I liked it the first week or so and then it quickly dawned on me that tiktok is mostly one big ego trip of retreaded memes/dances/topics. There were a couple of interesting people on there with novel topics and entertainment ideas but certainly not enough to keep me engaged to the extent that I could justify having a possible CCP spy platform on my phone.
Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
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Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#32This essay is probably what is going to make me finally install the app. Nobody has been able to explain to me what TikTok is beyond people dancing and reacting to memes. I think what the author says about the algorithm guiding you instead of what your friends want is something I've always wanted. Other social media gets so bogged down in the relationship between you and the people you follow rather than the nature of the content itself.
Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
China is the world's largest economy, there's no way to avoid doing business with it.
It's the second largest economy. And I agree that it's practically impossible to avoid it completely, I only suggest avoiding it where possible. My personal rule is to not buy anything made in China for more than $100. I can't avoid buying Chinese for cheap plastic crap, but for significant purchases it's worth the time to be ethical in your purchasing decisions.
So you haven't bought a smartphone, computer, camera, etc? Give me a break. You should boycott australian goods too. It's committed genocide and stole land/resources from the aborigines and got rich selling resources to china.
Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#34I understand that at the end of the day, entertainment is just what entertains you, but it's hard for me to dismiss the idea that concentrated & repeated instant gratification is a detriment to a person's mind outside the scope of entertainment. This isn't a criticism of tiktok specifically but I think it's probably the purest form of this idea that I've come across.
Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#35Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#36I really like this sort of "what is X" because I've often wondered what role TikTok fills. The funny thing is that, insofar as the description is accurate, it sounds like the kind of thing I would intentionally avoid using. A TikTok binge sounds like everything crummy about social media platforms that I've been trying to expunge from my viewing habits - empty, shallow, addictive an utterly unsatisfying.
One role it fills is seeing what people unlike yourself in all corners of the world, different age groups, different cultures of all kinds, and so on, are up to, interested in, how they live, and all sorts of unexpected things. I find it to be far more accurate than the imagination, which seems to be most people's preferred approach to forming opinions about people they know nothing about.
Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the second largest economy. And I agree that it's practically impossible to avoid it completely, I only suggest avoiding it where possible. My personal rule is to not buy anything made in China for more than $100. I can't avoid buying Chinese for cheap plastic crap, but for significant purchases it's worth the time to be ethical in your purchasing decisions.
So you haven't bought a smartphone, computer, camera, etc? Give me a break. You should boycott australian goods too. It's committed genocide and stole land/resources from the aborigines and got rich selling resources to china.
No, they shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#38When Vine was killed there was such an opening...
Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#39This is great, but even if it is not really in the scope of the article, it's extremely important to know how TikTok makes money. Maybe an external link?
Also, anyone else remembered that scene in Idiocracy? (Not that Tiktok is likely to be as bad...)
Re: Essay: How do you describe TikTok?
#40This essay is probably what is going to make me finally install the app. Nobody has been able to explain to me what TikTok is beyond people dancing and reacting to memes. I think what the author says about the algorithm guiding you instead of what your friends want is something I've always wanted. Other social media gets so bogged down in the relationship between you and the people you follow rather than the nature o…
Really? I’m pretty sure the algorithm is guiding you in al the big players of social media. They are guiding you because they want your attention and they want to show you ads, if they counted only on your friends to do that for you then you’d leave. Facebook now injects random videos of pages you don’t follow just to keep you attached. Instagram suggests pages, friends, changes order of videos, etc.
You have a relationship with the algorithm in many of them.