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[–] 87 points 4 months ago (2 children)

No shit, all social media is designed to keep user engaged and using the service

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  • [–] 23 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Correct. This is not specific to TikTok, and speaks more to the social media paradigm shift as a whole.

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  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Including Lemmy, in a sense.

    Even if not purposely, it's designed to resemble systems that were built this way for that purpose.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    It is for sure addictive, I don’t find it as malicious because of it’s decentralized nature, meaning that a TikTok style algorithm or the various ways Meta drives engagement isn’t present and would be nearly impossible to implement across all the instances and other Fediverse apps. It’s like if cigs ONLY made you smell bad and wouldn’t kill you, still gross and bad to be hooked, but not actively causing irreversible harm

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I agree with part of what you're saying, but I think it's worse than you're saying.

    I think it's more like if cigarettes were a bit less addictive, still gave you cancer, but nobody becomes a billionaire thanks to your addiction and cancer.

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  • [–] 20 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Wheel designed to roll, researches say.

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  • [–] 17 points 4 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 child)

    Breaking News: Fork found in kitchen

    Today at approximately 1:27 PM one of our reporters stumbled upon a fork in the kitchen.

    Upon closer investigation, the fork was found to contain remains of plant based structures.

    It is still unclear as to why this fork was in the kitchen, but according to the experts this is groundbreaking progress in fork research.

    Next up: Scientists at CERN say it is possible for water to wet things.

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  • [–] 13 points 4 months ago

    In other news, water wets

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  • [–] 13 points 4 months ago* (4 children)

    Over that stunningly short amount of time viewing and swiping, the algorithm is able to direct hyper-personalized content to viewers.

    I mean, that's...not really a negative. You could argue that the content is largely fluff (which I think it is, when it comes to short-form video), or maybe that material that appeals to a user isn't what would help them the most or any number of other things, but being able to find and provide content that is a function of a user's interests is normally something that one would consider desirable. I'd rather do less scrolling past things that I'm not interested in viewing.

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  • [–] 17 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    You are making the mistake of assuming this is done for your benefit, though. You are not TikTok's customer. You are the product, and advertisers are their customers.

    They aren't showing you things you are interested in, they are showing you things their customers are paying to show you.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    I found TikTok to have a great algorithm for what I wanted to see. I discovered some quality content there. That said I haven't used it since the buyout and I miss some of the posters in a way, but it's not like they were irreplaceably filling some void in my life.

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  • [–] [S] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    What specifically do you miss most? Is it something that loops.video doesn't have?

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    The algorithm at really good at presenting people who were relevant to my interests. People I wouldn't have any idea I would like. Like Mr. Global for insight into oil markets. Stoobs and Kit Lazer for movie reviews. The autistic stats guy for analyzing truth behind headlines. Some guy for Dr Doom facts and anarchist POV on current events.

    Like there were people that if you described them to me, I'd be like... pass. And yet I found them educational and interesting. I don't know how another platform offers that algorithm, even if the other features are great. It's not a knock on anyone else. I have zero interest in YouTube shorts, for example.

    That's nothing against loops.video. I might like it if I tried it.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    Magic

    Yeah I guess no algorithm also has a downside, however if you like to see mostly what your friends and people you follow post, it's probably much better.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    For the most part that is my preference, but there needs to be some mechanism for discovery. Timeline isn't bad, but I tend to avoid it once I have enough subs. For example, I probably don't visit /all in Lemmy but maybe once a year at this point. I'm sure there are new communities I'd have interest in that I miss. Probably a bunch.

    So yeah. It's good to have a good discovery algorithm, but it's also addictive. So it's good not to have an algorithm, but then it gets difficult to hit critical mass for both creators and consumers.

    Shrug.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 4 months ago

    So yeah. It’s good to have a good discovery algorithm, but it’s also addictive. So it’s good not to have an algorithm, but then it gets difficult to hit critical mass for both creators and consumers.

    You can make your own algorithm on many Fediverse platforms, by blocking certain words I guess. I personally like the trending/explore pages.

    Loops also has starter kits, to make building their own "alghorithm" easier for new users: https://loops.video/starter-kits/browse

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    Glad I never used it. It’s not my scene. Most social media is trash, now.

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    yeah, Fedi feels so much better, glad to be here with you friends :))

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    How do you know it isn't your scene? You don't like kittens and puppies?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I can look at those with Loops and PeerTube 😉

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  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I love how these articles come out years after we're already aware of it.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago
    [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    doesn't work for me, a bomb of popular stuff without any depth outside of conspiracy and minors dancing, after dozens of videos I can't find anything interesting or even somewhat smart, it just stress me out and I leave with a bad feeling about the younger generations, wtf are you watching!

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago