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Broadly, it's fascinating that I think we've definitively moved out of the age of "social media theory" (what might this new form of media do) into "experimenta
by jrm4 4y ago
Broadly, it's fascinating that I think we've definitively moved out of the age of "social media theory" (what might this new form of media do) into "experimentation and iteration" (in which we are absolutely the guinea pigs, but at least for now we mostly know it?")
TikTok is especially a wildly mixed bag for me. I fully acknowledge that its manipulation of attention is disgusting and the data it holds is wildly dangerous.
And yet, more immediately, it is serving very well the job of being Cory Doctorow's Little Brother which in our current political times (at least in the US) is wildly beneficial. As a black man I especially appreciate the light it shines on behaviors and practices I knew to be valid and yet was repeatedly told "that doesn't really happen." So, next, how to separate one from the other.
- mal-2 4y agoThis is the real reason behind the FUD in my opinion. Despite all these articles presenting TikTok content as vapid and mindless time wasting, in my experience it's been the opposite. TikTok is full of authentic policial commentary, anti-racist education, historical analysis, and anti-capitalist content. It's doing a lot to give people a voice who otherwise haven't been well-represented on other platforms. It's a big reason why Reels has been a failure imo, there's just not any important conversations happening there. Gen Z is not being given enough credit, they're not just addicted scrollers, they're using a better platform to organize and share culture more effectively.
- emptyfile 4y agoYeah, sure. The entire world revolves around the American Race Problem. As it always does from inside your bubble.
- mal-2 4y agoI can only speak from my bubble, fair enough, but I almost never see this aspect explored in reporting on Tiktok. The articles always focus on the algorithm, never the actual content and community. Evidently something is quite different from Reddit and Twitter since those platforms have about a quarter to a half of the MAU of TikTok despite being around much longer. "Algorithm" is a hand-wavey explanation. No amount of algorithmic content selection can keep me engaged when the content itself is of lower quality.
- jrm4 4y agoFair criticism. It's not quality reporting by any means; I wouldn't say it gives too much intelligent nuance. But it starts the conversation. It's been a slow burn, but I very clearly recall a time when most white people I knew believed police misconduct to be rare, if not nonexistent.
- mal-2 4y agoOh no worries I didn't even mean to criticize you, I was mostly responding to emptyfile's post. I agree with you sometimes there is nuance lacking but at the same time there's often more context and nuance than what you hear from a politican's soundbite. Hearing experiences directly from someone's mouth is a lot more impactful than reading it in a news report or political ad, even if the video is short.
- jrm4 4y agoDid you even read to notice that I carved out merely one example that happened to apply to me? Dismissive people like you literally comprise the race problem that you appear to be so annoyed by.