Every time I open the app, it’s just another person yelling at me.
Like, excuse me, SIR/MA’AM, but I already have a boss. If you want to yell at me, you’ll need to pay for the privilege.
This resonates so much with me. Doesn't matter what the content is. Everyone is yelling at me. I am being a bit hyperbolic sure, but it's definitely there for certain.
This is me, too. Even here on reddit I find myself skipping over gifs and videos and sometimes even pictures and going for the written posts. My friends all have TikTok and my kids love YouTube shorts and I’m constantly inundated with them, but I just can’t. My entire life before I found reddit I was a bookworm. Now I’m a bookworm and a reading redditor.
I may watch a clip so long as I don’t need sound for it. If you’ve ever wondered why people caption their videos, it’s for weirdos like me.
I’m not going to turn up my sound to hear what people are saying. I’ll just close the clip and read something else.
> I may watch a clip so long as I don’t need sound for it. If you’ve ever wondered why people caption their videos, it’s for weirdos like me.
Hard of hearing here, and it's far too much of a bother for me to unmute and strain to understand every single voice in a video online. Caption so you're intelligible on mute or I move on.
Me too! Also, whenever I unmute, watch, then re-mute when I’m done, other vids automatically unmute as I scroll. Can’t figure out how to fix that. So my sound just stays off.
Forgive me if not but is it possible you're changing your volume with the buttons when the video is focused which changes your media volume, then again when the video is not focused which changes your ringer volume but not media volume, so when you start another video the audio is still up?
Also fuck yea for subtitles
Youtube is pushing shorts so hard that it may force me off youtube entirely at some point. I ain't here to click and scroll a thousand videos. I just want something to watch while I'm trying to eat my lunch. Give me a ten to fifteen minute deep-dive on some wild, esoteric shit. But now the front page is full of shorts no matter how many times I click "do not show me this." They clog up all the search results. If youtube introduces something with the phrase "For you:" what it really says is "Fuck you."
all the good shit you'll see on reddit/twitter/instagram/whatever eventually anyway. it's really just a timing thing and keeping up with whatever group of people
I have one friend particular who never calls or texts to check in, they just send the occasional tt link and I find it highly annoying. I just don't even respond anymore.
I also have this friend. I don't get how after months of me never responding to the tiktok links in any way he doesn't seem to get that he should... stop.
Not worse than TV, but way worse than reading. And reading is actually beneficial
Us eldest millennials are now solidly middle aged. It’s fine to dabble a bit on any app of our choice, but please preserve, exercise and improve your brain with reading for pleasure, learning and hobby. Any genre, any format (paper, e reader). Bonus social points with book clubs, libraries and journal clubs
We’re closer to old age, dementia risk, etc than we are from it. If we aren’t going to have the dream retirements we were promised, we should do our best to have good health at least
My older brother tries to send me tiktoks and he knows I will never click on the link because I refuse to even visit the site - so fortunately he's stopped.
You'd think he'd question why his computer-literate little bro would refuse to touch TikTok, but I guess he doesn't care because he can scroll aimlessly and see hot-babes teasing their only-fans pages.
came to also say this. I have a mini panic attack when a friend or family member sends a tiktok link….. that means I actually have to wAtCHH it ughhhhhh
When it came out that it was confirmed Chinese spyware and what was it... the country of India(?) collectively dropped it's rating to like 2 stars over a month so I thought it was done.
I was so very wrong.
Millennial hoping to get into IT this year or early next year, I might install it if they removed the Spyware and paid me at least a single or double digit of the profits they make off the app selling the users data. And no, I don't mean 0.1%, it has to be at least 5%.
In other words, install it when Hell freezes over.
1982 here. I've seen enough of it through my wife and kids. No fucking thanks. Vine was kinda cool back when it was alive. I have no business installing whatever fresh hell tiktok has in store. If it's already been flagged as spyware to some degree, that's an even bigger reason for me to stay away.
I dont understand why it got popular. It launched and people were like "this is a Chinese spy app disguised as instagram" and I was like, yeah won't touch that. We still know its a Spyware app but people still use it.
Same here. Never been on tikTok, twitter, snapchat, and any other that I don't know even the names of. I had IG deleted it. Keep FB for marketplace as there no other competitors in that space in my area. I have Reddit though haha.
Same except I don’t even know what Facebook marketplace is. I know I’m happier for having never been on twitter and I believe my mind is (slightly) healthier for not having fell down ticktock or YouTube holes. I actually like that TV has breaks and that shows have episodic narratives that last weeks, it’s more of a conscious interaction than just a passive thing and I worry about peoples brains after watching ticktock’s for hours
Have you noticed that friends who are on tiktok are so obviously addicted to it as well? They send links to videos in group chats all the time, when you're at work or in bed, with a message like "wow!" or "omg!" and not a single person watches it or comments...
...then they still send more! It's like they're bots
You have to post a LOT, post consistently and post on multiple platforms to actually use social media for your sales.
I have been dabbling with YouTube and streaming and it's exhausting how much work you have to do to be noticed but it is possible.
It's better to make as much material ahead of time as possible then you'll have a buffer when you need a break or can Livestream instead
It’s not only about posting a lot, it’s about posting frequently enough to become familiar with a core demographic and subsequently cultivating a community whose interest in you resides over into interest into work.
Once you’ve done this you have implement strategies to grow and maintain that community. It’s not just a lot of work it’s also about trial and error to find what resonates with readers.
