The Tao of TikTok

TikTok has become the key cultural currency and meme generator unleashing thousands of creators with followings of over a million people all around the world This article by Professor Scott Galloway is an absolute must read to understand the breathtaking rise of the platform Every individual and business stand to learn lessons from this amazing rise and its implications on the future of business media and cultureA moat can become a nooseThe key asset of Facebook was the network effects of its social graph all your quotfriendsquot were there making it very difficult to launch a new competing entity One of the few companies that did so with some success was Snap driven in great part by its sheer product and design ingenuity Its growth was blunted by Instagram carbon copying Stories and leveraging the strength of its scaleTikTok practiced asymmetric warfare by eschewing the social graph and replacing it with an interest graph Its algorithm and learning loops allowed individuals to be exposed to a spectrum of great content without having to bring any friends or create any content It then positioned itself as an entertainment platform versus a social platformNow Meta is responding by dialing down its social graph and working to create intent graphs with its Reels projects and by dialing up algorithmic results versus social graph results injecting all sorts of drugs into Instagram irking its users and creating some lurching Frankenstein mix of imagevideo and socialcontent graphOne should never underestimate Mark Zuckerberg and the very deep talent pool at Meta as they seek to dramatically pivot their business but a lesson to be learned is that assets can become anchors and to win as an outsider one needs to change the rules of the gameEvery company should pay attention to whether what made it great can keep it great and wonder whether its competitors are the usual suspects sharing its perch in heaven or someone emerging from the slime with audacious new rules of engagementFocus and simplicity winsEverything about TikTok is built around focus and simplicity You can start right away It39s simple to use You do not need friends You do not need to create content or enter any data to begin to enjoy the productAnd it is focused It39s just video one video that takes over the phone screen vertically No distractions for the viewerBut more importantly for the algorithm and the learning models which do not have to deal with anything else it sees everything and learns everything fast And as your interests change do you swipe linger replay it morphs and can stay current with your interests tastes and passions Fast clean and simpleCompanies and individuals who focus on core competencies and keep every part of the experience and what they do as simple as possible tend to win We see it in spades with TikTokGodlike power to unleash creatorsWhile a significant part of TikTok39s success is driven by its algorithms and training sets based on video usage plus simplicity a third factor is the very powerful tools it gives creators that make it easy for people who want to create to do so This includes all sorts of lenses and filters that give one much of the power of Adobe39s Creative Cloud on a phone with no need for expertise plus music tracks and the ability to sample build and morph other creators worksEvery individual has in them an ability to create and by enabling folks with amazing tools the power of music a set of starting blocks and an algorithm that enables newbies to break through not just those with large followings like the Kardashians on Instagram and Mr Beast on YouTube TikTok becomes the canvas for the rest of usFor those unheard from It is the platform for the rest of us The Apple versus the IBMThe best companies serve their customers and ideally enable empower and give them Godlike power Steve Jobs said a computer was a bicycle for the mind Apple has combined beautiful design utter simplicity and empowering tools to become the world39s most valuable companyTikTok is following the same rule book It is probably more loved by its creators and users than its competitors are because it enables empowers and entertains themToo many companies give lip service to empowering and enabling but it is becoming the currency of success as power moves to individuals talent consumers and customers Often senior leaders in companies are too far removed or too busy speaking to each other or drooling over some useless political machinations and power operas to understand the revolution that is upon them Smart leaders leave the towers of power and start thinking like creators and the builders they once were once againThe story and the spreadsheet versus just the story or the spreadsheetFor years the media business was driven by the belief that content was king This began to be suspect as Google and Facebook and others hoovered up all the dollars proving that the people who could point to and drive traffic to content while capturing intent along the way were kingThen the pendulum swung and it all became data with Facebook combining excellent data skills that algorithmically transformed soso content into an elixir that drove hundreds of billion dollarsNetflix once had people believing it had a data sauce when its real success was driven by the genius of Reed Hastings to anticipate streaming some firstclass content they made for themselves and the nocturnal slumber of their content partners who woke up a decade later to understand they had been fueling their competitor with their content Data played a part but just one part and by itself is no longer enoughNow that Disney HBO and others have caught up it is clear there is no special data sauce and its back to pricing and content This August it is going to be House of the Dragon HBO39s prequel to Game of Thrones versus Amazon39s Power of the Ring its Lord of the Rings spinoff versus Netflix39s Sandman and Disney39s SheHulk combined with all sorts of pricing bundlesTikTok combined the power of math algorithms and teaching models with music and movies video to create a juggernautTikTok is an example of story and spreadsheet coming together in harmonic balance Every successful firm of the future will combine creativity and data storytelling talent with data druids and technologistsExternal forces intervene in every businessEvery individual and business plan are at the mercy of the four forces driving the future These are the forces of multipolar globalization vs unipolar or western centric globalization demographic change including media behavior technology and the longterm impact of Covid19TikTok leveraged demographic shifts and technology of the second mobile and social and third AI and 5G connected ages to become what may be the future of entertainment and television But the geopolitical dynamics of multipolar globalization and its pressures ByteDance the owner of TikTok is a Chinese company have limited its efforts to go public or buy a television network or moreGeopolitics is the biggest nearterm challenge to TikTokMark Zuckerberg was not being subtle when he shared a picture of him surfing with an American flag in his hand Scott Galloway who is no fan of Mr Zuckerberg has constantly brought up some Manchurian Candidatelike scenarios that make him wary of TikTok tooA reality every successful individual and company CEO and company should never forget The external forces of globalization technology demographic changes and covid19 must be contended withClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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