That Fun TikTok Video? It’s Actually an Ad.
December 22, 2021 9:09 PM Subscribe
Brands are flocking to the platform like never before, drawn by its more than 1 billion users and its algorithm, which can make an ad seem like just another video. In reports shared with advertisers and obtained by The New York Times, TikTok said Gen Z users, defined as 18- to 24-year-olds, watched an average of more than 233 TikToks a day
Not shocked it's an ad farm in disguise. Aren't they all? And TikTok has always been even more aggressive than its predecessors on promoting, idk, an 'elevated lifestyle'. The fact that the backgrounds of most popular tiktoks feature super nice houses is not a coincidence.
To paraphrase someone smarter than me, I use this great filter called "if it's the kind of video I want to watch it'll end up on Tumblr anyway".
posted by kkar at 9:26 PM on December 22, 2021 [17 favorites]
To paraphrase someone smarter than me, I use this great filter called "if it's the kind of video I want to watch it'll end up on Tumblr anyway".
posted by kkar at 9:26 PM on December 22, 2021 [17 favorites]
"if it's the kind of video I want to watch it'll end up on Tumblr anyway”
Sshhhhh!!! We turned the lights off and pretended we weren’t home for a reason!
posted by Mizu at 9:49 PM on December 22, 2021 [31 favorites]
Sshhhhh!!! We turned the lights off and pretended we weren’t home for a reason!
posted by Mizu at 9:49 PM on December 22, 2021 [31 favorites]
I have bad news for you about that fun tweet.
And that fun Facebook story.
And that fun Reddit post.
And that fun Instagram photo.
posted by Hatashran at 10:10 PM on December 22, 2021 [14 favorites]
And that fun Facebook story.
And that fun Reddit post.
And that fun Instagram photo.
posted by Hatashran at 10:10 PM on December 22, 2021 [14 favorites]
@Hatashran at least none of those are purely a medium that moves or makes noise. I really cannot convey how much I detest video based social media. Reels? Stories? Fuck them all.
posted by kkar at 10:51 PM on December 22, 2021 [21 favorites]
posted by kkar at 10:51 PM on December 22, 2021 [21 favorites]
OTOH, Is online advertising about to crash, just like the property market did in 2008? — Our tendency to believe social media platforms’ claims of effectiveness is blinding us to what they are actually delivering, John Naughton, The Guardian Opinion, 27 Mar 2021:
posted by cenoxo at 10:52 PM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
Here’s a disturbing thought for those of us who are critics of the tech industry: are we unduly credulous about the capabilities of the technology as extolled by the companies and their paid evangelists? Did clever exploitation of social media really lead to the election of Trump and the Brexit vote in 2016, for example?The faster content changes, the faster readers get bored and churned.
At one level, the answer to that has to be “no”. Social media obviously played some role in those political earthquakes, but anyone who attributes seismic shocks on that scale just to tech companies hasn’t been paying attention to what’s been happening to democratic countries since the 1970s. Nor have they been reading the political science literature. Nevertheless, the drumbeat of angst about what networked technology and surveillance capitalism are doing to society continues to reverberate.
...the claims of the companies about the effectiveness of targeted advertising are, basically, too good to be true....
posted by cenoxo at 10:52 PM on December 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
the claims of the companies about the effectiveness of targeted advertising are, basically, too good to be true
The claims of all advertisers about the effectiveness of advertising have always been too good to be true.
The single most successful sales pitch any advertising outfit ever makes is the one that induces potential customers to buy into the collective protection racket: "nice little business you have here, shame if everybody heard of your competitors first".
If the entire advertising industry were to be teleported into the centre of the Sun tomorrow, and businesses and customers just had to rely on hearing about stuff directly and spontaneously from people who already use it, then not only would the onset of actual competition start driving everything offered for sale toward getting better, but without the frankly obscene amounts currently being siphoned off by marketing rentiers it would all cost us less as well.
posted by flabdablet at 2:33 AM on December 23, 2021 [15 favorites]
The claims of all advertisers about the effectiveness of advertising have always been too good to be true.
The single most successful sales pitch any advertising outfit ever makes is the one that induces potential customers to buy into the collective protection racket: "nice little business you have here, shame if everybody heard of your competitors first".
