What is TikTok?
What is TikTok?
A proxy for a community based distribution
A community requires an identity. We belong to many communities because we have many identities. Although it varies the degree on which we identify with them. Balaji describes this as an identity stack. Just like layers of an onion.
How does this relate to The Network State?
Personalized media caters to all of those identities. Making TikTok a proxy for a community-based distribution channel. There is no single channel that consolidates those communities, but the algorithm knows exactly who belongs to them based on their behavior.
Every viral video has strike a chord in humanity. That’s why it gets viral. It doesn’t matter if it’s something stupid or ridiculous. A series of videos along the same line reveal our preferences. They can help us crystallize the things we believe in.
Memes are the virus of the mind. TikTok videos are the seeds and fruits of shared beliefs. This is why I believe that TikTok, although somewhat chaotic and random, is the next stage in the information era.
Printing press — Radio — TV — Cable — Computer — Internet — TikTok
TikTok is the first AI revolution
We are late to the AI trend. Look at the adoption curve. Exponential, just behind ChatGPT.
Believe it or not. TikTok is the first successful implementation of an app that leverages artificial intelligence. I think Vine and Snapchat were close but… they failed.
And the unintended consequences of its success are far-reaching than most people think. It threatened Google and Spotify! Search was forced to index TikTok videos on the top of their search. Meanwhile, the Spotify hit list is often made out of… you guess it. TikTok viral hits.
Information overload
We went from information scarcity to overabundance. And not only that, the amount of time people spend consuming content has not changed. So there’s a lot, lot, lot more content and less time to consume it all.
Facebook saw the opportunity clearly, as written in their little red book, but they couldn’t deliver a product that solved those problems.
Here’s an excerpt from the book where they talk about this problem and explain how they were solving it.
As the amount of content is growing wildly, the amount of time people spend consuming content has not changed. There are no more hours in the day. [...]
That means there are two massive opportunities.
One massive opportunity lies in creating more ways for people to share things. It stands to reason that the demand for better, easier, and new ways to share will grow proportionally as people share more and more of their daily lives. [...]
The second massive opportunity lies in figuring out how to deliver this huge amount of new information to the right people in the right ways — giving people things they are interested in, in ways they can understand and consume quickly.
And historically, that’s what friends are for. There’s always been way more information in the world than time to consume it. Human networks evolved naturally as a way to help sort through it. That’s why we are drawn to friends with similar interests. Our friends are our news sources, as well as our filters. They bring us stories that interest us because our interests are similar.
Zuck already had an answer. He stopped innovating. He went all-in into the social media model… That was his fatal mistake.
The internet broke all the physical boundaries. Nowadays, we don’t even know who our neighbors are. And even our closest friends no longer share our deepest passions. We are more likely to find more like-minded people on the internet than in real life.
So, here is the perfect moment to state this. Please, take note.
TikTok is NOT A SOCIAL MEDIA
Let's make that clear. We need a new category. By definition, a social media is based on a social graph than then drives networks effects to increase it’s leverage. Meaning, you invite a friend, then that friend invites more friends to join the social network, making the network more appealing to the masses bringing even more people to it.
Changing how people communicate will always change the world - Facebook’s Little Red Book
TikTok is Personalized Media powered by AI
The first time I felt I understood the far reaching impact — consequences of TikTok was when I read the book “The Sovereign Individual”. There is a section dedicated to personalized media or as they call it, customize media.
As the world grows closer together, you will have a greater opportunity than at any time in history to customize your particular place in it. Even the information you receive on a regular basis from the media will be information of your choosing. The mass media will become the individualized media. If you are interested in chess above all else, or are a keen ca fancier, you will be able to program your evening news broadcast to feature information important to you about cats or chess. No longer will you be at the mercy of Dan Rather or the BBC for the news that reaches you. You will be able to select news compiled and edited according to your instructions. — The Sovereign Individual
This is the next stage in the evolution of media. We went from the printing press, to radio, to TV, to cable, to the Internet to streaming
Tweak and train your model
People often insist on changing the algorithms. But we don’t have access to change the parameters of the TikTok algorithm. Despite that, we have more power than we think. Positive feedback is easy to understand. Liking, saving and sharing are positive proves to the algorithm that you liked the video. But we also have negative feedback, where you actively delete, block or silence content that doesn’t add value to your life. Lesson, block all the cute girls dancing.
Music is emotion
Audio has always been underrated because we can't measure it until we experience it. It's ethereal. We don't have an estimate of it until it touch us, but it withholds a lot of meaning.
Meanwhile, TikTok has capitalize on it. A random video might be funny on it's own. But if you add a sound everybody knows. Then, all of the sudden. It's culturally relevant
Music is also a key factor in movies. It help us set the emotional tone of the scenes. Makes time go slower or faster. But rather than continue arguing, just look at this.
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The new Leviathan at full work
Balaji described The Network as a new Leviathan. One that rivals with God and the State. I believe he is right. And TikTok enables one of the most interesting examples of that. Inside the app there is a lot of examples of collective action.
Note that is important to discard some trends that are dangerous or stupid, there are many of them, but the fact that people mimic good behavior and take pride on it is a good sign.
Look at the example of Skimaskduets, he started to train and share picture of him everyday tagging a video next to him for social accountability. Within a year he changed his life and inspire others to do the same. Massive props
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This next example is related to sales in this new TikTok era. Sad videos that go viral and then in a few hours that store has sell all their inventory. GoFundMe is about to be disrupted?
I love this example. Have you heard about Dabloons? An entire economic system started, hyper-inflated and died on TikTok. And all of that in a spam of a few moths out of a cat’s meme.
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Collective action at it’s finest. Although it was imaginary, they didn’t even need a WhatsApp group or Discord server to coordinate! The power of The Network is real.
TikTok Compilation
Now, if you are still hesitant to install TikTok, here is a short compilation for you to enjoy.
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How about Science-tok?
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Exemplifying the importance of Exit. What a way to make a point and make it impactful!
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In essence, I want people to realize that TikTok is a new technology. That is there for us to explore our communities.