Difference between revisions of "Social Media Short-Video Sharing"

Revision as of 21:20, 21 February 2022

Short-Form Videos (Social Media) often refer to video content on social media that have a total duration of one minute or less. Although the official duration length for short form videos is debated, most agree on a figure of 10 minutes or less. ^[1] Short-form clips are designed to be shorter in duration, but long enough to keep the attention of social media users. Users are exposed to a wider range of information in a shorter amount of time, as they engage with a larger volume of videos. Short form videos have been increasingly popular, thriving on various social media platforms. These include (but are not limited to):

• TikTok
• Vine(discontinued as of 2017)
• Musical.ly (now known as TikTok)
• Youtube (Youtube Shorts)
• Snapchat (Spotlight)
• Instagram (Instagram Reels)
• Facebook (Facebook Reels)

Notable History

Two of the largest short-form video sharing apps, TikTok (left) and Youtube (right)

Snapchat

Short-form videos are believed to have made their introduction to social media in 2012, when Snapchat would introduce the ‘disappearing 10 second video’. These short-form videos were meant for sending between friends, which would transform even further. ^[2] In 2013, Snapchat announced they were adding a new feature: ‘stories’. This type of short-form video (stories) would transform the social media industry, making short-form videography more commonplace on social media platforms. ^[3] Other social media platforms would introduce this concept to their own platforms, with Instagram Stories appearing in August 2016 and Facebook Stories emerging in March 2017. ^[4]

Vine

In 2012, the world would also see the release of Vine, a social media platform that allowed users to post looping videos, set at a max duration of 6 seconds. The sole purpose of Vine was to allow users to scroll through the endless short-form videos posted by creators. ^[5] Vine would become increasingly popular, as they would reach 200 million users in December 2015. ^[6] As competition increased across social media platforms though, Vine, under the ownership of Twitter, would discontinue the ability to engage in content uploading in January 2017. ^[7] Around half of the major creators on Vine would leave the app to join a competitor, leading to the downfall of the service. A major citation for the collapse was the inability of Vine to pay the creators for their content. ^[8]

TikTok

The term TikTok references the brief length of the videos being viewed by users. Creators can upload videos anywhere from 15-60 seconds, or even as long as 3 minutes. An algorithm in place allows users to view content catered personally to them. It was created in 2016 by the Chinese firm ByteDance and is known as Douyin in China. Its sudden rise in popularity began in late 2017, when it purchased a competitor app, Musical.ly, and transferred its 200 million users to TikTok. TikTok was launched in its current design in 2018 and quickly climbed the ranks of media platform titans heavyweights. ^[9] At the beginning of 2021, TikTok announced that it would have more than one billion active monthly users across the globe. ^[10] TikTok is the dominant platform for short-form video, with videos typically related to music and dance challenges. TikTok is nearly the same concept as Vine, the short-form video platform that featured short-bits of humor and Musica.ly, a teen karaoke app that Chinese company ByteDance absorbed as part of its TikTok acquisition. Rather than following certain accounts, TikTok users watch a continuous series of videos on the "For You" page, which is personalized according to their preferences by the TikTok algorithm.^[11]

Youtube Shorts

"YouTube Shorts" is feature that YouTube introduced in 2020. According to their website, "Shorts is the spot to shoot, share, and binge short videos (think 60 seconds or less) on YouTube. It’s where you can go to start trends, try out a dance challenge, bring your hilarious ideas to life, and more." A beta version of the platform was introduced in Sept 2020 in India, with the platform hitting the United States in March 2021. With YouTube Shorts, anyone can make short videos and connect with audiences utilizing the YouTube app and the short-form video camera. The feature's multi-section camera allows users to create short videos up to 60 seconds long. As part of its partnership with YouTube Shorts, YouTube signed agreements with various music producing companies, such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group. Music is an important aspect of short-form videos, which typically include music from evolving and top artists. ^{[12] [13]}

Snapchat Spotlight

Snapchat's "Spotlight" is a feature displaying short videos in a continuous loop, and was designed to compete against TikTok. As an incentive for their users to create content for this feature, Snapchat gives out monetary incentives on a daily basis (based on views and engagement). In March 2021 alone, Snapchat claimed over 125 million Snapchat users viewed Spotlight videos.^[14] In the United States, 66 percent of Snapchat's consumer base falls between 18 and 29 years of age, similar to that of TikTok. ^[15] Spotlight feed algorithms work similarly to TikTok's algorithm as well, which ranks videos in order of most-watched videos.^[16]

Instagram Reels

Like TikTok, Instagram Reels allows users to create short video clips of 15 to 30 seconds set to music. Throughout its app, Instagram has made this feature a central part of its identity by making it available on the bottom tab bar. Users can also share reels on Instagram Stories and have them filtered into the Explore feed. Reels also integrates well with other functions of Instagram. ^[17] All of this is an attempt to encourage Instagram users to use and share Reels. With Reels, viewers experience one video after another, just as with TikTok and Snapchat's Spotlight. Based on what Instagram users already follow, its algorithm displays posts related to what they have expressed interest in. ^[18] When Instagram introduced its Stories feature to compete with Snapchat, it was an incredibly successful feature for the platform, which means Reels may have the potential to be the next big thing for the platform.

