TikTok: C or D

Something about this platform makes it way more conformist than the other ones, at least so far. Half the videos seem to be people doing their own version of other users’ videos.

If, as seems to be the case, kids are super enthusiastic about Tik-Tok, even if it looks to me to be scarcely different than other short video platforms, I would hazard the guess that maybe it's because kids think of it, rightly or wrongly, as being an internet space that belongs to more to kids than adults. Even if that idea were in some degree correct, it will without a doubt be co-opted by adults to push stuff at kids so fast it will make your head spin.

vine was good because there were a lot of videos of people falling down and eating shit. these things are too long, giving its users too much of an opportunity to express their horrible personalities

First social media app that ive started using to try it out and realized immediately that I'm too old for it, I hate it, and I dont understand it.

that was / is snapchat for me. I can't even figure out how to use the app. every time I open it i just get the camera and the icons make no sense and no i don't want to import my contacts. it was the first app that made me feel completely old.

ok boomers

this was fun for the first couple of hours, but once you realise 95% of the videos fall into the same specific buckets (weeknd dance routines, shitty pranks on family members, kids’ voices ironically dubbed onto adults, cats/dogs, gym junkies in their pants, 31 year olds insisting they’re not too old for tiktok) it really loses its allure

3liza's curated TikTok threads are better than actually using TikTok:

tiktok thread directory

part 1: rednecks making huge strides on tiktok - https://t.co/QUkW1hiKYO

part 2: helo - https://t.co/FFiMB6rvu2

part 3: arson - https://t.co/8oLufiuEhL

— in fair corona where we quarantine (@3liza) February 7, 2020

I'm amazed that there hasn't been a gigantic moral panic about the platform yet.

There are rumours of censorship of political content on TikTok. I'm not sure how true they are. I wouldn't be surprised at all though, it's a relentlessly 'posi' platform.

This was good though:
https://www.tiktok.com/@kyscottt/video/6815758866769349894

https://www.tiktok.com/@coprobro/video/6650643313068084485?u_code=d512kgcmd6aa8e&language=en×tamp=1553533543&utm_campaign=client_share&app=musically&utm_medium=ios&user_id=6663118810343686150&tt_from=copy&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m

this one is really good

there was also a controversy because the company told moderators to suppress posts by obese people, disabled people, and others with "undesirable" traits

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/16/tiktok-app-moderators-users-discrimination/

jeez. that makes sense, honestly. the people i am seeing are mostly young, fit, and even blend in with the celebrities who pop up posting similar content.

there is something very untrustworthy about it. specifically, the fact that 1/2 the humor seems to be playing on gender and age stereotypes.

The biggest problem with the platform, imo, is there's basically no way of monetising prominence other than taking donations from users. You have a bunch of young people, often under or around the age of 18, with Amazon wishlists, Cash Apps, etc getting $$$ from internet randos of all ages. Inevitably, that leads to some of them selling nudes, etc, It's incredibly dodgy on an app that is largely intended for children.

yeah, eesh.

Totally.

instagram is like this too, i imagine. it's become so much more about people trying to become personal brands than it is a photo sharing app.

I think Tiktok has gone out of their way to heavily censor anything perceived as adult content tbf, much more than Instagram, but it's not a good situation.

that was / is snapchat for me. I can't even figure out how to use the app. every time I open it i just get the camera and the icons make no sense and no i don't want to import my contacts. it was the first app that made me feel completely old.

― akm, Thursday, April 23, 2020 10:38 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

oh I didn't get snapchat either but sort of categorized it as a messaging app more than a social media platform, I'm not even sure if that's correct mind you

this one is killing me somehow.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS9QNE4s/

between this and the guy who tries to guess paint colors while he’s watching the constituent paints being mixed there’s this kind of joy in the abject that i feel like tiktok often just nails and i am a huge sucker for it

this one’s good too

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZS93wSxX/

https://www.tiktok.com/@rickastleyofficial/video/6890858524092402946

i almost clicked on that

amazing
https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/10/21559677/tiktok-cfius-court-petition-ban-deadline

I’ve been laughing at this TikTok for 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/ZTN5qBwEGo

— T. Kyle 🏳️‍🌈 (@tkylemac) November 20, 2020

(that woman has some severe apnea issues i think)

https://www.tiktok.com/@collroy/video/6887045734991023366

Somewhat related: It also looks like Epic records is paying tik tokkers to use old songs in hopes that a viral sound will lead to a boost in back catalog streaming. via @colinphl https://t.co/s6HV9hxzc7 pic.twitter.com/6aemUBKIb4

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) December 4, 2020

Coming up with a way to make people lip syncing even worse - bravo!

