[TeMPOraL]

Wow, that must have been embarrassing.

Also, from the article:

> In some cases, though, many are just wondering how this service hardly anyone had heard of became so popular.

Yeah, the first time I've heard of Zoom was when it landed on HN frontpage for doing some shady stuff on MacOS. Fast forward few months, my wife is asking me if I heard of it, because she'll have to start using it... I was similarly blindsided by the sudden rise of TikTok. These new platforms feel like coming completely out of the blue these days... or maybe I'm just older and don't pay attention anymore.

[jedberg]

> or maybe I'm just older and don't pay attention anymore.

It's that.

People make fun of me when tell them I like to talk to teens about technology. Why, they ask. Why? Because I learn about all these new upcoming platforms. I ask them "how do you get music now", "how do you share photos", "what do you use instead of Facebook".

And I learn about Snap, TikTok, Instagram, etc. long before they are popular.

These platforms all thrive on word of mouth. Teens still hang out mostly in person in school, so they have rapid word of mouth.

Talk to teens about technology. It will be enlightening.

[crazysim]

Remember the creepy VPN stuff marketed at teens that Facebook was doing? They really wanted to see what platforms teens were connecting to and engaging with!

[TeMPOraL]

> These platforms all thrive on word of mouth. Teens still hang out mostly in person in school, so they have rapid word of mouth.

That's a great point. I will talk to teenagers about tech more.

[marcinzm]

Zoom has been popular for corporate meetings for a while now and I've seen multiple companies use it pre-covid. So when you had to find a video conferencing solution ASAP you we more likely to go with the one you used successfully with a client 2 months back. Zoom was less bad overall than the competitors at the time.

[starfallg]

TikTok was pouring money into ads hand over fist last year. Being targetted, you probably wouldn't have seen many if you aren't the right demographic and visiting the right sites.

Its rise is a sign that the Internet has become just another commodity platform where success is bought, not earned.