If the entire advertising industry were to be teleported into the centre of the Sun tomorrow, and businesses and customers just had to rely on hearing about stuff directly and spontaneously from people who already use it, then not only would the onset of actual competition start driving everything offered for sale toward getting better, but without the frankly obscene amounts currently being siphoned off by marketing rentiers it would all cost us less as well.
posted by flabdablet at 2:33 AM on December 23, 2021 [15 favorites]
Sounds like a great way to convince kids to watch less TikTok.
posted by subdee at 3:22 AM on December 23, 2021
posted by subdee at 3:22 AM on December 23, 2021
more than 233 TikToks a day
tiktok georg
posted by Literaryhero at 3:46 AM on December 23, 2021 [20 favorites]
tiktok georg
posted by Literaryhero at 3:46 AM on December 23, 2021 [20 favorites]
As far as pivot to video and social media and advertising, there’s always the fun story of how Facebook straight out lied about their metrics to get media companies to post their videos directly to the site instead of hosting them on their own sites. This, of course, is how College Humor, Funny or Die, and a shit ton of previously profitable blogs and news sites died, with Facebook only paying a $40 million fine for it. Online advertising has pretty much always been a scam, and it’ll be interesting to see what the web looks like after all of this plays out.
I do enjoy much of what I see from Tiktok, as it is carefully curated and shows up on twitter, as befitting someone of my advanced age.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:51 AM on December 23, 2021 [17 favorites]
I do enjoy much of what I see from Tiktok, as it is carefully curated and shows up on twitter, as befitting someone of my advanced age.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:51 AM on December 23, 2021 [17 favorites]
Just wait until those influencers and their oh-so-subtle advertisements show up in your own living room instead of theirs, thanks to the television screen Facebook Meta wants everyone to wear 24/7.
posted by emelenjr at 5:52 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by emelenjr at 5:52 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Gross. I'm reminded of the final scene in "They Live."
posted by spitbull at 5:58 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by spitbull at 5:58 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
In other "TikTok SikSuks" news: New Yorkers are starting to push back against the "New York City Lifetstyle" that influencers show on TikTok all the time - "we're not $8 coffees and Soho shopping every day".
And now I'm wondering how many of the videos they're talking about are secretly ads themselves.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:46 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
And now I'm wondering how many of the videos they're talking about are secretly ads themselves.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:46 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
watched an average of more than 233 TikToks a day
Spiders Georg may live in a cave, but I guess he also has a TikTok account.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:50 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Spiders Georg may live in a cave, but I guess he also has a TikTok account.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:50 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
The fact that the backgrounds of most popular tiktoks feature super nice houses is not a coincidence.
I had to drop it because every middle class US kitchen looks bigger than my whole apartment.
posted by brachiopod at 7:10 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
I had to drop it because every middle class US kitchen looks bigger than my whole apartment.
posted by brachiopod at 7:10 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
And now I'm wondering how many of the videos they're talking about are secretly ads themselves.
Secretly? I think it's always been kinda evident that influencers were largely paid promos to one degree or another.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:13 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Secretly? I think it's always been kinda evident that influencers were largely paid promos to one degree or another.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:13 AM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Sounds like a great way to convince kids to watch less TikTok.
Just make TikTok more appealing to their parents, and that will kill it for sure.
posted by cenoxo at 7:18 AM on December 23, 2021 [11 favorites]
Just make TikTok more appealing to their parents, and that will kill it for sure.
posted by cenoxo at 7:18 AM on December 23, 2021 [11 favorites]
"New York City Lifetstyle" that influencers show on TikTok all the time - "we're not $8 coffees and Soho shopping every day".
The only kind of "New York Lifestyle" that interests me is of the lifestyle of John Wilson. Of course that just shows I'm old because young people clearly don't watch television.
posted by deadaluspark at 7:36 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
The only kind of "New York Lifestyle" that interests me is of the lifestyle of John Wilson. Of course that just shows I'm old because young people clearly don't watch television.
posted by deadaluspark at 7:36 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
I would use Tik Tok more but I only get boring videos of politicians dancing or Canadians doing their weird "I'm a CANADIAN! I like TIM'S! I don't feel the cold, EH?" fervent nationalism thing.
posted by Stoof at 8:08 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Stoof at 8:08 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
I've been on tiktok for years, and I can assure you that it is immediately obvious, like within 2-3 seconds max, that something is an ad. Also they all have a highlighted 'Sponsored' tag. You can scroll past these just like any other video. I am also in my 40s, and so are a lot of users and content creators on this platform.
Users are not helplessly subjected to endless lifestyle-envy content trying to sell you things. The messaging around this has always seemed ridiculous to me -- this is how TV works, not how social media works.
