The unlikely odds of making it big on TikTok(pudding.cool)
pudding.cool
The unlikely odds of making it big on TikTok
https://pudding.cool/2022/07/tiktok-story/
84 comments
Possibly. But users aren’t likely to switch unless the content creators leave, and the content creators will stay if they have more views there than on Instagram / YouTube / etc. (actually, they probably just post the same videos to all the platforms, to maximize exposure at almost no cost).
People always say X network is going to go the way of MySpace, but when’s the last time that happened? I wouldn’t say any of FB, Twitter, Snap, Instagram have died off the way MySpace did. Certain age groups may have migrated to other platforms, but these networks are so ingrained and established that millions of people can leave and it doesn’t matter.
There’s still a huge population using all of the networks and unless a new app provides some new unique feature like Snapchat and TikTok did when people first started using them, I don’t see anything popping up to replace them.
People always say X network is going to go the way of MySpace, but when’s the last time that happened? I wouldn’t say any of FB, Twitter, Snap, Instagram have died off the way MySpace did. Certain age groups may have migrated to other platforms, but these networks are so ingrained and established that millions of people can leave and it doesn’t matter.
There’s still a huge population using all of the networks and unless a new app provides some new unique feature like Snapchat and TikTok did when people first started using them, I don’t see anything popping up to replace them.
Vine, Yik Yak, and Google+ off the top of my head went the way of MySpace.
I am very doubtful of that. A large percentage of YouTube content creators are essentially ineligible for monetization in any meaningful way due to various demonetization algorithms, and thus sustain themselves outside of YouTube. I imagine the same can happen on TikTok.
Does TikTok just have reams of content selectors deciding if certain posts are good or not?
Otherwise I can't see how they could auto-decide to push out content to large audiences without something they don't like getting out.
Like, they'd only need to sift through a handful of videos to reward random publishers with thousands of views, perhaps even with fake numbers, and people would probably gobble it up.
Otherwise I can't see how they could auto-decide to push out content to large audiences without something they don't like getting out.
Like, they'd only need to sift through a handful of videos to reward random publishers with thousands of views, perhaps even with fake numbers, and people would probably gobble it up.
TikTok's app is the result of designing an app around a recommendation algorithm (instead of adding recommendations to an app, as everyone else did). As a result you get great recommendations. I imagine that also really helps with moderation and censorship: Identify videos you want to restrict, check which cohort gets recommended those the most, then concentrate your moderation efforts on videos that the algorithm wants to recommend these people.
The recommendations and people's video interactions allow you to classify both people and videos.
The recommendations and people's video interactions allow you to classify both people and videos.
> TikTok's app is the result of designing an app around a recommendation algorithm
First time I hear of TikTok in those terms. Could you expand on what that means?
First time I hear of TikTok in those terms. Could you expand on what that means?
The app is designed in a way that basically everything you do results in a strong positive or negative signal for a video that the recommendation algorithm can use.
Take Youtube, a video site that added suggestions. If you're logged in, you get dumped on a homepage with an endlessly scrolling list of recommendations. You scroll until a thumbnail or video title catches your eye, you watch that video, might like or comment, then click one of ~10 recommendations. The algorithm gets a positive signal based on what you click and your watch-time, but the negative signal on anything you don't click is incredibly weak. Because you choose what you watch, positive signals are mostly driven by titles, thumbnails and familiarity, and negative signals are rare. As a result, most recommendations are stuff you know or things adjacent to it (people who watch this also watch this), and quickly get boring. The recommendations can't inject novelty or purposefully expand the algorithm's knowledge.
Now on Tiktok: You open the app, you get a single video in full screen. Either you scroll on (negative signal) or you watch it until the end (positive), or you let it repeat (very positive). Or you might like or comment. After scrolling on, you get another video in full screen, same game again. The cost of a bad recommendation is low because videos are short and quick to judge, so the algorithm can occasionally give you videos it's uncertain about or that are selected completely randomly. Your reaction will give a signal, no matter what (either you watch till the end or you don't) and as a result the algorithm knows more about you and about the video.
