#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt videos have been viewed more than 40bn times, as users share their experiences of the ‘infinite loop’
“An infinite loop of shoppertainment.” That might sound like the premise for a new Black Mirror episode. But it’s actually marketing blurb from TikTok. As part of its sales pitch to brands, the Chinese-owned platform tells its clients it is “at the forefront” of persuading online consumers to part with their cash. It boasts of a unique business model that endlessly entices people to not only discover and buy new stuff but also become repeat customers.
Of course, anyone who has spent any time on TikTok, which claims to have more than a billion active monthly users, will already know this. Its famously sophisticated algorithm creates hyper-relevant, personalised feeds that are designed to keep us consuming content. “The algorithm tries to get people addicted rather than giving them what they really want,” Guillaume Chaslot, the founder of Paris-based AlgoTransparency, a group that has studied YouTube’s recommendation system, told the New York Times.
Iona Bain is a financial journalist, founder of the Young(ish) Money blog and author of Spare Change & Own It
