TikTok Newsletter 84
Everything is seen in China
Hello.
This is Understanding TikTok – your weekly update. My name is Marcus. While Insta is going full Tiktok (Gizmodo) and Facebook's redesign will basically turn it Into TikTok (Android Headlines), Google says YouTube Shorts has 1.5 billion monthly users (Mashable). Does TikTok finally have a legit competitor?
Today we talk about:
💾 Your data, my data
🔭 TikTok as a search engine
🗞️ Reuters Digital News Report ‘22
💾 Your data, my data
TikTok was the least trusted digital platform in the US 2021. Only 28% of 1057 U.S. residents saw the platform as trustworthy (SEJ). This percentage is probably not rising given the latest news about leaked audios from 80 internal TikTok meetings.
The recordings, which were reviewed by BuzzFeed News, contain 14 statements from nine different TikTok employees indicating that engineers in China had access to US data between September 2021 and January 2022, at the very least.
“Everything is seen in China,” the report said, quoting an unnamed member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department as saying in a September 2021 meeting (Techcrunch).
Shortly before publication of this story, TikTok published a blog post (July 17) announcing that it has changed the “default storage location of US user data” and that today, “100% of US user traffic is being routed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. We still use our US and Singapore data centers for backup, but as we continue our work we expect to delete US users' private data from our own data centers and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US.”
🔭 TikTok as a search engine
TikTok was spotted testing a new search feature. In fact it is already used as a search engine among younger users, reports SEJ.
The growing use of TikTok as a search engine stems from several factors:
+ Short attention spans – ”‘We have become lazy. We want visuals”
+ Unsatisfactory Google results – “Useful results are buried pages deep”
+ Visual learning styles – “some retain information better when in a visual format.”
What does that even mean? Wether you use TikTok for search or not is not the crucial part here. If your target audience does, you better make sure to provide added value and useful information, presented in a diverting and digestable way.
🗞️ Reuters Digital News Report ‘22
In #82 i covered latest developments in 📰Local Press Tok, this week we can welcome my favourite german print publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the platform (@faz). Given the fact that there are only three TikToks yet, i will postpone my deeper analysis.
While even FAZ as “centre-right conservative-liberal” (Wikipedia) paper engages on TikTok, it is interesting to see that Bild, Germany’s biggest tabloid newspaper published by Europe’s largest publishing house Axel Springer SE is pretty reluctant.
“I do not have TikTok on my smartphone, we do not use it for Bild”, says editor-in-chief Johannes Boie (OMR). The reason: TikTok “comes from China … a badass dictatorship {knallharte Diktatur}”. Interestingly enough Boie’s smartphone and all editorial staff’s smartphones are assembled in 🤷 China .
This is a very long intro to actually talk about the Digital News Report, published by Reuters Institute. I scanned the PDF for “TikTok” and prepared this Twitter thread with all the infos you need to know.
🍓 More
🍓 For a couple of weeks this track has been going wild on my FYP. From inconspicuous TikTok phenomenon to No.1 in the German charts and more than 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify: German Hyperpop - so far - One-Hit Wonder Domiziana. Not sure if the hype can keep up for much longer and i have absolutely no idea on how to continue this success story in a promising way but i will let you know.
🍓 If you have been on TikTok lately you may have seen Trevor Rainbolt. The 23-year-old “Georainbolt” has racked up 16.5 million likes since October. From context clues, he can identify any region in an instant. He is a pro Google Maps aka GeoGuessr player. And he might help you with your next OSINT mission.
🍓 Back in the days (2006) we Rick(rolled). In 2002 it is Krissing. TikTok's latest obsession? Tricking unsuspecting targets into watching a video of Kris Jenner dancing to "Lady Marmalade." It's called "Krissing" (High Snobiety). I have not yet seen it out there in the plain open. You?
🍓 A couple of days ago i went to see some friends in the countryside and then it just happened. One of them was wearing a dress bought from Instagram. Shopping on video platforms is not new and not that extraordinary but i just had not experienced it IRL. Now i frantically check these 36 TikTok Products That Have Basically Changed The Entire Game and can not decide. What shall i buy to please the late-capitalist overlords?!
🍓 On my to do list: Reading COVID long haulers are sharing their realities on TikTok and checking out TikTok Dada.
This is the end. Speak soon.
Hi, learning styles are a neuromyth, there’s no evidence for them, rather some types of learning are better suited to different ways of teaching them. For instance flat pack furniture comes with diagrams rather than say audio files or long descriptive text.