With over 1 billion users – and 105 million in North America alone – TikTok is a hub for cross-generation conversations, pop culture references, and everyday use.
From a top-level perspective, it’s no surprise that we’ve registered a dopamine-driven brain drove account. But if our primary drivers were the only explanation, then TikTok would not have risen to the rank. From 2018 to 2020, TikTok’s user base Increased By 800%. Its “this factor” is shown in a 2021 Nielsen Study – A unique ability to inspire copyright, community and authenticity – surpassing existing technical organizations who want to openly replicate its design.
Yet these unique, key features that inspire the rare possibility of information sharing – such as fast video, shareable music, catchy hooks and clever audio overlays – have created a new challenge to attract brands, public figures, celebrities and influential people: how, And any metrics and comparatively, do you look for success when the content itself is quite fleeting?
The rise of social hearing technology
Tracking social success outside of the in-platform metrics is not a new problem, so many technology companies outside of the platform have already tried to solve it. In part, they have.
“The development of social hearing technology has helped users understand how their profile or brand could be first in the digital landscape. – Algorithms read captions, analyze user behavior, track performance metrics, and even summarize based on user feelings tied to a beautiful bow that you can actually benefit from.
Then comes the audio content.
“Audio presents a fundamentally different challenge to moderation than text-based communication. It’s more fleeting and it’s harder to research and take action,” said Clinton Smith, Discord’s chief legal officer. To mention Struggling for channel restraint around the audio features of their new stage channel.
A complete technical stack of audio-based social channels – TickTock, Instagram Reels, Clubhouse, Discord’s Stage Channels – has just begun researching internal tracking solutions, but audio content control tools include many social listening tools for text-based conversations. . Some external companies are developing Speech Analysis APIs, but at the moment, there is no streamlined approach to online audio conversations.
Problems with audio moderation
For this reason, there is not much tracking system in social platforms, their users and their tech integration, especially when it comes to managing problematic comments or harassment. In these instances, platforms often resort to blocking users from anything, creating problems of their own accessibility.
According to Reuters, for example, “Twitter Space Audio lasts 30 days or more in the event that an event occurs. Clubhouse says that when a live session ends without an immediate user report, it deletes its recording and does not record the discord at all.”
Managing and tracking any text or image-based commentary, let alone problematic commentary online, is not an easy task for people to get started. There is a job title for this: Community Manager. But addressing something like problematic mentions, crisis moments, or adverse health events in transient audio conversations? The job market is vast.
Further, even if platforms create more monitoring parameters internally tomorrow, users and brands will be left to monitor on their own devices. Their own Content
So for people who want to moderate content and social listening on audio platforms, the problem is threefold for the influential and the brand:
- Audio content, by nature, is more fleeting than written content. You may be able to replicate some, but you will still lack additional signals, such as video visual signals or accompanying text comments.
- Some tech companies offer APIs for listening to audio in new social apps like TikTok or Discord. For those who do, they are still in beta.
- Even if brands want to track audio manually, most companies lack the manpower, resources and time to do so.
Not all bad
These holistic features of audio content have the potential to increase impact as platforms like TikTok grow and develop.
But users should keep in mind the advantages of audio content because we struggle with transientity and subtlety – the audio itself is superior in its ability to connect with the audience. Podcasts started just two decades ago, and now involve millions of people every day around the world. Only in the United States, Insider Intelligence Project By 2025, the audience will reach 144 billion.
Whether you’re convinced by the inevitable challenge of TikTok and other audio-based channels or its research-backed possibilities, there’s a reason many are attractive, and from this perspective, Bandwagon doesn’t look so bad.
