The idea of meritocracy
What is playing out in the world of social apps reminds me of what is happening in the analog world today
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Over the last few months, two things have dominated the news cycle in both North America and India (Given that I have one foot in Toronto & one in Delhi I try and follow what is happening in both the places) - the pandemic and TikTok!
In India TikTok was extremely popular among certain cohorts but still remained on the fringe, however, the June 29th ban of TikTok by the Indian Government (in response to a border clash with China) brought the company into focus for the masses. Something similar has happened in the US. On August 3rd, US President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the United States unless TikTok sold its business to a "very American" company by September 15th - TikTok, the company, became prime time newsworthy!
One can argue that these two democracies have attacked this company because in a lot of ways TikTok in 2020 has become a symbol of the new rising, tech-enabled China which the governments in the two countries feel must be contained. This itself makes for a great discussion but a lot has already been written about this by people who know far more about the topic than I do.
For me, the most fascinating layer of this entire story is how TikTok has become the first Chinese company to truly be a global consumer phenomenon. It has managed to do what Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent have yet to do - become part of the popular culture outside of China.
To understand how this happened one must spend some time to deconstruct how this app (which for the average non-user is just a bunch of teenagers dancing, lip-syncing, and playing pranks with their dogs) became such a cultural force. The more I think about it the more I realize that TikTok and its users are in a way rejecting the state of the world they find themselves in.
The first thing to understand about TikTok is that it is not really a social media app like say Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn where most users (baring a few power users/influencers) are connected to people who they know in real life (IRL). In that sense, it is probably closer to Twitter or YouTube where the typical creator is followed by people who don't know this individual IRL. However, these older platforms are limited by one key problem - they put pressure on the user to find the right accounts to follow - the user has the burden to curate his or her own experience. In the case of TikTok, the algorithm curates your experience....and that has made all the difference!!
At the heart of what made TikTok so popular is that it broke away from the "follower" concept and instead let its algorithm pick videos that you would be most interested in. While this has obvious benefits for the user it also immensely helps creators.
Creators can focus on their content without worrying about distribution. One of the biggest myths is that the internet is a meritocratic place. Ask any new user who has recently joined Twitter, YouTube, or Instagram how frustrating it is to build an audience and get their voice heard. They are forever competing with the "Bigger accounts" who over time have built a large number of followers/subscribers. The big accounts have their distribution sorted and so even average content does well while smaller accounts are constantly trying to get people to hear them while simultaneously focusing on the quality of their content. A few enjoy the challenge of creating + selling however for most this leads to discouragement which eventually leads to an exit (I am certain that the number of dormant Twitter accounts is probably equal to the population of at least a small European country). The big get bigger while for an outsider it takes enormous effort to break into this system.
In a lot of ways what is playing out in the world of these social apps reminds me of what is happening in the analog world today - especially in America. For the longest time almost everyone from around the world who was ambitious and had the capacity to work hard and hustle wanted to go to the US - it was the land of opportunity where new talent got discovered (irrespective of where he/she came from). The opportunities in the US could change their life trajectory. Most people perceived it to be a society based on meritocracy.
In the last few years, that dream has slowly been dismantled.
In a lot of ways, this is similar to what has happened on some of these older social apps. The notion of meritocracy is dead and these apps are now closed groups where a few dominate players end up crowding out the newbies (in most cases this is unintentional - because distribution >>> content).
Maybe the adoption of TikTok by Gen Z has a message for all of us - it is time we dismantle old structures and systems where a few privileged elites get access (think college, job opportunities, mentorship, etc) and instead, we need to try and find a new model which rewards meritocracy so that the trajectory of your life is not determined by the Ovarian lottery!
I would love to hear from you, feedback is always welcome!
Stumbled upon this and gladly so. Content has continued to evolve in terms of the consumption mass as well as the format. A part of this new culture that raises a red flag is the amount of sudden exposure it brings to the active age cohort these platforms have.
While weighing the positives, what thoughts do you have on the other side of it?