TikTok TV?! [Content Made Simple]
Issue #251: Social media v. the world, money in the metaverse, and more.
Hey! Sorry this one is a bit late today. Been a busy day. Happy new year to all of you!
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TOP OF THE WEEK:
TikTok Is Coming Waiting Rooms and Restaurants Near You!
Quote:
TikTok — the hugely popular mobile video app with more than 1 billion users — has been taking its first steps to break into a new screen, the TV screen, launching and integrating a new app called TikTok TV first with Amazon Fire TV, and then Google TV and other Android TV OS devices, LG Smart TVs, and Samsung Smart TVs. Today comes news of another front in that strategy: TikTok has inked a partnership with Atmosphere, the startup that provides licensed and curated streamed video content for commercial venues like Westin, Taco Bell and Texas Roadhouse, as well as doctors’ offices, gyms and other venues where people spend dwelling time.
Initially, the partnership will see Atmosphere develop a new channel on its platform dedicated to curated TikTok videos. It will be the first time that TikTok content is being used for an out-of-home video service.
Commentary:
It is always so funny to me when new media platforms like TikTok make a move like this to go back in time and grow relevance and reach through old media platforms. Who among us wouldn’t like to see some goofy TikTok challenges through the haze of peanut-shell dust that coats a Texas Roadhouse waiting room?
HITTING THE LINKS
Link #1: Social Media Vs. the World
This is a really insightful article about the never-ending boxing match between social media platforms and political leaders/movements.
This is the dream that tech companies are only now waking from. Companies like Facebook play the role of the hostess — hoping for discussion that is lively enough to keep us in the room but not so heated that it will damage the furniture. But we can no longer pretend these opinions are safely cordoned off from the world. They are a part of the same power struggles that shape every other political arena. Worse, they are subject to the same dangers. We can only hope that, over the next 10 years, platforms find a better way to grapple with them.
Link #2: Money in the Metaverse
Some version or versions of the metaverse is the future of the social internet. Best that we get acquainted.
In recent months, the metaverse has been described as a kind of online place, combining virtual reality, augmented reality, the Internet, entertainment experiences, gaming, and remote work. The key idea is that, no matter what you’re doing in the metaverse, or where you are, your identities and assets will be multi-platform and transportable: you’ll be the same “you” at work and at leisure.
Link #3: Facebook Sued Over Death of Federal Officer
It’s been exactly one year since social media platforms had to reckon with their role in the insurrection at the United States Capitol. This recent lawsuit, though not from the insurrection, is just another example of some of the difficulties these platforms face in their relationship with users’ actions.
According to Facebook messages obtained by federal prosecutors, Carrillo met Robert Alvin Justus Jr., the driver of the vehicle from which he is alleged to have opened fire on Underwood, through Facebook groups for the Boogaloo movement, which first gained traction in early 2020 and espoused extreme anti-government views.
THE FUNNY PART
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