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This is nonsense, Tik Tok has succeeded because it is a fantastic digital product. It presents an entirely different vibe than the other services you mention a

by CPLX 7y ago

This is nonsense, Tik Tok has succeeded because it is a fantastic digital product. It presents an entirely different vibe than the other services you mention and is useful for different kinds of interaction and discovery. It’s simply really engaging and enjoyable for people to use. Also the reference to “attracted big stars” seems confusing to me. The genius of the platform so far has been that it’s genuinely possible to participate as a normal person and a lot of the other content is created by actual peers of most users. As the stars and celebrity phenomenon grows there I think we’ll see the platform start to deteriorate.

samhain 7y ago
"It's the product not the people" Sorry, but social networks are made of people, without the people you don't have a product. He's trying to say that because important people create the community then that's the most important thing to the product in this case. Trying to say that the product creates the people makes no sense.
- CPLX 7y ago
  But that’s the part that confused me. Has everyone commenting actually spent time using the product? The whole notable thing about Tik Tok is that “important” people didn’t create the culture. It was created mostly by high school age kids sharing music and dance videos. I guess the premise is that since Tik Tok deliberately sought that market... the success doesn’t count somehow... or something? I mean like the entire planet is trying to market to that demographic. Nearly everyone fails. The distinguishing feature of Tik Tok here is that it’s a great well designed social product that’s fun to use and viral.
  - thrwaway69 7y ago
    I really wonder if I live in the same world at all. I have never come across a tiktok link for some reason. First time I heard of tiktok was from an American guy talking about how China is taking control via their social media apps. That was a few months ago.
  - meerita 7y ago
    I've used it. Again, the UX/UI isn't strikingly enough to say, imho, "ok, this is a new concept". In fact, when they started the app looked differently, again, look at their first year or two and you will realise why they have success. It's not the UX, Snapchat had the worst UX/UI ever but their success was related to the mass of people they've appealed to.
    - arghwhat 7y ago
      The UX is optimized for insanely efficient mindless consumption. Open, and you're immediately fed content with no interaction required. Not happy with what you see? Swipe.
      - meerita 7y ago
        Then if you think that, why don't you copy it and have the same effect? Because you can't and you will not get the same since isn't about UX but more about appealing to a certain sector of the population in the best moment.
        CPLX 7y ago
        For the same reason I can’t create a stream of 140 character messages or write Stairway to Heaven again. Because someone already did the novel thing and captured the initial audience attracted by that novelty.
        meerita 7y ago
        No, you've claimed the UX was part of the reason they've triumph. And that is not the point, again, is not about the song (most of the songs use the same notes), it's about appealing to a certain group of people in the right time and taken it over. They've started with videos, like Vine, then they moved on to musical.ly style for youngers, and they merged. That's how they started and gained traction until 2018 where they took it off
        arghwhat 7y ago
- sixo 7y ago
  I dled tiktok to try it, had no friends on there, and spent hours browsing for fun purely because of the enjoyability of the product. User-generated content obviously, but no "network" to speak of. It's closer to reddit than Instagram.
- jsywheb38 7y ago
  >Sorry, but social networks are made of people, without the people you don't have a product. This is an insane reply, nothing about that post made it sound like they thought otherwise. >He's trying to say that because important people create the community then that's the most important thing to the product in this case. That's not what the grandparent said at all. He was saying almost the opposite, that Tiktok owes its success to "...its strategy to take on the world with the freshest possible generation of users..." whom it wooed by offering a fresh social media environment, free of important people, where they wouldn't feel like they were "...competing against those who were already established." Their core point was that TikTok's success was because of its marketing strategy, not because of its features, which is what the person you replied to was contesting. No one was arguing against whatever strawman you were building with quotes.
sfifs 7y ago
Also Tik Tok launched outside of China only in 2017, much too late for the supposed 11 to 15 year olds to turn 18 to 21 as implied by the GP's comment :-) The thing people miss about why TikTok (and WeChat for that matter) are so good is that they're born in the gladiatorial world of the largest and most competitive mobile app market in the world that is China. I know my marketers there work with not just douyin (the original Chinese app of TikTok) but also 4-5 other short video platforms. The pace of innovation in Mobile apps in China is something not matched anywhere else in the world.
arcturus17 7y ago
What discredited the GP comment for me was the prediction that it’s going to kill Instagram. I use neither platform but I get the impression that Instagram remains strong as hell with the fashionable hip kids demographic, especially amongst girls and older women, and that’s going nowhere unless something significant - not a slightly different short vid platform like Tik Tok - comes in to play.

by CPLX 7y ago

samhain 7y ago

"It's the product not the people" Sorry, but social networks are made of people, without the people you don't have a product. He's trying to say that because important people create the community then that's the most important thing to the product in this case. Trying to say that the product creates the people makes no sense.

