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TikTok Remix Culture

(twitter.com)
327 points demail | 1 comments | 15 May 21 00:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.212s | source
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herpderperator ◴[15 May 21 03:01 UTC] No.27161933[source]▶
I think part of TikTok's success is the fact that they have a public/guest browser platform[0] that doesn't restrict you from seeing content without an account. It means people who wouldn't usually have the mobile app can still be a part of the action, and that may eventually drive them to sign up.

It's actually almost unbelievable that you can browse endlessly and never once be prompted to sign up unless you try to engage in some way. Instagram, Reddit, Twitter etc all bother you from the very second you load the page with modals and banners bullying you into signing up or getting their mobile app, if they let you see anything at all.

[0] https://www.tiktok.com/foryou

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1. ehsankia ◴[15 May 21 18:57 UTC] No.27167890[source]▶
That definitely plays a role, but I think the much bigger factor is how it lets anyone download & share the video file (at least by default, which most don't change). These days, half of reddit, twitter and discord is just filled with TikTok videos. Even Reels and Shorts are full of TikTok videos, you can tell by the watermark. So much so that Reels had to forcefully derank videos with the TikTok watermark on them.

This has helped Tiktok spread and grow very quickly. Hell the very link on this post is from Twitter and has almost 100k retweets...