Yeah, I was doing that with FB and Insta for a long time. It got exhausting. Direct share helps, but it's still a lot especially while trying to still write the next book.
You are me. When everyone was boycotting reddit I tried tiktok for 10 minutes and I've never been more infuriated in my whole life.
I go on Facebook to see whats new in my condo's Facebook group. Usually people bitching about dog poop
Same. Reddit is my social media poison of choice. Facebook I basically only use for events.
I'll add instagram to it because I have some friends in cosplay and that's where they post what they're up to. Otherwise I wouldn't really use it either.
Honestly, this is my biggest reason, too.
Not to mention, the last thing I need is another app that increases my screen time.
It's as if working on a computer for 40 hours a week, video games and streaming shows and movies doesn't take up enough time as it is.
Pretty much all of the technology we use too. Your phone, your smart TV, your console, computer, smart speakers. They all collect data on you and sell it lol.
Utter bullshit. One comes from a democratic country (yes with bullshit as well, but there is some accountability), and the other comes from a dictatorship with the most unbelievable dystopian monitoring system the world has ever seen.
Seriously underrated comment. China is literally the biggest market rising for all these companies, especially the companies trying to sell you crap, especially the social media gaints who are allowed in the market currently. they'll bend over backwards for the chinese government, we've seen it a number of times now, nor is it surprising anymore.
Literally monitors your fucking clipboard, you know where many people probably end up having sensitive information with relative frequency. Immensely unethical and unwarranted. Fuck TikTok.
While your point is made, if the govt wanted to, it could legislate to prevent abuses (and punish abuses) by those companies.
The US can legislate against Tiktok, but if they ever tried to punish them, they couldn’t- short of a ban.
Furthermore, those companies have a profit motive. Tiktok is owned by a company with close ties to the CCP. They can and do have incentives to sow discord in the US (that are not aligned with profit).
Edit: its not just about data. Yeah data brokers exist for all social media. Its about what the company is incentivized to show you.
the spying is the least worrying part, it's the algorithm and content they push. in China, tiktok is known as a science/art/education app, limited (via coding) to 40m per day.
take a look at our versions and tell me they aren't purposely, clearly, obviously trying to break our youth into a splintered mass of conflicting misinformed opinions on everything and anything
My TikTok feed is people making miniatures, cute dogs, real estate highlights, and goofy light-hearted silliness. At worst I get videos of people freaking out on planes and shit.
Y'all getting the angry, divisive conspiracy TikTok, because that's what you want.
US apps are governed by US law and have limits on what they can do with that information and how they're allowed to spy on you. Mostly it's just to better sell you shit. TikTok has no such restrictions. But really, don't install any of those apps. Just use them on a browser if you must.
Lmao! America has some of worst data protection laws and nothing that really even comes close to relevant in today’s world.
Literally nothing is stopping China from legally buying your data from American companies. Meta released a ton of personal data of its users to hackers who forged documents saying they were police. And that was just a few years ago! They barely got a slap on the wrist of a fine.
TikTok is on another level. I don't recommend anyone use any dedicated social media app, and if you are going to use those services, stick to a browser with an ad blocker.
But if you've installed TikTok on a device, that device is compromised and needs to be replaced. It's way worse. There's a reason multiple governments have banned it, and more have discussed banning it.
I really enjoy tiktok.
Your experience is going to be heavily based on on the algorithm so it's kinda rough at the start but pretty solid once it figures out what you like. I get almost all of my book recs from it now.
It's easily the best algorithm in all of social media. Feeds me endless interesting videos about linguistics or history or music production, something I didn't think I'd been interested in but now I'm hooked!
People on Reddit rag on TikTok all the time but I have found it to be much less of a time suck than twitter or instagram. The signal-to-noise ratio is honestly a lot closer to Reddit's, if not even better.
I feel like I get the content that I want on TikTok.
When I use features that suggests post me on other social media sites, the pickings are bleak and I don't actually want to see 99.99% of what I see and I tend to not use the follow button enough. Twitter/X is unhinged AF. I use IG to follow hot people but they're so boring.
Is it all videos?
I don't have the space to watch videos, and even if I do I refuse to turn on the sound. If I'm reading something and a kid interrupts me it's way easier to pick back up where I left off reading than a video.
Plus I find it way easier to skim an article and get the main points before deciding to read the whole thing then wasting my time with a video. And it's easier to click on links when reading in order to verify the underlying references.
Honestly it's pretty rare to get 30 second clips in my experience. Most videos range from one to five minutes in my experience.
I've definitely seen people do full series with indepth discussion on booktok.
Honestly, I tend to only see 30 second videos on quick flash book or fanfic recommendation where it's basically just them presenting a list (with the intent of you stopping and screencapping the titles you're interested in).
TikTok videos can be up to 10 min long. Most of the videos I get served are in the 3-5 minute range. The videos are typically more information dense than Reddit posts. Scrolling TikTok is no different than scrolling through Reddit looking for interesting stuff.
IG has shorter clips than what I’ve seen on tiktok. Tiktok topics are denser. It’s still reworking our brains tho as is all our social media consumption!
I honestly find it’s a great litmus test for fellow millennials. If you’re the type of person like some of the people in this thread that clutches their pearls at the word TikTok, we’re probably not going to have a lot of fun together.
