isaac
@zaak
ByteDance's growth hack that got them tens of millions of users: working with distributors to pre-install their flagship news app Toutiao in mid-tier Android phones at $0.06 per install qDAU or not is another question but interesting case study. (started reading this book during my flight)
2 replies
3 recasts
26 reactions
Zach
@zd
Interesting! Kinda reminds me of the time U2 partnered with Apple to auto-download their album to 500M iTunes accounts Did TikTok face any backlash from this?
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
isaac
@zaak
that U2 example is a good one! the book didnt mention any backlash but what came out of this tactic: 1. competitors decided to incentivise "activation" instead of installs - but ByteDance doubled down on just installs so it's more lucrative for distributors 2. because they were onboarding so many users, brainrot became extremely prevalent. everything was kinda clickbaity because their users wanted those sorts of content.
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
Zach
@zd
So it sounds like the decision to optimize installs was "good" from the POV of giving advertisers distribution, but "bad" from the POV of quality content The more users they onboarded, the lower the average quality of content Makes sense given where TikTok is today
1 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
isaac
@zaak
yeah competition in the chinese tech industry is probably 10x more brutal than the west’s so i could see why they had to be extra creative also important to note that Toutiao’s their news app which is different than TikTok/Douyin.
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
Zach
@zd
Thanks for the clarification So the strategy was 1. Install news app on Android phones 2. Use installed news app to distribute TikTok/Douyin 3. Profit?
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
isaac
@zaak
pretty much it the thesis was that the majority of users would open it once, get hooked on clickbaity news and then just keep the app. highly recommend checking out the book. fun read thats going to take you only half a saturday.
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
