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Are you sure about this? I've heard many many times that tiktok is uniquely good at discovery for new businesses.

ty6853 2y ago
That would be a very good reason why a corporate influence dominated government would want to shut them down.
notatoad 2y ago
yeah, tiktok really was (is?) something special because unlike other platforms, their algorithm really increased people's reach out beyond their own community. youtube shorts and instagram reels seem like they do the same thing on the surface, but they're so much more focused on showing you content that they are certain you'll like, and from people in your network or people who you normally watch. they're a whole lot more focused on keeping people in their existing content silos.
dleeftink 2y ago
It's the exact reason the platform economy has gotten such a bad rep over the years; drawing people in, taking a (disproportionate) slice of the pie, and providing no guarantees for a sustained income upon disruption.
paxys 2y ago
Because TikTok is where the hip young demographic is. If they all move to say Instagram Reels en masse then Instagram will be the platform that is uniquely good for discovery among that audience. And let's not pretend that TikTok is filled to the brim with high quality products and small businesses. Yes there may be a couple of feel good stories about a local pizza place or small band that got their big break because of TikTok, but 99.9% of the advertising there is for the same junk/scam products that are on every other influencer-driven app.
- t-writescode 2y ago
  How many times has YouTube recommended a your next video something with zero comments and maybe 10 views. I cannot count how many times minute I’ve been the first to see or comment on a TikTok video. It let small creators be shown to lots of people in a way no other platform does.
  - wilg 2y ago
    YouTube does this for me relatively frequently.
    - t-writescode 2y ago
      Genuinely glad to hear it. I almost always get something I’ve already seen before when I let it auto-play.
      - wilg 2y ago
        i don't know if it does it on auto play, i typically see a "rising video" in a top slot on the homepage. i think its also based on what it thinks you might like so not everyone may get them.
        t-writescode 2y ago
        I explicitly disabled YouTube’s and extra layers of tracking. Ironically, it should still be able to track off my upvoted and playlists, it just doesn’t, unless it’s playing on my TV and then suddenly it can again and that’s when I sometimes (though only hours and hours later) get new stuff.
        wilg 2y ago
        if you don't save your watch history, yeah, it probably doesn't bother using you for this feature
        2y ago
- sebmellen 2y ago
  To your point, TikTok is filled with absolute trash. For example, there’s a company called “Cerebrum IQ” which scams people out of hundreds of dollars for fake IQ tests. We are painfully aware of this issue because we own cerebrum.com, and we receive at least 100 furious support requests per day from people who have been charged $80.00+ for a subscription they never agreed to, and they somehow confuse us with “Cerebrum IQ”. They get most of their users from TikTok ads. We’ve reported them to TikTok many times, with no action taken. Meta at least restricted their ability to advertise.
- gdubs 2y ago
  Reels doesn't provide a true alternative because it's not about features and functionality it's about culture. The culture on Meta's Reels is really not it. And it's not just the user base but also the way the app is managed, and the algorithm. TikTok's algorithm was amazing, as was the community. You can't just recreate communities. They're alive, organic, fragile things.
- devjab 2y ago
  Having used both exclusively for warhammer and blood bowl content the instagram algorithm has been horrible in my very anecdotal experience. It keeps pushing content I have absolutly no interest in, where as TikTok only pushes warhammer and blood bowl content + adds.

That would be a very good reason why a corporate influence dominated government would want to shut them down.

yeah, tiktok really was (is?) something special because unlike other platforms, their algorithm really increased people's reach out beyond their own community. youtube shorts and instagram reels seem like they do the same thing on the surface, but they're so much more focused on showing you content that they are certain you'll like, and from people in your network or people who you normally watch. they're a whole lot more focused on keeping people in their existing content silos.

dleeftink 2y ago

It's the exact reason the platform economy has gotten such a bad rep over the years; drawing people in, taking a (disproportionate) slice of the pie, and providing no guarantees for a sustained income upon disruption.

paxys 2y ago

Because TikTok is where the hip young demographic is. If they all move to say Instagram Reels en masse then Instagram will be the platform that is uniquely good for discovery among that audience. And let's not pretend that TikTok is filled to the brim with high quality products and small businesses. Yes there may be a couple of feel good stories about a local pizza place or small band that got their big break because of TikTok, but 99.9% of the advertising there is for the same junk/scam products that are on every other influencer-driven app.

t-writescode 2y ago
How many times has YouTube recommended a your next video something with zero comments and maybe 10 views. I cannot count how many times minute I’ve been the first to see or comment on a TikTok video. It let small creators be shown to lots of people in a way no other platform does.
- wilg 2y ago
  YouTube does this for me relatively frequently.
  - t-writescode 2y ago
    Genuinely glad to hear it. I almost always get something I’ve already seen before when I let it auto-play.
    - wilg 2y ago
      i don't know if it does it on auto play, i typically see a "rising video" in a top slot on the homepage. i think its also based on what it thinks you might like so not everyone may get them.
      - t-writescode 2y ago
        I explicitly disabled YouTube’s and extra layers of tracking. Ironically, it should still be able to track off my upvoted and playlists, it just doesn’t, unless it’s playing on my TV and then suddenly it can again and that’s when I sometimes (though only hours and hours later) get new stuff.
        wilg 2y ago
        if you don't save your watch history, yeah, it probably doesn't bother using you for this feature
        2y ago
sebmellen 2y ago
To your point, TikTok is filled with absolute trash. For example, there’s a company called “Cerebrum IQ” which scams people out of hundreds of dollars for fake IQ tests. We are painfully aware of this issue because we own cerebrum.com, and we receive at least 100 furious support requests per day from people who have been charged $80.00+ for a subscription they never agreed to, and they somehow confuse us with “Cerebrum IQ”. They get most of their users from TikTok ads. We’ve reported them to TikTok many times, with no action taken. Meta at least restricted their ability to advertise.
gdubs 2y ago
Reels doesn't provide a true alternative because it's not about features and functionality it's about culture. The culture on Meta's Reels is really not it. And it's not just the user base but also the way the app is managed, and the algorithm. TikTok's algorithm was amazing, as was the community. You can't just recreate communities. They're alive, organic, fragile things.
devjab 2y ago
Having used both exclusively for warhammer and blood bowl content the instagram algorithm has been horrible in my very anecdotal experience. It keeps pushing content I have absolutly no interest in, where as TikTok only pushes warhammer and blood bowl content + adds.