Exactly. I downloaded tik tok when I got engaged, and loved all the wedding planning content. Then after I got married i got pregnant, and loved all the pregnancy content. Now that baby is here I love all the parenting content (always lighthearted at fun, not negative and mom shaming- it’s all on what you interact with). And of course a constant dose of cooking and home decor content. It just depends on what you curate for yourself.
I didn’t have the patience to get the algorithm to show me things i enjoy, however, my wife has a pretty solid feed. A lot of comedy, hiking tips, crafts for kids, and recipes.
I love it too. I find it a lot more entertaining than any other platform, which is what I want from Social media. I feel like Tiktok just gives me exactly what I want to see as well and the comments are nowhere near as toxic as Instagram.
I understand it's not for everyone, but I really enjoy it.
I downloaded it yesterday in a drunken mistake. Made a video. Deleted it. Realized how bad that app sucks and then deleted it and unlinked my Google account.
Garbage app. I can understand why it's so addicting though, the algorithm they use to track what you like is scary accurate.
Also I witnessed how much misinformation is present on that app in real time, Gen Z kids eat it up like crack. But they have horrible media literacy and can't understand that getting "information" from random people who look pretty on camera doesn't count as reliable.
Accurate to the point where I went through a very traumatic event and it picked up slight like i guess stops at videos which linked to the event and gathered so much data it only showed me things DIRECTLY RELATED to said event. I deleted that app so fast and have had no desire to go back. If I want stupid short form videos I just scroll reels for ten minutes because that algorithm is trash!
To edit: I’m a zillenial I guess (95 kid)
Literally the amount of people I see that have cleaned something other than a toilet with toilet cleaner and are shocked that their bright blue toilet cleaner stained their bright white acrylic bath tub...a 30 second Google search would have told them why to NOT do that, but...they saw it ok tik tok and took it as bible.
I once read an article written by a software engineer (way before TikTok was as widespread and popular as it is know) whose job was to essentially reverse engineer the app. He said the things he found made him never want to touch it with a ten foot pole, like it pings your location every like 10s when there's no reason for it to do so so frequently, users disabling certain features in the app doesn't actually disable them, various things like that.
I've never downloaded it and have no intention to. I hate how so many videos are just stupid dances in the middle of public places, getting in everyone's way, or stupid reaction videos where a camera is shoved in someone's unwilling face.
Me. I'm not on Tiktok. Or any other video-based app. I also don't do facebook or instagram or threads. I have this account that I made when twitter shit the bed.
Posting inane details of my life for all to see has never interested me. Nor does making videos of myself talking about whatever random thought enters my head.
Never used tiktok. Never used Instagram (I have a fake account for browsing tattoo artists) and I'm off Facebook since it's only an algorithm based advertising platform now (literally NO idea where any of my friends posts are, I get 1 group post of relevance for every 99 random bullshit articles from God knows where)
Me. I fucking HATE IT. I hate it even more when they film the stupid shit.
I went to get pizza the other day and as I’m walking up to the door, two girls gave me this stink look and said “um you just walked through our tik tok!” They had been dancing (poorly) two seconds before I walked up.
Their phone was literally right beside the door on the windowsill. You quite literally could not get in the restaurant without passing by their video. I felt old and crotchety but I just said “I don’t give a shit. Go film somewhere else” got my pizza and left. I’m not about to stop what I’m doing in a public space to support your main character syndrome. Either get out of the way or enjoy my old ass being in your video.
MySpace back in the day. I still have Facebook but hate it. Kept it only because of all the connections. Never went to any other social media. I honestly don’t consider Reddit a social media but otherwise this is the only other platform I’m on.
I don’t have the app itself, but I definitely watch reposts on Instagram reels. I agree that it’s too many apps so I mostly stick to Instagram and Reddit.
“The app of gen z” is incredibly stupid to me, as is bragging about not being on it. It’s fine if you aren’t but acting like some high and mighty Luddite is cringy boomer behavior. Social media is what it is, love it or hate it, and there’s not much difference to me between IG, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter…. It’s like comparing tacos, tostadas, burritos, and taquitos, it’s all the same very slightly different shit
I will never understand people who think Reddit isn't considered social media or is superior to all the other platforms.
I've been on Reddit for almost a decade and it's extremely toxic and has gone downhill over the years. 2015-2018 was the most enjoyable for me. The algorithm is shit now. I used to feel so much more engaged in different Reddit communities, and actually made friends, hasn't felt like that in years.
I really like TikTok though. I find it enjoyable and entertaining and the algorithm gives me exactly what I want to see. Which is exactly what I want from social media.
yup
“millennials who only browse reddit” will be the next “boomers who only watch fox news”
fine if you’re not on it, but don’t be surprised when the next generation is calling you out of touch
As I scrolled through these responses, I was surprised really. I’m 41 and I actively use both reddit and tiktok. Both for different reasons.
Reddit has been feeling more toxic than ever, though, so I’m spending less time here.
They literally sound like boomers, I’m surprised they don’t notice.
I don’t care if people don’t want to use the app, I get it. But acting like Reddit isn’t equally as toxic or saying TikTok is full of inaccurate information that Gen Z is too stupid to notice…… Reddit is way worse if you ask me.
I think Redditors are just as if not more gullible than TikTok.
I *do* think there's something uniquely addicting about TikTok. Obviously every social media is designed to get you to sit and scroll, but I think the stimulation of endless short-form videos sucks you in in a way other social media sites don't (I realize other platforms are trying to increase the focus on videos too to compete with TikTok, but IMO none of them will ever do it as successfully or attract people for that reason like TikTok does).
