Saturday, February 05, 2022

TikTok: Forever, Ever?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-parent-meta-faces-uphill-battle-in-video-fight-with-tiktok-11643979603


There are official unspoken rules to social media. One is that you must to have Facebook to keep up with older family members. Two is that you must have Instagram to keep up with the millennials who are slowly but surely taking over the world. Three is that you must have LinkedIn to get a job. Four is that you must have a silly app that is just for you and interests, no shame or judgement allowed. 


Back in the day, and by that I mean 2013, my silly app was Vine. It was the first time I had seen short form video content that packed a punch and I was addicted. I spent countless hours engaging with the platform and I loved that it was ad-free. Then Vine fades away. Then Musical.ly enters and shortly fades away. Then TikTok enters and I’m unimpressed. Up until the last few months, I had been ignoring the fact that TikTok figured out how to supercharge the demand for short form video content and captivate and monetize the Gen Z audience. Now, one of the biggest household names in social media history, Meta, is struggling to keep up. 


It is both obvious and unsettling that a major factor of TikTok’s success is their ability to layer marketing and advertising so subtly into their platform through influencers, that consumers genuinely think it was their own idea. So now it’s on us, the consumers, to fully embrace our gullibility and keep an eye out for how and why new platforms are here to stay. 

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