Clash

Clash, a short-form video app, announced on January 26, 2021 that it would acquire Byte. Users can interact with other users through Clash, just like they can on other short-form video platforms. The user can upload videos of up to sixteen seconds length directly from the app or from the device's camera roll. Following a three-year closed beta period, it was released on January 24, 2020, on mainstream app stores (Apple, Android, etc). Users can scroll through a feed of content from the accounts they follow. ^[19]

Impact on Influencers

Vine had given influencers the opportunity to reach their audiences more quickly, and more accurately, with short-form videos, as discussed in 2017. However, content creators have been unable to retain their services due to a lack of compensation. With TikTok, for instance, an algorithm is used to provide a personalized experience for the user and the influencer. The algorithm allows the influencer to deliver content to their intended audience while also providing the user with their own personalized experience. Funds are now being created for content creators, opening up many paths for up-and-coming influencers.

TikTok Creator Fund

TikTok launched the TikTok Creator Fund in 2020 in order to reward creators for creating creative content that keeps their audience engaged on the platform. A US fund started with $200 million to provide opportunities for creators to create innovative content for a living. According to TikTok, the TikTok Creator Fund will reach $1 billion over the next three years in the United States, as announced on July 27, 2020. Video views and engagement are factors that will determine how much money TikTok creators make from each of their videos if they join the Creator Fund. ^[20][21]

YouTube Shorts Fund

Creators can access $100M in grants across 2021 and 2022 as part of YouTube Shorts Fund, a program dedicated to rewarding their contribution to YouTube's community. Depending on how successfully their YouTube Shorts videos perform, creators who join the YouTube Shorts Fund receive between $100 and $10,000 each month. The criteria for eligibility change each month, and performance-based rewards are determined by factors such as views and engagement. Instead of creators applying for the fund, YouTube will contact them if they meet the requirements. ^[22]

Snapchat Spotlight Challenge

By incentivizing creators to create viral short-form content, Spotlight varies from its competitors. At first, Snapchat created a pool of one million dollars per day. Snapchatters are eligible for cash just for creating Spotlight Snaps using specific filters and hashtags. A Snapchat video creator, Cam Casey, earned $3 million in January 2021 when he created viral content for Spotlight Challenges. Each Spotlight Challenge offers a prize of $1,000 to $25,000, which is shared by multiple creators. According to Snapchat's Spotlight Challenge, in February 2022, they were still awarding creators, but the fund changed from the original one million dollars per day to a new payout: a few million dollars per month. Consequently, some creators have turned to other platforms with a higher paying fund, such as TikTok and YouTube.^[23][24][25]

Ethical Concerns

Data Security

Social media has emerged as a great tool for people to socialize with others and share information with friends and family. Through newsfeeds and private messages, followers and friends can gain a better understanding of the people close to them. Similarly though, these networks can provide attackers with sensitive personal data that can threaten innocent lives. This is a concern for short-form video streaming services and the like.

Back in May 2014, Snapchat would fall victim to a cyber attack. As a result of this attack, hackers acquired the username and phone number for 4.6 million users.^[26] A few months later, another attack would occur, but not on Snapchat itself. Snapsaved, a third-party service not affiliated with Snapchat, suffered a 200,000 photograph breach in October 2014.^[27] Traditionally, snaps were designed to disappear after such a long period of time and this service was created to save those snaps, which was unusual. The lead member for Snapchat's engineering team, Tim Sehn, explained that using third-party services will now be a violation of the Snapchat Terms of Use. "We care enough to delete their data. That is something that most companies don't do because that data is valuable. It costs us something to do that. So it's definitely part of the ethos that has been there since the start."^[28] The issue of removing such apps from app stores is still under constant consideration, to safeguard Snapchat users as much as possible.

As recently as August 2020, a security company named Comparitech announced that as many as 235 million social media profiles (Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube) were exposed in a data leak.^[29] The information involved in the leak included names, ages, genders, profile image records, email addresses, and/or phone numbers. The method in which this was conducted was by ‘data scraping’. Data scraping is not illegal, but does violate Terms and Conditions on various apps and services. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done on the user’s end to prevent such data collection, unless they limit as much of their information on their page as possible from people who do not follow them.

