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TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

asia.nikkei.com

81–90 of 725 posts

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#81
post #31

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.

Con. The algorithm seems to dish out similarly structured videos for all users. For example, it generally includes music that is extremely annoying. (That "No no no" song that is on every other video). At the same time, I also recognize how addictive the app is and because of it I would never download it myself.

I get "No no no" videos but when I mentioned them to my friend who is using TikTok a lot she had never heard of them. I presumed that was too big of a trend not to leak into everyone's For You feed but I was wrong.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#82

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.

Spending 20 minutes in any of those apps is 20 minutes you didn't do something productive. None of them are good for you.

I have learned something valuable from reading something on Reddit or watching a how to video or explanation video on youtube.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#83

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.

Spending 20 minutes in any of those apps is 20 minutes you didn't do something productive. None of them are good for you.

I could also just drink Huel and save an hour a day not eating but I don't because I like eating.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literacy will always have its place. Short, meme centered, entertainment isn’t one of them I suppose.

Actions, in this case what someone uses their time on and fills their mind with, aren't in a place, they're in place of the other actions one could have taken. And hey, one could say literacy also "had its place" when the church ruled over the illiterate in medieval times, so that itself isn't much of a consolation.

Most popular online things exist because the concept of "opportunity cost" (in time, attention, money, whatever) is no longer taught.

Apparently it's quite profitable to have endless eyeballs refreshing ads.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#85
Does this really mean much? I hate Facebook as much as anyone and would love to see them fail, but they have four times the daily active users of TikTok. Growth has no choice but to slow when you have less room to grow. Also if you lump Facebook and Facebook Messenger together, it's still more even just in downloads, and they didn't have to split into two apps.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#86

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.

It only takes a few bad-faith actors to infect, exploit and ruin a platform. Give it time. They will figure out how to ruin TikTok, too.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#87
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just getting tired of seeing SHOCKED faces everywhere. Clearly, exaggerated faces lead to video views but I'm growing so averse to seeing it.

That’s primarily a YouTube thing from what I’ve seen. And more recently I’ve seen it on Google News article thumbnails.

I don't use much social media, but Snapchats discovery cards are over run with creators using that face. It's excessively abundant in the channels there.

It feels like a forced attempt at viral marketing. "Maybe if we act shocked, they'll be shocked too!"

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#88
post #65
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sculpting, painting, dancing etc is creation. Watching other people do it is not.

People go to museums to look at art. That's solely consumption that does not require being literate.

There is a difference between a museum, which curates culturally significant art from places around the world and at home, to TikTok, a social media app that is for making money.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#89
post #65
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sculpting, painting, dancing etc is creation. Watching other people do it is not.

People go to museums to look at art. That's solely consumption that does not require being literate.

Going through a museum, and actively studying individual art deeply is a very different activity mentally, and much more stimulating, than scrolling through a feed passively 15 second clip after clip.

It does actually take a sort of literacy to understand and appreciate art. Go talk to anyone about art who has spent a lot of time studying it and then talk to someone who just walks through the museum to take instagram pictures and you get very different answers about what they see.

Re: TikTok overtakes Facebook as most downloaded app

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The China thing is touchy but I want the west to beat them by being better, not by being dismissive and protectionist. I don't think the only question is "who wins at having the most popular social network." The more concerning one is of exerting political influence through manipulative amplification/suppression (which is something the PRC has a lot of experience with). That could be both highly effective and extre…

As opposed to US based networks?

> As opposed to US based networks?

There are important differences between being influenced by domestic actors, as part of a domestic political process, and being influenced by foreign actors. The latter is a far more serious threat to political independence.

It's also pretty well documented that the PRC political authorities already use its domestic social networks in this way.

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