PhotoCredit: ByteDance
I remember my friend asking whether she should join TikTok. My reply was an instant and emphatic no. The last thing she needed to add to her busy life was another distraction. Another technology platform to learn. Another social media beast that was ravenous for content.
I still maintain I was right, but part of me was wrong. Distraction is bad, absolutely. However, new technology platforms are always worth investigating. It’s important we observe the waves of innovation. Never turn your back on the ocean.
I followed TikTok in the media from it’s early days. I saw the numbers climb. I could see something interesting happening but for some reason I never ventured into the app. It’s easy to dismiss a piece of technology that seems inherently designed for play. As TikTok, and the alleged importance of it’s algorithm, hit the headlines...I wanted to know more.
This podcast from Andreessen Horowitz (Spotify and Google) is the best analysis I have come across. The piece of the conversation I find most intriguing is the conversation about TikTok’s focus on the interest graph over the social graph. This is significant because it means content is discovered based on your preferences versus who you are following. Instagram does this a little if you navigate to search. TikTok’s main navigation works in a similar way, but better. This podcast explains that TikTok went all in on this functionality, giving priority to the content you love over the people you purport to love, friend, heart or follow.
The interest graph is an important innovation. AI and Machine learning’s ability to learn who we are and deliver relevant content is going to evolve many industries. I believe this is why TikTok is viewed as such a threat. Personally, I prefer this to the outsized influence of - well, “influencers”. TikTok is a (baby) step back towards the meritocracy that social media once offered.
I am under no delusion that TikTok is just another social media platform that will behave in the way all large media platforms behave. Power corrupts. If we have ever known this to be true it is now. No, this is not a TikTok rave. My main purpose with today’s blog is to share the podcast and the insight that TikTok’s technology isn’t the killer innovation it’s purported to be. It’s the inherent design of the app that makes the algorithm powerful.
Technology can seem complex when the big words are used and technologists speed-mumble explain it. While this podcast does trip over a few big words and terms, it mostly does a great job of revealing the simplicity of how this tech works.
I also wanted to sow the seed of broader inquiry. What are you dismissing outright? What are you chalking up to being a big-waste-of-your-valuable-time. Sure, it’s hard to keep up with all things technology. And sure, you have important things to accomplish. Focus first, always. I just want to check in that you are not getting too comfortable under your rock. We don’t want you to fossilize.