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Social media addiction is a very real thing and tiktok does it better than any of its competitors.

by wyre 4y ago

lmm 4y ago
I've heard this but it doesn't match my experience at all. I see far more addictive behaviour on facebook or twitter (or, hell, HN).
- wyre 4y ago
  Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive. Facebook, Twitter, and HN hold a different behavior because they are used for asynchronous communication between general users while TT is full of parasocial relationships between the created and fans. FB and Twitter also offer more utility than TikTok, an example being small businesses using Facebook and Twitter instead of a website.
  - lmm 4y ago
    > Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive. I tried it for a week or so, found it not very interesting and gave up.
    - jdsleppy 4y ago
      I noticed that the webapp doesn't show personalized content (or my privacy extensions do a wonderful job). You have to use the mobile app to see the full power.
      - lmm 4y ago
        This was with the mobile app.
    - ugjka 4y ago
      It took me a month before TT actually figured out my interests. For some reason it thought I would be absolutely interested in the local content of Latvia (where i live)
      - bmarquez 4y ago
        I created a TikTok account with a VPN and for the first few days most of the content was tailored towards the faraway city that the VPN IP address pointed to. Geolocated IP is one of the few pieces of info TT has initially, so not surprised they rely on it.
  - lofatdairy 4y ago
    I also used tiktok for about a month but quit it. That's not to say it's not addictive though, my mom spends a significant amount of her free time on the app (but she still uses fb and ig, if anything tiktok just supplanted some of her time spent on ig). I suppose my point about it is that it's not absurdly unique compared to reddit, YouTube, or twitch which are similarly bottomless content holes. TT isn't unique in parasocial relationships though. Most of the discourse around those relationships actually center around yt and twitch for a reason (and to a lesser extent twitter and onlyfans). If anything tiktok is better than streaming platforms because there's less of that illusion of familiarity; you only see the content creator for minutes at a time before another's there to replace them (twitch you see them for hours at a time and often people only identify strongly with a few streamers). I'd also argue against the utility argument. Tiktok has allowed for both information and misinformation to spread on its platforms, but that's a non unique argument. Small business accounts on tiktok have also flourished, a commonly repeated piece of advice currently is for small business owners to create accounts and just record their daily routines. Businesses like specialty stationers have exploded in recognition due to this. The much stronger case against tiktok over other social media's is your communication point. There's little opportunity there for people to actually, you know, socialize with each other. It's content and only content, and even YouTube comments have more meaningful opportunities for educated discussion. It's more similar to twitch chat in that regard but even on twitch content creators regularly engage in discourse publicly. Tiktok enables this through its reply system, but because of its content delivery system you might never see that.
    - wyre 4y ago
      Ya, I also used tiktok for about a month before getting rid of it. I still think my point stands that everything about it makes it addictive. TT is a bottomless content hole and isn’t that different from other bottomless content holes because they are that. TT takes it a step further with their format focusing on short, attention grabbing content, a best-in-class recommendation algorithm, and rewarding their creators with more views than other networks. I don’t know if I agree Tiktok fosters better (do we mean healthier?) parasocial relationships than other socials. There’s a certain intimacy from the cell phone camera that YouTube and twitch doesn’t have (twitch has a different intimacy, but like you said they are on for hours a time). I think when TT creators are encouraged to upload multiple times a day, compared to once a week on YouTube or twitch, pushes something that feels closer seeing a best friend than watching your cool cousin. I absolutely agree that TikTok is better for marketing a business than other networks, but it doesn’t have much of any utility beyond that. I wonder about the effectiveness of communicating over DM with businesses over Instagram vs tiktok. For the record I’m addicted to YouTube and HN and don’t currently have accounts on any of the other services mentioned.
- thisisnotclear 4y ago
  Twitter doom scrolling is real.

Social media addiction is a very real thing and tiktok does it better than any of its competitors.

by wyre 4y ago

Social media addiction is a very real thing and tiktok does it better than any of its competitors.

lmm 4y ago

I've heard this but it doesn't match my experience at all. I see far more addictive behaviour on facebook or twitter (or, hell, HN).

wyre 4y ago
Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive. Facebook, Twitter, and HN hold a different behavior because they are used for asynchronous communication between general users while TT is full of parasocial relationships between the created and fans. FB and Twitter also offer more utility than TikTok, an example being small businesses using Facebook and Twitter instead of a website.
- lmm 4y ago
  > Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive. I tried it for a week or so, found it not very interesting and gave up.
  - jdsleppy 4y ago
    I noticed that the webapp doesn't show personalized content (or my privacy extensions do a wonderful job). You have to use the mobile app to see the full power.
    - lmm 4y ago
      This was with the mobile app.
  - ugjka 4y ago
    It took me a month before TT actually figured out my interests. For some reason it thought I would be absolutely interested in the local content of Latvia (where i live)
    - bmarquez 4y ago
      I created a TikTok account with a VPN and for the first few days most of the content was tailored towards the faraway city that the VPN IP address pointed to. Geolocated IP is one of the few pieces of info TT has initially, so not surprised they rely on it.
- lofatdairy 4y ago
  I also used tiktok for about a month but quit it. That's not to say it's not addictive though, my mom spends a significant amount of her free time on the app (but she still uses fb and ig, if anything tiktok just supplanted some of her time spent on ig). I suppose my point about it is that it's not absurdly unique compared to reddit, YouTube, or twitch which are similarly bottomless content holes. TT isn't unique in parasocial relationships though. Most of the discourse around those relationships actually center around yt and twitch for a reason (and to a lesser extent twitter and onlyfans). If anything tiktok is better than streaming platforms because there's less of that illusion of familiarity; you only see the content creator for minutes at a time before another's there to replace them (twitch you see them for hours at a time and often people only identify strongly with a few streamers). I'd also argue against the utility argument. Tiktok has allowed for both information and misinformation to spread on its platforms, but that's a non unique argument. Small business accounts on tiktok have also flourished, a commonly repeated piece of advice currently is for small business owners to create accounts and just record their daily routines. Businesses like specialty stationers have exploded in recognition due to this. The much stronger case against tiktok over other social media's is your communication point. There's little opportunity there for people to actually, you know, socialize with each other. It's content and only content, and even YouTube comments have more meaningful opportunities for educated discussion. It's more similar to twitch chat in that regard but even on twitch content creators regularly engage in discourse publicly. Tiktok enables this through its reply system, but because of its content delivery system you might never see that.
  - wyre 4y ago
    Ya, I also used tiktok for about a month before getting rid of it. I still think my point stands that everything about it makes it addictive. TT is a bottomless content hole and isn’t that different from other bottomless content holes because they are that. TT takes it a step further with their format focusing on short, attention grabbing content, a best-in-class recommendation algorithm, and rewarding their creators with more views than other networks. I don’t know if I agree Tiktok fosters better (do we mean healthier?) parasocial relationships than other socials. There’s a certain intimacy from the cell phone camera that YouTube and twitch doesn’t have (twitch has a different intimacy, but like you said they are on for hours a time). I think when TT creators are encouraged to upload multiple times a day, compared to once a week on YouTube or twitch, pushes something that feels closer seeing a best friend than watching your cool cousin. I absolutely agree that TikTok is better for marketing a business than other networks, but it doesn’t have much of any utility beyond that. I wonder about the effectiveness of communicating over DM with businesses over Instagram vs tiktok. For the record I’m addicted to YouTube and HN and don’t currently have accounts on any of the other services mentioned.
thisisnotclear 4y ago
Twitter doom scrolling is real.