Take Youtube, a video site that added suggestions. If you're logged in, you get dumped on a homepage with an endlessly scrolling list of recommendations. You scroll until a thumbnail or video title catches your eye, you watch that video, might like or comment, then click one of ~10 recommendations. The algorithm gets a positive signal based on what you click and your watch-time, but the negative signal on anything you don't click is incredibly weak. Because you choose what you watch, positive signals are mostly driven by titles, thumbnails and familiarity, and negative signals are rare. As a result, most recommendations are stuff you know or things adjacent to it (people who watch this also watch this), and quickly get boring. The recommendations can't inject novelty or purposefully expand the algorithm's knowledge.
Now on Tiktok: You open the app, you get a single video in full screen. Either you scroll on (negative signal) or you watch it until the end (positive), or you let it repeat (very positive). Or you might like or comment. After scrolling on, you get another video in full screen, same game again. The cost of a bad recommendation is low because videos are short and quick to judge, so the algorithm can occasionally give you videos it's uncertain about or that are selected completely randomly. Your reaction will give a signal, no matter what (either you watch till the end or you don't) and as a result the algorithm knows more about you and about the video.
TikTok is about short videos. Youtube is about longer videos. People expect short videos and are looking for short videos so they'll put up with random videos. On Youtube I look for 10-30 minute videos on specific topics, not just random funny videos.
To put it another way, TikTok is Ice Creme, Youtube is dinner. A popular Ice cream stand has a lot more throughput than most restaurants. It only takes ~1 minute to serve a customer some ice cream.
To put it another way, TikTok is Ice Creme, Youtube is dinner. A popular Ice cream stand has a lot more throughput than most restaurants. It only takes ~1 minute to serve a customer some ice cream.
Which you could argue is another case of TikTok building everything around the recommendation algorithm. It just works better with short videos.
YouTube used to be full with 3-4 minute videos back in the day, with a ten minute maximum. Longer than TikTok, but not much. But those short videos all but died out when the 10-minute videos got another ad spot and thus more money for the creator.
YouTube used to be full with 3-4 minute videos back in the day, with a ten minute maximum. Longer than TikTok, but not much. But those short videos all but died out when the 10-minute videos got another ad spot and thus more money for the creator.
That explains the viewer's side, but what about the publisher/influencer side? How does TikTok decide one video is more suitable than another?
My guess is every single video is marked by a human for how much exposure it should get, and if they let something get out that shouldn't, that person is reprimanded.
My guess is every single video is marked by a human for how much exposure it should get, and if they let something get out that shouldn't, that person is reprimanded.
> My guess is every single video is marked by a human for how much exposure it should get, and if they let something get out that shouldn't, that person is reprimanded.
… Wait what? Why would that be your guess? How is this easier than, you know, anything else?
… Wait what? Why would that be your guess? How is this easier than, you know, anything else?
Just show it to a handful of people, if they liked it show it to more. Keep looping this and good videos go viral, and bad videos don't.
(Essentially using a standard strategy for multi-armed bandit.)
I don’t know about other people but I tend to just watch every video until the end because they are so short that I don’t have enough time to decide if I like them or not.
Maybe I’m too old for TikTok.
Maybe I’m too old for TikTok.
> Either you scroll on (negative signal) or you watch it until the end (positive), or you let it repeat (very positive).
Sounds like this would heavily incentivize items that are immediately catchy. Slow buildup stuff would die in this environment.
Sounds like this would heavily incentivize items that are immediately catchy. Slow buildup stuff would die in this environment.
[deleted]
Here's an article discussing this at length: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2020/9/18/seeing-like-an-algo...
I’m very curious how you’ve heard TikTok described in the past.
