4 ms·

On the other hand, Tiktok is the only social media platform I absolutely can't stand. Low quality content, repeated jokes, people desperate for attention, imper

On the other hand, Tiktok is the only social media platform I absolutely can't stand. Low quality content, repeated jokes, people desperate for attention, impersonal, memes, and all of it video so there's an unavoidable fixed time cost. With so much good high content available on the internet and how little time people have, it saddens me that so much time is spent on the low quality noise.

PopeDotNinja 6y ago
Regarding content quality, I don’t see TikTok isn’t meant to be an epic dessert at a 3 star restaurant. I see it as a can of Pringles when I have the munchies.
maltelandwehr 6y ago
Low quality? TikTok videos are much better (in terms of story arc and editing) than Videos on other social networks. And it takes one swipe to go to the next video. The repeated jokes are part of the TikTok culture. Pure copycats will normally not go viral - only adaptions that add their own spin. I agree that it is an insane time killer. But that is because the content is so good and presented in and addictive way.
- mantap 6y ago
  When I tried tiktok it seemed to only give me videos by British schoolkids. Maybe the content is better in some regions than others but the whole region locking thing stinks.
  - iKevinShah 6y ago
    One of the factors might be region but also: > Consumers (audience) side: Tik Tok use AI to calculate what content will be the best fit for the consumer. When consumer use the app, consumers even do not need to put their preference. AI will automatically get a sizeable database of the consumers’ behaviors. Source: https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/tik-tok-using-ai-to-take-over-the-world/ https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/tik-tok-us...
    - Seasonwreckage 6y ago
      i need my freedom
      - johnchristopher 6y ago
        And Tiktok took it away from you ?
        Seasonwreckage 6y ago
        I was replying to the fact that essentially in China you cant poke fun at the CCP in any way. Videos of Winnie the Pooh constumes will get you banned even in the US and possibly get you on a Chinese watch list for when you travel to the mainland and Hong Kong too nowadays. There is all this flashy stuff, dances, lip sync, jokes and all that but a sinister shadowy world in the background. Just wondering when people are going to abandon convenience and take up freedom.
- ficklepickle 6y ago
  Please read "the machine stops" by E.M. Forrester
johnchristopher 6y ago
There's no fixed time cost, every video can be skipped (swiped) within the first milliseconds. I agree repeated jokes can be boring but it's really easy to skip. I also don't like videos that pick the influencer style "Hi everyone, so today I was in the kitchen and then you'll never believe what happened come on I have to show you, here's the top counter...". Next. As soon as I hear those kind of intro I skip. On Tiktok I expect the video to show me the content directly (a skateboarder's tiktok would jump straight to the trick, no intro). Yes, there's the impersonal challenge culture where people repeat the same thing... so what, some of them are funny/interesting. It's up to you to skip. After a while I'd say my feed has maybe 5% of junk. And easily skippable. > With so much good high content available on the internet and how little time people have, it saddens me that so much time is spent on the low quality noise. No, that's unfair, you are saying all of tiktok content is low quality noise, which is wrong
- rsa25519 6y ago
  Note also that if you skip a video quickly, TikTok will show fewer of that type of video, which I think is a fantastic feature
  - logicchains 6y ago
    If you press and hold over a video, it also has an option to tell it that you want to see fewer videos like that, which seems to work fairly well. Unlike Youtube, where even if I downvote a video, it will keep showing it.
- kenhwang 6y ago
  > No, that's unfair, you are saying all of tiktok content is low quality noise, which is wrong In the board world of "video content", yes it is. It might be better than FB/Instagram/Twitter videos, but those and Tiktok pale in comparison to, say, HBO. Tiktok is gifs with sound filmed on a cell phone with a refreshing take on recommendations optimized for stickiness. It's the McDonalds of video content; maybe better than the niche it competes in, but its still garbage in a very convenient package. As far as the videos are concerned, they're very low quality compared to what the medium is capable of.
xoxoy 6y ago
TikTok makes me nauseous. It’s literally crazy to me that we’ve normalized an app targeted to kids and teens that encourages them to make hypersexualized mini music videos that rewards the “sexiest” videos with likes/followers/views. The absolute creepiest part is that anyone can browse and fully download any video without even logging in. You would have to be completely naive to think that there aren’t a million pedophiles on TikTok everyday downloading content of teenage girls and boys twerking to Nicki Minaj songs without a trace. All while we sit back and laugh about it like we’re on Facebook circa 2009.
ehsankia 6y ago
How long have you used it for, and do you make liberal use of "Not Interested"?