One of the reasons people like tiktok so much is how curatable it is. It took me maybe an hour on platform before I found the art/foraging/linguistics/weird history content I like, and there it stayed, which is more than I can say for Instagram. You have to actively seek out and engage with the content you want though. The algorithm is good, but you still have to give it something to work with.
The whole point is that you are not just a passive consumer -- you can find content you like and have actual dialogs with these creators and other commenters, and build relationships or at least get questions answered. Not everyone on platform is trying to sell you something. Sometimes people just like to share their hobbies and interests, though capitalism may want you to believe and behave otherwise.
posted by ananci at 8:25 AM on December 23, 2021 [18 favorites]
Users are not helplessly subjected to endless lifestyle-envy content trying to sell you things. The messaging around this has always seemed ridiculous to me -- this is how TV works, not how social media works.
One of the reasons people like tiktok so much is how curatable it is. It took me maybe an hour on platform before I found the art/foraging/linguistics/weird history content I like, and there it stayed, which is more than I can say for Instagram. You have to actively seek out and engage with the content you want though. The algorithm is good, but you still have to give it something to work with.
The whole point is that you are not just a passive consumer -- you can find content you like and have actual dialogs with these creators and other commenters, and build relationships or at least get questions answered. Not everyone on platform is trying to sell you something. Sometimes people just like to share their hobbies and interests, though capitalism may want you to believe and behave otherwise.
posted by ananci at 8:25 AM on December 23, 2021 [18 favorites]
Not everyone on platform is trying to sell you something. Sometimes people just like to share their hobbies and interests, though capitalism may want you to believe and behave otherwise.
I'm just gonna go out on a geopolitical limb here and say China is probably subtly pushing all kinds of fucking propaganda to the States (and elsewhere) through this apparatus, the same way that the US did with Facebook.
So the idea that someone isn't trying to sell you an idea on TikTok just because it isn't "an ad" is fucking absurd on it's face. The algorithm isn't designed to minimize access to things that make China look bad for no reason.
Unless things have changed, I don't see how blocking posts that are negative on China but promoting posts that are negative on hostile foreign nations (such as the US) are unrealistic things to expect from TikTok.
The whole point is that you are not just a passive consumer
That's exactly what the best propaganda wants you to think, that you're not just passive, you're actively involved. The best slave is the one who thinks they're free.
posted by deadaluspark at 9:22 AM on December 23, 2021 [13 favorites]
I'm just gonna go out on a geopolitical limb here and say China is probably subtly pushing all kinds of fucking propaganda to the States (and elsewhere) through this apparatus, the same way that the US did with Facebook.
So the idea that someone isn't trying to sell you an idea on TikTok just because it isn't "an ad" is fucking absurd on it's face. The algorithm isn't designed to minimize access to things that make China look bad for no reason.
Unless things have changed, I don't see how blocking posts that are negative on China but promoting posts that are negative on hostile foreign nations (such as the US) are unrealistic things to expect from TikTok.
The whole point is that you are not just a passive consumer
That's exactly what the best propaganda wants you to think, that you're not just passive, you're actively involved. The best slave is the one who thinks they're free.
posted by deadaluspark at 9:22 AM on December 23, 2021 [13 favorites]
I can assure you that it is immediately obvious, like within 2-3 seconds max, that something is an ad. Also they all have a highlighted 'Sponsored' tag.
Click through to the profile and if there is a link to their business/gofundme/LinkedIn - then it is an ad.
I see tonnes of unsponsored ads on TT, often the creator has a few good tips to pull you in before buying their services. Also I get lots of lesbian thirst traps, which is another kind of ad. Definitely the ratio of ads to authentic content is skewed highly towards ads.
posted by saucysault at 9:33 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
Click through to the profile and if there is a link to their business/gofundme/LinkedIn - then it is an ad.
I see tonnes of unsponsored ads on TT, often the creator has a few good tips to pull you in before buying their services. Also I get lots of lesbian thirst traps, which is another kind of ad. Definitely the ratio of ads to authentic content is skewed highly towards ads.
posted by saucysault at 9:33 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
Please! TikTok as a medium is so yesterday for digital advertisers... the next step is to get you to pay for the NFT of the advertisement. So sure... TikTok is a tool... but the platform? That's everywhere everything... Incidentally, is anyone here interested in being endorsed by Adidas*?
*Contractually accepting the endorsement by Adidas** includes receiving a small 3" x 3" logo tattoo to be prominently displayed on the right side of the Adidas Digital Asset's forehead. Additionally, you will no longer be considered a person, but as indicated, an official Adidas Digital Asset.