The whole point of TikTok is that you don’t have to follow people or engage with your friends on the platform. You just open it up and it’ll show you videos that you’ll like. Obviously, there is a little bit of “training” involved. Within about 20-40 minutes it really started to zero in on things I liked.
The whole point of TikTok is that you don’t have to follow people or engage with your friends on the platform. You just open it up and it’ll show you videos that you’ll like. Obviously, there is a little bit of “training” involved. Within about 20-40 minutes it really started to zero in on things I liked.
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/3x-hidden-forces-behind-...
If you are really interested, check the yc article in 2016. The algorithm is their bread and butter. They have been doing it for 10 years. What's more amazing to me is that not many ppl are aware of this.
If you are really interested, check the yc article in 2016. The algorithm is their bread and butter. They have been doing it for 10 years. What's more amazing to me is that not many ppl are aware of this.
he just did
Yes. The users. TikTok is unique (afaik) in that every new video is shown to a sample group of real users, and its performance evaluated. If it does well in that group, it's shown to a larger group. If it continues to do well, it's shown to a still larger group, etc.
I wonder how the app determines what users should see a video.
If someone post a clip playing guitar and singing for example, would it determine this is a performance, and it should show it to cohorts who have liked viewing performances in the past?
Or would the AI model work more like… show (unknown type) clip to random people, identify similarities in the people who like or dislike the video based on those user’s viewing habits and then try to identify the video type based on that knowledge? I guess the second method would be very inefficient unless combined with some feature extraction and metadata / tagging from the source.
Not an ML person, just a curious dev.
If someone post a clip playing guitar and singing for example, would it determine this is a performance, and it should show it to cohorts who have liked viewing performances in the past?
Or would the AI model work more like… show (unknown type) clip to random people, identify similarities in the people who like or dislike the video based on those user’s viewing habits and then try to identify the video type based on that knowledge? I guess the second method would be very inefficient unless combined with some feature extraction and metadata / tagging from the source.
Not an ML person, just a curious dev.
One part of this is geographical - amongst the videos shown to me that are clearly testing, about half of them are clearly from near me.
You are forgetting TikTok mods tasked to shadowban from "For You" anybody they think is physically unattractive, poor, go political in livestreams, etc. (https://theintercept.com/2020/03/16/tiktok-app-moderators-us...)
Don't have any illusions, they can easily control what goes viral if it matters to the mothership.
Don't have any illusions, they can easily control what goes viral if it matters to the mothership.
They are quite unsuccessful at it. I often get very political content on my for you page - for some of my friends that's the vast majority of the content they get, and a good third of it is from either non conventionally attractive people or very obviously poor people.
The manual shadowbanning fight is one they will never win.
The manual shadowbanning fight is one they will never win.
Maybe they changed the guidelines but note they were about politics in livestreams not just any video. You can review everything (including political content) with a simple delay in video discovery, live content is where it's not possible.
Yeah, keeping political content off the service must require a company-connected person to review every piece of content that reaches a certain level of exposure.
I don't think they are successful at keeping off political content though, in the sense that denying political content is a political statement itself in favor of the status quo.
I don't think they are successful at keeping off political content though, in the sense that denying political content is a political statement itself in favor of the status quo.
It's not about them making political statements, but about their moderation policy. I almost think you are responding to a wrong comment.
I suppose I don't know about 'reams', but a concierge in London told me he'd taken a job there doing just that.
And perhaps I should add I know they earn ~Grad SE salaries, and actually he was trying to segue into SE, (self-studying in down-time, good on him) so it was presumably not merely a 'living wage' (the new minimum) 'gig'.
Technically they could have thousands of content reviewers in China working fulltime rating videos based on emotions. With a minute a video, they'd each crunch through hundreds of videos a day, and language doesn't matter since you can feel emotion from any language. Add some basic algorithm to select videos to review (new creators and creators with a track record) and you'd get a "magical algorithm".
