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After hearing so much about TikTok's addictiveness, I decided to give it a whirl. I spent a good few hours trying to get a feed that was interesting to me by se

After hearing so much about TikTok's addictiveness, I decided to give it a whirl. I spent a good few hours trying to get a feed that was interesting to me by searching for various keywords. I was mostly looking for weird, abstract, absurdist videos, but also anything else that interested me. Unfortunately it was quite difficult to find anything I actually liked. Most of "weird tiktok" seemed to be a teenager's idea of "weird"―too fauxdark, edgy, memelordic. I did manage to find a few videos and creators I actually liked, but not enough to make my feed much better. I eventually gave up and deleted the app. Just one small anecdotal data point to counter the idea that the app is addicting for everyone. If anybody has any tips about how to get a better feed, I'm willing to give it another go.

Simon_O_Rourke 4y ago
I tried the same about a month back - opened an account, logged in and tried searching on a few technical terms to see what I could find and train the search algorithm. Like yourself though, every time I log in afresh I end up with some weird video, usually someone pulling a duck face into the camera or dancing or something.
therealdrag0 4y ago
I found my way into YouTube shorts since I already use YT a lot and it knew what I liked. Realizing it’s a TK ripoff, and seeing funny TKs shared, I figure TikTok must be way better, so I tried it. But I had the same experience as you: it didn’t click. Maybe if I had replicated my YouTube subscriptions (some are on both) it would have worked better, but I tried telling it my interests and hoping “the algorithm” would figure it out. But it didn’t.
- TuringNYC 4y ago
  A bit of a tangent, but YouTube had sucked me into hours of economic doomscrolling a day. I even purchased the premium tier to avoid ads. Then suddenly two months ago they changed some algo and all the good videos are gone, along with most of my engagement. The lesson I learned: Even if I find magic, magic can quickly disappear with a new production release.
  - jquery 4y ago
    I'll agree here, the algo has changed, but maybe not for the worse. I am doomscrolling less, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can't be healthy to constantly be doomscrolling.
  - therealdrag0 4y ago
    Interesting. I haven’t experienced that. I have premium too. But mostly I have my subscriptions which the algorithm doesn’t impact; it just riffs on what’s already there: education/cooking/exercise/comedy.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  I've now collected several different creators who are one both platforms, and without exception I prefer their content on YouTube over TikTok. You just can't compare the quality level expected for youtube to tiktok. On Youtube, if you want any views at all, you pretty much MUST have a high quality HD camera (some modern phones now count), a good microphone, good presentation, there was most likely a script written out and edited, there will often be diagrams or explanations or rationalizations for many parts, there will be digging into details basically. Physically speaking, TikTok videos CANNOT do anything but be extremely shallow "Fast Fact" videos that just make a claim, with no evidence, no reasoning, no verification, just a "Hey I'm me and I say I'm someone and this is a factoid and either believe me or don't". These videos are great for addiction, because if you are gullible for those kinds of factoids you will love an endless barrage of dopamine inducing "Facts" that you can repeat at the next party you attend. Youtube has similar "Factoid" videos but you will also find 20 minute short form essays rebutting those factoids with demonstrations, evidence, citations, etc. You simply can't rebut a 1 minute claim in a 1 minute video in a way that laypeople should be convinced by. It's weaponization of "It's harder to debunk that spout nonsense"
filoleg 4y ago
> If anybody has any tips about how to get a better feed, I'm willing to give it another go. I do. Don't waste time by trying to find the stuff you want by explicitly searching for specific tags (aside from maybe for the purpose of the initial seeding, but that's not a must at all). That would indeed bring up just tons of kinda trashy content that seems like it is tailored to either teenagers or the lowest common denominator. Instead, try using the main feed. Simply scroll past videos you don't find interesting/appealing to you, hit "like" (double tap) on the kind of videos you like, etc. You've mentioned you've already found some creators you like, that's great. Hit "like" on some of their videos that you actually like . Don't try to trick the algorithm by forcing some unnatural behaviors, just use the feed normally. To clarify, when I say "feed", I mean "For You" feed aka the main feed, not "Following" feed. First 30 mins or so of that will be meh. But the more you use it that way (doesn't need to be in one sitting at all, that part doesn't matter), the better the content will be tailored to your tastes. I can almost guarantee that you will not only find what you wanted that way, but also discover things that you didn't realize you liked/wanted to see. I checked out feeds on my friends' phones before, and it is kinda wild how different our feeds are. A friend of mine who is very seriously into bodybuilding gets some crazy useful (according to him) exercise technique/regimen videos that are very far from the mainstream "exercise routine/fitness advice" videos. Another friend of mine who is into building/fixing cars gets a lot of great build project videos. I get a solid mix of a particular type of dark comedy that appeals to me, sound synthesis videos, and some cool electronics projects that I would actually want to attempt myself. Just don't rush it, don't expect some instant magic to happen, and let it naturally adapt to your tastes.