lol, that is a fucking sin

can't stop watching this

I think this is the best edited Tik Tok I’ve ever seen.

pic.twitter.com/OUCqiBKkSK

— Kristi Anderson (@CinderSlays) January 9, 2021

wtf
that makes mj's black and white seem amateurish

similar in the comments

This guy too pic.twitter.com/gzgncyu5o6

— n0 name (@mrnonamerod) January 10, 2021

^nice

tiktoks that are almost definitely terrifying to watch while high:

"wow these edibles are shit" pic.twitter.com/JT5Z7PALC7

— 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖆 ✣ 𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖉 ⬜⬜🟥🟥⬜⬜👽 (@VPestilenZ) December 16, 2020

(@connection_intercepted)

awesome

amazing

I just watched the sea shanty, done with the four lads originally from a photo. Not only is it some dope work, the shanty is catchy as hell.

the shanty is horrifically catchy and satisfying to listen to but it's been haunting my dreams

oh, can't wait for that tonight then

gonna post it anyway

Sea shanty tiktok is WILD pic.twitter.com/rjY1iXFQkA

— Kristian 🇳🇱 (@vonstrenginho) January 14, 2021

https://www.tiktok.com/@overloadcomedy/video/6920289799702203650

A little weirded out by how weirded out the kids are by their non-mirrored faces.

https://www.tiktok.com/@maelynesque/video/6910768593911221509?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

?eah, ?eah, ?eah, I left that extra part in post haste.

No one is doing TikTok like him pic.twitter.com/TpjcGovjKX

— Kalhan (@KalhanR) March 18, 2021

i like the sea shanty video.

however.

the platform is mostly dystopian, as are the instagram "reels." most videos are autobiographical and self-commodifying -- people commenting on their personal life, their relationships, etc, but in a way that burnishes a curated image. so far so predictable. sometimes they are selling a product or have a cashapp in their bio or whatever.

what's weird is the way the users do so, usually recreating some kind of popular meme. they turn themselves not just into a commodity, but into a very dumb meme. and they draw their pets and family members into it. like they're all cartoon people, living out a slapstick existence. the most terrifying of these videos involve that robot-voice narration.

it's like, if adorno wrote a dystopian novel, this would be what people were doing all day in his version of 2021.

i've got a video for you treeship

https://www.tiktok.com/@geezyunit/video/6947387987659443461

ok, that's pretty good.

my usually social media-illiterate became obsessed with tiktok over the past year and now i can't send videos of my cats to the family gc for fear that she'll turn them into videos with stuff dubbed over them. she's getting to a point where she sees everything as fodder and she's addicted to getting views. she and my dad keep guilting me and my brother for not liking her videos and we keep having to explain that you need to have an account to do that

social media-illiterate MOM**** became etc

Every bit of social media is now fine with the incoming US government except Bluesky*

* please join Bluesky, where the resistance is at.**

** already there, mate

kinda funny thing about the data mining discussion is almost all of peoples personal info can just be purchased on the open market theres prob not much thats being collected by tiktok thats not being collected and bundled up for sale by a million other services, in fact all the big social apps are purchasers of that data too so they can learn more about you a get you to use their apps more serve you ads sell yr data to someone else etc, governments buy it criminals whoever wants to its out there, were cooked baby

My impression of prolific tiktok users is that they’re all zero attention span morons who believe everything they read without question. Started thinking this when I saw a collection of videos of some high profile accounts lipsyncing Amber Heard’s rape testimony and have never felt the need to review that opinion. Unfair? Perhaps, but there’s something about seeing people gleefully sexualising a description of rape that just killed something inside me. I’m reading in orbit’s description of it and understanding what she’s saying and I’m sure it’s true re how algorithms shape user interaction - and yet my sister was telling me that Trump was going to win based on the kind of shitheads and dummies on tiktok endorsing him back in September. I’ve seen her for you page on the app: she likes beauty influencers and animal content, my most apolitical sibling who never votes, and yet she was still seeing this - that unnerved me. I don’t care about it being Chinese-owned at all, I care about the reach and influence of the medium.

That being said, completely irresponsible and pathetic of the Democrats to hand Trump a PR win with the usual people who never pay attention to anything important.

Anyway lagoon otm re being cooked. It’s a case of picking your poison.

And this article dropped in the past hour: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/conservative-influencers-celebrate-tiktok-sponsored-trump-inauguration-party-2025-01-20/

the best credulous tiktok happening was when people thought giants were real (idk how many of them really thought that but prob at least one)

im sure its true that theres good tiktok vids if you tune yr algo ive seen enough of them clipped to other platforms, im with those who dont like the reels life tho its by far the most diabolical social media form yet theyll have you chugging tiny videos it doesnt even matter if theyre bad or not theyre over so fast, the feed is for babies compared to reels

Reels are appalling, they're so AI-y and content farm-y and yeah way shorter than TTs.