Thousands? How about millions. Facebook employed 15,000 content reviewers in 2020, plus probably ten times that volunteering to mod their own FB pages. I'd expect China's state owned western-facing social media site to have far more.
The value of tiktok is that you don't need an existing audience to get views.
Using it to establish yourself is great, it's a means to an end, a marketing tool like the rest.
Using it to establish yourself is great, it's a means to an end, a marketing tool like the rest.
Ding ding ding, yes, TikTok surfaces better content because of the nature of its recommendation algo. One of Facebook’s top priorities is now following in their footsteps — moving away from social graph-driven recommendations to AI-driven recommendations. Just listen to their last earnings call.
Many of the most successful youtube/twitch streamers leverage a blow up on TikTok to garner an audience on a more lucrative platform.
In all of the TikTok praise threads we've had here, this is the first time I can remember ever seeing anybody mention what I personally believe is a killer distinguishing feature. TikTok's algo guarantees that every video will appear on at least N FYPs. Then if it performs well in that ad hoc 'test group' it will be show to a wider group, and so on.
There really is no better platform for exposure. Just over a week ago my TikTok had just under 1k followers. I'm currently at 5.2k.
Compare that to something like Twitter or Twitch. You can go for months, even years, without ever getting noticed.
Compare that to something like Twitter or Twitch. You can go for months, even years, without ever getting noticed.
My friend posted a video of his wife stroking a cat on his brand new TikTok account and within two days got >5 million views and offers of sponsorship from cat food suppliers :D
I posted a math video and it only got 2 views. I’m probably terrible though.
tangibly related: does anybody know how google and other search engines fair in indexing TikTok/Douyin?
I wonder if the inability to go viral relates to the difficultly of finding tiktok videos off-platform. Admittedly, every TT video I have ever seen has been sent to me via a share link.
I wonder if the inability to go viral relates to the difficultly of finding tiktok videos off-platform. Admittedly, every TT video I have ever seen has been sent to me via a share link.
Joe Reviews TikTok's Crazy Terms of Service:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtGwlQWqQWs&ab_channel=Power...
Undoubtedly very similar if not identical to what other social media platforms do. For all these apps, there should be explicit big banner opt-in prompts with a default of opt-out at the very least, e.g. "can we correlate you to other devices using your keystroke patterns?". I don't think the average person should be obligated to accept or reject terms of service wholesale but instead term by term; put the burden on the company, not the consumer. It would encourage smaller sets of terms and make the users more aware of what they're getting into.
Nah, just leave. And explain to everyone why they should leave.
I have told many friends why I deleted tiktok. All respond the same way. They do not care if their data is being collected or what is done with it.
people who can afford to leave social media aren't prolly in circles that have heavy uses of sm. I would love to get off sm, but literally can't afford to, because it's almost essential to stay in contact with friends and know about events.
You have the choice. If you've weighted your options and decided to stay on social media because you value what it gives you more than what it takes, that's your choice. But you do have a choice.
Also, if your friends disown you because you choose not to use social media, are they really your friends? If they don't respect your decision, are unwilling to speak with you except through social media, then I personally wouldn't consider them friends. But that's up to you. And you can always make new friends.
Also, if your friends disown you because you choose not to use social media, are they really your friends? If they don't respect your decision, are unwilling to speak with you except through social media, then I personally wouldn't consider them friends. But that's up to you. And you can always make new friends.
i only have the illusion of choice, because the real choice is between being socially active and being a social outcast. the world has moved to social media. its sad, and I wish I could do something about it. friend group is making plans? on Instagram. wanna be in the know of what's going on? on twitter. want to be updated about your assignments? your class is officially only on WhatsApp. wanna apply for a job? keep in touch with professional colleagues? only on LinkedIn and whatsapp. this is what my world as a young adult in a developing country is like. this is what has happened because not a lot of people had access to pre social media internet. and the first device a lot of people used is a phone. more so for younger people.
