Facebook readies global launch of its TikTok competitor

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-readies-global-launch-its-tiktok-competitor-n1234013

by uptown • 6 years ago

32 70 6 years ago

zug_zug• 6 years ago

Lol. The only thing I want less than China spying on the cat videos I watch is Zuck spying on them, and reselling it to a 3rd party to hack my voting decisions....

ciarannolan• 6 years ago

Sure, but in the case of TikTok, there's one less intermediary in the chain trying to hack your voting decisions.

nickthegreek7• 6 years ago

Are people using the same TikTok that I am? There is currently a single skippable ad when I open the app (that appears maybe 75% of the time). Other than that, its a bunch of people under the age of 35 doing skits.. What am I supposed to be worried about when it comes to election engineering here?

malux85• 6 years ago

Well, that's a load off my mind

rvz• 6 years ago

Sure, but good luck if you are in Hong Kong given that your innocent 'cat videos' are being surveilled for any criticism's to the CCP, which will get you arrested or thrown in jail.

Why do you think TikTok was withdrawing from Hong Kong after the security law was passed? In the UK or in the US, I can criticise the government on Facebook without them throwing me in jail. If I were in Hong Kong and did the same thing to the CCP on the other hand...

gowld2• 6 years ago

TikTok is run by a Chinese company in Shanghai. They weren't in HK for safety.

AzzieElbab• 6 years ago

What would keep FB from buying your cat videos from TikTok?

marsrover3• 6 years ago

I personally would much rather Facebook succeed in this space. I’m extremely apprehensive about TikTok and how China is using the data.

I’m fully aware that Facebook will collect data (possible the same data), but I believe the motives and outcomes are more in my favor when it’s my country doing it.

nickthegreek7• 6 years ago

I'm pretty much in the opposite boat, I would never use the facebook replacement and really have no issue with Tiktok. My tiktok does not have access to my camera, mic or location services (i'm a consumer, not a creator) and I clear my clipboard prior to opening it.

The solution I want is for Apple to provide more access toggles and transparency about what apps are doing

m0xte4• 6 years ago

I'd rather the whole idea fucked off out of existence.

marsrover3• 6 years ago

That would be ideal but it’s not going to happen.

harshitaneja• 6 years ago

What is wrong with the idea? I don't use it because i don't enjoy the content but I don't find anything wrong with the idea. Genuine question.

dfxm122• 6 years ago

Facebook is not your country. You have zero say in who is in charge at Facebook or what Facebook does with your data. Even if they aren't compelled to share your data with any government, history has shown that they will sell it, not just to the highest bidder, but likely many times over. History has also shown that they will spend little effort to go after developers who misuse this data according to their TOS.

I'm not saying this is worse than TikTok, but it is certainly not better.

amINeolib2• 6 years ago

We've actually seen Facebook use their data for Political purposes and profiting.

They are about as Anti US as any country.

andreilys6• 6 years ago

One company wants to keep advertisers happy. The other wants to keep the CCP happy.

With those incentive structures how can you even posit that the two are comparable?

save_ferris3• 6 years ago

I believe the motives and outcomes are more in my favor when it’s my country doing it.

This makes zero sense to me, particularly when the argument is applied to the US. If anything, European companies seem to be taking privacy and consent much more seriously out of necessity than American companies do.

The idea that an American company is more aligned with my interests because I'm an American is completely laughable.

andreilys6• 6 years ago

Except we’re talking about a geopolitical rival that now has a lever to influence the minds and opinions via an opaque algorithm and moderation policies.

One wants to provide better targeted ads, the other wants to subvert a rival nation state to achieve geopolitical aims.

You can see how they aren’t really equivalent.

Barrin92• 6 years ago

I’m extremely apprehensive about TikTok and how China is using the data.

There isn't any evidence that China is using any TikTok data, so why is this presented as fact here about five dozen times per day?

TikTok has got a distinct privacy policy for people outside of China, stores American data in the US and Singapore IIRC, and there hasn't been any evidence presented yet that this is not true.

'China' is literally just used as a derogatory term on this website, which is embarassing for a tech community.

andreilys6• 6 years ago

China should be substituted with CCP.

The CCP have done an incredible job of linking their government with the Chinese nation. Which to me is an absolute tragedy.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/25/revealed-...

