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Comment by w0z_ | Hacker News Reader

TikTok mastered delivering the most relevant content in the quickest manner.

Facebook is over-moderated and delivers extremely low-quality content. Their Instagram division got a bit better and is the only relevant competitor, however Reels is still highly unusable in Search form if you're looking for new, quality, and unique niche content.

If you're 18 years old and want to learn to fix a plumbing leak quickly, TikTok can deliver you a high quality video with the learning aspect done in 30-60 seconds. YouTube, you have to sit through 10 minutes of SEO / filler content, skip to 3/4 the way, and watch the process slowly because they prioritize 15-20 minute videos.

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The flip side, as someone that prefers long-form video, is that TikTok tends to lack a lot of context. Is the leak coming from a pipe that is supposed to have teflon tape around the threads or not? Do you need to shut off the water main in case the pipe comes loose? How do you do that? What if the pipe needs to be re-soldered? Do they go ever when/how to do that in a TikTok?

TikTok is information dense, but only if you already know exactly what you're looking for. My experience is that people will spend half an hour watching 30 TikToks to get the same information as a good 10 minute YouTube video.

That's more-so dependent on the content creator. They can address specific problems, or the project as a whole. I follow a ton of DIY accounts - so I'll follow some that encompass the entire project, and some that focus on specific steps within projects.

FYI - the TikTok video length was extended to 10-minutes.

Sure, but what if you're changing your wiperblades or trying to collapse a stroller or install a carseat? The fastest most efficient video is my preference. I completely get what OP is talking about. I like YouTube for a lot of reasons, but it's not great as strong as TikTok at delivering quick and succinct content.

> If you're 18 years old and want to learn to fix a plumbing leak quickly, TikTok can deliver you a high quality video with the learning aspect done in 30-60 seconds.

The video equivalent of the 'Learn X in 24 hours' garbage video courses but with 100x the manipulation, scams and prioritizing creators who have already gamed the so-called 'recommendation algorithm' and have drowned out other creators all in the name of the user being addicted to the new digital crack / cocaine.

Facebook was the last decade's trendy digital cocaine. TikTok is a no better digital drug but even worse.

Anytime I need to fix something in my house, I research it via Bob Villa or ThisOldHouse and cross-reference TikTok videos to see what people & professionals are actually doing in quick-video form.

I'm not quite sure what your angle is for this example, TikTok clearly serves low-follower & low-view videos in their algorithm. It's probably about every 1 in 8 videos if you scroll on the FYP. Each video is given a 1000-view chance to see if it gets boosted further.

Depending on what you like is what you're served, so if you like Home DIY videos & follow those accounts - you'll be served that. They then mesh in the more popular videos depending on external likes of people you follow, general trending (probably 1 in every 5 videos), and location.

If people are telling me TikTok serves scam, manipulating content... it's because of the videos they liked & people they follow. I doubt their account is dedicated to looking up SDR radios, fixing electronics, and general DIY videos.

It's incredibly easy to test this. There's a rough 4-week learning curve per account created that fine-tunes the content delivered to the user.

so TikTok has scam content and it's serves it because someone accidentally watched a scam video.....seems like phishing with victim blaming haha. TikTok sucks

I've seen this across "XYZ business/investment made me $X amount of money in X time" videos... so yes, if you get into the financial side of TikTok you'll come across these. TikTok sucks because they don't have a moderator staff count of 50,000 employees verifying these claims? How many of these accounts are being created per hour? :) Interesting problem to solve, I guess the only solution is for TikTok to become a ban-brigade like Facebook did, right? Great solution... Hence why Facebook and others are in the hole now.

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