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Small-time TikTokker here (~100k followers) -- TikTok has a HUGE first-mover advantage in this space. By the time Snapchat and YouTube started taking short-form

by mkaic 5y ago

Small-time TikTokker here (~100k followers) -- TikTok has a HUGE first-mover advantage in this space. By the time Snapchat and YouTube started taking short-form content seriously, TikTok was already miles ahead of them. Additionally, the TikTok collaborative recommendation algorithm is leaps and bounds above any other platform's. They've got a very active userbase, they invest in creators, and they provide a way to get discovered as a creative teenager who wants an outlet. Their UI has been refined a lot over the years, with each update making it more satisfying to click on notification bubbles. Additionally, because the community is so large and the algorithm so good, you can literally find almost ANY niche you like there. People who haven't used the app for long complain about the content being mostly dances and pranks, but the truth is that if you use the app consistently, it'll figure out a dozen super specific-to-you niche topics within a day or two. For instance, I'm part of the VFX, filmmaking, art, and music production sides of TikTok because those are my hobbies, but I also routinely get candy making videos, absurdist comedy, and animations, things I didn't know I loved until I downloaded TikTok. Overall--if you have a history of social media addiction, use it with caution. If you're not afraid of getting sucked in for hours at a time, it truly is a wonderful platform full of stellarly creative people.

nazgulnarsil 5y ago
How can any of that content have any depth with a max video length of 15 seconds?
- mkaic 5y ago
  Max length is actually 1 minute! They're also testing 3-minute videos for some creators. My short films are all almost exactly a minute long, and I find it's a really fun storytelling challenge to create something meaningful in such a small time frame.
  - nazgulnarsil 5y ago
    okay a minute makes more sense that's about 150 words.
    - ItsMonkk 5y ago
      It's interesting because any time you see Part 1 within a video, that's a significant sign that it's a low quality video that is just stringing it out for viewtime and you should skip it. But of course there is quality content that lasts more than a minute. The work-around for the 1 minute limit that the community has built around is that the top up-voted comment is a link to the next part.
- xmprt 5y ago
  On the contrary, there are many YouTube videos that could be explained in 15 seconds to a minute on TikTok but instead you have to sit through a full 10 minutes to get the really interesting parts. If you want more depth, often times, people will post multiple parts on TikTok (something which has a poor UX but at least works) so you can dive deeper into a topic if you're interested.
gman83 5y ago
I actually like YouTube shorts. It seems to capture my interests more than TikTok does. With TikTok, I find myself watching inane stuff that my unconscious mind is compelled to watch, but as soon as I snap out of this dream state and realize what I'm watching I see how stupid it is. YouTube shorts seems to be easy to consume videos that I actually find interesting.
- mkaic 5y ago
  That's a cool perspective, I guess I'm just really easy to recommend content for :)
xmprt 5y ago
I've noticed that YouTube also gets a few small things wrong with their Shorts. Things like not being able to play the video while reading comments or making the interface less fluid or waiting for TikTok to add features before they follow (eg. being able to scrub through a video. If YouTube added this, I'd probably stop using TikTok pretty quickly). TikTok also has network effects of creativity. I don't think I've ever seen a trend go viral on YouTube Shorts before TikTok. Nor have I scene any stitches or duets (do they even have that feature?) I think they have a chance to capture a huge market though if they get it right (although considering most of the people using Shorts are just reposting TikToks, it'll take some time).
MuffinFlavored 5y ago
> By the time Snapchat and YouTube started taking short-form content seriously Wasn't Vine first to take short-form content seriously?
rvz 5y ago
> Additionally, the TikTok collaborative recommendation algorithm is leaps and bounds above any other platform's. They've got a very active userbase, they invest in creators, and they provide a way to get discovered as a creative teenager who wants an outlet. That is no different to the behaviours of the other social networks that also have their own 'recommendation algorithm' that governs which content is seen and unseen by the developers and who's data is run on the hundreds of millions of users sensitive personal data, search, watch habits and user interaction data and is always subject to change or adjustment. The same goes for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Given that TikTok has screwed with their users in the past [0] [1], how long until they will do it again so that we will talk about the next social network that everyone moves to? > Overall--if you have a history of social media addiction, use it with caution. If you're not afraid of getting sucked in for hours at a time, it truly is a wonderful platform full of stellarly creative people. That sounds more like magnificent news to the investors, not to the users. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/25/22301704/tiktok-92-million-settlement-class-action-privacy-lawsuit https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/25/22301704/tiktok-92-millio... [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56815480 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56815480

