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The secret sauce: Let grass roots content creators actually distribute their content. Let the best content go to the top. Give everyone a chance. Facebooks al

The secret sauce: Let grass roots content creators actually distribute their content. Let the best content go to the top. Give everyone a chance. Facebooks algorithm: Support influencers, corporations, and whatever pumps the ad machine.

ssnistfajen 4y ago
It's way easier to find "smaller" content creators on TikTok than Meta's apps. Youtube has been improving a bit in that regard but my recommendations still have too many videos I've already watched. More than half of the accounts I follow on TikTok have <25000 followers, many with average views per video under 10000, with a diverse topic range including: woodworking, software dev, comedy sketches, book reviews, history trivia, exercise tips, urban design, etc. Those who complain about seeing only unintelligent garbage are unwittingly revealing themselves to be the target audience for such content.
fragmede 4y ago
I hate to break it to you, but if you think TikTok has "grass roots content creators" vs Facebook having influencers, I have a bridge, as well as a TikTok content house to sell you. https://www.kapwing.com/resources/tiktok-houses-list/ https://www.kapwing.com/resources/tiktok-houses-list/
- nerdponx 4y ago
  But they do seem to be optimizing more explicitly for "user enjoyment" than other platforms, perhaps realizing that this is what keeps and attracts users and their precipitation eyeball-minutes in the long term. Youtube also (not always) does a pretty good job at this, while Instagram can be rough.
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    Another possibility is that TikTok's short-form content feed allows for a greater volume of feed to fit into the same timeframe. Twitter was popular because it condensed blogging into microblogging; TikTok's success is pretty easy to delineate from that logic. Even if you don't have an algorithm promoting enjoyable/affirming content, you're just more likely to encounter that content when you watch more videos. Whether that behavior is healthy or not... I'll leave that up to people more educated than I. My guess is that trading the user's attention span for short-term engagement isn't worth it, though.
    - ipaddr 4y ago
      Which means the next tiktok killer will find a way to push 100 video in 10 seconds directly into the back of our minds
      - ajot 4y ago
        So, a Vine revival?
- cainxinth 4y ago
  I'm with you, and I'm of the opinion that the current TikTok craze has more to do with its brand than its algo. Facebook is old and lame to kids. Even Insta and Snap don't have as much brand cache as TikTok right now because TikTok is the newest major player with the most buzz. However, it's the nature of all hype cycles for high-flying, shiny new things to eventually fall back to Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle
paulpauper 4y ago
Not the same thing. Facebook algos are recommendations from your own friends, not random people.

ssnistfajen 4y ago

It's way easier to find "smaller" content creators on TikTok than Meta's apps. Youtube has been improving a bit in that regard but my recommendations still have too many videos I've already watched. More than half of the accounts I follow on TikTok have <25000 followers, many with average views per video under 10000, with a diverse topic range including: woodworking, software dev, comedy sketches, book reviews, history trivia, exercise tips, urban design, etc. Those who complain about seeing only unintelligent garbage are unwittingly revealing themselves to be the target audience for such content.

fragmede 4y ago

I hate to break it to you, but if you think TikTok has "grass roots content creators" vs Facebook having influencers, I have a bridge, as well as a TikTok content house to sell you. https://www.kapwing.com/resources/tiktok-houses-list/ https://www.kapwing.com/resources/tiktok-houses-list/

nerdponx 4y ago
But they do seem to be optimizing more explicitly for "user enjoyment" than other platforms, perhaps realizing that this is what keeps and attracts users and their precipitation eyeball-minutes in the long term. Youtube also (not always) does a pretty good job at this, while Instagram can be rough.
- smoldesu 4y ago
  Another possibility is that TikTok's short-form content feed allows for a greater volume of feed to fit into the same timeframe. Twitter was popular because it condensed blogging into microblogging; TikTok's success is pretty easy to delineate from that logic. Even if you don't have an algorithm promoting enjoyable/affirming content, you're just more likely to encounter that content when you watch more videos. Whether that behavior is healthy or not... I'll leave that up to people more educated than I. My guess is that trading the user's attention span for short-term engagement isn't worth it, though.
  - ipaddr 4y ago
    Which means the next tiktok killer will find a way to push 100 video in 10 seconds directly into the back of our minds
    - ajot 4y ago
      So, a Vine revival?
cainxinth 4y ago
I'm with you, and I'm of the opinion that the current TikTok craze has more to do with its brand than its algo. Facebook is old and lame to kids. Even Insta and Snap don't have as much brand cache as TikTok right now because TikTok is the newest major player with the most buzz. However, it's the nature of all hype cycles for high-flying, shiny new things to eventually fall back to Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle

paulpauper 4y ago

Not the same thing. Facebook algos are recommendations from your own friends, not random people.