I deleted TikTok off my iPhone. Here's why...

[Sanj Modha]

TikTok is Chinese spyware. Full stop.

I mean, Facebook is American spyware, but I'm not ashamed to proclaim where my sympathies lie and where they don't lie.

No real interest on buying ads on it, either. Unfortunately, people follow the money.

TikTok is Facebook before the Cambridge Analytica scandal and with less oversight.

 

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[Sanj Modha]

I am very fortunate to be born not addicted to social media.

I find it a hassle. I was often reminded by peers “please check your whatsapp/facebook) in college.

I have to force myself to be more familiar with social media because my friend and I are doing online content creation projects.

Yeah, I don't care about social media either. The only reason I have a FB account is that I need it to run ads.

 

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[Deleted78083]

Why would you even have it on your phone really

 

[Val Okafor]

Umm, for real, what the hell is TikTok? I know I can google it but I haven't bothered.

 

[Sanj Modha]

I've been hearing sketchy things about tiktok ever since it started getting popular. Never had an account, probably never will.

I still end up seeing tik toks though, because people rip them and put them on insta, FB, and snapchat.

And from what I understand, the app is just one big dopamine machine. It sucks you in to the app and keeps you scrolling. I struggle with distraction as it is, I don't need the social media equivalent to heroin on my phone.

Unless you're a 12 year old girl who has nothing else to do I don't see the point of grown men being on tik tok. And the fact that apparently there are a bunch of 8-10 year olds that are followed by middle age men is sickening.

Some of the content is pretty cool like the NBA videos. Aside from that - it's a big waste of time.

The reason I installed the app is:

1 - I'm currently going through TikTok's onboarding so we can run ads to our stores.
2 - I use it to spy on competitor ads. We using their angles on our Snapchat and IG Stories campaigns.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Microsoft has full access to our PC's data (if you use Windows), you have to follow some specific steps to fully disable the telemetery, and most of them include fiddling with the PowerShell. Not everyone is capable or willing to do it.

The same goes for Apple's computers, though I don't know if / how to disable the data they send back to the company.

Apple and Google also have been collecting all the same exact data TikTok has over the years with their iOs and Android smartphones, but most people seem to not have particularly cared so far.

I use a Mac and iPhone for work - you can disable the data you send back to them and they're transparent about that. Not sure how deep it goes though.

I haven't used Windows in like 10 years so who knows?

 

[Xeon]

You would think that but we're running some hair extension campaigns to < 18 yo on IG Stories and it's converting like fire.

What's the cost per click for those IG stories ads you run? Also, what's your budget?
For the demographics, did you do broad (everyone in US/CA/AU/NZ/UK etc.) or narrow (age + country + multiple interests)?

 

[Ing]

Edit: ( no value)
OP thanks for sharing.

 

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[Sanj Modha]

Why would you even have it on your phone really

It's a great spy tool to get ideas for my Snap, Pinterest and IG Stories ads.

 

[Tom J]

Hello,

Tik-Tok was made in China - and it is one of the reasons I don't trust it or use it. To be quite frank, I don't understand the appeal of Tik-Tok at all.

Tik-Tok tracks everything about you - and when you launch this app you probably don't know this, and you probably have no idea where and who all of this personal information goes to.

Putting ads on platforms such as Tik-Tok is not something I would do - the money goes to these companies. Sorry, but these companies do not deserve my hard-earned cash; ads only support them.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Tom J]

All apps track everything you do. They are, after all, tech companies.

There's a reason why FB is worth $500bn with $54bn sat in the bank and as someone who's been running FB ads since 2012 - it was AMAZING! The level of targeting we had access to was unparalleled.

Unfortunately for FB (and us), that all came crashing down after the Cambridge Analytica scandal when they removed some of the best targeting options.

The real question people need to ask is: who do you trust more with your data - China or the West?

Hello Sanj,

These days you can't trust any social media company whatsoever.

This is the exact reason I do not use any form of social media. Social media is not social but anti-social; for me, personally, it's a waste of my time.

China or the West? Who do I trust more? I don't trust either of them with my information to be honest with you. But if I had to pick over the two I would choose the West.