To settle dozens of lawsuits filed alleging that TikTok harvested personal information about users utilizing facial recognition technology and shared the data with third parties without consent, TikTok agreed to $92 million in November 2021 to settle dozens of lawsuits. 89 million TikTok users in the U.S. are covered by the settlement, which lawyers in the case have referred to as among the largest privacy settlements in history. ^[30] Their data is alleged to have been tracked and sold to advertisers in violation of state and federal laws. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that TikTok breached the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which states that people have the right to take action against companies that collect biometric information without their consent.^[31] According to a journal of the Cardozo School of Law, companies cannot use facial recognition to identify users or store their "faceprints" without explicit permission under BIPA.^[32]

Teens and young adults are extremely active on social media, and have to be cautious with the level of sensitive information they share online. With the level of illegal activity on the internet, it can leave a smaller room for error.

Exposures to Children and Young Teens

Almost fifty percent of TikTok users in the United States are between the ages of 10-29, suggesting that TikTok is particularly popular among children.^[33] Companies have a great opportunity to reach young audiences using this platform, as anyone can upload anything from cartoons to lip-sync videos. Despite this, parents are concerned about their children's use of social media platforms such as TikTok. Parents struggle with issues surrounding short-form videos on social media. Parents' main concerns include offensive music, offensive phrases, and sexually suggestive content. Short-form videos on social media are also criticized for having insulting pranks that lead to dangerous trends. In addition, children can view content that may deliver misinformation and disinformation, as reported by both Unicef and the Wall Street Journal. Their reports uncover the issues with the Tiktok app, including how information is delivered and the algorithms are used.^{[34] [35]}

In August 2021, UNICEF published an analysis of how digital misinformation and disinformation affect children. The analysis argued that not only is misinformation a big problem for adults, but also for children. According to the study, youth are particularly vulnerable to misinformation because they are in a developmental stage where they look to peers, classmates and others their age rather than their parents for advice. In addition to being possible targets, the report claimed that children can contribute to spreading misinformation and disinformation, believing it is true while spreading it, or even creating it themselves. Another essential part of how to combat these dangers, UNICEF claims, is through communication and education, saying it is vital to talk to children about misinformation they might find on social media. ^[36]

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal published in 2021, 974 clips about drugs, prostitution, and other sexually explicit content were distributed to children's accounts using TikTok. Investigators from the Wall Street Journal created bot accounts created with designated interests, which were programmed to watch videos in TikTok, pausing or replaying any that contained images or hashtags associated with these interests. Inappropriate videos were removed by the platform in an effort to prevent them from being promoted to others. The Wall Street Journal claimed that no algorithm can ever be 100% accurate when it comes to monitoring material. ^{[37] [38]}

