4 ms·

> It's interesting everything trying to be TikTok. As a user, if I wanted TikTok i'd use TikTok. I don't want TikTok, so I don't use TikTok. > ... > It's sad

> It's interesting everything trying to be TikTok. As a user, if I wanted TikTok i'd use TikTok. I don't want TikTok, so I don't use TikTok. > ... > It's sad when every tech company tries to replicate another companies features ditching the very thing which their users originally joined them for. I wonder if we might give this a name like "tradegy of the social networks". It's easy to see how a company, like Meta/Instagram can choose between keeping their own smaller market, or taking half the tiktok market by transforming their app to reels. They can't do both, as nobody would install a new app. For the users this suck, as the total market is now smaller, meaning less choice and diversity.

cshimmin 3y ago
Tragedy of the socials
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  Tragedy of the socialites? Tragedy of the socialite capitalism?
  - thomasahle 3y ago
    You are right, it probably generalizes to other industries as well. Say you have a shop and brand that sells chocolate cake; but a competitor appears that sells ice cream, and their market turns out to be 10 times bigger than yours. You could try to make a new shop, selling ice cream, but the lack of brand awareness might make it never take off. So instead you turn your chocolate cake shop into an ice cream shop, and use your existing customer awareness to catapult you into taking half that market. Good for you, since you now have half of a 10 times bigger market. Bad for the customers, since they now lose the choice between cake and ice cream. Ok, maybe the part about "using your existing brand" is where social networks are a bit different from other industries. There are hundreds of companies that could create a good social network, but the hard part is getting a big enough user base going. Probably this is less of an issue in the cake industry.
Semaphor 3y ago
This has happened before. I joined FB and Twitter when they were new, and loved the interaction with people I knew, people in my city and some very few online-only acquaintances. Both over time pushed people into following random people they have no real connection with, and that is now how they work.

cshimmin 3y ago

Tragedy of the socials

TeMPOraL 3y ago
Tragedy of the socialites? Tragedy of the socialite capitalism?
- thomasahle 3y ago
  You are right, it probably generalizes to other industries as well. Say you have a shop and brand that sells chocolate cake; but a competitor appears that sells ice cream, and their market turns out to be 10 times bigger than yours. You could try to make a new shop, selling ice cream, but the lack of brand awareness might make it never take off. So instead you turn your chocolate cake shop into an ice cream shop, and use your existing customer awareness to catapult you into taking half that market. Good for you, since you now have half of a 10 times bigger market. Bad for the customers, since they now lose the choice between cake and ice cream. Ok, maybe the part about "using your existing brand" is where social networks are a bit different from other industries. There are hundreds of companies that could create a good social network, but the hard part is getting a big enough user base going. Probably this is less of an issue in the cake industry.

Semaphor 3y ago

This has happened before. I joined FB and Twitter when they were new, and loved the interaction with people I knew, people in my city and some very few online-only acquaintances. Both over time pushed people into following random people they have no real connection with, and that is now how they work.