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Re:TikTok profits from livestreams of families begging by sam1r on Thursday October 13, 2022 @10:40AM (#33191633)
>> I came across one last night that I hadn't seen before and was kind of cool. It was a livestream of a woman filling a washing machine with different detergents, and like, way too much detergents for a load, way too much, and then eventually she turned the machine on.

What’s so wild or appealing about this — that would entice someone to continue their time on TikTok?

Re:TikTok profits from livestreams of families begging by ycombinete on Thursday October 13, 2022 @10:48AM (#33191750)
The gist of many these sorts of videos, is to do a familiar activity but with steps that don’t make sense. This starts your brain’s little curiosity/real-time-explanation loop.

Like the videos of a guy lighting a firework, shoving it in a tube, filling the tube with a potatoes and then covering that with putty. They catch me for a few seconds every time, just slightly longer than a video that made sense would; and I think that extra second or two is all they need to jump up the algorithm’s ratings a little.

Re:TikTok profits from livestreams of families begging by sillysaurusx on Thursday October 13, 2022 @10:51AM (#33191790)
It’s not just this. It’s the “long tail of this”. That particular example might not sound too appealing, but when you scroll through the livestreams, you’ll find hundreds of other niche things.

I spend my time watching artists draw, watching people play FF6 for nostalgia, and putting mustaches on Ellie from the last of us: https://imgur.com/a/rLjU7Ux

Re:TikTok profits from livestreams of families begging by etblg on Thursday October 13, 2022 @10:53AM (#33191828)
Nothing really, I was just kind of curious what it would look like when she turned it on with a ton of detergent.

Turns out it bubbles a bit, the cycle continues as normal. Very mild entertainment.

Re:TikTok profits from livestreams of families begging by sam1r on Thursday October 13, 2022 @05:45PM (#33196867)
I see exactly what you mean. It’s like .. justttttt enough to make one watch til the end.

Reminds me of those extended silent close captions videos all over Facebook.

Re:TikTok profits from livestreams of families begging by qjx on Thursday October 13, 2022 @01:11PM (#33193814)
> that would entice someone to continue their time on TikTok?

a lot of people want to be simulated every moment of every day, so they need the constant hit of dopamine