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Wait a sec, as you already mentioned, Byte just released! Cut them some slack. TikTok wasn't full-featured when it launched like most other apps. Seems pretty g

• sippeangelo 7y ago
  If Byte is really marketed as a TikTok replacement and not just "Vine again", they're missing the entire point of TikTok.
• ehsankia 7y ago
  We on HN can cut them some slack, but unfortunately that's not how users think in the wild, and that was my point. Such social media apps are extremely hard to overtake due to the critical mass effect, and that's the reason why Facebook still stands after all this time. Even sites that are strictly better than Facebook often fail due to not having enough users, let alone those that are worse. Unless there's a very strong incentive for users to use byte over TikTok, there's no way it will survive. The official launch is the one time a bunch of people may give you the benefit of the doubt and try your app, and if you fall so short on the first impression, most people will probably never give it another try. And again, without users, there's no content, and without content, there's no users.
  • holler 7y ago
    I guess my take is that we need people to _try_, otherwise yes FB/IG, TikTok, Twitter etc will be our social overlords into perpetuity...
  • bdcravens 7y ago
    > Unless there's a very strong incentive for users to use byte over TikTok, there's no way it will survive. TikTok's penchant for censoring content may be the opportunity Byte needs.
    • ehsankia 7y ago
      I did think about the China angle, but unfortunately I doubt the majority of people care or even know about that, just like we've experienced with Facebook for the past two years.