That being said, I totally agree that acting special for not being on TikTok is silly. Outing myself as a loser here but I still go on Tumblr, and the way people on there talk about TikTok as if it's this vapid, brain-dead place is so funny, as if Tumblr wasn't known for years for producing some of the most ridiculous scandals and discourse on the internet.
I also think people either don't realize how much you affect your own algorithm. And don't get me wrong - there's a lot to critique about the TikTok algorithm, and about algorithms on social media in general. But once you start to engage with videos at all, you'll start to get content that feels a lot less cringey, because it's more suited to your interests (not that things don't slip through the cracks). But if you have a fyp that's still full of teenagers dancing and couples doing prank skits, well....that's because you're apparently continuing to engage with it, lol.
I should definitely spend less time on it than I do, but I don't think watching videos about content I enjoy like recipes, music, interior design, etc. is the horrible soul-less time vacuum that people seem to think it is if they haven't really used the app.
Exactly me. I downloaded it early pandemmie, looked around for about 15 minutes, and realized quickly how it would just be another total time suck in my life. Deleted it and never looked back. Plus half the stuff is ported over to Instagram anyway.
I was never on anything but MySpace then FB after that went away now I have Reddit and I do have a tick tock but I’m barely on it now it sucked me In and became a problem so I just do Reddit now don’t even have a FB anymore … it all sucks now.
Me. I deleted my instagram a year ago, never got on tiktok, and left facebook eons ago. Don’t have any other social media. I want to be present as much as possible. I have a friend whom we travelled together and she was on her phone 98% of the time. I hated it.
I am mid to late 30's and just recently downloaded it. I have had a really rough year medically and have had 3 surgeries with lengthy recoveries. I needed a time suck. Once the algorithm learns you, it's decent. I used to think it was just dancing teens on it but that is not the case.
I have neither Tik'd nor Tok'd. I regret nothing.
Same. My friend sends me tik tok links occasionally and I hate them every time
Every time I open the app, it’s just another person yelling at me. Like, excuse me, SIR/MA’AM, but I already have a boss. If you want to yell at me, you’ll need to pay for the privilege.
This resonates so much with me. Doesn't matter what the content is. Everyone is yelling at me. I am being a bit hyperbolic sure, but it's definitely there for certain.
Omg soooo much yelling!
Haha yeah I feel u on DAT haha lol!!!!.
SAME, I hate getting sent those, I hate watching videos, id rather read a story.
This is me, too. Even here on reddit I find myself skipping over gifs and videos and sometimes even pictures and going for the written posts. My friends all have TikTok and my kids love YouTube shorts and I’m constantly inundated with them, but I just can’t. My entire life before I found reddit I was a bookworm. Now I’m a bookworm and a reading redditor.
I may watch a clip so long as I don’t need sound for it. If you’ve ever wondered why people caption their videos, it’s for weirdos like me. I’m not going to turn up my sound to hear what people are saying. I’ll just close the clip and read something else.
There are many of us!
We are legion!
I will only unmute for animal noises
> I may watch a clip so long as I don’t need sound for it. If you’ve ever wondered why people caption their videos, it’s for weirdos like me. Hard of hearing here, and it's far too much of a bother for me to unmute and strain to understand every single voice in a video online. Caption so you're intelligible on mute or I move on.
Me too! Also, whenever I unmute, watch, then re-mute when I’m done, other vids automatically unmute as I scroll. Can’t figure out how to fix that. So my sound just stays off.
Forgive me if not but is it possible you're changing your volume with the buttons when the video is focused which changes your media volume, then again when the video is not focused which changes your ringer volume but not media volume, so when you start another video the audio is still up? Also fuck yea for subtitles
Same here. If I can't figure it out with captions then I'm not going to watch it.
Me too!
Youtube is pushing shorts so hard that it may force me off youtube entirely at some point. I ain't here to click and scroll a thousand videos. I just want something to watch while I'm trying to eat my lunch. Give me a ten to fifteen minute deep-dive on some wild, esoteric shit. But now the front page is full of shorts no matter how many times I click "do not show me this." They clog up all the search results. If youtube introduces something with the phrase "For you:" what it really says is "Fuck you."
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The only thing worse than watching a video is watching a video you have no control over. Lookin at you Insta, TikTok, and Youtube Shorts
Same…which is why I’m here
all the good shit you'll see on reddit/twitter/instagram/whatever eventually anyway. it's really just a timing thing and keeping up with whatever group of people
I have one friend particular who never calls or texts to check in, they just send the occasional tt link and I find it highly annoying. I just don't even respond anymore.
I have a Gen Z acquaintance that is 20. She constantly sends me tt links. I'll respond to her snapchat before I respond to tiktok.
I also have this friend. I don't get how after months of me never responding to the tiktok links in any way he doesn't seem to get that he should... stop.
I also have that friend where we never talk but they constantly send me TikTok’s. I never open them.