CPLX 7y ago
But that’s the part that confused me. Has everyone commenting actually spent time using the product? The whole notable thing about Tik Tok is that “important” people didn’t create the culture. It was created mostly by high school age kids sharing music and dance videos. I guess the premise is that since Tik Tok deliberately sought that market... the success doesn’t count somehow... or something? I mean like the entire planet is trying to market to that demographic. Nearly everyone fails. The distinguishing feature of Tik Tok here is that it’s a great well designed social product that’s fun to use and viral.
- thrwaway69 7y ago
  I really wonder if I live in the same world at all. I have never come across a tiktok link for some reason. First time I heard of tiktok was from an American guy talking about how China is taking control via their social media apps. That was a few months ago.
- meerita 7y ago
  I've used it. Again, the UX/UI isn't strikingly enough to say, imho, "ok, this is a new concept". In fact, when they started the app looked differently, again, look at their first year or two and you will realise why they have success. It's not the UX, Snapchat had the worst UX/UI ever but their success was related to the mass of people they've appealed to.
  - arghwhat 7y ago
    The UX is optimized for insanely efficient mindless consumption. Open, and you're immediately fed content with no interaction required. Not happy with what you see? Swipe.
    - meerita 7y ago
      Then if you think that, why don't you copy it and have the same effect? Because you can't and you will not get the same since isn't about UX but more about appealing to a certain sector of the population in the best moment.
      - CPLX 7y ago
        For the same reason I can’t create a stream of 140 character messages or write Stairway to Heaven again. Because someone already did the novel thing and captured the initial audience attracted by that novelty.
        meerita 7y ago
        No, you've claimed the UX was part of the reason they've triumph. And that is not the point, again, is not about the song (most of the songs use the same notes), it's about appealing to a certain group of people in the right time and taken it over. They've started with videos, like Vine, then they moved on to musical.ly style for youngers, and they merged. That's how they started and gained traction until 2018 where they took it off
      - arghwhat 7y ago
sixo 7y ago
I dled tiktok to try it, had no friends on there, and spent hours browsing for fun purely because of the enjoyability of the product. User-generated content obviously, but no "network" to speak of. It's closer to reddit than Instagram.
jsywheb38 7y ago
>Sorry, but social networks are made of people, without the people you don't have a product. This is an insane reply, nothing about that post made it sound like they thought otherwise. >He's trying to say that because important people create the community then that's the most important thing to the product in this case. That's not what the grandparent said at all. He was saying almost the opposite, that Tiktok owes its success to "...its strategy to take on the world with the freshest possible generation of users..." whom it wooed by offering a fresh social media environment, free of important people, where they wouldn't feel like they were "...competing against those who were already established." Their core point was that TikTok's success was because of its marketing strategy, not because of its features, which is what the person you replied to was contesting. No one was arguing against whatever strawman you were building with quotes.

sfifs 7y ago

Also Tik Tok launched outside of China only in 2017, much too late for the supposed 11 to 15 year olds to turn 18 to 21 as implied by the GP's comment :-) The thing people miss about why TikTok (and WeChat for that matter) are so good is that they're born in the gladiatorial world of the largest and most competitive mobile app market in the world that is China. I know my marketers there work with not just douyin (the original Chinese app of TikTok) but also 4-5 other short video platforms. The pace of innovation in Mobile apps in China is something not matched anywhere else in the world.

arcturus17 7y ago

What discredited the GP comment for me was the prediction that it’s going to kill Instagram. I use neither platform but I get the impression that Instagram remains strong as hell with the fashionable hip kids demographic, especially amongst girls and older women, and that’s going nowhere unless something significant - not a slightly different short vid platform like Tik Tok - comes in to play.