[TheAceOfHearts]

On the topic of social media in decline, TikTok also appears to have peaked in content already.

Following people isn't that interesting since most content creators that hit it big are One Hit Wonders. After they hit that big growth spike, they either follow the herd with the latest dance or trend, or they keep doing the same thing that made em famous with slight variations.

How long can you milk the same dance routine by switching out which celebrity does the silly little dance?

There were a few interesting educational channels for a while, but most people just don't have that many interesting things to keep posting about at the rate which is expected of a platform like TikTok. Quality content takes time to produce.

TikTok really only has a few buckets of content types. Some examples include thirst traps from sex workers that are looking to promote their OnlyFans and cute animals doing cute things.

Instagram isn't that different. I mostly use the app to see cute pictures of people's pets and the occasional human picture.

[spaceman_2020]

You have to commend YouTube and Twitter's longevity as social networks.

YouTube has better and more content than ever. Twitter also has the best and most relevant content, provided you curate your feed. All the stuff happening on academic Twitter, for instance, is hard to find elsewhere.

Reddit also seems to be going down the path of irrelevancy. The content is increasingly mediocre and hivemind-ish.

[imbnwa]

> Reddit also seems to be going down the path of irrelevancy. The content is increasingly mediocre and hivemind-ish.

If you're just looking at the 'popular front page', sure, but there's a reason people now search Reddit from Google: there's value in a 'centralized hub' for communities versus Twitter's loosely coupled social graphs.

Reddit replaced all vBulletin-backed forums. You could argue Discord might usurp Reddit but Discord isn't searchable from the web and is logged in a terribly inconducive format.

I follow MMA, and the MMA reddit is the biggest forum for MMA on the English-speaking internet, especially for live events, there's no substitute, and I'm sure its like that with a lot of niches.

[matheusmoreira]

> Reddit also seems to be going down the path of irrelevancy.

Reddit's irrelevance is only a matter of time. They're jacking up the advertising and banning anything that offends the advertisers.

Consider also how imageboards managed to remain relevant to this day.

[dageshi]

Reddit always had a hive mind, it's just the hive mind no longer agrees with you so you think it's irrelevant?

Nope, frankly given how long reddit's been around and how it continues to gain in popularity I expect it will outlive everything on that list except for youtube. It's the webs default forum and there will always be a demand for a forum on the web.

[pixl97]

It's not that reddits users agree or disagree with me it's that [removed by Reddit]

[pas]

99.99% of that is drunk/clueless people asking for contacts for drugs, and spam. at least that's my experience based on a subreddit with 45K users.

[coffeebeqn]

YouTube has matured and now has professional YouTube-first content. The first time I was on YouTube it had every imaginable show (illegally) and that’s how they hit their incredible initial growth. Then it was amateurs for the next ten years doing silly stuff and now it’s quite a enjoyable platform for information and niche entertainment

[_hypx]

Both Twitter and Reddit might be in decline. I know people keep on saying that some subset of those platform are still useful, but that doesn't attract eyeballs nor advertisement. Once the main page declines, the rest should follow. This is quickly accelerated if there is some alternative platform that provides a similar experience.

[throwaway82388]

It is remarkable how hard it is for a business to simply last a decade. To do it at the scale of the incumbent apps is astounding to me.

While TikTok is growing quickly, we still don’t know its long term potential, how ‘sticky’ it is. I’d predict it has a trajectory more like Twitter and less like Snapchat. But it could well become a YouTube. All we can do is wait and find out.

[nickthegreek]

TikTok has a creator fund that incentives and rewards their creators. It is much closer to YouTube than Twitter or Snapchat. And I’m pretty sure it’s DAUs are way greater than both of those as well.

[throwaway82388]

I regretted the Twitter comparison as soon as I reread my comment. I was thinking in broader terms — apps where the bulk of users follow creators and not personal contacts tend to grow and sustain very differently. But it’s so obviously most similar to YouTube, from a user perspective, it’s an accelerated YouTube experience.

[chadlavi]

It's almost like these businesses don't actually provide any value (the users do, but the users aren't motivated to provide value, just motivated to drive engagement)

[prpl]

This just reminds me of music in the 50s/60s and radio (without the payola)

Some bands were one hit wonders, but some were able to transition to a career, usually help behind them - writers, producers, and everything else from the record label. Chubby Checker always makes me laugh with the song Let’s Twist Again.

Something similar happened with Youtube, I think. Especially with media for kids. Popular channels turned into a productions, but usually it was much slower.

TikTok will be like Youtube/Radio Hybrid. Some people will take their one hit wonder and transition to a career, but not without the help of something like a record label or production company.

And if there’s payola, it’s going to click farms.

[csdvrx]

> Chubby Checker always makes me laugh with the song Let’s Twist Again.

Can you explain the joke? I don't get it.

[prpl]

The Twist was his first big hit.

Let’s Twist Again came out a year later. The entire song is referring to the phenomenon of The Twist.

“Let’s twist again, like we did last summer”

Also, it was a number one hit in some countries.

[andirk]

I consider Tiktok content to be a sign of what the next generation has to offer. That frightens me.