A viral song in any format has usually never guaranteed continued similar success (How many PSY or Rebecca Black follow up records do people know?) - why would it be different on TikTok.
Often a viral hit will be due to a beat or quirky lyrics that aren't repeated in the rest of an artists music. Continued success needs a fanbase that's interested in a lot more of your music.
Often a viral hit will be due to a beat or quirky lyrics that aren't repeated in the rest of an artists music. Continued success needs a fanbase that's interested in a lot more of your music.
Rebecca Black perhaps, but PSY is certainly not a 1-hit-wonder.
https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/officialpsy
> 120.75M (+5.8%) Video Views for the last 30 days
And that's just on YouTube. Sure, none of their followups received quite the same amount of attention, but they certainly have a healthy sustained audience.
https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/officialpsy
> 120.75M (+5.8%) Video Views for the last 30 days
And that's just on YouTube. Sure, none of their followups received quite the same amount of attention, but they certainly have a healthy sustained audience.
Psy was a well established artist in South Korea having won national awards for his musc well before Gangnam Style. He'd hardly qualify as a 1 hit wonder.
Yes, perhaps I should have said it more explicitly.
She’s making a comeback in hyperpop with various collabs!
The best example is mentioned in the post: Lil Nas X. His song "Old Town Road" went viral thanks to TikTok, and "real" fame followed afterwards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Nas_X#2018%E2%80%932019:_B...
> Lil Nas X began creating memes to promote "Old Town Road" before it was picked up by short-form video social media TikTok users. [...] Lil Nas X estimated he made about 100 memes to promote it; the song went viral in early 2019 due to the #Yeehaw Challenge meme on TikTok. Millions of users posted videos of themselves dressed as a wrangler or cowgirl, with most #yeehaw videos using the song for their soundtrack; as of July 2019, they have been seen more than 67 million times. Another core audience tied to social media is children who are hidden in the statistics of adult listeners. Quartz.com says the song certainly owes part of its success to the demographic, and notes they are attracted to the song being repetitive, easy to sing along to, and using lyrics about riding horses and tractors, which children can relate to. It debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, later climbing to number one. The track also debuted on the Hot Country Songs chart at number 19 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at number 36. After an "intense bidding war", Lil Nas X signed with Columbia Records in March 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil_Nas_X#2018%E2%80%932019:_B...
> Lil Nas X began creating memes to promote "Old Town Road" before it was picked up by short-form video social media TikTok users. [...] Lil Nas X estimated he made about 100 memes to promote it; the song went viral in early 2019 due to the #Yeehaw Challenge meme on TikTok. Millions of users posted videos of themselves dressed as a wrangler or cowgirl, with most #yeehaw videos using the song for their soundtrack; as of July 2019, they have been seen more than 67 million times. Another core audience tied to social media is children who are hidden in the statistics of adult listeners. Quartz.com says the song certainly owes part of its success to the demographic, and notes they are attracted to the song being repetitive, easy to sing along to, and using lyrics about riding horses and tractors, which children can relate to. It debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, later climbing to number one. The track also debuted on the Hot Country Songs chart at number 19 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at number 36. After an "intense bidding war", Lil Nas X signed with Columbia Records in March 2019.
It is no different and it's the same old power law which the rewards and success diminishes as more creators and users are doing the same thing on the platform.
It's not about the one trick pony hit's that exist on a single platform which the article is focused on, it is indeed the continuation afterwards which a creator's following will still exist beyond TikTok or wherever their debut hit originated from.
Inevitably, The corporations, media and the existing larger influencers from other platforms will join in and ruin the platform, just like they did with the rest of the others. The over glorified algorithm has already been gamed by them to increase engagement, ads, etc such that smaller and late creators have depleting chances of being recognised.
Nothing has changed.
It's not about the one trick pony hit's that exist on a single platform which the article is focused on, it is indeed the continuation afterwards which a creator's following will still exist beyond TikTok or wherever their debut hit originated from.
