Personal opinion. Not based on any studies or scholar research.
TikTok is too fast for my Millennial brain to keep up. I deleted my account a couple of weeks ago. I also landed on the complaining side of TikTok , which started to look a lot with Twitter, but with visual-audio content. Not for me. Not anymore.
It’s probably because of having to rewatch it a few times to understand whats being said, that content creators on that platform has that huge amount of views. The millennials that has to watch at least 3 times to understand what is going on. Reels creators are just speeding up too.
Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high..
Reels is a copycat from TikTok, we are all well aware of that. Mr. Zuckerberg, as usual, wants a a piece of the pie, and why not copying the format and transforming the entire app, in a video app, where they algorithm determines how many videos you have to post a day, in order to go viral? Its all computer science and data analyzes, if you follow exactly what they are telling you, you will succeed. Maybe.
Ciao, Bella.
I have a hard time following those micro-vlogs. Where they are and why they have to have .05 second frames to show the gelato, the square, the flimsy dress while holding the gelato, the gondola, followed by a caption that says “Ciao, Bella” all that in 15 seconds. I can’t tell you if you are in Italy or The Venetian, in Las Vegas. Instead of rushing, why not show a nice restaurant I could visit, parts of a museum, or how the locals live? It always seems we are in a rush.
Every frame has to be perfect calculated, on a video editing app, using the viral audio, everyone else is using, with the predicted fonts and filters. It’s all generic and it’s exhausting.
“Slow down, you are doing fine.”
Thats not me. 🤣
Not too long ago, I read an article about slow content. The manifest has 10 pillars with different items to cover. The article talks about how Quality X Quantity doesn’t matter, when it comes to this rush to sell , promote or inform. We are not made to engage in this algorithm driven society. I read an article this week, on Medium, written by Lisa Marten, where she writes about us defying the algorithm. Make it work for us, because if we keep adapting, we are all going to be replaced by machines.
Try to connect more, instead of posting content like a slot machine.
My channel logo made on Canva.
I wrote all that, because I came to the conclusion, that someone or the driven business society, are trying to dump on us this rush madness amount of content, in less than 1 minute, because they realized this generation can’t focus on anything, or have the attention for more than a few minutes. Remember, machines did that to the people’s brain, in the past 10 years.
The analytics scholars trained those brains into thinking that faster is better. Year after year. You can’t waste time on a 1 minute video, when you have another 200 videos to watch.
I remember when I had to wait for my song to play on the radio, so I could recorded. I’m also from the early 2000’s MTV generation, when you also had to wait and see if your favorite video was going to be on TRL and what position.
Pillar number 6 : Happiness over Financial
Purpose over profit. My purpose with my content, on my fairly new youtube channel is to show a more connected way to engage, while visiting a new city, or a different place. Anthony Bourdain school of traveling. All lights to the heavens and respect to the master. Oh Captain, my Captain.
The blog has more of a serious tone, and it goes more in depths of my life as an immigrant, than showcasing Colorado small towns, while eating my way around it.
I write this blog as a manifesto and documentation of my life here in the United Sates. The channel is more upbeat and less chaotic than my mental immigrant issues.
Don’t stop doing what you love to fit the trends.
Don’t stop doing what you love to fit the trends. Use the audio you like, the filter and the caption you want. Stop trying to fit in, and run on the hamster wheel. We need more creative minds and people exploring different sides of themselves. You know how many times a day I saw people dancing “About Damn time” by Lizzo on TikTok? Thousands. Who got richer? Her, well deserved, great marketing. Who wasted their time and now hates the song? Me.
And probably you.
It was a song about empowerment, female body positivity, until Paris Hilton, the Human barbie form itself, ended the trend. I got a good laugh of all that and deleted my account. Might be back on a different time.
I have to say it out loud so the people in the back can hear me:
There is nothing wrong in being creative and take a different approach on your content. Think outside the box. If you don’t fit in on the algorithm, tough. Let the AI work harder. People that like you, will follow you, for your content, because it’s you and not a successful account with a huge following on TikTok.
Hopefully, the Slow Content movement, will bring it back the joy of watching longer videos. Just like the minimalist trend, by Marie Kondo a few years ago. When we started the year cleaning the house with a vengeance, from what bring us joy and whatnot.
Hopefully, the slow content will also bring back the following for the people and not for what the industry are trying to sell you.
Here is the website I found with the Slow Content Pillars:
Let me know in the comments what do you think of the slow content movement, and what generational advice you have for the younger folks in terms of taking it slow.
