We open real soon tik tok3/11/2024 ![]() In fairness to TikTok and my algorithmized self, I haven’t given the platform much to go on. “There’s this feeling that it’s like you’re interacting with yourself.” Other people’s pain, as fed to me by TikTok. “They had these interesting theories about how they thought the algorithm worked and how they could influence it,” Bhandari said. It’s just that on TikTok, they’re doing it for the algorithm.Īparajita Bhandari, the study’s co-author, told me that many of the users she spoke to would like or comment on certain videos in order to tell the algorithm that they were interested in them and get more of the same. Some try to create a certain version of themselves for it, what the study’s authors call an “algorithmized self.” It’s like how, on other social media sites, people try to present themselves in a certain way to the people who follow them. ![]() According to a recent study of TikTok users and their relationship with the platform’s algorithm, most TikTok users are very aware that the algorithm exists and the significant role it plays in their experience on the platform. I’m not the only TikTok user who is concerned about what TikTok’s algorithm thinks of them. I don’t think this is true, but I am a journalist, so. I thought I didn’t like what TikTok was showing me, but I had to wonder if perhaps the algorithm picked up on something in my subconscious I didn’t know was there, something that really wants to observe other people’s misery. One reporter credited TikTok’s algorithm with knowing she was bisexual before she did, and she’s not the only person to do so. The algorithm knows you better than you know yourself, some say. That ability to figure out who its users are and then target content to them based on those assumptions is a major part of TikTok’s appeal. Those aren’t always the same thing, but as long as it keeps you on the app, that doesn’t really matter. It’s not about what you want to see, it’s about what you’ll watch. When you watch one of the videos it sends you, TikTok assumes you’re curious enough about the subject to watch similar content and feeds it to you. Watchtime is believed to be a major factor when it comes to what TikTok decides to show you more of. “The algorithm is taking advantage of a vulnerability of the human psyche, which is curiosity,” Emily Dreyfuss, a journalist at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center and co-author of the book Meme Wars, told me. You have to opt out of watching what TikTok wants you to see. ![]() There’s no way to open to the feed of accounts you follow or to disable the autoplay. The app opens automatically to it, and the videos autoplay. TikTok is designed to suck you in and keep you there, starting with its For You page. Just a few of the sad TikToks that regularly appear on my For You feed. Oh, I also get a lot of ads for mental health services, which makes sense considering the kind of person TikTok seems to think I am. “ Algospeak” - code words meant to get around TikTok’s moderation of certain topics or keywords - tells us that a boyfriend “unalived” himself or that a father “$eggsually aused” his daughter. ![]() Liberal use of TikTok’s text-to-speech feature means a cheerful robot-y woman’s voice might be narrating the action. Tears run down flawless, radiant, beauty-filtered cheeks. Videos are edited so that Bailey Zimmerman sings “that’s when I lost it” at the exact moment a woman reacts to finding out her mother is dead. The videos often have that distinctive TikTok style that adds a layer of surrealness to the whole thing, often with the latest music meme. I have somehow fallen into a rabbit hole, and it is full of rabbits that died before their time. Dead parents, dead children, dead pets, domestic violence, sexual assault, suicides, murders, electrocutions, illnesses, overdoses - if it’s terrible and someone has a personal story to tell about it, it’s probably in my For You feed. Sometimes they talk to the camera themselves, sometimes they rely on text overlays to tell the story for them while they dance, sometimes it’s photos or videos of them or a loved one injured and in the hospital, and sometimes it’s footage from Ring cameras that show people accidentally running over their own dog. To give you a sense of what I’m working with here, my For You page - that’s TikTok’s front door, a personalized stream of videos based on what its algorithm thinks you’ll like - is full of people’s stories about the worst thing that has ever happened to them. ![]() This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.įor more newsletters, check out our newsletters page. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. ![]()
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