- formerly_proven 4y ago
  While you're at it, some tips for getting hooked on heroin?
  - sushzbdbehsh 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - 4y ago
jquery 4y ago
I had the same experience. I've given TikTok several chances, each time it ends with me deleting the app after "the algo" and I disagree about what I actually want to watch. Yes, I paused for longer on the weird videos, but that doesn't mean I liked them. Yet the algo took this as strong signal to give me more of them.
tluyben2 4y ago
Tried it over the past week. Even about the subjects that interest me, all the vids I could find were too shallow (as in old info, badly researched etc even for such a short video), sensationalist click bait, way too short etc. I filled in my profile honestly and somehow it took me a lot of effort to teach the algo that I don't want to see videos of (mostly) naked teens dancing or doing (other) suggestive sex things (the first hour after installing, I got 4 young girls simulating taking a boob & vag pic and then looking at them with faked interest while giggling called pause game or something; is it supposed to be funny or?). I followed 0 teens and because I didn't think I wouldn't find anything interesting about programming, I thought I would follow some true crime stuff; still got naked young girls mostly. After a while of following enough other stuff I got less of it. I guess most guys (even old as myself) normally want to see this crap so the algo defaults to that? I don't know. But the content I am supposed to like really sucks too; the 100k view video authors often don't even get the names of victims/perps right, many facts are just debunked rehashes of sensationalist takes etc. It's horrible so far. And the comments... the comments. Youtube comments are great compared and that's saying something. Maybe it'll improve?
- mnsc 4y ago
  The app is collecting tons of metrics of actual watching behaviour to adapt the feed. So maybe you don't want to advertise that "after using the app extensively I'm still getting only half naked young girls dancing". I'm not getting any half naked girls dancing in my feed despite quite enjoying young people dancing mindlessly as a counterweight to the state of the fucking world. Eg. the top notch editing/dancing by Cale Brown.
  - probably_wrong 4y ago
    I'm sorry to say that your comment is the type of comment I'd typically downvote, but there's something about it that I think is worth discussing. The user is complaining that he cannot get rid of the half-naked young girls dancing no matter how hard he tries. And yet, your reply is to accuse them of it being somehow their fault? If this is not Thoughtcrime, I don't know what it is. For the record, I have heard this complaint before. I assume it's the default algorithm response when it can't figure you out.
Spiritus 4y ago
Unless you're looking for a specific video or trend, don't search. Just scroll.
Kiro 4y ago
Just keep scrolling naturally. Don't try to "teach" the algorithm. It never works.
dontbenebby 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
twright0 4y ago
> I spent a good few hours trying to get a feed that was interesting to me by searching for various keywords... If anybody has any tips about how to get a better feed, I'm willing to give it another go. The whole magic sauce is that you don't/can't shape your FYP ("for you page": feed) by searching or otherwise sending deliberate signals to the algorithm. Instead you just flip through the videos it sends you and it reads into how long you watch, which videos you skip, where you like/comment, who you follow etc. If you don't consciously try to influence it and just mindlessly, organically consume you'll end up with a very accurate FYP of videos remarkably quickly. I'm not surprised that trying to drive your FYP in a specific direction backfired; I suspect they make search deliberately bad and don't take it into account in a meaningful way when constructing the FYP for a user. It is, of course, up to you whether that sounds like a media experience that you want to participate in. I installed it skeptically but in literally less than an hour my FYP was nothing but videos I found engaging or fun, and several years later it's my most used phone app by a significant margin. Some of it is obviously low calorie entertainment but there's a lot of depth as well, and I continue to be struck by how accurately the FYP can identify what content I want to see and what I don't.
andirk 4y ago
Is it possible that the angle TikTok strives for simply lacks substance? I'm working on making something called The Laugh Track where you send your friend (singular) the type of laugh you just did (from a select list of types of laughs). If it's worth it, they'll hit you up personally to know wtf happened :D If that takes off and becomes a national security threat, I will not say oh yeah this is great content, totally makes sense people are addicted to this nonsense!
c7b 4y ago
Similar experience, although I didn't even search actively but wanted to let the famed algorithm work its magic. I think I made it to maybe 30mins before I meh'd out. I might have given it another try now, but I just saw that I already uninstalled it.
theCrowing 4y ago
exactly the same for me. What I would love to see is someone screenrecording their phone while scrolling one of these miracle algo feeds.