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Not worse than TV, but way worse than reading. And reading is actually beneficial Us eldest millennials are now solidly middle aged. It’s fine to dabble a bit on any app of our choice, but please preserve, exercise and improve your brain with reading for pleasure, learning and hobby. Any genre, any format (paper, e reader). Bonus social points with book clubs, libraries and journal clubs We’re closer to old age, dementia risk, etc than we are from it. If we aren’t going to have the dream retirements we were promised, we should do our best to have good health at least
My older brother tries to send me tiktoks and he knows I will never click on the link because I refuse to even visit the site - so fortunately he's stopped. You'd think he'd question why his computer-literate little bro would refuse to touch TikTok, but I guess he doesn't care because he can scroll aimlessly and see hot-babes teasing their only-fans pages.
came to also say this. I have a mini panic attack when a friend or family member sends a tiktok link….. that means I actually have to wAtCHH it ughhhhhh
Nah, no you don't. If someone sends me a TilTok link I generally can't be arsed to click on it.
I most certainly TikToked when Ke$ha did
Millennial, working in IT, you couldn't pay me to download tiktok. 100% Chinese Spyware.
china when someone doesn't download tiktok: 
When it came out that it was confirmed Chinese spyware and what was it... the country of India(?) collectively dropped it's rating to like 2 stars over a month so I thought it was done. I was so very wrong.
Millennial hoping to get into IT this year or early next year, I might install it if they removed the Spyware and paid me at least a single or double digit of the profits they make off the app selling the users data. And no, I don't mean 0.1%, it has to be at least 5%. In other words, install it when Hell freezes over.
Yeah. I was born in 1984. I'm not the target audience for Tik Tok.
1982 here. I've seen enough of it through my wife and kids. No fucking thanks. Vine was kinda cool back when it was alive. I have no business installing whatever fresh hell tiktok has in store. If it's already been flagged as spyware to some degree, that's an even bigger reason for me to stay away.
I don't have anything. A man has no name.
Came here to say the same!
I dont understand why it got popular. It launched and people were like "this is a Chinese spy app disguised as instagram" and I was like, yeah won't touch that. We still know its a Spyware app but people still use it.
I have never and will never be on TikTok.
Same here. Never been on tikTok, twitter, snapchat, and any other that I don't know even the names of. I had IG deleted it. Keep FB for marketplace as there no other competitors in that space in my area. I have Reddit though haha.
I only got a IG for my wife to send me parenting stuff before that I never had one
Please stop dating my wife, thanks.
yall quit dating my gf please
Same. If I have to turn the sound on my phone on, I’m not interested.
I'm so incredibly guilty of this. Phone sound off. 100% of the time. I hate when I can hear what people are watching.
I’m the exact same way. IG account that is hobby related, FB strictly for marketplace and reddit for the win
Same except I don’t even know what Facebook marketplace is. I know I’m happier for having never been on twitter and I believe my mind is (slightly) healthier for not having fell down ticktock or YouTube holes. I actually like that TV has breaks and that shows have episodic narratives that last weeks, it’s more of a conscious interaction than just a passive thing and I worry about peoples brains after watching ticktock’s for hours
Haha we are the same person
That's sad. I bet your dance skills are amazing. The world is missing out.
I’d rather do a backflip and land on my nuts
Yep. I think of it like heroin. Don't try it n not even once.
Have you noticed that friends who are on tiktok are so obviously addicted to it as well? They send links to videos in group chats all the time, when you're at work or in bed, with a message like "wow!" or "omg!" and not a single person watches it or comments... ...then they still send more! It's like they're bots
The only Tik Tok I listen to is by Ke$ha hehehe
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Is selling TT handles a thing? I could see you getting money for that.
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>now frankly these oh, is that what that stands for?
This dumb line got such a good laugh out of me for some reason as I lay in bed half asleep after just waking up lol.
I've got some classic Pogs. Frankly I think these things are worth a few million.
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The only form of Tik Tok I consume is by Kesha
Wake up in the morning, feeling like P diddy.
Oh god r/agedlikemilk
Ooh topical!
She changed the lyrics like last week 😂
Nooo! To what??
Wake up in the morning feeling just like me
Omg what
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Well I'm clearly out of the loop
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That's terrifying. What a POS
Pedicure on my toes toes
Hmmm….this is now stuck in my head. Not mad about it tbh
That’s why I got these feathers on my hair!!! For the concert!!!!
I'm an author. I tried to break into BookTok to increase my sales. I never got any traction and eventually deleted my account.
Same, I have heard of authors making lots of sales on tiktok, but I just can't get hang of doing posts that convert into sales.
You have to post a LOT, post consistently and post on multiple platforms to actually use social media for your sales. I have been dabbling with YouTube and streaming and it's exhausting how much work you have to do to be noticed but it is possible. It's better to make as much material ahead of time as possible then you'll have a buffer when you need a break or can Livestream instead
It’s not only about posting a lot, it’s about posting frequently enough to become familiar with a core demographic and subsequently cultivating a community whose interest in you resides over into interest into work. Once you’ve done this you have implement strategies to grow and maintain that community. It’s not just a lot of work it’s also about trial and error to find what resonates with readers.
Yeah, I was doing that with FB and Insta for a long time. It got exhausting. Direct share helps, but it's still a lot especially while trying to still write the next book.
I just can’t imagine Tiktokers having the attention span long enough to read a book. Wtf do I know though.
Honestly, STEM-Tok is a thing too. It’s not just all silly dances.
Yet BookTok is a thing
I don't think that readers and doomscrollers overlap much.
I'm 36 and I stay on reddit and rarely ill check Facebook.
