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Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

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Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#41
It's interesting, I doubt it'll ever be successful.

Look, the reason a lot of content makes it's way to Youtube, tiktok, and twitter, etc is because the creators can earn money from the platform. On youtube and tiktok, you can send gifts to your favorite creator. That incentivizes creators to create content.

loops will never have that feature. It's really hard to legally distribute money like that. But further, the decentralized nature of it means that you'll never know if your funds ends up in your creator's account or the instant account.

Without any sort of path to make money, the only content on the platform will be works of passion. Maybe that's a good thing, but it means these people will ultimately burn out.

But on the plus side, it means you probably won't end up with an endless stream of AI slop.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#43

[dead]

Question: how many people do you think would watch your short form ai videos if they had to actually seek them out and choose to watch them? The reason why the format is problematic is because it feeds off the dopamine hit of scrolling to the next piece of unknown content.

It’s well known that if people need to be intentional about what they consume they consume far less. Something tells me 15 second AI videos aren’t at the top of most people’s lists.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#44
post #30
post #7

This form of content is bad regardless of platform.

This. If people are looking for freedom, the thing to do is to stop using TikTok or anything like it, not to make a federated version of it.

A federated version could provide a path away from addictive and polarizing content, and endless viewing.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#45

[dead]

It's not just bad, it's the worst format that could exist, if radio and TV have already ruined the attention span this one seems to have the aim of doing just that by showing short content with almost no effort to understand it, a lot of context switching every 10-15 seconds and videos designed to attract as much attention as possible.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#46
post #7

This form of content is bad regardless of platform.

The problem with TikTok isn't the form, which is effectively StumbleUpon for short-form video (or Dave Winer's "river of news" in video form, if you prefer). There's brainrot content on all platforms, but there's also ArtTok, BookTok, CraftTok, EduTok, FoodTok, GardenTok, HistoryTok, MathTok, MusicTok, PoliTok, ScienceTok, TechTok, and lots more.

The problem I find with it is that it's such a monoculture. Everyone is copying everyone else.

As an example: there's this stupid skit going around. Someone asks a waiter "Could I ask you about the menu please?". The waiter comes really close and goes like "The men I please is none of your business".

It's an ok joke but I've seen literally 20 different people doing the same skit in the last two weeks and it gets so damn annoying. And it's not just this one. There's always one that is viral and everyone copies it.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with TikTok isn't the form, which is effectively StumbleUpon for short-form video (or Dave Winer's "river of news" in video form, if you prefer). There's brainrot content on all platforms, but there's also ArtTok, BookTok, CraftTok, EduTok, FoodTok, GardenTok, HistoryTok, MathTok, MusicTok, PoliTok, ScienceTok, TechTok, and lots more.

I'm pretty sure BookTok is just porn for women who really like the plot of 50 shades of grey.. edit: which is to say I'm not positive the format isn't the problem.

Is that also short form?

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with TikTok isn't the form, which is effectively StumbleUpon for short-form video (or Dave Winer's "river of news" in video form, if you prefer). There's brainrot content on all platforms, but there's also ArtTok, BookTok, CraftTok, EduTok, FoodTok, GardenTok, HistoryTok, MathTok, MusicTok, PoliTok, ScienceTok, TechTok, and lots more.

I'm pretty sure BookTok is just porn for women who really like the plot of 50 shades of grey.. edit: which is to say I'm not positive the format isn't the problem.

> I'm pretty sure BookTok is just porn for women…

Those aren't the kinds of book-related videos that I see, so at some point The Algorithm must've decided I wasn't interested in porn for women (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#49

It's interesting, I doubt it'll ever be successful. Look, the reason a lot of content makes it's way to Youtube, tiktok, and twitter, etc is because the creators can earn money from the platform. On youtube and tiktok, you can send gifts to your favorite creator. That incentivizes creators to create content. loops will never have that feature. It's really hard to legally distribute money like that. But further, the d…

Instagram pays hardly anything. I don't know anyone doing it for that reason. It's more advertising for their other services. Like onlyfans, selling physical stuff, lectures, events etc.

And of course the people who do it for fun, usually the best content. It doesn't matter they'll eventually stop. There's always new ones.

I'm not sure about tiktok, but I doubt they pay much more than insta.

Re: Loops is a federated, open-source TikTok

#50
post #44
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. If people are looking for freedom, the thing to do is to stop using TikTok or anything like it, not to make a federated version of it.

A federated version could provide a path away from addictive and polarizing content, and endless viewing.

Exactly, BlueSky demonstrates that it's not the form, but the engagement-at-any-cost feed algorithms without user-controllable knobs.
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