ConsulOfThePleb• 6 years ago

Not an american but I would certainly prefer that some country that I don't and never will live in spies on me than my own government who could use that data against me.

fatjokes• 6 years ago

The problem I have with FB and to a lesser extent, IG is that you can't get away from politics. The issue with that is that in addition to data scraping, it opens users up to political manipulation (i.e., vote hacking).

How is it on TikTok? I'm not an avid user and never got hooked. My impression is that it's just dumb dance videos.

rboyd• 6 years ago

My impression is that it's just dumb dance videos

you'd be wrong. it's a very important platform. besides dance videos there are also hilarious and cute dog videos.

amINeolib2• 6 years ago

I've mostly gotten out of Politics on Instagram. You see them?

unexpected3• 6 years ago

Tik Tok is INSANELY good at figuring out what you want to watch. At first it shows you a random selection of videos, but it pays very good attention to what you're lingering at, and starts showing you more and more of those types of videos.

My wife and I downloaded Tik Tok at the same time, were shown the same videos in the beginning. Now, I basically see only Call of Duty: Warzone clips along with a few prank videos. My wife (far more political than I) sees a lot of videos of the protests, BLM activists, and other stuff.

Tik Tok does not try to force you to watch videos that you're not going to watch. It's crazy good (and scary).

kalado• 6 years ago

It is, I'm pretty sure the "lingering" part is exactly true, in that you don't have to like a video or even finish watching it for it to influence your feed to show more of similiar stuff. Just keep looking at it a bit longer than other videos.

moneywoes• 6 years ago

Any idea for their algorithm is built?

ehnto• 6 years ago

Of course that optimizes toward a particular bubble, so you end up not seeing content you may have also enjoyed, because the app has pigeon holed you into a particular type of content.

After a certain amount of time I find most algorithm driven feeds stop being able to deliver an interesting experience, and I stop using them.

I wonder how your feed will evolve once Warzone isn't the top dog anymore, maybe it considers cohorts and enough people in your cohort will actively search for the next popular game that it will spill into your feed?

chvid2• 6 years ago

Sadly there is a completely lack of appreciation of TikTok here on HN.

TikTok is really the next generation of social media. The way the algorithm adapts to the user is unlike anything out there plus the integrated videographic tools are incredible. Plus it is cheerful and playful, and not full of conflict or self promotion.

However the only thing we can focus on is that it is Chinese.

siruncledrew• 6 years ago

Facebook seems to prefer to let others do the first-mover work to carve out a social market, and then come in a bit later and use their existing scale (with FB, IG, Whatsapp) to copy the same features into their apps.

It’s basically what they did with Instagram Stories after Snapchat existed.

There’s the whole China aspect with TikTok, but regardless this is just how Facebook competes with whatever is popular.

nickthegreek7• 6 years ago

Except facebook's base is aging and many of the youth are not interested in jumping on the next facebook offering. They had to purchase instagram to get a younger audience but their insta story pivot was successful. Gotta be honest, the last thing tiktok needs is a bunch of 40+ yr olds opening up accounts and creating content, as they are much more inflammatory than the fun content creators filling up my For You Page on tiktok. Tiktok is still very different than most other social media because its not really about following people you know as discovering interesting content nooks thru the For Your Page.

xnx2• 6 years ago

I share your enthusiasm for TikTok. It's the first social media app that felt like fun instead of an obligation. I have no doubt something will come along and ruin it (olds, monetization, acquisition). For now, it's really magical. It genuinely gives me hope for the next generation. They are impressively clever short-form story-tellers and continuously innovating techniques.

gowld2• 6 years ago

IG and WhatsApp where "first movers" that FB acquired.

(Also, none of these are "first movers". They are just variations on the same idea. Vine is ancient.)

basicsbeauty• 6 years ago

There was no new original product from FB in the last 15 years.

patrickaljord5• 6 years ago

What are the odds of it launching just after TikTok gets banned? I wonder if Facebook has turned into the social media version of the US dollar to the US government, it is just too valuable, all this information. They have a defacto monopoly on social media around the world and they're not going to let it go, even if force needs to be used (in this case banning the competition).

Facebook readies global launch of its TikTok competitor

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