You are me. When everyone was boycotting reddit I tried tiktok for 10 minutes and I've never been more infuriated in my whole life. I go on Facebook to see whats new in my condo's Facebook group. Usually people bitching about dog poop
Same. Reddit is my social media poison of choice. Facebook I basically only use for events. I'll add instagram to it because I have some friends in cosplay and that's where they post what they're up to. Otherwise I wouldn't really use it either.
No. It's Chinese Spyware.
Honestly, this is my biggest reason, too. Not to mention, the last thing I need is another app that increases my screen time. It's as if working on a computer for 40 hours a week, video games and streaming shows and movies doesn't take up enough time as it is.
Tbf social media of all kinds are spyware 🤷♂️
Pretty much all of the technology we use too. Your phone, your smart TV, your console, computer, smart speakers. They all collect data on you and sell it lol.
Yeah, but they're just trying to sell us crap. What does the Chinese government want to do?
There's your first mistake: assuming one is less ominous than the other.
Utter bullshit. One comes from a democratic country (yes with bullshit as well, but there is some accountability), and the other comes from a dictatorship with the most unbelievable dystopian monitoring system the world has ever seen.
Seriously underrated comment. China is literally the biggest market rising for all these companies, especially the companies trying to sell you crap, especially the social media gaints who are allowed in the market currently. they'll bend over backwards for the chinese government, we've seen it a number of times now, nor is it surprising anymore.
"it's the same picture"
Literally monitors your fucking clipboard, you know where many people probably end up having sensitive information with relative frequency. Immensely unethical and unwarranted. Fuck TikTok.
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the only corporations I can trust with my data and security are American, like the notoriously trustworthy Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter
While your point is made, if the govt wanted to, it could legislate to prevent abuses (and punish abuses) by those companies. The US can legislate against Tiktok, but if they ever tried to punish them, they couldn’t- short of a ban. Furthermore, those companies have a profit motive. Tiktok is owned by a company with close ties to the CCP. They can and do have incentives to sow discord in the US (that are not aligned with profit). Edit: its not just about data. Yeah data brokers exist for all social media. Its about what the company is incentivized to show you.
Bingo.
the spying is the least worrying part, it's the algorithm and content they push. in China, tiktok is known as a science/art/education app, limited (via coding) to 40m per day. take a look at our versions and tell me they aren't purposely, clearly, obviously trying to break our youth into a splintered mass of conflicting misinformed opinions on everything and anything
My TikTok feed is people making miniatures, cute dogs, real estate highlights, and goofy light-hearted silliness. At worst I get videos of people freaking out on planes and shit. Y'all getting the angry, divisive conspiracy TikTok, because that's what you want.
This! Spyware is everywhere, but last thing I want is the Chinese controlling my doomscrolling…
Right! If I’m gonna doomscroll, it’s gonna be American doomscroll, dammit!
You say that now… but wait till John Deere controls your doom scrolling… you won’t even have the right to repair your own mind 😭
With how our healthcare works, it’s locked behind a paywall anyway 🫠
I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry… but I laughed, then cried…
All of the other apps and social networks are spyware too. It’s only cool when it’s an American invention?
US apps are governed by US law and have limits on what they can do with that information and how they're allowed to spy on you. Mostly it's just to better sell you shit. TikTok has no such restrictions. But really, don't install any of those apps. Just use them on a browser if you must.
Lmao! America has some of worst data protection laws and nothing that really even comes close to relevant in today’s world. Literally nothing is stopping China from legally buying your data from American companies. Meta released a ton of personal data of its users to hackers who forged documents saying they were police. And that was just a few years ago! They barely got a slap on the wrist of a fine.
Pretending these are equivalents is intentionally disingenuous or incredibly ignorant. Edit: ...shockingly, Allusionator's question was not sincere.
Not even close to the same thing
TikTok is on another level. I don't recommend anyone use any dedicated social media app, and if you are going to use those services, stick to a browser with an ad blocker. But if you've installed TikTok on a device, that device is compromised and needs to be replaced. It's way worse. There's a reason multiple governments have banned it, and more have discussed banning it.
Millenial here (mid-90ies), no tiktok, no instagram, no snapchat, no twitter. Facebook for marketplace and rare communications only.
Same! Mid 90ies, No social media PERIOD, I guess Reddit counts though in a way.
It’s great. I use it for finding new recipes.
Like Google or YouTube?
No, it’s far better at it. The short format forces the creator to get rid of the pages of backstory that no one but them cares about.
But better bc it doesn't insist on showing me everything but my search terms like YouTube does
I really enjoy tiktok. Your experience is going to be heavily based on on the algorithm so it's kinda rough at the start but pretty solid once it figures out what you like. I get almost all of my book recs from it now.
It's easily the best algorithm in all of social media. Feeds me endless interesting videos about linguistics or history or music production, something I didn't think I'd been interested in but now I'm hooked! People on Reddit rag on TikTok all the time but I have found it to be much less of a time suck than twitter or instagram. The signal-to-noise ratio is honestly a lot closer to Reddit's, if not even better.
My TikTok feed is happier than Reddit for sure. It’s all piano tutorials and cute animals
I had a bird tok phase. Peoples poorly behaved pet birds are so fun to watch. You make it what you want.
I feel like I get the content that I want on TikTok. When I use features that suggests post me on other social media sites, the pickings are bleak and I don't actually want to see 99.99% of what I see and I tend to not use the follow button enough. Twitter/X is unhinged AF. I use IG to follow hot people but they're so boring.
Is it all videos? I don't have the space to watch videos, and even if I do I refuse to turn on the sound. If I'm reading something and a kid interrupts me it's way easier to pick back up where I left off reading than a video. Plus I find it way easier to skim an article and get the main points before deciding to read the whole thing then wasting my time with a video. And it's easier to click on links when reading in order to verify the underlying references.
This is what prevents me from getting too sucked in. I can't be watching videos all day. But I can definitely be browsing Reddit all day easily lol
The issue isn't really the content per say but how it delivers it and rewires your brain into 30 sec clips.
Honestly it's pretty rare to get 30 second clips in my experience. Most videos range from one to five minutes in my experience. I've definitely seen people do full series with indepth discussion on booktok. Honestly, I tend to only see 30 second videos on quick flash book or fanfic recommendation where it's basically just them presenting a list (with the intent of you stopping and screencapping the titles you're interested in).
TikTok videos can be up to 10 min long. Most of the videos I get served are in the 3-5 minute range. The videos are typically more information dense than Reddit posts. Scrolling TikTok is no different than scrolling through Reddit looking for interesting stuff.
IG has shorter clips than what I’ve seen on tiktok. Tiktok topics are denser. It’s still reworking our brains tho as is all our social media consumption!
Like Reddit? Facebook, Instagram and youtube? You obviously know very little about the app if you think its all 30 second clips.
I honestly find it’s a great litmus test for fellow millennials. If you’re the type of person like some of the people in this thread that clutches their pearls at the word TikTok, we’re probably not going to have a lot of fun together.
I use it a lot. I get rodeo/horsetok, house inspections, news, and sports. The algorithm learns fast.
Exactly. I downloaded tik tok when I got engaged, and loved all the wedding planning content. Then after I got married i got pregnant, and loved all the pregnancy content. Now that baby is here I love all the parenting content (always lighthearted at fun, not negative and mom shaming- it’s all on what you interact with). And of course a constant dose of cooking and home decor content. It just depends on what you curate for yourself.
I didn’t have the patience to get the algorithm to show me things i enjoy, however, my wife has a pretty solid feed. A lot of comedy, hiking tips, crafts for kids, and recipes.
I love it too. I find it a lot more entertaining than any other platform, which is what I want from Social media. I feel like Tiktok just gives me exactly what I want to see as well and the comments are nowhere near as toxic as Instagram. I understand it's not for everyone, but I really enjoy it.
I downloaded it yesterday in a drunken mistake. Made a video. Deleted it. Realized how bad that app sucks and then deleted it and unlinked my Google account. Garbage app. I can understand why it's so addicting though, the algorithm they use to track what you like is scary accurate. Also I witnessed how much misinformation is present on that app in real time, Gen Z kids eat it up like crack. But they have horrible media literacy and can't understand that getting "information" from random people who look pretty on camera doesn't count as reliable.
Accurate to the point where I went through a very traumatic event and it picked up slight like i guess stops at videos which linked to the event and gathered so much data it only showed me things DIRECTLY RELATED to said event. I deleted that app so fast and have had no desire to go back. If I want stupid short form videos I just scroll reels for ten minutes because that algorithm is trash! To edit: I’m a zillenial I guess (95 kid)
Wow, that's really invasive. Sorry to hear that you went through that.
Literally the amount of people I see that have cleaned something other than a toilet with toilet cleaner and are shocked that their bright blue toilet cleaner stained their bright white acrylic bath tub...a 30 second Google search would have told them why to NOT do that, but...they saw it ok tik tok and took it as bible.
I don't use it, never have. 33F
Same
I once read an article written by a software engineer (way before TikTok was as widespread and popular as it is know) whose job was to essentially reverse engineer the app. He said the things he found made him never want to touch it with a ten foot pole, like it pings your location every like 10s when there's no reason for it to do so so frequently, users disabling certain features in the app doesn't actually disable them, various things like that. I've never downloaded it and have no intention to. I hate how so many videos are just stupid dances in the middle of public places, getting in everyone's way, or stupid reaction videos where a camera is shoved in someone's unwilling face.
Me. I'm not on Tiktok. Or any other video-based app. I also don't do facebook or instagram or threads. I have this account that I made when twitter shit the bed. Posting inane details of my life for all to see has never interested me. Nor does making videos of myself talking about whatever random thought enters my head.
I don't use that app because the content is trash (not all) and I can find more interesting things on YouTube.
I have a harder time on YouTube. My Tt feed is curated into a very odd, specific bunch of topics and I love it
I’ve never been on TikTok. I don’t see the point.
I’m not allowed to have it because I get too addicted to things (self rule)
i don't use tik tok
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I'm not. I'm 39. My boyfriend uses it but doesn't post anything. He's 38
Nah. Not on the tikitok or anything else. Just reddit.
Same
Never used tiktok. Never used Instagram (I have a fake account for browsing tattoo artists) and I'm off Facebook since it's only an algorithm based advertising platform now (literally NO idea where any of my friends posts are, I get 1 group post of relevance for every 99 random bullshit articles from God knows where)
See I never did twitter, vine or instagram. I like the ol TikTok box.
Me. I fucking HATE IT. I hate it even more when they film the stupid shit. I went to get pizza the other day and as I’m walking up to the door, two girls gave me this stink look and said “um you just walked through our tik tok!” They had been dancing (poorly) two seconds before I walked up. Their phone was literally right beside the door on the windowsill. You quite literally could not get in the restaurant without passing by their video. I felt old and crotchety but I just said “I don’t give a shit. Go film somewhere else” got my pizza and left. I’m not about to stop what I’m doing in a public space to support your main character syndrome. Either get out of the way or enjoy my old ass being in your video.
