What value does Microsoft get out of this?
Looks like a desperate deal pushed by TikTok to get rid of "Chinese spyware" tag.
The deal makes no absolute sense.
Looks like a desperate deal pushed by TikTok to get rid of "Chinese spyware" tag.
The deal makes no absolute sense.
More bullish take... potentially the next YouTube.
For one thing, user gesture data or user action data can be automated with 3D software. Provides a far better set of training data.
Data for targeted advertisements? Microsoft is hardly in that business of selling ads.
I understand Mojang, because Minecraft is a platform that engages kids in meaningful ways. But TikTok is an app to waste time and shit post.
Not sure I get what that means.
>I understand Mojang, because Minecraft is a platform that engages kids in meaningful ways. But TikTok is an app to waste time and shit post.
Kids are definitely engaging in meaningful and interesting ways on TikTok. It would be an incredible overgeneralization to say otherwise. Is there a bunch of crap on there too? Sure, but you can write off the internet with the same logic. Crap is also fun, which has some value too.
The content on early YouTube wasn't what we have today either...
Generation of video clips of human gestures, by automating a 3D modeling software, like Blender, will give you not only the video, but also depth and other data related to the video.
If you are looking for sources to train your model to recognize depth / gestures, videos from TikTok are far less useful, than generating your own ones by automating or programming them.
Regardless my point on the data aspect of the acquisition wasn't meant to be the reason for the actual value of TikTok for Microsoft.
Sure, teens and kids are using it, but it feels like people will grow out of it.
Nobody knows, but it's worth a gamble.
And, FB has morphed into more than just a way to meet friends. It has become the town square for the village idiot to shout at the top of his lungs as to how UFOs are implanting DNA into the cattle.
I myself hardly ever log in to my account and haven't even posted anything on my "wall" (remember when that used to be term?) in nearly a decade, but I still find myself visiting the Marketplace whenever I need to occasionally buy/sell something or find a new apartment.
Microsoft already tried to take on Twitch, with Mixer, and failed. (Gamers will probably be wary about jumping onto Microsoft's next doomed platform.)
And anecdotally, Discord replaced Skype for a lot of people in the gaming community, and I don't see people leaving it very easily.
It seems like Phil Spencer had a meeting with the affected ex-employee but nothing came out of it[2].
Adding on to that, a leaked town hall video really painted a grim image of the company and the management internally.[3]
[1]https://twitter.com/MilanKLee/status/1274830702538821632
[2] https://twitter.com/MilanKLee/status/1286008870935179266
Having live streaming built into the xbox platform + tiktok as a brand and audience would be a much more power combo than just mixer alone.
I don't believe Mixer was shut down because of bad management though, if the people in charge weren't getting results, then Microsoft would have just replace them.
I would tend to agree that management not getting results could be replaced. It could be that bad management was a symptom and not the cause.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/06/microsoft-is-killing-...