[jianshen]

My personal opinion is people don't realize the app/algorithm doesn't just reward the viewers, it rewards the creators. I do video/photo work outside of coding and at first what got me hooked was the effortless video tools (useful realtime effects, non-generic music). Not a video editor? Someone in my feed already posted a 15s tutorial so you learn how to create as you consume. Then after posting a few vids as a joke (cuz 15s videos couldn't be anything meaningful right?) the algorithm rewarded me with 100k's views that IG/YouTube/FB/Twitch/Vimeo COMBINED could never give me. Then they randomly invited me to their Slack where I could get tips on how to use the latest new effect, upcoming hashtags and give feedback to devs. I'm not a full time content creator, I'm old and I'm not a looker but for the first time, I felt like I could be a content creator and all I did was post a few 15s videos. It just works.

I don't want to debate the politics, security issues or your judgement of the content. I want whoever comes up with the next killer app to learn from what they were able to achieve because they hit an amazing product market fit and I'm hoping the HN crowd can at least understand that. /rant

[rumanator]

> the algorithm rewarded me with 100k's views

Question:

a) why do you interpret that as a reward?

b) what leads you to believe those views are real or even meaningful?

[robbrown451]

These are odd questions to me.

I can understand why someone might not care about having some level of "internet fame." But I can't really understand how someone can not get how that can be rewarding to many.

Do you understand why people are rewarded by an audience applauding them? Do you understand why a musician would be excited to hear their song on the radio?

As for how they know the views are real... do you think TikTok is just faking them?

[gexla]

I don't know the intent of the questions, but they do seem reasonable.

Rewarding: Creators would also be interested in how engaged those viewers are. How well can this traffic convert into services which the creator might offer outside of TikTok? Would that traffic be worth the time of creating professional videos?

Real: This is a great question. Are the views real? I still have the story of Facebook faking video engagement numbers fresh in my brain. There's an argument that Facebook may be responsible for setting off the wave of intrusive auto-play video around the web.

I guess these are things which marketers will be working on, assuming the US doesn't block the application.

[jianshen]

I'm fine with the questions but I still think people are missing my point.

This is NOT for professional videos. The whole point is just regular people showcasing some small talent they might have hidden away and thru the algorithm you start to discover these amazingly talented regular people that the other platforms have failed.

If I want to see the celebs, brands or professionally shot content I have FaceGram/YouTube/Vimeo for that. This app is for the rest of us until the celebs/brands come in and inevitably ruin it. Hopefully by then, one of you HN folks will have built the next one.

[gexla]

> This is NOT for professional videos.

Marketers will still try. They'll figure out how to get an ROI out of efforts on the platform and then push that as far as they can. Or they'll find it's not possible and give up.

Note: I have spent maybe 10 minutes in TikTok. I don't trust the platform.

[xnx]

Absolutely. I like (give a heart to) most videos I watch, but I skip right over any videos from celebrities.

[rumanator]

> I can understand why someone might not care about having some level of "internet fame." But I can't really understand how someone can not get how that can be rewarding to many.

I've asked the question because I really don't understand the point the OP or you were trying to make. My question was very straight-forward: why do you feel that counter a) has any meaning, specially as a reward, b) is even real. Could you please shine a light on this?

After all, even the OP admitted that the counter was not a result of something users did or a reflection of the value of your contribution. The Op framed it as being a number that was gifted to you for no reason. Why do you see any value in it?

[jianshen]

According to their "algorithm", they show everyone's videos randomly to a small set of people and if people watch all of it (as in don't immediately swipe up), share or comment quickly then they show it to more people implying that the content I made is actually interesting to people. TikTok obv wants to surface good viral content to as many people as possible so the incentives are aligned. Think of it as being able to automate AB testing across hundreds of thousands of pieces of content.

As a result, I don't think traffic was given to me for absolutely no reason but there is a component of luck that they are explicit about which makes it even more compelling to creators. Compared to FB/IG/YouTube where I have to pay influencers or ad networks to get my work seen, they've evened the playing field a bit if my content has enough "inertia". It just motivates me to create better content next time and to try more often. You see how they're getting creators addicted?

[jianshen]

a) If I'm being brutally honest, it's attention. Human beings enjoy attention even if it's totally dumb luck. I could say for this HN crowd that the traffic translates to revenue or some kind of practical benefit but honestly, it just felt good to get attention for something I created. That triggered a serotonin response in my brain that made me want to come back. I would assume it's similar to a HN post you submit making it to the front page?

b) They're real in that I get tens of thousands of comments and people actually reply. Most of the comments are reactions and jokes but I enjoy the thought that someone took the time to comment just like how I'm enjoying having a discussion here on HN. Whether or not it's meaningful is entirely subjective but probably goes back to my answer in a) - I appreciate the attention.