PopeDotNinja 6y ago

Regarding content quality, I don’t see TikTok isn’t meant to be an epic dessert at a 3 star restaurant. I see it as a can of Pringles when I have the munchies.

maltelandwehr 6y ago

Low quality? TikTok videos are much better (in terms of story arc and editing) than Videos on other social networks. And it takes one swipe to go to the next video. The repeated jokes are part of the TikTok culture. Pure copycats will normally not go viral - only adaptions that add their own spin. I agree that it is an insane time killer. But that is because the content is so good and presented in and addictive way.

mantap 6y ago
When I tried tiktok it seemed to only give me videos by British schoolkids. Maybe the content is better in some regions than others but the whole region locking thing stinks.
- iKevinShah 6y ago
  One of the factors might be region but also: > Consumers (audience) side: Tik Tok use AI to calculate what content will be the best fit for the consumer. When consumer use the app, consumers even do not need to put their preference. AI will automatically get a sizeable database of the consumers’ behaviors. Source: https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/tik-tok-using-ai-to-take-over-the-world/ https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/tik-tok-us...
  - Seasonwreckage 6y ago
    i need my freedom
    - johnchristopher 6y ago
      And Tiktok took it away from you ?
      - Seasonwreckage 6y ago
        I was replying to the fact that essentially in China you cant poke fun at the CCP in any way. Videos of Winnie the Pooh constumes will get you banned even in the US and possibly get you on a Chinese watch list for when you travel to the mainland and Hong Kong too nowadays. There is all this flashy stuff, dances, lip sync, jokes and all that but a sinister shadowy world in the background. Just wondering when people are going to abandon convenience and take up freedom.
ficklepickle 6y ago
Please read "the machine stops" by E.M. Forrester

johnchristopher 6y ago

There's no fixed time cost, every video can be skipped (swiped) within the first milliseconds. I agree repeated jokes can be boring but it's really easy to skip. I also don't like videos that pick the influencer style "Hi everyone, so today I was in the kitchen and then you'll never believe what happened come on I have to show you, here's the top counter...". Next. As soon as I hear those kind of intro I skip. On Tiktok I expect the video to show me the content directly (a skateboarder's tiktok would jump straight to the trick, no intro). Yes, there's the impersonal challenge culture where people repeat the same thing... so what, some of them are funny/interesting. It's up to you to skip. After a while I'd say my feed has maybe 5% of junk. And easily skippable. > With so much good high content available on the internet and how little time people have, it saddens me that so much time is spent on the low quality noise. No, that's unfair, you are saying all of tiktok content is low quality noise, which is wrong

rsa25519 6y ago
Note also that if you skip a video quickly, TikTok will show fewer of that type of video, which I think is a fantastic feature
- logicchains 6y ago
  If you press and hold over a video, it also has an option to tell it that you want to see fewer videos like that, which seems to work fairly well. Unlike Youtube, where even if I downvote a video, it will keep showing it.
kenhwang 6y ago
> No, that's unfair, you are saying all of tiktok content is low quality noise, which is wrong In the board world of "video content", yes it is. It might be better than FB/Instagram/Twitter videos, but those and Tiktok pale in comparison to, say, HBO. Tiktok is gifs with sound filmed on a cell phone with a refreshing take on recommendations optimized for stickiness. It's the McDonalds of video content; maybe better than the niche it competes in, but its still garbage in a very convenient package. As far as the videos are concerned, they're very low quality compared to what the medium is capable of.

xoxoy 6y ago

TikTok makes me nauseous. It’s literally crazy to me that we’ve normalized an app targeted to kids and teens that encourages them to make hypersexualized mini music videos that rewards the “sexiest” videos with likes/followers/views. The absolute creepiest part is that anyone can browse and fully download any video without even logging in. You would have to be completely naive to think that there aren’t a million pedophiles on TikTok everyday downloading content of teenage girls and boys twerking to Nicki Minaj songs without a trace. All while we sit back and laugh about it like we’re on Facebook circa 2009.

ehsankia 6y ago

How long have you used it for, and do you make liberal use of "Not Interested"?