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I have never seen so many to say "average" people on tiktok like on any other social platform, in a sense that I can relate to those people and don't feel like

by buryat 5y ago

I have never seen so many to say "average" people on tiktok like on any other social platform, in a sense that I can relate to those people and don't feel like a celebrity is trying to feed me some content down my throat. There's so much of normalization of everything that I'm blown away by how normal Tiktok is, you can see teenagers struggling in a school, you can see people hating their 9-5 jobs, you can see crafts and arts, you can see people with disabilities living life at its fullest, cooking videos, etc. The whole vibe is so wholesome that it's truly the first social network that feels social in a wide sense.

foolfoolz 5y ago
i like this too and think it has a lot to do with how the app is based on the for you page more than followers. when you don’t need followers for people to see your content it really opens up the playing field to different types of content
akkawwakka 5y ago
It’s definitely a pro-social, social platform. It shows that you don’t have to rely on polarizing or adversarial content to drive engagement (_ cough, like Facebook & Twitter cough)
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  Yet. Remember that the platforms we complain about also started off totally fine, but eventually greed caught up with all of them.
- ehsankia 5y ago
  Eh, it still exists. I have gotten in a few cohorts that were quite toxic, especially near the election. There's still quite a lot of vaccine/mask vs anti-vaccine/mask content, and you general political crap. It's easy to get off of those, the dislike button is definitely your friend, but if you don't have the willpower and self-control I do think you can fall into the same rabbit holes as Youtube or any other platform.
mseepgood 5y ago
> I have never seen so many to say "average" people on tiktok like on any other social platform, in a sense that I can relate to those people and don't feel like a celebrity is trying to feed me some content down my throat. Youtube was like that before ads and monetization were introduced.
- pm90 5y ago
  TikTok already does have ads/monetization.
- deanCommie 5y ago
  The ads/monetization threshold isn't the major difference, but the remembrance of YouTube in the pre-celbrity/late night era is completely astute. We're in a Golden Age of Tik Tok, and it won't last. We get to enjoy the chaos and caucophony of lots of people getting 15 mins of fame. It's not gonna last :(
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    Maybe then it'll be Vine 2's turn.
- greggman3 5y ago
  For me, youtube is better now than at any other time I've used it. My feed is almost entirely very well made talks, and lessons, and tutorials. That they have a 2-3 minute "this video brought to you by ABC" doesn't bother me at all as the content is amazing. Anything I want to know there are 25+ plus different people willing to explain it to me.
  - wccrawford 5y ago
    I've started to get annoyed by the ads for Raid Shadow Legends and Squarespace, and the product placement is getting nuts. I had someone the other day say they didn't think the tool was "sponsored" because the company lent it to them to try, in order to see if they'd use it enough to justify keeping it. Uh, yeah, that's totally sponsored, even if it's only lent. Some of my usual Youtube channels now have 1 or 2 big stop-the-show ads that are unrelated to their content, and then multiple product placement moments that are incredibly obvious. It's really taking away from the content of the shows. I know they have to eat, and producing a lot of content is expensive, but I already pay for YouTube Premium to get rid of ads. And now the ads are infesting the shows anyhow. Edit: I also support my favorite content producers on Patreon as well.
whymauri 5y ago
TikTok reminds me of mid-2000s Internet vibes. But also, that could be because the algorithm is really good at showing me what I want... and I don't even have an account.
syoc 5y ago
I don't use TikTok myself but I guess you see what you want to see. Kinda hard to make general statements about content on a platform that is built around curating to individual tastes. I would be surprised if people more interested in celebrities and rich people would not be able to get an endless stream of "professional influencer" content on TikTok as well.
- ehsankia 5y ago
  This is true for every platform. I always find it strange when people complain their Twitter feed is toxic, when they have quite a lot of control over who's on there or not. Admittedly I use Tweetdeck which is less algorithmic, but still. I think even default twitter lets you block retweets from certain people you follow?
Graffur 5y ago
Tiktok is full of girls dancing with very little or very tight clothes on for likes and attention. It's really seedy. There's subreddits dedicated to posting about these accounts. On top of that it is designed to be addicting for the sake of addiction. It doesnt matter what the video is about once it will keep the user on the app. The algorithm will work out the perfect way for each person to be sucked in. We all know that these addicting videos won't be educational or even worthwhile. This type of stuff trends towards really useless content. Of all the social media out there I would not let my kids use tiktok.
- angio 5y ago
  TikTok is very good at recommending new content based on what you engage with (watch, like, comment, etc), if your feed is full of girls dancing, it's because you spend time actually watching it instead of just moving to the next video. My feed is full of people (for some reason mostly eastern european or from central asia) working at their construction jobs.
  - freshhawk 5y ago
    My Tiktok has a lot of videos of people complaining about exactly this and being responded to by pointing out they are telling on themselves in a hilarious way. Gotta hand it to the algorithm, it is always funny to me.
    - Graffur 5y ago
      > they are telling on themselves in a hilarious way. It's no secret how the algorithm tailors itself to what you watch. The hilarious thing is people thinking they're getting a 'win' when someone complains about any content. The app presents things to you and tries to grab your interest in any way. A lot of teenagers will, naturally, linger on that content for longer and then it becomes a cycle. That doesn't mean that is what they are aiming to get out of the app.
      - freshhawk 5y ago

by buryat 5y ago

foolfoolz 5y ago

i like this too and think it has a lot to do with how the app is based on the for you page more than followers. when you don’t need followers for people to see your content it really opens up the playing field to different types of content

akkawwakka 5y ago

It’s definitely a pro-social, social platform. It shows that you don’t have to rely on polarizing or adversarial content to drive engagement (_ cough, like Facebook & Twitter cough)

