Of Seesmic, TikTok and Qik

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Internet coelacanths like @documentally remember a different era. We remember internet video communities in the early days of Seesmic and Qik. Seesmic was a video instant messaging platform. We could either post disconnected videos about anything, or we could reply to each other and have converssations. KDFA had "Le Bar est ouvert", Documentally had the English language equivalent. We had conversations on a daily basis.

Every week, if I remember the frequency correctly we had Seesmix, a summary of the top videos either from that day or that week. The conversation was strong. We had the "London" group, we had the Francofous/French group and more.

We were invited to LeWeb since the creator of Seesmic was organiser of LeWeb. I met seesmicers in London, Paris, Lille and Lausanne. we could have met in more places but it’s been 19 years since the community faded away. In reality the community is still strong, It’s the site that was mothballed within a short amount of time.

Qik

Qik was an early mover. Back in the era before the iPhone, when I was using a Nokia N95 8gb, and others might have been using the first iphone we had the live streaming video site Qik. What is so special about Qik is that at the time we didn’t have data plans like we have today. We had 200mb if that, and we were right off of the WAP web page age. Mobile data as we know it today was in its infancy and Qik was a proof of concept, as was Seesmic, and Phreadz. Phreadz was a multimedia experiment where we could share photos, videos and texts.

At the time all of these ideas were concepts, turned into proof of concepts, and then they grew as phones improved, data became cheaper, and habits evolved to grab the opportunity.

Snapchat arrived a little later but I never felt the allure of such an app.

Lockdown and TikTok

During Lockdown I decided to try TikTok, with the backstory of using Seesmic and I was very quickly disillusioned with the site for a simple reason. People were performing in a talent show, rather than conversing as a community. People were trying to be influencers, rather than conversational. Instead of feeling warm, and fuzzy inside, and part of a community, I felt used and invisible. The aim of TikTok is to copy a trend, and hope to be noticed. Conversation isn’t part of the intended goals.

On TikTok "likes" and "views" are worshipped, as are followers, but human level relational engagement is lost. It’s broadcasting, with no intention of conversing.

If we define social media as conversational social networks, then TikTok is anything but social.

Before writing this blog post I asked Gemini "Has the process of blogging regained in popularity with the decline of social media?" and the answer was yes. That answer makes me happy because if people revert to thinking, and then writing about things, then a slower, more intimate web is re-emerging. Twitter as a chatroom was fantastic. Instagram as a place to share photos with friends was fun. Facebook, Threads, Twitter and to some degree Bluesky, in the age of rage bait and ranting have become less wholesome, less enjoyable, and less engaging.

If people are switching to Meetup, to GoSocial (swiss specific), Strava and blogging there are two compelling reasons. The first is that we want to spend time with likeminded people in person, rather than isolated behind screens, but we also want to leave behind social networks that saw us as users, rather than community. Seesmic was about community. TikTok is about trends and FOMO.

And Finally

In my eyes social media had value when it connected us to each other to create lasting and meaningful conversations. Now that Facebook, Threads, Twitter, TikTok and other sites see their users from a utilitarian perspective it makes sense to revert to blogging and other healthier pursuits.

When I look at Threads and Facebook, and I feel anger rising, and when I look at Bluesky, and I see people complaining, then I notice that there are no happy conversations, and I am no longer interested in giving them my attention. Seesmic was about conversations. TikTok is a talent show without conversation.

In such an age we can spend an hour or two, blogging each day, without worrying about missing out. Local communities are meeting in person, via Whatsapp, Meetup and Strava. Social media is now a footnote.