Aiui Tiktok doesn't siphon any more of your data than Meta, Uber, Amazon, your Kindle, meal ordering services, X, subscription media, or anything else is already doing. If you purposefully don't use any other those things, fine, great job, but I'm guessing you were never the audience for social media anyway. I recognize that the basic nature and the transparency of ilx is what makes it tolerable even for not very online ppl, and I feel the same way but I got totally different support from TT not least because there were tons of women of all ages making content about their lives which...I don't even know where else that kind of thing exists. I'm going to miss that.

fwiw i talking about the overall form of tiktoks reels shorts idk what the general name for them is

occurs to me that tinders swipe left/right design was a progenitor of these post feed social media interfaces

short form videos i guess pretty unsatisfying name

logged out of youtube theyre showing me the good stuff now

https://i.imgur.com/S9joGb1.png

i only went on tiktok to look at my kid's account. it's awesome! he was bummed that it was going away.

https://✧✧✧.tik✧✧✧.c✧✧✧@real✧✧✧.virtue✧✧✧?lang=en

oh right no linking to ilx.

it's
realite.virtuelle

if you ever go on there.

Raddagher
An update on the TikTok situation from our monitoring on Reddit. Now you get TOS'ed for saying negative comments about meta and Zuckerberg, left-wing politics get flagged as misinformation, and you can't tag
#fucktrump
#fuckelon
or #fuckmeta
but you CAN tag #fuckbiden
and #fuckkamala

other then that i've never looked at it.

from raddagher.bsky.social‬ xp

TikTok seemed to be heavy on the worst genre of social media (people talking at you dropping knowledge bombs) and lighter on the best genre (dogs and puppies doing funny things).

cmon theres gotta be a lot of dog stuff on there

the algo betrayed you because the dog and cat content is primo

I know I've been critical of Tik-Tok, which is not aided by my shitty vision making viewing videos on a phone to be a headache-inducing affair, but I'm realizing that the Dems made a huge mistake by ceding the ground on this to Trump, especially since it was his Supreme Court nominees that banned it.

If the Dems in Congress had any competence or fight, instead of being a bunch of quisling gobshite wimps, they would have had/still have a coordinated message on all media (especially before TikTok went dark) hammering away that DT is the literal reason that this was disappearing. But like the similar coordinated messaging effort calling the Repubs a bunch of book-banning, womb-monitoring weirdos, that would commit the dual sin of being called 'impolite' and 'cringe' by the upscale Beltway types in the old media, while also successfully appealing to normies, and the we cannot have that!

I like pets (esp animal shelter social media accounts to convince you to adopt their dogs and the person with 3 sighthounds in Wisconsin) but I actually preferred the knowledge bomb-style posts on the whole.

xp If they had two fucking brain cells and weren't all a median of 70 years old they wouldn't have banned it in the first place.

I get an alarming number of live feeds of people living in tents, or rubble, or tents in rubble, in the Middle East, shivering and asking for donations, it’s extremely grim

Democrats have been firmly committed to Cold War II for the past four years. Maybe the concern should be less about them looking stupid re: TikTok and more about that?

Hopefully they’ll stop accusing anti-genocide protesters of being Chinese agents now that Trump is in charge of ratcheting up tensions with China.

wait what's the deal with tik tok and meta? did meta take over their hosting?

short form videos i guess pretty unsatisfying name

Found myself telling a friend at dinner the other night "sorry, I don't watch much short-form video content," and my wife zinged me by saying "is that the new 'I don't even own a TV'?"

Zuck buying TikTok and immediately seeing a mass exodus because he makes it as shit as every other meta product would be cool.

xp Honestly, though, I stopped using Facebook and Instagram before the unasked-for algorithmic junk started to populate people's feeds, and whenever someone tells me about some random video that got served up to them out of nowhere, it makes me irrationally angry even if it was something they liked. It just feels too insidious. It creeps me out.

The chronological Twitter timeline was always ideal to me, as far as social media goes, because you'd see stuff from people you didn't follow -- but only because it was amplified by people you did follow, not by The Almighty Algorithm.

a lot is being made about tiktok as a spy platform but i wonder if the usa government isnt more worried about it as a propaganda platform, its really perfect for that, i could see how a foreign government having influence over how your citizens are getting news could be troubling

oh for sure. Ryan Broderick wrote last week that what makes US politicians nervous about TikTok is that they "assume it’s doing to us what American companies like Meta and Google have done to other countries. Which is why they can’t actually admit that none of this is about free speech or national security. It’s primarily about measuring — and defining — Chinese soft power."

xp luckily they’ve solved that by deleting comments that say “free Palestine”

that should do it lol

apparently all this grandstanding/executive ordering trump is doing is pretty legally meaningless and theres a good chance that once the grace period to find a buyer expires tiktok will be unavailable in america, details in vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGXU46rMtRE

i think it's unavailable on the app stores

oh for sure. Ryan Broderick wrote last week that what makes US politicians nervous about TikTok is that they "assume it’s doing to us what American companies like Meta and Google have done to other countries. Which is why they can’t actually admit that none of this is about free speech or national security. It’s primarily about measuring — and defining — Chinese soft power."

