Why media formats (like Snapchat Stories and TikTok music videos) become hits?

As with other social networks that grow, Instagram broadened its formats early on to head off several format-based asymptotes. Non-square photos and videos with gradually lengthening time limits have broadened the use cases and, more importantly, removed some level of production friction.

The move to copy Snapchat's Stories format was the next giant... See more

Like Snapchat, it has a novel format. But if you just focus on the format, you miss the point. The most important thing is the purpose and structure of the network. TikTok users aren’t sharing with their friends, they’re performing for the world. They’re not keeping up with familiar faces, they’re discovering new ones. It’s hard to prove this is tr... See more

As with other social networks that grow, Instagram broadened its formats early on to head off several format-based asymptotes. Non-square photos and videos with gradually lengthening time limits have broadened the use cases and, more importantly, removed some level of production friction.

Take a stroll through TikTok’s greatest hits and you’ll see that people are clearly more engaged by a creator’s process than the outcome. With due respect to TikTok creators, their success isn’t purely because of the technical skill of their dancing, singing, or acting. It’s the spirit and humor they bring to whatever they do. If the human behind

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