Business | Schumpeter

TikTok isn’t silly. It’s serious

It is disrupting America’s social-media landscape

“WHEN YOU gaze into TikTok, TikTok gazes into you,” wrote Eugene Wei, a tech blogger, in 2020, explaining the almost clairvoyant nature of TikTok. What the algorithm sees as it gazes into your columnist, a neophyte user, is anyone’s guess: a random feed delivers tips on how to design a ball gown, someone barking at a dog, Rod Stewart with a hankie on his head, and (phew!) Maya Angelou reciting “Phenomenal Woman”.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Creative seduction”

Beware the bossy state

From the January 15th 2022 edition

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