Inevitably, The corporations, media and the existing larger influencers from other platforms will join in and ruin the platform, just like they did with the rest of the others. The over glorified algorithm has already been gamed by them to increase engagement, ads, etc such that smaller and late creators have depleting chances of being recognised.
Nothing has changed.
All of this has happened before; and it will happen again.
> How many PSY or Rebecca Black follow up records do people know?
Rebecca Black had a viral video that people liked because of how bad the song was, and how badly it was performed. She not only didn't disappear, but parlayed being known for something terrible into a entire career.
Rebecca Black had a viral video that people liked because of how bad the song was, and how badly it was performed. She not only didn't disappear, but parlayed being known for something terrible into a entire career.
> How many PSY
PSY was successful before and after Gangnam Style... But he's a Korean artist and never meant to go global so of course his appeal might be limited beyond one funny video.
PSY was successful before and after Gangnam Style... But he's a Korean artist and never meant to go global so of course his appeal might be limited beyond one funny video.
Incidentally, I recently remembered about Rebecca Black and went looking to find out she did continue singing and now has a legit established pop career with tons of songs. I heard a few and became a big fan, they're pretty good if you like pop!
I guess it's a good idea to use a viral moment to gather those few fans who'll appreciate the art you'll like to make continuously.
I guess it's a good idea to use a viral moment to gather those few fans who'll appreciate the art you'll like to make continuously.
So are users completely at the mercy of its recommendation algorithm - suddenly you appear at the feed of millions of people, if the system finds your content viral enough?
Or is there room for people to game the system? I.e. publish content, and pay click farms to make your stuff look legit?
Or is there room for people to game the system? I.e. publish content, and pay click farms to make your stuff look legit?
> So are users completely at the mercy of its recommendation algorithm
Yes they are.
It's the same old situation with YouTube's algorithm, where it dictates what gets seen or unseen on people's feeds and which tags get blacklisted or not and that is all done by TikTok. Once you change it, it can be controlled by a single entity for any reason. Since they have done this previously, angering a large section of its user base, they have the power to do it again.
> Or is there room for people to game the system? I.e. publish content, and pay click farms to make your stuff look legit?
It already has been gamed, both by amateurs and professionally.
In the professional case, it's already happened with the large advertisers, existing influencers and companies that have started to jump onto the platform. They have done it through promotional and backroom corporate deals, since they have enough money, influence to make sure that their content is pushed to the largest amount of users regardless. Hence this, all these systems have been gamed by this old tactic, and that includes this over glorified recommendation algorithm.
This is how it will get ruined, and it is beyond the hype comments and boosters that you see here screaming about the number of views they have, reminding us of the basic near peak of the power law where the majority of the hype will deplete once the large companies, existing influencers, advertisers start aggressively pushing their posts, ads, etc for engagement farming and growth in another social network, that will appear regardless of TikTok's algorithm.
Rinse and repeat.
Yes they are.
It's the same old situation with YouTube's algorithm, where it dictates what gets seen or unseen on people's feeds and which tags get blacklisted or not and that is all done by TikTok. Once you change it, it can be controlled by a single entity for any reason. Since they have done this previously, angering a large section of its user base, they have the power to do it again.
> Or is there room for people to game the system? I.e. publish content, and pay click farms to make your stuff look legit?
It already has been gamed, both by amateurs and professionally.
In the professional case, it's already happened with the large advertisers, existing influencers and companies that have started to jump onto the platform. They have done it through promotional and backroom corporate deals, since they have enough money, influence to make sure that their content is pushed to the largest amount of users regardless. Hence this, all these systems have been gamed by this old tactic, and that includes this over glorified recommendation algorithm.
This is how it will get ruined, and it is beyond the hype comments and boosters that you see here screaming about the number of views they have, reminding us of the basic near peak of the power law where the majority of the hype will deplete once the large companies, existing influencers, advertisers start aggressively pushing their posts, ads, etc for engagement farming and growth in another social network, that will appear regardless of TikTok's algorithm.
