TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app • Hacker News Board

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#231

Post by mysterEFrank » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:27 PM UTC

cronix wrote: post #73

mrtksn wrote: post #25

I'm a huge fan of TikTok because after years of content stagnation and dullness, the internet is fun again. Especially places like Twitter and Instagram are outrage and depression inducers for me, consumed together it feels like the society is collapsing but everyone is living a perfect life at the same time. The China thing is touchy but I want the west to beat them by being better, not by being dismissive and prote…

Another thing Tik Tok does is get rid of people who are obese, queer, or otherwise the target of harassment. Their stance is it's easier to get rid of the person being made fun of or limit who can see their videos rather than the 10k people harassing them. > According to Netzpolitik, the social media company instructed moderators to find users who are “susceptible to harassment or cyberbullying based on their physica…

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/style/tiktok-gay-homiesex... Tik Tok is the queerest video platform out there. At least 20% of the videos I get are queer.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#232

Post by rvz » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

reggieband wrote: post #66

I like to think of TikTok as the crack cocaine of addictive social media. I used to think my dopamine receptors were burned out by the constant barrage of memes I received from reddit, Facebook and Twitter but TikTok proves they can refine that product to make it even more potent. When I visit reddit now it feels behind in the same way Facebook used to feel behind. Facebook's video feature (which they shove into my f…

Let the children be free to download this app and let them play in it. They are going to realise soon how much of an addictive nightmare this app is and it just takes a slip up or a scandal from ByteDance to anger the majority users on the platform.

The news about it being the most downloaded app is great news if you are an investor in ByteDance; I don't know what you get out of it if you're a mere user. As always you're basically the product (again), providing them with shareholder value by being addicted and posting continuously to other addicted users. Making your data and their algorithm more valuable.

Since we're comparing these platforms to being like drugs, and given you are saying that TikTok is proven to be even more potent, the description of such a drug sounds more like heroine, than crack. Addictive and dangerous. That isn't going to end well.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#233

Post by MonaroVXR » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #183

I’m a 34 year old who just got into Instagram and TikTok. I love it and hate it. I love all the creative and ridiculously funny content I find. But I viscerally cannot stand and get angry over so much attention seeking garbage there is out there too. Just smug unqualified nobodies telling people to “stop it” with a smug meme song regarding health habits or fashion or whatnot. Or “oh no no no no” or “thank you Diane”…

>Don’t get me started with all the 20something ”Influencers” humble bragging about their cars and homes.

Not sure about that, if they have the car, but I only watch one influencer. called Supercarblondie, I am not sure if she has that expensive car, when she gave her lover a sweet Suzuki Jimmy. (I forgot the name of the car, but it's expensive.

I must say, I got Instagram too, I have no clue what to do with it. I am too lazy to upload and too lazy to touch the app. It isn't easy to upload pictures from the desktop to Instagram.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#234

Post by rchaud » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #69

nostromo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also much more positive. If I spend 20 minutes on TikTok I usually laugh and smile a few times. And regularly I’m impressed at human creativity. 20 minutes on Instagram or Facebook is usually either boring or leaves me comparing myself to others. 20 minutes on YouTube and I feel like I’ve watched 10 minutes of ads and 10 minutes of fluff. 20 minutes on Reddit and I hate the world.

How do you feel after 20 minutes on HN? Also, what subreddits/communmities are you in on Reddit that make you hate the world after 20 minutes? Are you on /r/popular or /r/all, or filtered down to your niche interests?

HN is a slow-cooker, where TT is a microwave.

I spend time on HN if a post I read also results in a meaningful conversation among the commenters. Usually I will try to add a comment as well, so there can be a bit of back and forth. It's not all one-way the way it is on TT.

Of course it's not always that way. I know to steer clear of posts related to H1B visas, because the exact same conversation plays out each time.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#235

Post by aerosmile » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

cronix wrote: post #73

mrtksn wrote: post #25

I'm a huge fan of TikTok because after years of content stagnation and dullness, the internet is fun again. Especially places like Twitter and Instagram are outrage and depression inducers for me, consumed together it feels like the society is collapsing but everyone is living a perfect life at the same time. The China thing is touchy but I want the west to beat them by being better, not by being dismissive and prote…

Another thing Tik Tok does is get rid of people who are obese, queer, or otherwise the target of harassment. Their stance is it's easier to get rid of the person being made fun of or limit who can see their videos rather than the 10k people harassing them. > According to Netzpolitik, the social media company instructed moderators to find users who are “susceptible to harassment or cyberbullying based on their physica…

If you had an issue with Zuck calling early Facebook users "dumb f**ks," wait until you find out what's going on behind the closed Tik Tok doors. You have to remember - we're still in the honeymoon phase with Tik Tok and haven't learned to hate them yet. Once the media and all your friends start sharing hatred about Tik Tok, leaks are going to start coming out, and there will be all the other fun ways through which we discover the true nature of the beast. My money is on Tik Tok setting new standards for how evil a corporation can be.

> The China thing is touchy but I want the west to beat them by being better, not by being dismissive and protectionist.

You got used to the idea that the US has the ability to be better at anything we set our mind to. For our sake, I really hope that truism to continue to be true for a long time. But unless you believe in American Exceptionalism, there are no reasons why that should be guaranteed - or even likely. China is more supportive of growth-at-all-costs, their population is willing to work harder, and the idea that Americans are more innovative hasn't been true for quite a while - look at Nio, Xiaomi, Huawei, ByteDance, and countless other examples. A lot of cutting edge stuff is coming out of China these days, with the trend only accelerating.

