Replacing QVC

I was oblivious to its creation, but apparently there's a fediverse version of TikTok now. It's called Loops. People are already comparing them, talking about whether Loops can "compete" with TikTok, whether it'll attract the same audience and unfortunately that’s impossible.

Loops will never be TikTok. Not because it lacks the features or the technology or the video editing tools. It won't be TikTok because it's copying the output and not the purpose. TikTok isn't really a social media app, it’s QVC 2.0. A social shopping app that uses content to push people to its storefront. The memes are bait. The viral moments are packaging. The dance trends and recipe videos and whatever else floods your ‘For You’ page, all of it exists to move you towards one thing: making a purchase.

The entire platform is engineered around that goal. Every algorithmic decision, every feature addition, every creator fund payment is calculated to keep you watching long enough to see another product. The content creators, or the people you follow aren't the point. The products are. The endless stream of entertainment designed to hold your attention is what matters, and somewhere in that stream, you'll click buy.

This is why every attempt to build an "alternative" to these platforms fails to understand what they're actually replacing. You can't build a "better Twitter" or a "better Instagram" or a "better TikTok" by just copying the interface and removing the ads. Its a nice idea, but what users say they want, and what they consume are two opposing things.

I wrote before that Twitter should have been a blog because what people actually wanted was a place to write and read, not a place to be marketed to. Instagram should have stayed a photo app because what people actually wanted was to share moments, not curate a lifestyle brand. At least that’s what I thought at the time. Unfortunately I learnt was that users behaviour suggests they actually want to be distracted and make their lives better by buying stuff.

I am really glad Loops is building short-form video on the fediverse. If it succeeds, it'll be because it figures out what people actually want from short video, not because it managed to recreate TikTok without the shopping cart. The real challenge for Loops is existing on the internet without needing to extract maximum value from every second of their attention and how exactly do you pay your bills without that?