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:05 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
*Contractually accepting the endorsement by Adidas** includes receiving a small 3" x 3" logo tattoo to be prominently displayed on the right side of the Adidas Digital Asset's forehead. Additionally, you will no longer be considered a person, but as indicated, an official Adidas Digital Asset.
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:05 AM on December 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
deadaluspark: I'm just gonna go out on a geopolitical limb here and say China is probably subtly pushing all kinds of fucking propaganda to the States (and elsewhere) through this apparatus, the same way that the US did with Facebook.
In the US last week, school districts were on heightened alert after a “shoot up your school day” made the rounds on Tiktok. No specific place or act, just a nebulous threat for a specific day. Nobody from the platform came forward to say if it was some dopey kids, a troll account, propaganda mill, etc; just faded away. You can bet if the message was “Taiwan is a country, Free Tibet, Long Live Falun Gong”, it wouldn’t have lasted long.
posted by dr_dank at 10:37 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
In the US last week, school districts were on heightened alert after a “shoot up your school day” made the rounds on Tiktok. No specific place or act, just a nebulous threat for a specific day. Nobody from the platform came forward to say if it was some dopey kids, a troll account, propaganda mill, etc; just faded away. You can bet if the message was “Taiwan is a country, Free Tibet, Long Live Falun Gong”, it wouldn’t have lasted long.
posted by dr_dank at 10:37 AM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm generally a gung-ho descriptivist when it comes to language, but the current usage of 'creator' to mean 'somebody who posts lots of crap online' really grinds my gears in the worst way.
posted by signal at 11:02 AM on December 23, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by signal at 11:02 AM on December 23, 2021 [10 favorites]
I'm not too worried about TikTokers doing NYC content - it's not as if there aren't already hundreds of movies and TV shows romanticizing the city. As for gentrification, I'm not sure how you can gentrify Soho any further.
posted by airmail at 11:21 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by airmail at 11:21 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
As for gentrification, I'm not sure how you can gentrify Soho any further.
The gentrification fears are about people in other neighborhoods feeling like they're going to be pushed out by influencers who are looking for cheap starter apartments, who then stick around and gentrify THOSE neighborhoods.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:38 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
The gentrification fears are about people in other neighborhoods feeling like they're going to be pushed out by influencers who are looking for cheap starter apartments, who then stick around and gentrify THOSE neighborhoods.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:38 AM on December 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
"Mercury is in Gatorade™, so detox with Noodle-brand fresh bone broth. It is a bones day!"
posted by k3ninho at 12:21 PM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by k3ninho at 12:21 PM on December 23, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm almost 45 years old, and I have to say, TikTok is pretty great. There's a shitload of creative content, it's frequently laugh out loud funny, and their algorithm somehow doesn't suck, I've never gotten a recommendation for some sort of alt-right shitlord video, unlike some other video platforms I could mention. Also, the specific features on TikTok for building on other users' content encourage creative remixes and downplays copyright insanity. What could be better?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:37 PM on December 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:37 PM on December 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
I'm generally a gung-ho descriptivist when it comes to language, but the current usage of 'creator' to mean 'somebody who posts lots of crap online' really grinds my gears in the worst way.
Pish posh... What do you think God was doing on the 7th day resting? The truth was, he was streaming fortnite and doing a host of unboxing and ASMR videos...
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:18 PM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Pish posh... What do you think God was doing on the 7th day resting? The truth was, he was streaming fortnite and doing a host of unboxing and ASMR videos...
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:18 PM on December 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
The best slave is the one who thinks they're free.
Slavery is watching someone explain how to tell honey mushrooms from their toxic lookalikes? I have yet to buy anything from or based on a tiktok video. It's not, like, compulsory.
Also I get lots of lesbian thirst traps, which is another kind of ad.
If 'ads' for gayness are making you question your sexuality, I have some good news for you :)
the current usage of 'creator' to mean 'somebody who posts lots of crap online' really grinds my gears in the worst way.
Creating engaging videos is a skill set, much like creating well-crafted text comments. Is posting frequently on Metafilter the same? Is it different? How?
Yes, social media can be used for unpleasantness and manipulative ends. But that is not the whole truth, as I'm sure you all know. I guess I just expected more nuanced views from MeFites.
posted by ananci at 10:04 PM on December 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
Slavery is watching someone explain how to tell honey mushrooms from their toxic lookalikes? I have yet to buy anything from or based on a tiktok video. It's not, like, compulsory.