We might even start longing for days when we used to have a strong domestic competitor in the social media space. The same thing happened in Germany - back in 2008 when Facebook was tiny on a global scale, there was a German €100m company called StudiVZ that dominated the social networking in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with about 10m active users. I don't have to tell you how that story ended - the company is no more and all those users are on FB/IG now. Germany and Austria also happen to now be the ground zero of the global Facebook hatred [1], and I bet you they wish they had shown their domestic company a bit more love back when this would have made a difference.

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/86d1ce50-3799-11e8-8eee-e06bde01c...

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#236

Post by reggieband » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:33 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #183

I’m a 34 year old who just got into Instagram and TikTok. I love it and hate it. I love all the creative and ridiculously funny content I find. But I viscerally cannot stand and get angry over so much attention seeking garbage there is out there too. Just smug unqualified nobodies telling people to “stop it” with a smug meme song regarding health habits or fashion or whatnot. Or “oh no no no no” or “thank you Diane”…

I want to spoil a magnificent movie, the Russian classic Stalker [1]. If you haven't watched the film and want to one day, please stop reading this comment.

It is a deep film with many themes but one main theme involves a curious plot device. From the Wikipedia article: "The Zone contains a place called the "Room", said to grant the wishes of anyone who steps inside." The theme of that plot device is that once a group of explorers finally get to the room they refuse to go inside. The "Room" isn't a monkey-paw like device that distorts your wishes and gives you a bad outcome, rather it sees inside your soul and gives you what you truly desire. It raises questions about man's conscious desires compared to his unconscious desires. Do you really want to know what you truly desire, even the desires you hide from yourself?

I can't do justice to the film but I think of it often and usually with respect to AI and the unreasonably effective algorithms that drive modern feeds. TikTok is in some ways our first true glimpse into the "Room" of Tarkovsky's Stalker.

All this to say: I don't see any of the things you are saying you see on TikTok. Whether you like it or not the algorithm is sending you what you engage with. You have been sorted into the "desires wild canoe ride" TikTok. You are sorted into the "desires smug fashion gatekeepers" TikTok.

And if you happen to have read this comment and haven't seen Stalker - it is still worth it.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film)

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#237

Post by arcturus17 » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

drewg123 wrote: post #79

nostromo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also much more positive. If I spend 20 minutes on TikTok I usually laugh and smile a few times. And regularly I’m impressed at human creativity. 20 minutes on Instagram or Facebook is usually either boring or leaves me comparing myself to others. 20 minutes on YouTube and I feel like I’ve watched 10 minutes of ads and 10 minutes of fluff. 20 minutes on Reddit and I hate the world.

For YT, try a client like NewPipe or SmartTubeNext that can be configured with adbock & sponsor block, and which is less "in your face" about suggesting/autoplaying rabbit-hole content.

How do they pull of this off? I’m assuming Google would defend aggressively against these type of clients.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#238

Post by deminature » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

It's fascinating to see Facebook threatened by a company they can't just acquire to put down their competition. Their response in the form of Reels is consistently much worse at recommending quality content than Tiktok is and generally just comprises re-uploads from Tiktok, which is a bad look (people aren't making their content for Reels first). Tiktok is also addictive in a way that no competing app has managed to capture.

I'm still optimistic Facebook can recover based on the quality and abundance of talent they have working on the product, but it's been a year and Tiktok only continues to strengthen their position while Reels doesn't appear to have improved, at least from the customer-facing side. We may be witnessing the early stages of a shift in social media apps that Facebook cannot stop.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#239

Post by zmk5 » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

OldTimeCoffee wrote: post #223

zmk5 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Culturally significant art was created for money in a different way than a global brand like TikTok creates content for money habibi. They are not equivalent no matter how hard you try to fit your square block in the circular hole.

It's made by individuals, not TikTok? I'm not really sure if you know what TikTok is after this comment. Just to clarify, TikTok does not do ad revenue sharing. They have a creator fund, but TikTok creators really make money via brand deals, merch sales and direct donations from fans.

TikTok is a social media platform that makes money from other people creating content for others to consume. Individuals get money for either sponsoring a product or getting many views. How is this the same as someone paying for a clay pot in Ancient Egypt that we admire at today in a museum? The act of getting money is not devoid of the context of which it was acquired.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#240

Post by keewee7 » Tue, Aug 10, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #28

ericcholis wrote: post #4

Pro TikTok take. It's easier and friendlier to consume. The algorithm is good at tailoring interests. But, it's more like TV than FB.

It’s also much more positive. If I spend 20 minutes on TikTok I usually laugh and smile a few times. And regularly I’m impressed at human creativity. 20 minutes on Instagram or Facebook is usually either boring or leaves me comparing myself to others. 20 minutes on YouTube and I feel like I’ve watched 10 minutes of ads and 10 minutes of fluff. 20 minutes on Reddit and I hate the world.

reddit and twitter are the most depressing places on the Internet. So much doomerism and political outrage.

It's on TikTok too but the TikTok algorithm quickly learns I'm not interested in political outrage and actually directs me toward content I'm interested in.