4 ms·

Maybe I am just strange, but I find no appeal in TikTok, and would not like something that just shows me more of the same things. But I can see how it might app

Maybe I am just strange, but I find no appeal in TikTok, and would not like something that just shows me more of the same things. But I can see how it might appear to people who just want to be stimulated with stuff.

Matticus_Rex 6y ago
I thought this would be the case for me, but after trying it I've been really impressed with the creativity and content quality. The algorithm quickly figured out I didn't care about teenagers dancing and started feeding me cool crafts and comedy, and my faith in Gen Z has grown dramatically.
- xnx 6y ago
  Agreed. TikTok has very good built-in video tools, but the creativity and sense of storytelling in short form videos on the part of these kids is very impressive.
rsa25519 6y ago
> would not like something that just shows me more of the same things Me neither. Good thing TikTok provides variety and helps users discover new things. > But I can see how it might appear to people who just want to be stimulated with stuff. Don't we all? Is that not why we're on Hacker News, to find stimulation targeted more specifically to us than other websites?
- ausbah 6y ago
  exactly, Hacker News is full of great and informative content - some of which I have actually benefitted from. however, I think me and anyone who uses this site must admit much of what is consumed goes in one ear and out the other just like any other media platform like reddit or YouTube. the difference I think is that since so much of the content is "smart", users here would like to think they are spending their time better than others
hombre_fatal 6y ago
TikTok's homepage is like trying to figure out what Youtube is by scrolling through Youtube's trending tab. If you didn't know better, you'd think "well, I'm never checking out Youtube again, what the hell was that?" I thought it was just preteens dancing until I realized my girlfriend uses it for some sort of daily exercise routine, food prep / cooking, and even some sort of podcast-like thing where a conversation is broken up into a bunch of autoplaying short videos. I still couldn't be bothered to figure it out and use it (though I feel like I should as a self-respecting technologist and app developer who should know what the good people like), but there seems to be more there than the first impression reveals.
nxc18 6y ago
Things I've been sent by TikTok in the last few days: * Cockpit walkthroughs by professional airline pilots * A first-person plane crash and water evacuation that I had somehow missed from 2014 (and was very interested to see) * Music theory videos explaining how current pop songs work * Baking videos explaining how to make things I'd never thought of before * Dermatology video showing laser skin retexturing in action (its amazing to see, not what I expected); helped me discover a new podcast that I now really enjoy * Linguistic analysis of English and how certain grammar rules came to be * A PSA about melatonin dosage (I already knew but discovered recently that most supplements are dosed too high) * HIIT cardio routines you can do at home * Planet Money TikTok (actually very solid and educational - e.g. economics of horror movie creation) I think the site you're talking about is YouTube, which does in fact repeatedly show nonsense and never figures out how wrong it is.

Matticus_Rex 6y ago

I thought this would be the case for me, but after trying it I've been really impressed with the creativity and content quality. The algorithm quickly figured out I didn't care about teenagers dancing and started feeding me cool crafts and comedy, and my faith in Gen Z has grown dramatically.

xnx 6y ago
Agreed. TikTok has very good built-in video tools, but the creativity and sense of storytelling in short form videos on the part of these kids is very impressive.

rsa25519 6y ago

> would not like something that just shows me more of the same things Me neither. Good thing TikTok provides variety and helps users discover new things. > But I can see how it might appear to people who just want to be stimulated with stuff. Don't we all? Is that not why we're on Hacker News, to find stimulation targeted more specifically to us than other websites?

ausbah 6y ago
exactly, Hacker News is full of great and informative content - some of which I have actually benefitted from. however, I think me and anyone who uses this site must admit much of what is consumed goes in one ear and out the other just like any other media platform like reddit or YouTube. the difference I think is that since so much of the content is "smart", users here would like to think they are spending their time better than others

hombre_fatal 6y ago

TikTok's homepage is like trying to figure out what Youtube is by scrolling through Youtube's trending tab. If you didn't know better, you'd think "well, I'm never checking out Youtube again, what the hell was that?" I thought it was just preteens dancing until I realized my girlfriend uses it for some sort of daily exercise routine, food prep / cooking, and even some sort of podcast-like thing where a conversation is broken up into a bunch of autoplaying short videos. I still couldn't be bothered to figure it out and use it (though I feel like I should as a self-respecting technologist and app developer who should know what the good people like), but there seems to be more there than the first impression reveals.

nxc18 6y ago

Things I've been sent by TikTok in the last few days: * Cockpit walkthroughs by professional airline pilots * A first-person plane crash and water evacuation that I had somehow missed from 2014 (and was very interested to see) * Music theory videos explaining how current pop songs work * Baking videos explaining how to make things I'd never thought of before * Dermatology video showing laser skin retexturing in action (its amazing to see, not what I expected); helped me discover a new podcast that I now really enjoy * Linguistic analysis of English and how certain grammar rules came to be * A PSA about melatonin dosage (I already knew but discovered recently that most supplements are dosed too high) * HIIT cardio routines you can do at home * Planet Money TikTok (actually very solid and educational - e.g. economics of horror movie creation) I think the site you're talking about is YouTube, which does in fact repeatedly show nonsense and never figures out how wrong it is.