Also I get lots of lesbian thirst traps, which is another kind of ad.
If 'ads' for gayness are making you question your sexuality, I have some good news for you :)
the current usage of 'creator' to mean 'somebody who posts lots of crap online' really grinds my gears in the worst way.
Creating engaging videos is a skill set, much like creating well-crafted text comments. Is posting frequently on Metafilter the same? Is it different? How?
Yes, social media can be used for unpleasantness and manipulative ends. But that is not the whole truth, as I'm sure you all know. I guess I just expected more nuanced views from MeFites.
posted by ananci at 10:04 PM on December 23, 2021 [5 favorites]
I had to drop it because every middle class US kitchen looks bigger than my whole apartment.
Those dump it on the counter recipes! I'd watch it and be like "You have counter space?"
posted by srboisvert at 4:39 AM on December 24, 2021
Those dump it on the counter recipes! I'd watch it and be like "You have counter space?"
posted by srboisvert at 4:39 AM on December 24, 2021
Yep, this all tracks. I started using TikTok a few months ago and find it’s an amazingly effective way to kill time; some things are great about it and others bothersome. But like old school TV, the ads are annoying.
I am still old enough to roll my eyes and sigh when people I sought out on TikTok start selling shit. But then there’s a real question and interesting angle here beyond what the article purports to address: why is this the way that social media - definitely before TikTok too! - is being used? Commercial forces, sure. No one is watching live TV with ads, sure. But what in our systems and values has led many, many people to resort to shilling random stuff to millions of random people to get a buck? When the promise of being an independent contractor grossing $5-10k/month making videos is out there, and the alternatives pale in comparison, shouldn’t there be a more thoughtful look as to why that’s happening and - also - not necessarily going in assuming it’s bad?
Instead this is a little more, “Heh, ads on TikTok, how about that!” Which… sure. It’s the commercial internet. Nothing new under the sun.
posted by hijinx at 6:10 AM on December 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
I am still old enough to roll my eyes and sigh when people I sought out on TikTok start selling shit. But then there’s a real question and interesting angle here beyond what the article purports to address: why is this the way that social media - definitely before TikTok too! - is being used? Commercial forces, sure. No one is watching live TV with ads, sure. But what in our systems and values has led many, many people to resort to shilling random stuff to millions of random people to get a buck? When the promise of being an independent contractor grossing $5-10k/month making videos is out there, and the alternatives pale in comparison, shouldn’t there be a more thoughtful look as to why that’s happening and - also - not necessarily going in assuming it’s bad?
Instead this is a little more, “Heh, ads on TikTok, how about that!” Which… sure. It’s the commercial internet. Nothing new under the sun.
posted by hijinx at 6:10 AM on December 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
I guess I just expected more nuanced views from MeFites.
Literally ignores that they are owned by a Chinese company and mention of the "Shoot Up Your School Day" promoted in the US on TikTok. This wasn't an "ad" but it certainly affected the US and perceptions worldwide of the US, and that matters.
I guess I just expected more nuanced views from MeFites other than "I haven't bought anything from it, so it can't be all bad!"
posted by deadaluspark at 9:08 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Literally ignores that they are owned by a Chinese company and mention of the "Shoot Up Your School Day" promoted in the US on TikTok. This wasn't an "ad" but it certainly affected the US and perceptions worldwide of the US, and that matters.
I guess I just expected more nuanced views from MeFites other than "I haven't bought anything from it, so it can't be all bad!"
posted by deadaluspark at 9:08 AM on December 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
The sponsored content are the clearly marked official ads but the insidious ads are the lifestyle videos pushed by Mormons.
posted by fragmede at 9:47 PM on December 25, 2021
posted by fragmede at 9:47 PM on December 25, 2021
Mercury is in Gatorade
and Jupiter aligns with Mars
posted by flabdablet at 6:26 PM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
and Jupiter aligns with Mars
posted by flabdablet at 6:26 PM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
If 'ads' for gayness are making you question your sexuality, I have some good news for you
Haha, I am a lesbian, so the only thing I question is how TT knows I am a femme and keeps sending me so many masc/butch thirst traps.
posted by saucysault at 8:41 AM on January 13, 2022
Haha, I am a lesbian, so the only thing I question is how TT knows I am a femme and keeps sending me so many masc/butch thirst traps.
posted by saucysault at 8:41 AM on January 13, 2022
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That doesn't sound healthy to me.
/Reaches for VCR remote.
posted by Beholder at 9:24 PM on December 22, 2021 [4 favorites]