Time to trot out http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/metcalfe.pdf again. (Yes, I am one of the co-authors.) Multiple lines of evidence point to the basic value of a social network scaling like `O(n log(n))`. So getting your first million users is hard. But after you've got there, you don't have to be that much better than the competition to win. The conclusion is that social networks should be a lot less sticky and d…
> MySpace was overtaken by Friendster
It's the other way around - Friendster was the incument that Myspace unseated.
Time to trot out http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/metcalfe.pdf again. (Yes, I am one of the co-authors.) Multiple lines of evidence point to the basic value of a social network scaling like `O(n log(n))`. So getting your first million users is hard. But after you've got there, you don't have to be that much better than the competition to win. The conclusion is that social networks should be a lot less sticky and d…
TikTok is not the same offering as Facebook though right? It competes in the Instagram and YouTube space. One thing about FB though is that it was the first social media platform that my mom and dad joined. FB was big enough for the boomers to join it. And I figure that is the moat, the boomers who for the first and only time in their lives joined a social platform and they ain't changing it up now.
Maybe they will leave it on like a tv news channel in the background.
If those they came to follow are gone they will still scroll a feed increasingly filled with ads. When they complain, their friends/family will install something and say touch the dancing penguin/barfing unicorn/whatever to see the latest, it's just like Facebook used to be.
I honestly don’t care if the Chinese government knows everything about me. Much more worried about the American government.
Any entity that knows so much about you can manipulate you in ways you won’t suspect. Their government isn’t held back by the Constitution and they probably wouldn’t hesitate to influence the citizenry of their main rival on the world stage.
For non-US citizens the US constitution also has no relevance. Thus for non-US citizens it makes no real difference
Time to trot out http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/metcalfe.pdf again. (Yes, I am one of the co-authors.) Multiple lines of evidence point to the basic value of a social network scaling like `O(n log(n))`. So getting your first million users is hard. But after you've got there, you don't have to be that much better than the competition to win. The conclusion is that social networks should be a lot less sticky and d…
TikTok is not the same offering as Facebook though right? It competes in the Instagram and YouTube space. One thing about FB though is that it was the first social media platform that my mom and dad joined. FB was big enough for the boomers to join it. And I figure that is the moat, the boomers who for the first and only time in their lives joined a social platform and they ain't changing it up now.
Ostensibly their core use cases don’t overlap 100%, but as long as you accept that textual medium is just a means to information and is replaceable with video, you can actually get everything you get from Facebook on TikTok — news, commentary, entertainment, friend and family updates, messaging, etc. Plus, on a deeper level, everything competes with everything for your time and attention.
I think Meta really screwed up by not creating a stand-alone Reels app and instead trying to integrate it with Instagram. As someone who doesn't really like Meta as a company, I would admittedly be interested in trying out a totally new video-centric app released by them.
But instead all they did was make instagram a little worse. I mean they already had instagram videos, shoe-horning a fifth tab at the bottom isn't what people wanted. Seems like a really corporate, safe way of trying to compete.
I like that they asked actual users, and provided actual examples; it's something I've always felt off about Instagram's Reels vs TikTok. However the takeaway is that your TikTok feed is curated by hand by artisan robots vs Instagram is curated by lizards who only care about data. Both companies are completely data driven with some amazing engineers; but why is the Reels product boring, while TikTok is engaging has t…
As a millennial I can tell you exactly why TikTok is better: 1. The Reels algorithm is simplistic as fuck. I was scrolling through Instagram recently and a three reel “ad” came up. I accidentally tapped on the center one and it turned out to be a pimple popping video. Now every reel I see is that. No exceptions. I am sure if I actually watched more Reels I would get better content but that’s work. 2. Reels are often…
> 6. TikTok nailed ads. They are obvious, easy to skip, and not jarring at all. Instagram is a mess.
Did they really nail ads or could it perhaps just be that they still consider themselves in a growth phase (perhaps depending on market) where they deliberately try to not use them as hard as they think they could?
Am I part of an aged, dying userbase no one cares about? I barely endured my third decade and yet I do not want to watch reels, TikToks or any other video that contains text, adhd and "fun" content. I just want to look at the photos and videos people I personally know uploaded, preferably ordered by how long ago they got posted.
Why would Instagram even try to be TikTok to begin with? Why show a firehose of short videos that just makes everyone who made your platform what it is, hate it?
How will you tell who is leaving the platform because it's suddenly TikTok (like me) vs who's leaving the platform for TikTok?
I like that they asked actual users, and provided actual examples; it's something I've always felt off about Instagram's Reels vs TikTok. However the takeaway is that your TikTok feed is curated by hand by artisan robots vs Instagram is curated by lizards who only care about data. Both companies are completely data driven with some amazing engineers; but why is the Reels product boring, while TikTok is engaging has t…
As a millennial I can tell you exactly why TikTok is better: 1. The Reels algorithm is simplistic as fuck. I was scrolling through Instagram recently and a three reel “ad” came up. I accidentally tapped on the center one and it turned out to be a pimple popping video. Now every reel I see is that. No exceptions. I am sure if I actually watched more Reels I would get better content but that’s work. 2. Reels are often…
> 1. The Reels algorithm is simplistic as fuck. I was scrolling through Instagram recently and a three reel “ad” came up. I accidentally tapped on the center one and it turned out to be a pimple popping video. Now every reel I see is that. No exceptions. I am sure if I actually watched more Reels I would get better content but that’s work.
OMG this... a million times this :/. YouTube has similar issues--where you watch one video from some sitcom or cartoon not because it was from that particular show but because it happened to be about something interesting and suddenly YouTube is SURE you LOVE that show and want EVERYTHING IT HAS about that show--but it isn't quite so bad as Instagram, where I've heard a ton of stories about ending up pigeonholed by its algorithm into something they have a phobia for or past trauma related to, and now they are afraid to use the app, because it really does feel like you click on one pimple popping video (which has come up as the SPECIFIC issue for MULTIPLE people I've talked to, INCLUDING MYSELF a while ago) and BAM the app is now nothing but pimples being popped, 24/7.
I like that they asked actual users, and provided actual examples; it's something I've always felt off about Instagram's Reels vs TikTok. However the takeaway is that your TikTok feed is curated by hand by artisan robots vs Instagram is curated by lizards who only care about data. Both companies are completely data driven with some amazing engineers; but why is the Reels product boring, while TikTok is engaging has t…