6 ms·

TikTok live is kinda wild. You never know what you're going to get. One thing I like about it. My favorite was a live stream from a small town festival in Bali.

TikTok live is kinda wild. You never know what you're going to get. One thing I like about it. My favorite was a live stream from a small town festival in Bali. Started off with a bunch of acrobats doing slapstick comedy. Ended with dancers in elaborate dragon masks, and the crowd joined in to make it a big dance party. Was so much fun. I now have a new resolve to go visit Bali. I also really like all the truck drivers who do cab views. There's an ambulance driver somewhere in Vietnam who livestreams his shifts. Oddly mesmerizing to watch him zip through dense city traffic without a care in the world. Quite a few people who seem to found the best hustle possible. They go daily to Disneyland and other parks. Somehow get enough gifts and tips to pay for it. Also like the bars that stream their house bands. That one guy who rides a scooter around downtown LA late at night and gets in weird conversations with drunks. A guy who races Matchbox cars on his track and keeps track of the winners in a pseudo league. An Italian man who looks vaguely like Mr. Bean and does an almost endless stretch of magic tricks. The one that I think about often is this 19 yr old guy in the Ukrainian Army. Only caught him once. Back in the summer. He and his unit were not yet on the front lines but his superiors had him digging a trench anyways. He was half-assing the digging while his comrades relaxed under trees and occasionally yelled something that would make the young guy laugh. He'd perk up anytime someone with a cute girl avatar would say something to him. They'd say something that made him just beam with happiness. I'll always wonder what happened to him. I hope he's ok.

HEHENE 4y ago
Disney "influencers" are such a scourge on theme parks. Normal visitors take loads of photos and videos, often at inconvenient times, but when it comes to being in/on the attractions, they usually put their phones away and shut up. Most rides at Disney parks have pre-shows about 3/4 of the way through the line that set up the story for the ride. Sometimes these are audiovisual, sometimes animatronic, but always with audio and almost always dark. Likewise, most Disney rides are "dark rides" where the ride is primarily in the dark with animatronics and the scenery lit by carefully designed show lighting. Influencers have seen these pre-shows and rides a thousand times and don't care about them. They keep there full-brightness phone up and filming for them and talk over them to their audience. It's incredibly distracting and immersion breaking. I imagine Disney sees them as a net-positive though, as I'm sure they drive tons of ticket sales. Most influencers are travel agents who get paid by Disney, or are affiliated with a travel agency.
- wishfish 4y ago
  I could see that. I enjoy the live cam tours because my partner is immunosuppressed and we're not going anywhere for a while. So it's nice to visit virtually. But I hadn't thought about the actual visitors and what they would think about it. I could see how they'd loathe these people constantly recording and being obnoxious about it.
- flutas 4y ago
  > I imagine Disney sees them as a net-positive though, as I'm sure they drive tons of ticket sales. Most influencers are travel agents who get paid by Disney, or are affiliated with a travel agency. FWIW, I dug into this a while back because I was curious. Most of them don't get 'paid' by Disney in a traditional sense, but will get things like exclusive access to press events/rides, free upcoming products, or in the case with that flop of a star wars hotel a "free $7,000 hotel stay." All of which lets them technically say "I'm not paid by Disney, they just gave me this to show all of you!" Most of their money comes from donations/stickers/whatever the latest term for it is from the livestreams. Usually the order with Disney showing off new stuff goes something like - Travel agents - Social Media Influencers - EDIT: Club 33 - EDIT: Timeshare suckers (DVC) - Passholes - D23 (aka pay $100/yr for access) - Joe Shmoe
  - WaitWaitWha 4y ago
    > ... I'm not paid by Disney, ... The IRS have a completely different point of view.
    - flutas 4y ago
      > The IRS have a completely different point of view. Oh, I fully agree and I would bet a majority of them know that as well, they just have figured out a way to use some weasel words to act like it's not a payment to the general public.
      - drawingthesun 4y ago
        It's because there is no exchange, if I give you a birthday gift can that be considered income? Obviously not as I am not asking for something in return. However: If I buy you a gift and we agree for the gift you do task x for me. Now that is income and the value of the gift must be considered income on your tax return. Disney isn't saying "here is a room for free if you do x, y , z" Disney is saying "here is a room for free" and that is the end of it. Of course the obvious issue for Disney is that the influencer might never do the review of the park and never in a million years could Disney take them to court complaining services were not rendered. You cannot give a gift with expectation of return. So it's not income. But it's limited because the one giving you the gift really has to trust that you'll do the thing you do. I am surprised Disney would bother to be honest. I thought their theme parks were popular enough already.
clucas 4y ago
Something about your post reminded me of this poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=39493 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?conte... I hope he's OK too.
- wishfish 4y ago
  Thank you for the poem. That was beautiful.

