is it decentralized? Decentralized as in bitcoin?

Decentralized as in not needing a central server.

I don't know about Loops specifically, but generally [Fediverse][0] projects tend to:

- Not rely on a central server.

- Allow you to set up your own server.

- Connect to a web of other servers through the Activity Pub protocol.

- Allow you to modify policies on your server (including restricting which other servers information is shared with.)

Many are also open source.

The creator of Loops also built a different project called [Pixelfed](1) with a focus on decentralized photo sharing (although it can also host video.) Because all these projects speak the same protocol, it's possible that at some point, Loops could show content from Pixelfed. Apparently Loops content is already appearing in Mastodon.

Meta's Threads also has Activity Pub support. Hypothetically, Threads content could appear on Loops and vice versa, if the UI is built to accommodate that style of content and a server admin doesn't block the Threads server (many servers block Threads specifically.)

TL;DR: A web of servers using different pieces of open source software to share social media, without a centralized server.

- [0] https://fediverse.info/

- [1] https://pixelfed.org/

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#180

Post by nine_k »

Morromist wrote: post #177
mortsnort wrote: post #154

The reality is that the addictive algorithm of commercial social media platforms is the product . These alternative platforms are like nicotine free cigarettes. They might garner small communities, which is totally cool and valid, but they will never slay the giants.

Old-school social media can be addictive too. I don't use any social media where complex algorithms decide what I see, but I have trouble wasting far too much time on discord.

Discord is communication with fellow humans. Tiktok is one-way consumption mostly. Discord is mostly text. Tiktok is mostly speech-free momentary videos, adjusting to the minute hints in your reaction.

There's no comparison.

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