Rinse and repeat.
Apparently Tiktok allows videos of up to 10 minutes, which in theory would make it suitable as a music distribution platform, but how many videos over 3 or 4 minutes actually go viral?
People don’t have the attention span to watch anything over 30 seconds anymore
The average length of the 100 most popular TikToks is apparently 15 seconds, which should tell you something. Apparently the increase to 10 minutes max was only very recent (up from 3). Either way it's hard to see how a musician could become successful just by staying on TikTok.
[deleted]
Box made a video in collaboration with The Pudding about this: https://youtu.be/S1m-KgEpoow
I’ve figured out a way to get loads of views on Facebook. The trick is to use their Groups feature. Join every group that has no less than 100,000 members then when sharing choose ‘Share to group’ and post to every group you joined. I’ve got silly little cat videos getting 1M views within a week of posting…
Part of going viral is luck too. If you’re lucky some high profile account will share your post, and the popularity soars.
Part of going viral is luck too. If you’re lucky some high profile account will share your post, and the popularity soars.
Wow I absolutely love the styling on that page on mobile.
When you scroll past the "8 signs of successful musician" guide to the list of musicians, it pins the guide to the top of the screen so you can compare every musician. Really natural, should be everywhere.
When you scroll past the "8 signs of successful musician" guide to the list of musicians, it pins the guide to the top of the screen so you can compare every musician. Really natural, should be everywhere.
Not very colorblind friendly though.
I worry that tiktok is such an all-or-nothing system, you have to turn into a "maximally viral" artist to stand a chance. The tiktok system itself warps what constitutes popular taste.
To be a self sustaining business, probably. For the hobbyist creators, there's a long tail of creators that don't need to go maximally viral and still enjoy a healthy following.
Isn't the same true for, say, apps in an App Store?
Did anyone actually analyze what is happening there, i.e. how fair the system is or how much it is like a lottery?
Did anyone actually analyze what is happening there, i.e. how fair the system is or how much it is like a lottery?
It mostly is. Very unforgiving if you want to branch out to different types of content or even subjects. You become a person known for one thing that made you popular and it’s hard for most to break out of that unless they had an existing platform.
You either follow trends or make your own. Otherwise you’ll fall off quickly.
You either follow trends or make your own. Otherwise you’ll fall off quickly.
So what are the numbers compared to other platforms? Honestly 12,5% doesn't sound too bad... How does that compare to let's say Spotify, Youtube and so on...
It’s saying 12.5% of popular bands on Spotify were boosted into it by Tiktok. The odds of becoming a successful artist are much smaller.
He has another project that found that 21 of seven thousand bands became big, and those 7k were bands that had actually managed to book and play a small show. https://pudding.cool/2017/01/making-it-big/
He has another project that found that 21 of seven thousand bands became big, and those 7k were bands that had actually managed to book and play a small show. https://pudding.cool/2017/01/making-it-big/
[deleted](1)
TikTok operates in mystery and it's really a smoke screen for big industry music and advertisers. The trending sounds are hand picked behind the scenes, Kate Bush Running up the Hill, a song originally released in the 80s on EMI Records (A major label) trending now in 2022 is proof of the underlying influence that big business has on the platform: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Up_That_Hill
Many people think that TikTok's algorithm is showing them what they want to see, but in truth it's showing people what makes the platform the most money inserted into brief videos made by people who aren't getting paid for their work, who are also hand picked by platform moderators.
TikTok will collapse as quick as it is rising when, just like Facebook, users stop logging in and stop posting content.
Platforms don't create sub-category lists for content because that causes them do do more work, and it also causes them generally to not be able to advertise things across the entire platform and test ads on markets more effectively. The truth of these giant platforms is that they don't help undiscovered creators, they exist to capture money from the largest business entities, and they woo big business in with huge user bases that often involve huge volumes of non-engaged and bot followers.