Simon_O_Rourke 4y ago

I tried the same about a month back - opened an account, logged in and tried searching on a few technical terms to see what I could find and train the search algorithm. Like yourself though, every time I log in afresh I end up with some weird video, usually someone pulling a duck face into the camera or dancing or something.

therealdrag0 4y ago

I found my way into YouTube shorts since I already use YT a lot and it knew what I liked. Realizing it’s a TK ripoff, and seeing funny TKs shared, I figure TikTok must be way better, so I tried it. But I had the same experience as you: it didn’t click. Maybe if I had replicated my YouTube subscriptions (some are on both) it would have worked better, but I tried telling it my interests and hoping “the algorithm” would figure it out. But it didn’t.

TuringNYC 4y ago
A bit of a tangent, but YouTube had sucked me into hours of economic doomscrolling a day. I even purchased the premium tier to avoid ads. Then suddenly two months ago they changed some algo and all the good videos are gone, along with most of my engagement. The lesson I learned: Even if I find magic, magic can quickly disappear with a new production release.
- jquery 4y ago
  I'll agree here, the algo has changed, but maybe not for the worse. I am doomscrolling less, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can't be healthy to constantly be doomscrolling.
- therealdrag0 4y ago
  Interesting. I haven’t experienced that. I have premium too. But mostly I have my subscriptions which the algorithm doesn’t impact; it just riffs on what’s already there: education/cooking/exercise/comedy.
mrguyorama 4y ago
I've now collected several different creators who are one both platforms, and without exception I prefer their content on YouTube over TikTok. You just can't compare the quality level expected for youtube to tiktok. On Youtube, if you want any views at all, you pretty much MUST have a high quality HD camera (some modern phones now count), a good microphone, good presentation, there was most likely a script written out and edited, there will often be diagrams or explanations or rationalizations for many parts, there will be digging into details basically. Physically speaking, TikTok videos CANNOT do anything but be extremely shallow "Fast Fact" videos that just make a claim, with no evidence, no reasoning, no verification, just a "Hey I'm me and I say I'm someone and this is a factoid and either believe me or don't". These videos are great for addiction, because if you are gullible for those kinds of factoids you will love an endless barrage of dopamine inducing "Facts" that you can repeat at the next party you attend. Youtube has similar "Factoid" videos but you will also find 20 minute short form essays rebutting those factoids with demonstrations, evidence, citations, etc. You simply can't rebut a 1 minute claim in a 1 minute video in a way that laypeople should be convinced by. It's weaponization of "It's harder to debunk that spout nonsense"

filoleg 4y ago

> If anybody has any tips about how to get a better feed, I'm willing to give it another go. I do. Don't waste time by trying to find the stuff you want by explicitly searching for specific tags (aside from maybe for the purpose of the initial seeding, but that's not a must at all). That would indeed bring up just tons of kinda trashy content that seems like it is tailored to either teenagers or the lowest common denominator. Instead, try using the main feed. Simply scroll past videos you don't find interesting/appealing to you, hit "like" (double tap) on the kind of videos you like, etc. You've mentioned you've already found some creators you like, that's great. Hit "like" on some of their videos that you actually like . Don't try to trick the algorithm by forcing some unnatural behaviors, just use the feed normally. To clarify, when I say "feed", I mean "For You" feed aka the main feed, not "Following" feed. First 30 mins or so of that will be meh. But the more you use it that way (doesn't need to be in one sitting at all, that part doesn't matter), the better the content will be tailored to your tastes. I can almost guarantee that you will not only find what you wanted that way, but also discover things that you didn't realize you liked/wanted to see. I checked out feeds on my friends' phones before, and it is kinda wild how different our feeds are. A friend of mine who is very seriously into bodybuilding gets some crazy useful (according to him) exercise technique/regimen videos that are very far from the mainstream "exercise routine/fitness advice" videos. Another friend of mine who is into building/fixing cars gets a lot of great build project videos. I get a solid mix of a particular type of dark comedy that appeals to me, sound synthesis videos, and some cool electronics projects that I would actually want to attempt myself. Just don't rush it, don't expect some instant magic to happen, and let it naturally adapt to your tastes.

formerly_proven 4y ago
While you're at it, some tips for getting hooked on heroin?
- sushzbdbehsh 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - 4y ago

jquery 4y ago

I had the same experience. I've given TikTok several chances, each time it ends with me deleting the app after "the algo" and I disagree about what I actually want to watch. Yes, I paused for longer on the weird videos, but that doesn't mean I liked them. Yet the algo took this as strong signal to give me more of them.

tluyben2 4y ago

Tried it over the past week. Even about the subjects that interest me, all the vids I could find were too shallow (as in old info, badly researched etc even for such a short video), sensationalist click bait, way too short etc. I filled in my profile honestly and somehow it took me a lot of effort to teach the algo that I don't want to see videos of (mostly) naked teens dancing or doing (other) suggestive sex things (the first hour after installing, I got 4 young girls simulating taking a boob & vag pic and then looking at them with faked interest while giggling called pause game or something; is it supposed to be funny or?). I followed 0 teens and because I didn't think I wouldn't find anything interesting about programming, I thought I would follow some true crime stuff; still got naked young girls mostly. After a while of following enough other stuff I got less of it. I guess most guys (even old as myself) normally want to see this crap so the algo defaults to that? I don't know. But the content I am supposed to like really sucks too; the 100k view video authors often don't even get the names of victims/perps right, many facts are just debunked rehashes of sensationalist takes etc. It's horrible so far. And the comments... the comments. Youtube comments are great compared and that's saying something. Maybe it'll improve?

mnsc 4y ago
The app is collecting tons of metrics of actual watching behaviour to adapt the feed. So maybe you don't want to advertise that "after using the app extensively I'm still getting only half naked young girls dancing". I'm not getting any half naked girls dancing in my feed despite quite enjoying young people dancing mindlessly as a counterweight to the state of the fucking world. Eg. the top notch editing/dancing by Cale Brown.
- probably_wrong 4y ago
  I'm sorry to say that your comment is the type of comment I'd typically downvote, but there's something about it that I think is worth discussing. The user is complaining that he cannot get rid of the half-naked young girls dancing no matter how hard he tries. And yet, your reply is to accuse them of it being somehow their fault? If this is not Thoughtcrime, I don't know what it is. For the record, I have heard this complaint before. I assume it's the default algorithm response when it can't figure you out.

Spiritus 4y ago

Unless you're looking for a specific video or trend, don't search. Just scroll.

Kiro 4y ago

Just keep scrolling naturally. Don't try to "teach" the algorithm. It never works.

dontbenebby 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

twright0 4y ago

> I spent a good few hours trying to get a feed that was interesting to me by searching for various keywords... If anybody has any tips about how to get a better feed, I'm willing to give it another go. The whole magic sauce is that you don't/can't shape your FYP ("for you page": feed) by searching or otherwise sending deliberate signals to the algorithm. Instead you just flip through the videos it sends you and it reads into how long you watch, which videos you skip, where you like/comment, who you follow etc. If you don't consciously try to influence it and just mindlessly, organically consume you'll end up with a very accurate FYP of videos remarkably quickly. I'm not surprised that trying to drive your FYP in a specific direction backfired; I suspect they make search deliberately bad and don't take it into account in a meaningful way when constructing the FYP for a user. It is, of course, up to you whether that sounds like a media experience that you want to participate in. I installed it skeptically but in literally less than an hour my FYP was nothing but videos I found engaging or fun, and several years later it's my most used phone app by a significant margin. Some of it is obviously low calorie entertainment but there's a lot of depth as well, and I continue to be struck by how accurately the FYP can identify what content I want to see and what I don't.

andirk 4y ago

Is it possible that the angle TikTok strives for simply lacks substance? I'm working on making something called The Laugh Track where you send your friend (singular) the type of laugh you just did (from a select list of types of laughs). If it's worth it, they'll hit you up personally to know wtf happened :D If that takes off and becomes a national security threat, I will not say oh yeah this is great content, totally makes sense people are addicted to this nonsense!

c7b 4y ago

Similar experience, although I didn't even search actively but wanted to let the famed algorithm work its magic. I think I made it to maybe 30mins before I meh'd out. I might have given it another try now, but I just saw that I already uninstalled it.

theCrowing 4y ago

exactly the same for me. What I would love to see is someone screenrecording their phone while scrolling one of these miracle algo feeds.