We had Vine, and was left by Twitter to die for no reason. Now TikTok has a social foothold that no amount of raw technological achievement will overcome; the V

We had Vine, and was left by Twitter to die for no reason. Now TikTok has a social foothold that no amount of raw technological achievement will overcome; the Vine creator actually launched his own Vine 2.0 under a different name a few months ago. I can't even remember the name of it; probably nobody can, because TikTok isn't about the tech, it's about the network effect. Google is most successful when it creates a technology that a) nobody else can create, and b) happens to be a brand-new product category that's so compelling that people adopt it purely on its technical merits. Search obviously had both; Stadia had a but not b. Their TikTok competitor won't have either. The only thing it would have going for it is brand-recognition from YouTube, which still holds some amount of pull with Gen Z (though TikTok has been encroaching on that territory). I'm not holding my breath for it being a success.