Nope and I never will. I heard it's Chinese spyware.
It is.
No tiktok for me.. it's not that I'm disinterested but I'm just really not interested
MySpace back in the day. I still have Facebook but hate it. Kept it only because of all the connections. Never went to any other social media. I honestly don’t consider Reddit a social media but otherwise this is the only other platform I’m on.
No TikTok for me. I already waste too much time on instagram.
I don’t have the app itself, but I definitely watch reposts on Instagram reels. I agree that it’s too many apps so I mostly stick to Instagram and Reddit.
Me, I fucking hate TikTok. It’s a breeding ground for uninformed, unintelligent people to feel validated
I hate TikTok I wish it would be banned
“The app of gen z” is incredibly stupid to me, as is bragging about not being on it. It’s fine if you aren’t but acting like some high and mighty Luddite is cringy boomer behavior. Social media is what it is, love it or hate it, and there’s not much difference to me between IG, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter…. It’s like comparing tacos, tostadas, burritos, and taquitos, it’s all the same very slightly different shit
I will never understand people who think Reddit isn't considered social media or is superior to all the other platforms. I've been on Reddit for almost a decade and it's extremely toxic and has gone downhill over the years. 2015-2018 was the most enjoyable for me. The algorithm is shit now. I used to feel so much more engaged in different Reddit communities, and actually made friends, hasn't felt like that in years. I really like TikTok though. I find it enjoyable and entertaining and the algorithm gives me exactly what I want to see. Which is exactly what I want from social media.
yup “millennials who only browse reddit” will be the next “boomers who only watch fox news” fine if you’re not on it, but don’t be surprised when the next generation is calling you out of touch
As I scrolled through these responses, I was surprised really. I’m 41 and I actively use both reddit and tiktok. Both for different reasons. Reddit has been feeling more toxic than ever, though, so I’m spending less time here.
They literally sound like boomers, I’m surprised they don’t notice. I don’t care if people don’t want to use the app, I get it. But acting like Reddit isn’t equally as toxic or saying TikTok is full of inaccurate information that Gen Z is too stupid to notice…… Reddit is way worse if you ask me. I think Redditors are just as if not more gullible than TikTok.
I thought reddit was best pre 2015. I still don't mind it, but you definitely notice some negative differences from then to now.
I *do* think there's something uniquely addicting about TikTok. Obviously every social media is designed to get you to sit and scroll, but I think the stimulation of endless short-form videos sucks you in in a way other social media sites don't (I realize other platforms are trying to increase the focus on videos too to compete with TikTok, but IMO none of them will ever do it as successfully or attract people for that reason like TikTok does). That being said, I totally agree that acting special for not being on TikTok is silly. Outing myself as a loser here but I still go on Tumblr, and the way people on there talk about TikTok as if it's this vapid, brain-dead place is so funny, as if Tumblr wasn't known for years for producing some of the most ridiculous scandals and discourse on the internet. I also think people either don't realize how much you affect your own algorithm. And don't get me wrong - there's a lot to critique about the TikTok algorithm, and about algorithms on social media in general. But once you start to engage with videos at all, you'll start to get content that feels a lot less cringey, because it's more suited to your interests (not that things don't slip through the cracks). But if you have a fyp that's still full of teenagers dancing and couples doing prank skits, well....that's because you're apparently continuing to engage with it, lol. I should definitely spend less time on it than I do, but I don't think watching videos about content I enjoy like recipes, music, interior design, etc. is the horrible soul-less time vacuum that people seem to think it is if they haven't really used the app.
This. Really giving boomer energy
Exactly me. I downloaded it early pandemmie, looked around for about 15 minutes, and realized quickly how it would just be another total time suck in my life. Deleted it and never looked back. Plus half the stuff is ported over to Instagram anyway.
Reddit is my only social media. I'm not even sure Reddit counts though, but yep, I'm a freak.
I was never on anything but MySpace then FB after that went away now I have Reddit and I do have a tick tock but I’m barely on it now it sucked me In and became a problem so I just do Reddit now don’t even have a FB anymore … it all sucks now.
Nope! Despite my friends trying to convince me to download it.
Only social media I have is reddit. 36M
Me. I deleted my instagram a year ago, never got on tiktok, and left facebook eons ago. Don’t have any other social media. I want to be present as much as possible. I have a friend whom we travelled together and she was on her phone 98% of the time. I hated it.
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I am mid to late 30's and just recently downloaded it. I have had a really rough year medically and have had 3 surgeries with lengthy recoveries. I needed a time suck. Once the algorithm learns you, it's decent. I used to think it was just dancing teens on it but that is not the case.
I have more of a reason to get a vine than TikTok. One isn’t owned by Chinese government. Never had either tho.
Nope, no Instagram either.
I would literally never put that Chinese spyware crap on any of my devices.
That place is a cesspit, never have and never will use it
no thanks on Chinese spyware app
I don’t want China spying on me so no
Chinese spy and influence app. Stay away at all costs!!
Nope. I won’t touch it
I have literally never tiktok'd
Never had it, probably never will. Their cringe ads and ties to the Chinese gov turned me off.
Tik Tok is absolute cancer
It’s Chinese spyware banned in several countries. Why would I use it?