References

1. ↑ "Google. “Shortform and Longform Videos.” Google Ads Help, Google, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2382886?hl=en. "
2. ↑ "Colao, J.J. “The inside Story of Snapchat: The World's Hottest App or a $3 Billion Disappearing Act?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 19 June 2015, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2014/01/06/the-inside-story-of-snapchat-the-worlds-hottest-app-or-a-3-billion-disappearing-act/?sh=467212c467d2. "
3. ↑ "Snapchat. “Introducing Snapchat Stories.” Snap Newsroom, 2 Oct. 2013, https://newsroom.snap.com/snapchat-stories/. "
4. ↑ "Cyca, Michelle. “Snapchat, Instagram Stories, or Facebook Stories? What's the Difference?” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 27 Mar. 2018, https://blog.hootsuite.com/snapchat-instagram-facebook-stories/."
5. ↑ "Herrman, John. “Vine Changed the Internet Forever. How Much Does the Internet Miss It?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/style/byte-vine-short-video-apps.html. "
6. ↑ "Statista Research Department, and Apr 4. “Vine: Age Distribution of U.S. Users 2015.” Statista, 4 Apr. 2016, https://www.statista.com/statistics/417611/vine-adult-us-users/. "
7. ↑ "Fiegerman, Seth. “Twitter Officially Shuts down Vine.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 17 Jan. 2017, https://money.cnn.com/2017/01/17/technology/vine-shuts-down/index.html. "
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10. ↑ " Dellatto, Marisa. “Tiktok Hits 1 Billion Monthly Active Users.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 27 Sept. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2021/09/27/tiktok-hits-1-billion-monthly-active-users/. "
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12. ↑ "Jaffe, Chris. “Building Youtube Shorts, a New Way to Watch & Create on YouTube.” Blog.youtube, YouTube Official Blog, 14 Sept. 2020, https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/building-youtube-shorts/."
13. ↑ "YouTube. “Short-Form Video Experience - Youtube Creators.” YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/creators/shorts/. "
14. ↑ "Spangler, Todd. “Snapchat Powers up to 280 Million Daily Users in Q1, Spotlight Tops 125 Million Monthly Users.” Variety, Variety, 4 May 2021, https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/snapchat-snap-spotlight-q1-2021-earnings-1234958183/. "
15. ↑ "Rodriguez, Salvador, and Jessica Bursztynsky. “Snap Creators Say They're Leaving the App's Spotlight Feature as Payments Dry Up.” CNBC, CNBC, 12 Aug. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/11/snap-creators-say-theyre-leaving-the-apps-spotlight-feature-as-payments-dry-up.html. "
16. ↑ "Team Snap. “Rewarding Creativity on Spotlight: Shining a Light on the Best Snaps.” Snap Newsroom, https://newsroom.snap.com/rewarding-creativity/."
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18. ↑ "Instagram. “Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works.” Instagram, Instagram, 8 June 2021, https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/shedding-more-light-on-how-instagram-works.
19. ↑ "Clash, https://clashapp.co/. "
20. ↑ "TikTok. “TikTok Creator Fund: Your Questions Answered.” Newsroom, TikTok, 16 Aug. 2019, https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-gb/tiktok-creator-fund-your-questions-answered. "
21. ↑ "TikTok. “Creator Fund.” TikTok Creator Portal, 5 Nov. 2021, https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/getting-paid-to-create/creator-fund/. "
22. ↑ "Google Help Center. “YouTube Shorts Fund - YouTube Help.” Google, Google, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10923658?hl=en. "
23. ↑ "Rodriguez, Salvador, and Jessica Bursztynsky. “Snap Creators Say They're Leaving the App's Spotlight Feature as Payments Dry Up.” CNBC, CNBC, 12 Aug. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/11/snap-creators-say-theyre-leaving-the-apps-spotlight-feature-as-payments-dry-up.html.
24. ↑ "Team Snap. “Challenge Accepted: Announcing a New Way to Win Money on Spotlight.” Snap Newsroom, 6 Oct. 2021, https://newsroom.snap.com/spotlight-challenges/.
25. ↑ "Snap Inc. “Spotlight Challenges Official Rules.” Snap Inc., 20 Dec. 2021, https://snap.com/en-US/terms/spotlight-challenges-official-rules."
26. ↑ "McBride, Sarah, and Alexei Oreskovic. “Snapchat Breach Exposes Flawed Premise, Security Challenge.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 14 Oct. 2014, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-snapchat-future-security/snapchat-breach-exposes-flawed-premise-security-challenge-idUSKCN0I32UJ20141014.
27. ↑ "Reuters Staff. “Photo-Saving Service Snapsaved.com Claims Hackers Stole Snapchat Images.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 13 Oct. 2014, https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-snapchat-snapsaved-idUKKCN0I21V220141013. "
28. ↑ "Goldman, David. “Snapchat Apologizes to Its Users and Bans Third-Party Apps.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 3 Apr. 2015, https://money.cnn.com/2015/04/03/technology/snapchat-apology/index.html. "
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30. ↑ "Allyn, Bobby. “Tiktok to Pay $92 Million to Settle Class-Action Suit over 'Theft' of Personal Data.” NPR, NPR, 25 Feb. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/02/25/971460327/tiktok-to-pay-92-million-to-settle-class-action-suit-over-theft-of-personal-data.
31. ↑ "Illinois General Assembly. “CIVIL LIABILITIES (740 ILCS 14/) Biometric Information Privacy Act.” 740 ILCS 14/  Biometric Information Privacy Act., 3 Oct. 2008, https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3004&ChapterID=57. "
32. ↑ "Angeles*, Lisa P., and *. “UNTAG ME: Why Federal Judges Are Broadly Construing Illinois's Biometric Privacy Law.” Cardozo Law Review, 13 Jan. 2021, http://cardozolawreview.com/untag-me-why-federal-judges-are-broadly-construing-illinoiss-biometric-privacy-law/.
33. ↑ "Statista Research Department. “U.S. Tiktok Users by Age 2021.” Statista, 28 Jan. 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-users-age/."
34. ↑ "Kriegel ER, Lazarevic B, Athanasian CE, Milanaik RL. TikTok, Tide Pods and Tiger King: health implications of trends taking over pediatric populations. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2021 Feb 1;33(1):170-177. doi: 10.1097/MOP.0000000000000989. PMID: 33337608."
35. ↑ "Sha P, Dong X. Research on Adolescents Regarding the Indirect Effect of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress between TikTok Use Disorder and Memory Loss. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(16):8820. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168820"
36. ↑ "UNICEF. “Rapid Analysis Digital Misinformation / Disinformation and ...” Rapid Analysis: Digital Misinformation / Disinformation and Children, Aug. 2021, https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/2096/file/UNICEF-Global-Insight-Digital-Mis-Disinformation-and-Children-2021.pdf."
37. ↑ "Staff, WSJ. “Inside TikTok's Algorithm: A WSJ Video Investigation.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 21 July 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-algorithm-video-investigation-11626877477."
38. ↑ "https://endsexualexploitation.org/tiktok/"