In these articles I never see reference to the 'objective algorithm' aka what the business processes at TikTok are optimizing for. I think that's the real secret sauce.
TikTok is optimizing for user generated content that connects deeply with their users. Thats what they reward money which is largely derived from TikTok's "gift economy", and recommendations and therefore views are largely based on the gifts. This is in stark contrast with something like YouTube, which is optimizing for 'time spent on YouTube' which drives their creators to make longer clickbait type videos, regardless of how dissatisfying they are.
The recommendation algorithm described here could be tuned to serve any 'objective algorithm', like time spent, profit to Bytedance, or whatever- but because of TikTok's choices it is making a really fun an enjoyable experience for users.
Why would people spend time watching dissatisfying videos?
> content that connects deeply
I'd say "parasocially".
But how does the app measure that? It makes decisions based on a few seconds of watch time.
It could optimize for "show videos that trigger donations", but that's kind of trivial.
There might not be a simple topline objective everything is optimized for. More likely it's a linear combination of all kinds of dynamic business needs.
TikTok is optimizing for user generated content that connects deeply with their users. Thats what they reward money which is largely derived from TikTok's "gift economy", and recommendations and therefore views are largely based on the gifts. This is in stark contrast with something like YouTube, which is optimizing for 'time spent on YouTube' which drives their creators to make longer clickbait type videos, regardless of how dissatisfying they are.
The recommendation algorithm described here could be tuned to serve any 'objective algorithm', like time spent, profit to Bytedance, or whatever- but because of TikTok's choices it is making a really fun an enjoyable experience for users.