― jaymc, Thursday, January 23, 2025 4:57 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Absolutely, but also my FYP has been full of people reading A People's History of the United States and On Tyranny
and lots of other "subversive" material. And calling out electeds and putting the spotlight on companies and CEOs and shareholders and the Resnicks and lots of things that most people don't know about (even if they're not exactly "secret").

i think it's unavailable on the app stores

― what angers me about the smurfs these days (voodoo chili), Thursday, January 23, 2025 12:11 PM (twenty-eight seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

yup thats the main mechanism of the law, tiktok shutting down its servers for half a day was just a political stunt

There are multiple accounts that just report on sitting officials' stock trades.

chinese soft power and subversive materials arent necessarily unrelated, china could be promoting that stuff to sow discord in america, banning free palestine is kind of telling in that regard

its an interesting dynamic to ponder, gotta stand with china on this case lol, tho obvs its not hard to imagine a situation where it would be less to my personal tastes if say china invaded taiwan

I'm pretty happy for people to use social media to self-organize leftist reading groups for political education, seems like an overall good. The fact that it implicates the School of the Americas or United Fruit or robber barons who did anti-union massacres or whatever...it's history.

yeah it seems like some people were taken aback by "free palestine" stuff on TikTok and the only way they could comprehend it was to assume that it was the result of a meddling foreign power, rather than a natural outgrowth of homegrown activist movements and discourses that had gained purchase among young people over the last decade or two.

it can be both tho a meddling foreign government is going to try to promote natural affinity groups that are convenient to their ends, it would prob be beyond even the powers of social media to create movements from scratch, and having the worlds best recommendation engine is the perfect tool to find and cultivate the stuff theyre interested in promoting

yes and a deeper issue from the standpoint of organizing imo is, how effective can we really be if we don't have reliable information about our community, what they're interested in seeing, etc? it seems like we've accepted a scenario where we're okay with never really knowing what's going on, how certain things are being boosted or silenced, and i feel like paranoia or suspicion is a natural byproduct of that. and so at the moment i'm inclined to be thinking about getting back to basics and away from reliance on social media

Several people seem to be arguing with a point no one is making. I am not, nor is anyone, saying that organizing can be done only on social media and be effective or have longevity. Or that "we" should rely on an app for "information about our community." That's just weird. That's like the epidemic of someone posting "I like pancakes" and 873484 replies saying, "OH SO YOU HATE FRENCH TOAST?"

By all means go and do things irl. It is also possible for people to share information on the internet. Like...?

i was responding to the two previous posts, which seemed to highlight a problem around determining whether activity on social media is a "natural" phenomenon or the result of manipulation, either by platforms or external agents.

i never said that you should feel bad for finding interesting things on tik tok, or that nobody should share information on the internet.

im sure this has been said tons of times itt but it is interesting that tiktok is winning via showing people things they want to see where all the american platforms seem to be full of crap that no one likes these days, except maybe youtube i guess, youtube is always the secret winner

Yeah fwiw YouTube seems to have moved past the "we see you watched a lecture on feminism, here are some videos of Ben Shapiro DEMOLISHING feminism" era and become pretty good at sussing out what I actually want to watch. Difficult to think of it as social media tho.

yeah its more a streaming algo with social aspects, but so is tiktok, which is prob part of what makes them more pleasant than the purer social networks

In orbit otm in this thread btw

TikTok be different and is what you make of it iykyk

Should govt employees have their Whatsapp taken away? It seems any Paragon client can access anything in their phones. But I guess that’s… okay? Since Meta and Paragon aren’t Chinese?

https://fortune.com/2025/02/14/gen-z-teens-experts-trust-influencers-tiktok

It’s not that Gen Z doesn’t believe in experts. Rather, it’s that social media has rewired the way they think about credibility. TikTok influencers are now our “friends.” The algorithm repeats and reinforces what we already believe. And a well-edited, engaging video is much more convincing than a long, complicated explanation from a professional. Credibility today isn’t about expertise but about who tells the most compelling story. This change is slowly reshaping how an entire generation decides what is true and what is not—sometimes with demonstrably negative results.