by mkaic 5y ago

nazgulnarsil 5y ago

How can any of that content have any depth with a max video length of 15 seconds?

mkaic 5y ago
Max length is actually 1 minute! They're also testing 3-minute videos for some creators. My short films are all almost exactly a minute long, and I find it's a really fun storytelling challenge to create something meaningful in such a small time frame.
- nazgulnarsil 5y ago
  okay a minute makes more sense that's about 150 words.
  - ItsMonkk 5y ago
    It's interesting because any time you see Part 1 within a video, that's a significant sign that it's a low quality video that is just stringing it out for viewtime and you should skip it. But of course there is quality content that lasts more than a minute. The work-around for the 1 minute limit that the community has built around is that the top up-voted comment is a link to the next part.
xmprt 5y ago
On the contrary, there are many YouTube videos that could be explained in 15 seconds to a minute on TikTok but instead you have to sit through a full 10 minutes to get the really interesting parts. If you want more depth, often times, people will post multiple parts on TikTok (something which has a poor UX but at least works) so you can dive deeper into a topic if you're interested.

gman83 5y ago

I actually like YouTube shorts. It seems to capture my interests more than TikTok does. With TikTok, I find myself watching inane stuff that my unconscious mind is compelled to watch, but as soon as I snap out of this dream state and realize what I'm watching I see how stupid it is. YouTube shorts seems to be easy to consume videos that I actually find interesting.

mkaic 5y ago
That's a cool perspective, I guess I'm just really easy to recommend content for :)

xmprt 5y ago

I've noticed that YouTube also gets a few small things wrong with their Shorts. Things like not being able to play the video while reading comments or making the interface less fluid or waiting for TikTok to add features before they follow (eg. being able to scrub through a video. If YouTube added this, I'd probably stop using TikTok pretty quickly). TikTok also has network effects of creativity. I don't think I've ever seen a trend go viral on YouTube Shorts before TikTok. Nor have I scene any stitches or duets (do they even have that feature?) I think they have a chance to capture a huge market though if they get it right (although considering most of the people using Shorts are just reposting TikToks, it'll take some time).

MuffinFlavored 5y ago

> By the time Snapchat and YouTube started taking short-form content seriously Wasn't Vine first to take short-form content seriously?

rvz 5y ago

> Additionally, the TikTok collaborative recommendation algorithm is leaps and bounds above any other platform's. They've got a very active userbase, they invest in creators, and they provide a way to get discovered as a creative teenager who wants an outlet. That is no different to the behaviours of the other social networks that also have their own 'recommendation algorithm' that governs which content is seen and unseen by the developers and who's data is run on the hundreds of millions of users sensitive personal data, search, watch habits and user interaction data and is always subject to change or adjustment. The same goes for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Given that TikTok has screwed with their users in the past [0] [1], how long until they will do it again so that we will talk about the next social network that everyone moves to? > Overall--if you have a history of social media addiction, use it with caution. If you're not afraid of getting sucked in for hours at a time, it truly is a wonderful platform full of stellarly creative people. That sounds more like magnificent news to the investors, not to the users. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/25/22301704/tiktok-92-million-settlement-class-action-privacy-lawsuit https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/25/22301704/tiktok-92-millio... [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56815480 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56815480