Again, every social media platform tracks you, but many parents of Tik-Tok users are blissfully unaware that their kids' information is being tracked. This is a serious problem.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Sanj Modha]

I guess I'll have to find a burner phone and install it on that.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Why did you have that app installed in the first place?

I want to run TikTok ads to my ecomms.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

Yeah, I don't care about social media either. The only reason I have a FB account is that I need it to run ads.

I use FB for some groups, but yeah, with you on this.

 

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[Sanj Modha]

Running TikTok ads to sell eCommerce products is one business use that I've been using. Only spent around $19K promoting my products on there. I think it has the potential to reach Facebook's level of effectiveness, but they still need to work on their algorithm because my ads get cheap sales but then stop spending.

How quickly did you get approved for the ads? They're taking ages with us.

 

[Xeon]

Running TikTok ads to sell eCommerce products is one business use that I've been using. Only spent around $19K promoting my products on there. I think it has the potential to reach Facebook's level of effectiveness, but they still need to work on their algorithm because my ads get cheap sales but then stop spending.

Maybe because majority of TT's demographics are still kids with no money to spend?
Speaking of which, I need to ask those TT's kids for lunch money.

 

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[daniel_m]

It just got banned in India for security reasons.

Even if it wasn't banned, still everyone should uninstall it.
There are many reasons,but one most important one would be :
It just kills your ability to focus for a long time.

From books (few months to finish)we shifted to movies(2-3 hours),then to YouTube videos(10-20 min),and now tiktok (10-30 sec).

It is just killing our attention span.

No Fastlaner should use it.(at least not by consumer side)

hm, what about 2 hour long podcasts and 4 hour long video game streams? I'd argue that surprisingly, there is a shift in the opposite direction and people are consuming a ton of long form content nowadays.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Took a few months, I was approved back in January. They also gave us NET 90 day payment terms, but honestly I haven't cracked the platform and would rather spend on Facebook because their system is fine tuned. TT ads don't spend, has nothing to do with the demographics. There's definitely buyers on there, but if you select a traffic campaign, it just spends and gets low value users that don't convert.

Conversion campaigns bring in high value users, but don't spend or get impressions. The reps at TT basically told me that there's nothing that can be done, they're still working on the platform to fix the bugs. They recommend doing traffic, then re-target with conversions but that performs terrible as well.

This sounds like the early days of Pinterest - I just couldn't get the ads to spend money.

 

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[Sanj Modha]

hm, what about 2 hour long podcasts and 4 hour long video game streams? I'd argue that surprisingly, there is a shift in the opposite direction and people are consuming a ton of long form content nowadays.

India's reasons are political - they banned 60 Chinese apps in total.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Hello,

Tik-Tok was made in China - and it is one of the reasons I don't trust it or use it. To be quite frank, I don't understand the appeal of Tik-Tok at all.

Tik-Tok tracks everything about you - and when you launch this app you probably don't know this, and you probably have no idea where and who all of this personal information goes to.

Putting ads on platforms such as Tik-Tok is not something I would do - the money goes to these companies. Sorry, but these companies do not deserve my hard-earned cash; ads only support them.

Thanks,

Tom

All apps track everything you do. They are, after all, tech companies.

There's a reason why FB is worth $500bn with $54bn sat in the bank and as someone who's been running FB ads since 2012 - it was AMAZING! The level of targeting we had access to was unparalleled.

Unfortunately for FB (and us), that all came crashing down after the Cambridge Analytica scandal when they removed some of the best targeting options.

The real question people need to ask is: who do you trust more with your data - China or the West?

 

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[ATipster]

Again, every social media platform tracks you, but many parents of Tik-Tok users are blissfully unaware that their kids' information is being tracked. This is a serious problem.

Then they're unaware about many more things that are possibly more dangerous and worrisome than this.
TikTok is a Chinese company. Chinese government = surveillance and abuse of privacy. Chinese companies = Chinese government. No ifs or buts. If there's anybody concerned with privacy, installing app like TikTok should be the last thing they do.

 

[Kid]

ugh.. read somewhere that US gov is considering TikTok ban

 

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