What's Up with TikTok?
Can we talk for a minute? … about TikTok?
I know, I know… I haven’t always been super jazzed about the platform.
BUT, it has filled an important role since X/Twitter descended into whatever you call that desolate wasteland these days.
It’s not *just* booty shaking on TikTok. 👯♀️
There are meaningful conversations. Creators. …. Folks like us making connections. 💪
That’s why the TikTok bill passed by the US House of Representatives is so concerning.
Does it ban TikTok? No.
But it puts it on the path to a ban unless TikTok divests itself from its parent company, ByteDance, and stores American data on US servers.
The bill arose from concerns about TikTok’s connections to the Chinese government and the safety of US data and privacy.
(I wish they cared this much about our privacy all the time.)
I’ve written about Zoom, AI, and even Google privacy concerns.
I haven’t touched on privacy and social media.
Why? Because it’s a non-starter as far as I’m concerned. Whatever you put out there on social … you cannot have any illusion of privacy.
None.
It doesn’t matter which platform you use.
If you care about privacy, stay off social media and get a landline. ☎️
Social is being mined, sold, and used at every turn. By social media companies, data brokers, and ads companies (heck, even your own company if you run social media ads). 💸💸
Who would profit most from the demise of TikTok? Other social media companies, of course (follow the money).
BUT…
To bring this back to what I do …
I am saddened that a platform where so many folks are making connections (and building businesses) could go the way of the dodo bird (… or should we say the Twitter bird). 🐥🐥
Social media companies come and go.
My colleague David and I have said it for years...
You don’t own your social media followers.
Do everything you can to get followers onto a platform you do own.
Like an email list.
… or better yet a client list.