Nextgrid 5y ago
Yet. Remember that the platforms we complain about also started off totally fine, but eventually greed caught up with all of them.
ehsankia 5y ago
Eh, it still exists. I have gotten in a few cohorts that were quite toxic, especially near the election. There's still quite a lot of vaccine/mask vs anti-vaccine/mask content, and you general political crap. It's easy to get off of those, the dislike button is definitely your friend, but if you don't have the willpower and self-control I do think you can fall into the same rabbit holes as Youtube or any other platform.

mseepgood 5y ago

> I have never seen so many to say "average" people on tiktok like on any other social platform, in a sense that I can relate to those people and don't feel like a celebrity is trying to feed me some content down my throat. Youtube was like that before ads and monetization were introduced.

pm90 5y ago
TikTok already does have ads/monetization.
deanCommie 5y ago
The ads/monetization threshold isn't the major difference, but the remembrance of YouTube in the pre-celbrity/late night era is completely astute. We're in a Golden Age of Tik Tok, and it won't last. We get to enjoy the chaos and caucophony of lots of people getting 15 mins of fame. It's not gonna last :(
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  Maybe then it'll be Vine 2's turn.
greggman3 5y ago
For me, youtube is better now than at any other time I've used it. My feed is almost entirely very well made talks, and lessons, and tutorials. That they have a 2-3 minute "this video brought to you by ABC" doesn't bother me at all as the content is amazing. Anything I want to know there are 25+ plus different people willing to explain it to me.
- wccrawford 5y ago
  I've started to get annoyed by the ads for Raid Shadow Legends and Squarespace, and the product placement is getting nuts. I had someone the other day say they didn't think the tool was "sponsored" because the company lent it to them to try, in order to see if they'd use it enough to justify keeping it. Uh, yeah, that's totally sponsored, even if it's only lent. Some of my usual Youtube channels now have 1 or 2 big stop-the-show ads that are unrelated to their content, and then multiple product placement moments that are incredibly obvious. It's really taking away from the content of the shows. I know they have to eat, and producing a lot of content is expensive, but I already pay for YouTube Premium to get rid of ads. And now the ads are infesting the shows anyhow. Edit: I also support my favorite content producers on Patreon as well.

whymauri 5y ago

TikTok reminds me of mid-2000s Internet vibes. But also, that could be because the algorithm is really good at showing me what I want... and I don't even have an account.

syoc 5y ago

I don't use TikTok myself but I guess you see what you want to see. Kinda hard to make general statements about content on a platform that is built around curating to individual tastes. I would be surprised if people more interested in celebrities and rich people would not be able to get an endless stream of "professional influencer" content on TikTok as well.

ehsankia 5y ago
This is true for every platform. I always find it strange when people complain their Twitter feed is toxic, when they have quite a lot of control over who's on there or not. Admittedly I use Tweetdeck which is less algorithmic, but still. I think even default twitter lets you block retweets from certain people you follow?

Graffur 5y ago

Tiktok is full of girls dancing with very little or very tight clothes on for likes and attention. It's really seedy. There's subreddits dedicated to posting about these accounts. On top of that it is designed to be addicting for the sake of addiction. It doesnt matter what the video is about once it will keep the user on the app. The algorithm will work out the perfect way for each person to be sucked in. We all know that these addicting videos won't be educational or even worthwhile. This type of stuff trends towards really useless content. Of all the social media out there I would not let my kids use tiktok.

angio 5y ago
TikTok is very good at recommending new content based on what you engage with (watch, like, comment, etc), if your feed is full of girls dancing, it's because you spend time actually watching it instead of just moving to the next video. My feed is full of people (for some reason mostly eastern european or from central asia) working at their construction jobs.
- freshhawk 5y ago
  My Tiktok has a lot of videos of people complaining about exactly this and being responded to by pointing out they are telling on themselves in a hilarious way. Gotta hand it to the algorithm, it is always funny to me.
  - Graffur 5y ago
    > they are telling on themselves in a hilarious way. It's no secret how the algorithm tailors itself to what you watch. The hilarious thing is people thinking they're getting a 'win' when someone complains about any content. The app presents things to you and tries to grab your interest in any way. A lot of teenagers will, naturally, linger on that content for longer and then it becomes a cycle. That doesn't mean that is what they are aiming to get out of the app.
    - freshhawk 5y ago