HEHENE 4y ago

Disney "influencers" are such a scourge on theme parks. Normal visitors take loads of photos and videos, often at inconvenient times, but when it comes to being in/on the attractions, they usually put their phones away and shut up. Most rides at Disney parks have pre-shows about 3/4 of the way through the line that set up the story for the ride. Sometimes these are audiovisual, sometimes animatronic, but always with audio and almost always dark. Likewise, most Disney rides are "dark rides" where the ride is primarily in the dark with animatronics and the scenery lit by carefully designed show lighting. Influencers have seen these pre-shows and rides a thousand times and don't care about them. They keep there full-brightness phone up and filming for them and talk over them to their audience. It's incredibly distracting and immersion breaking. I imagine Disney sees them as a net-positive though, as I'm sure they drive tons of ticket sales. Most influencers are travel agents who get paid by Disney, or are affiliated with a travel agency.

wishfish 4y ago
I could see that. I enjoy the live cam tours because my partner is immunosuppressed and we're not going anywhere for a while. So it's nice to visit virtually. But I hadn't thought about the actual visitors and what they would think about it. I could see how they'd loathe these people constantly recording and being obnoxious about it.
flutas 4y ago
> I imagine Disney sees them as a net-positive though, as I'm sure they drive tons of ticket sales. Most influencers are travel agents who get paid by Disney, or are affiliated with a travel agency. FWIW, I dug into this a while back because I was curious. Most of them don't get 'paid' by Disney in a traditional sense, but will get things like exclusive access to press events/rides, free upcoming products, or in the case with that flop of a star wars hotel a "free $7,000 hotel stay." All of which lets them technically say "I'm not paid by Disney, they just gave me this to show all of you!" Most of their money comes from donations/stickers/whatever the latest term for it is from the livestreams. Usually the order with Disney showing off new stuff goes something like - Travel agents - Social Media Influencers - EDIT: Club 33 - EDIT: Timeshare suckers (DVC) - Passholes - D23 (aka pay $100/yr for access) - Joe Shmoe
- WaitWaitWha 4y ago
  > ... I'm not paid by Disney, ... The IRS have a completely different point of view.
  - flutas 4y ago
    > The IRS have a completely different point of view. Oh, I fully agree and I would bet a majority of them know that as well, they just have figured out a way to use some weasel words to act like it's not a payment to the general public.
    - drawingthesun 4y ago
      It's because there is no exchange, if I give you a birthday gift can that be considered income? Obviously not as I am not asking for something in return. However: If I buy you a gift and we agree for the gift you do task x for me. Now that is income and the value of the gift must be considered income on your tax return. Disney isn't saying "here is a room for free if you do x, y , z" Disney is saying "here is a room for free" and that is the end of it. Of course the obvious issue for Disney is that the influencer might never do the review of the park and never in a million years could Disney take them to court complaining services were not rendered. You cannot give a gift with expectation of return. So it's not income. But it's limited because the one giving you the gift really has to trust that you'll do the thing you do. I am surprised Disney would bother to be honest. I thought their theme parks were popular enough already.

clucas 4y ago

Something about your post reminded me of this poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=39493 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?conte... I hope he's OK too.

wishfish 4y ago
Thank you for the poem. That was beautiful.