I've heard the algorithms for YouTube shorts are much worse. Most people have said the best thing about TikTok is how well it learns the content you want to see.

This is true. Many people I know have uninstalled TikTok because it is too addictive, but no one ever does that with YouTube shorts.

Wrong. YouTube shorts ruined the app for me. No way to disable them.

Not even with parental controls.

I'm kinda OK with my kids using Youtube, but I don't want them getting sucked into the infinite pool of shit that is Shorts. But I can't block it even with parental controls.

There are browser extensions that block shorts. You can also block all algorithmic suggestions. I uninstalled the YouTube app ages ago and wish I'd done it sooner.

yeah enhancer for youtube was a lifesaver

another reason i hate internet becoming predominantly app-mediated.

I uninstalled the YouTube app too! Without the app, it’s easier to use YouTube more intentionally

How feasible is YouTube Kids? Honest question.

I have set up YT Kids account for a young relative and manually approved many channels and hundreds of videos. This is one way you can block Shorts, with the added benefit it’s no longer an infinite feed.

ReVanced on Android lets you remove shorts from the app.

NewPipe and Tubular also lack the continuous video feed feature, so you can watch Shorts if someone sends you a link, but they're just like regular videos.

Shorts, Instagram Reels and whatever Facebook calls its copy of it.

All of them are so bad it's not worth it.

YouTube essentially does what every big stupid US-based social media algorithm does: If you like cat videos, it serves you more and more cat videos.

Because YT is longform content and the UI isn't a scrolling feed it's OK. I appreciate the different-ness than TikTok (which is why YouTube shorts is kind of annoying actually)

TikTok's algorithm gives you more of what you like, too. But it also feeds you just... random stuff. Content adjacent to your hobbies. Or content that seems to be somewhat popular with people who frequent the niches you frequent. Feeding you a lot of uninteresting videos is low risk; user's still appreciate the variety even when the algo isn't on point.

"My algo has gone off the deep end" is a common trope amongst TikTok users. Bc every now and then TikTok would pull in a lot of new/unrelated stuff for you to check out. And you just scroll by the stuff that isn't of interest. This is how its algo gets good; it's a UX heuristic as much as an algo one.

It's an important distinction because it exposes users to new content, which is fun. YT doesn't do that as much, so YT's content recs can be dull as paint some times.

> The experience, in the end, was always on point for shortform content. Nothing else like it exists; and I don't think American tech can make it because they benefit too much from being ad networks.

How does TikTok make money?

I feel like they were really headed the product promo / integrated shopping route.

TikTok makes much less money than meta per time spent by consumers.

I never used tiktok. You don't follow accounts? You just open and scroll and hope eventually you get something? There's a nothing being done intentionally by the user to find content?

You can follow accounts, and they offer a Following tab to keep track of accounts you really like, but the default consumption mode is to use it just like TV. When you're done with a video you scroll to the next. The app uses signals like how long you spent on a video, whether you liked it or not, whether you sent it to friends or not, etc to see how much you like a video. You can also reset your "algorithm" if you find yourself consuming content you don't like.

Most people just scroll the home page yea. Of course you can follow accounts but that’s not the main use case. The algorithm really is mind bogglingly good

You can follow accounts, but you don't need to follow accounts. The UX is dead simple: scroll and watch content of interest to you. Tiktok handles the rest

>Nothing else like it exists

Have you used Instagram Reels? It's nearly the exact same thing.

The format is the same but not the algorithm or what people are putting on it. I’m not a tok tok user but the few times I’ve been on it they felt surprisingly different. Meta reels are less substantial in content.

The problem is that Instagram content is so ... fake? manufactured?

There is very little original creator content in there, it's all semi-professional "influencers" doing heavily scripted skits or just plain stolen stuff (vertical versions of TV shows, movies, stand-up sets etc)

It’s really not, not even close to the same. The algorithm is really, really bad compared to TikTok. You can’t pause videos, can’t download them, can’t use copyrighted music, the comments are awful and full of bullying and hate and anger. It doesn’t have the powerful tools to actually edit your videos. It doesn’t have the community. Instagram reels just feels like a bad copy of TikTok. It’s also not timely; on TikTok you see things as they happen. News arrives instantly. Stitching enables two way conversations. Everything on Instagram is just recycled crap from two weeks ago on TikTok. I only use instagram to talk to people really; the actual content doesn’t do anything for me.

>The algorithm is really, really bad compared to TikTok.

Probably because you clearly don’t spend any time on it. It’s just as effective once it learns.

>You can’t pause videos

Yes you can. You tap and hold.

>can’t download them

Yes you can. Send (airplane) icon > download

>can’t use copyrighted music

The restrictions are the exact same as TikTok. Reels also has a massive library of licensed music.

>the comments are awful and full of bullying and hate and anger

It’s literally the exact same as TikTok - lots of low IQ people saying low IQ things.

Sooo…yeah, you’re pulling everything you just said out of your ass. Rationalization is a hallmark of addiction.

This hasn't matched my experience at all. TikTok is much better at surfacing interesting content. IG's "learning" seems to be a sort of auto regressive retargeting rabbit hole logic that just doesn't compare. And the people do seem nicer. But maybe that reflects the videos I am being served. IG discussions on the other hand are more likely to have the kind of smug snark your comment does.

The running joke for years is that Instagram Reels is where you go if you want to see last month's viral content from TikTok. In my experience it's true.

I don't know what people here are on about. I use both and they are exactly the same. I don't think TikTok's algorithm is any better.

Reels surely will be the winner. That’s surely why Zuckerberg has courted Trump.

Pichai's courting just as hard from what I can tell.

I guess a duopoly is better than a monopoly...

Bring back Vine, I guess

I'd rather have Grape.

https://youtu.be/QtRHlCzL7xk

Rednote is a fascinating experiment in T and C blindness. Just how far can you go in the terms? Put them in Mandarin worldwide? Apparently OK. Include a commitment to uphold the "12 core socialist values" of the Chinese government? OK. Include rules against criticizing the Chinese government, Chinese socialism, or Chinese interests? I guess that's OK too.

At what point will there be a reaction from industry? From government? I guess there's no reaction point for users. Would China or RedNote try to enforce any of this?

From what I’ve heard RedNote is very strict and prompt in removing unapproved content. Not sure that’s what your last question was asking.

I remember 20 years ago someone putting the right to your firstborn in a software license agreement. No-one reads them, no-one cares, and why would or should they? It's not like companies that ignore their own privacy policy get anything more than a slap on the wrist, so why bother reading it?

They'll just ban you from the service.

> what content was legit

scrolls past 10 temu adds for clearly pirated retro game consoles, same comment 9 times "oh if you bought X last week I feel sorry its not 50% off!!!"