Facebook solved the core problem of real identity on the web. Extending outside colleges was a natural progression (first to workplaces, then to high schools, then publicly).

TikTok solves the problem of short form video creation / entertainment. Will their userbase be interested in creating the same type of content in 4-5 years? I think they'll struggle the same way Snapchat struggles to convince people over 35 to use their app.

> I think they'll struggle the same way Snapchat struggles to convince people over 35 to use their app.

Have you used TikTok lately? It's overwhelmed with millennial/elder millennial and beyond. I don't see this as a problem for them and in fact I think people are jumping over to it in droves.

Everyone is locked up at home with their phone at the moment.

So current TikTok trends may be atypical.

> elder millennial

The only time I feel old is when other people tell me I'm old.

Don't worry. You are still young and rockin'

Thanks :)

> millennial/elder millennia

Is this redundant or is the latter the new term for Gen X from the people who believe that the world is divided between Boomers and Millennials, so everyone else must be a “young millenial”, “elder millenial”, or “advanced boomer”?

... yeah and Vine.

and keek..

YikYak is another possible path for it to go.

Feel free to invest wherever you want, but personally I don't have the stomach for it.

> YikYak is another possible path for it to go.

People complained about YikYak being anonymous. The problem is that YikYak listened to the complaints rather than their users.

Every social media company upsets its users at some point. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Digg. The moat, platform stickiness, and competition shape outcomes.

TikTok is a bit headache inducing for anyone not under 20. Anyway I don't think humans should be receiving that much stimulation, and information overload in such short bursts.

Facebook has network effect, TikTock doesn't really.

Facebook is really centered around 'everyone you might know' including friends and family, whereas I doubt parents and grandparents will ever go onto TikTok.

Most importantly, TikTok is not basic communications tool, it's a specialized communications tool honed on a timely and probably faddish trend.

Facebook may or may may not survive, but TikTok will have to transform to make it for the long haul.

Will most likely branch out into all the other usual markets, TikTok chat, TikTok meetings, TikTok Ads, TikTok shops, TikTok news, TikTok Pay, etc. Basically another slightly different version of the same stuff we're all used to with these kinds of social platforms. Still.. >100Bn is simultaneously ridiculous, funny and sad imho.

EDIT: valuation makes a bit more sense for the parent company seeing as it has a lot of other brands that are huge in China and India

None of those things are a given, moreover, you could say the same about almost any digital company.

"$176.9 million in revenue in 2019" - Forbes, Jan 16.

This is another SoftBank fake unicorn.

This time, they can hide behind the smoke and mirrors of the HK Stock Exchange and non-existent Chinese standard accounting principles.

Instagram doesn't have the same network effect as Facebook. Snapchat does have Quick Add, which shows people you might know; it's also a much more communication-driven platform.

TikTok is probably the modern Instagram replacement, not the modern Facebook replacement.

The barrier to making TikToks is much higher than for Instagram posts. It takes hours to make a decent TikTok; it takes second to make a decent Instagram Story post. For that reason, I see TikTok as more adjacent to YouTube than Instagram.