TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020 • Hacker News Board

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#51

Post by rapsey » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:51 PM UTC

lorlou wrote: post #37

rapsey wrote: post #3

TikTok is a social network that could not be made by an American company, due to its complete disregard for free speech and embrace of censorship. This is a major part of its success, due to not allowing its network to deteriorate into culture wars and general unpleasant behaviour. I suspect any future social network much like TikTok will have exclusion as a major feature.

What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. It's a social network which is fun precisely because it's not monopolised by rotten people with loads of free time.

My point exactly.

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#52

Post by xvector » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

belval wrote: post #49

endisneigh wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

your comment is contradictory - if there is no political content, what propaganda is there to distribute? per your own comment wouldn't they just be distributing the "catchy" content?

There is no political content right now, my point is that in case of escalating conflict or proxy-conflict with China they could absolutely run disinformation through this channel in a way that is somewhat transparent to their users to spark anti-war counter-movements in the US.

This is a far-fetched concern. Realistically speaking, the platform would just get permanently banned if it was being used to spread propaganda in a manner that harms a wartime effort.

Otherwise, I just don't see China risking one of the most promising gems to have come out of its internet technology industry in a long time.

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#53

Post by the-dude » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

belval wrote: post #29

I hate TikTok because it's so good. It's a frictionless content pump that we can open and doom-scroll for hours. I have never seen such a beautifully crafted user experience, from the recommendation algorithm that is top-notch the content that is catchy and highlights trends without overdoing it and the absence of political content if you don't engage with it (or maybe there is none at all). I don't have it on my pho…

And why is that bad?

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#54

Post by NathanKP » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

lorlou wrote: post #37

rapsey wrote: post #3

TikTok is a social network that could not be made by an American company, due to its complete disregard for free speech and embrace of censorship. This is a major part of its success, due to not allowing its network to deteriorate into culture wars and general unpleasant behaviour. I suspect any future social network much like TikTok will have exclusion as a major feature.

What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. It's a social network which is fun precisely because it's not monopolised by rotten people with loads of free time.

Political content isn't banned, it just doesn't perform well with the audience on TikTok, which is generally younger and mostly less interested in politics. Usually when I see political content it is from someone dueting the original content to troll it, and the troll outperforms the original.

People try to get their political content trending on TikTok, but it seems like it usually just gets parodied and they basically get laughed off the platform.

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#55

Post by IncRnd » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

The headline uses the word "earnings" incorrectly.

> "ByteDance also saw its annual gross profit rise by 93% to to $19bn, while it recorded a net loss of $45bn for the same period."

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#56

Post by rapsey » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:54 PM UTC

nemothekid wrote: post #19

rapsey wrote: post #3

TikTok is a social network that could not be made by an American company, due to its complete disregard for free speech and embrace of censorship. This is a major part of its success, due to not allowing its network to deteriorate into culture wars and general unpleasant behaviour. I suspect any future social network much like TikTok will have exclusion as a major feature.

> TikTok is a social network that could not be made by an American company, due to its complete disregard for free speech and embrace of censorship. Huh? Are you just going to ignore Vine? Twitter completely screwed the pooch on Vine by not paying creators which drove many high profile influencers to move to Instagram. To attribute TikTok’s success to censorship is to eagerly insert your own political bias into their…

TikTok is un-american because of their complete disregard for free speech. Ehat you are talking about has nothing to so with what I said.

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#57

Post by rvz » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

xnx wrote: post #45

rvz wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. We said this about Facebook 11 years ago didn't we? Now another one ascends to the throne of the most popular and widely 'used' . So how long until the users get screwed (again)?

I've never found Facebook or Instagram fun, but Tiktok is an absolute delight. The serendipity they put into the recommendations is key.

Given that there are those calling these social networks highly addictive, catchy and delightful I guess it's safe to say that the drugs are still in effect.

Especially when the content and algorithms itself is or can be easily manipulated or gamed.

So how long until the users get screwed (once again)?

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#58

Post by xvector » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:56 PM UTC

lorlou wrote: post #37

rapsey wrote: post #3

TikTok is a social network that could not be made by an American company, due to its complete disregard for free speech and embrace of censorship. This is a major part of its success, due to not allowing its network to deteriorate into culture wars and general unpleasant behaviour. I suspect any future social network much like TikTok will have exclusion as a major feature.

What I love about tiktok is how they've managed to ban all political content. It's a social network which is fun precisely because it's not monopolised by rotten people with loads of free time.

> they've managed to ban all political content

Can you please source this claim? Plenty of people see highly political content on their FYP, but it is a niche within TikTok because it's not really why people use it.

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#59

Post by dukeofdoom » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:56 PM UTC

marderfarker2 wrote: post #32

rapsey wrote: post #3

TikTok is a social network that could not be made by an American company, due to its complete disregard for free speech and embrace of censorship. This is a major part of its success, due to not allowing its network to deteriorate into culture wars and general unpleasant behaviour. I suspect any future social network much like TikTok will have exclusion as a major feature.

Ironic since your ex POTUS got banned from your own social media on grounds of causing civil unrest.

More fun is still to come, when the audits come out.

Re: TikTok owner ByteDance sees its earnings double in 2020

#60

Post by admn2 » Fri, Jun 18, 2021, 2:57 PM UTC

xvector wrote: post #20

rapsey wrote: post #3

TikTok is a social network that could not be made by an American company, due to its complete disregard for free speech and embrace of censorship. This is a major part of its success, due to not allowing its network to deteriorate into culture wars and general unpleasant behaviour. I suspect any future social network much like TikTok will have exclusion as a major feature.

Can you please source your claims? AFAIK TikTok ended censorship. You can even find vids with a lot of views talking about things like Tienamen Square, and I know friends whose FYPs are pretty political. It seems to me that you are confusing TikTok with Douyin (the Chinese version.) The thing is, TikTok's audience self-censors. People go on the app to feel good, not because they want to be dragged into another politi…

While I wouldn't be surprised by this at all, I also think the algorithm is so good that it generally just blocks out content you don't interact with. It's always pretty obvious when the algo bubbles up a new topic completely outside of my normal feed, and when I linger, I'll start seeing more.