Link: “The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok” 04.02.2023

Seemingly everyone has shared this link already, but I’mma do it anyway. This article is a pretty insightful analysis of how economic imperatives compel big social media companies to “enshittify” their service – basically once they lock users in, they tweak the algorithms to put in more and more “sponsored content” so they can get more money. It also explains that once they’ve locked in the brands/advertisers (who give up their ability to reach customers outside these tech giants’ platforms), their next step is to also squeeze the brands – e.g. Amazon cannibalises sales that could’ve gone to independent businesses by releasing their own, cheaper knock-offs; and Facebook limits the “reach” of brands’ posts to only minuscule numbers of their own followers unless they cough up loads of money. Apparently, TikTok is heading down this same path.