These sites also limit users visibility regularly in favor of showing platform ads and content from more popular *sponsored accounts. They also run verification for popular accounts to create even more content bias that hurts unknown creators that can't qualify for verification, just to show they are an authentic creator.
It's easy to tell how a platform's vibrance declines when a user has tens of thousands of followers, but only a hand full of likes on each post. This is most apparent right now on Twitter (for example). Platforms often generate fake user accounts to mimic vibrance as well, this also creates buzz as people don't take the time out to investigate actual engagement on sites before they report on them being popular.
TikTok removed post dates from being displayed on content they play so that you can't tell as a viewer that new content posts are in decline as users discover that the hype isn't working for them and that ads and sponsored posts are increasing. The majority of these large content platforms are all beginning to converge into charging users for visibility by promoting ad buying, another sign that they are really in decline rather than growing. When ads are purchased, many of these sites steer the ad content to overseas audiences that have no interest in buying products and services advertised as they slowly lose the ability to accurately target individual users.
The platforms that become most popular now are well versed in creating false narratives on potential for creator success and in creating smoke and mirrors and untruthful motivation content to keep encouraging independent creators to prop them up, but behind the scenes, they're all devoid of integrity and authentic user experiences, while being full of hope and promises that they don't deliver based on being their business models alone.
I recommend saving time and having a far better online presence as a creator, business, or brand by building and cultivating your own web site. Social media is dysfunctional, very costly for minor success, and time consuming while only offering short-term durability and name recognition.
Many people think that TikTok's algorithm is showing them what they want to see, but in truth it's showing people what makes the platform the most money inserted into brief videos made by people who aren't getting paid for their work, who are also hand picked by platform moderators.
TikTok will collapse as quick as it is rising when, just like Facebook, users stop logging in and stop posting content.
Platforms don't create sub-category lists for content because that causes them do do more work, and it also causes them generally to not be able to advertise things across the entire platform and test ads on markets more effectively. The truth of these giant platforms is that they don't help undiscovered creators, they exist to capture money from the largest business entities, and they woo big business in with huge user bases that often involve huge volumes of non-engaged and bot followers.
These sites also limit users visibility regularly in favor of showing platform ads and content from more popular *sponsored accounts. They also run verification for popular accounts to create even more content bias that hurts unknown creators that can't qualify for verification, just to show they are an authentic creator.
It's easy to tell how a platform's vibrance declines when a user has tens of thousands of followers, but only a hand full of likes on each post. This is most apparent right now on Twitter (for example). Platforms often generate fake user accounts to mimic vibrance as well, this also creates buzz as people don't take the time out to investigate actual engagement on sites before they report on them being popular.
TikTok removed post dates from being displayed on content they play so that you can't tell as a viewer that new content posts are in decline as users discover that the hype isn't working for them and that ads and sponsored posts are increasing. The majority of these large content platforms are all beginning to converge into charging users for visibility by promoting ad buying, another sign that they are really in decline rather than growing. When ads are purchased, many of these sites steer the ad content to overseas audiences that have no interest in buying products and services advertised as they slowly lose the ability to accurately target individual users.
The platforms that become most popular now are well versed in creating false narratives on potential for creator success and in creating smoke and mirrors and untruthful motivation content to keep encouraging independent creators to prop them up, but behind the scenes, they're all devoid of integrity and authentic user experiences, while being full of hope and promises that they don't deliver based on being their business models alone.
I recommend saving time and having a far better online presence as a creator, business, or brand by building and cultivating your own web site. Social media is dysfunctional, very costly for minor success, and time consuming while only offering short-term durability and name recognition.
Hank Green has a great video[0] on the difference since he is on both platforms, and unless there is more compensation to the creators, they will get burned out chasing the high of the occasional viral video.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAZapFzpP64