Web Directions Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

wherein boomers learn about the renegade

If you have younger kids, tweens or younger teenagers, perhaps more so if you have a daughter, you’ll be at least familiar (if not very very familiar) with Tik Tok, a social app which focuses on short form videos that are largely shared algorithmically, and which has predominately become known for the sharing of short, quite elaborate dances that often spread globally. I have 4 daughters that span this demographic, and to varying degrees they have been Tik Tok users, in the case of my oldest since the days of Musically, an app Tik Tok acquired a couple of years ago that had already achieve considerable reach into this audience.

The reach of the app hit me last weekend when I took one of my daughters and a few of her friends, to a water park for her 10th birthday. She’s quite the avid Tik Toker as are her friends, but it was intriguing to see that as she and friends made various Tik Tok, girls and boys, of all ages, would walk past and start doing the same dance moves (it was The Renegade, read on for more on this below, there’s far more to this than meets the eye) in good spirit.

I was quite a shy child (I know anyone who knows me might be surprised, extroverted-introvert and all that) but I honestly cannot imagine that happening when I was growing up (admittedly 40+ years ago).

Parents, and boomers of all ages and persuasions (get over it anyone more than about 27, we’re all boomers to the kids now) respond, not entirely unreasonably, to new technologies and practices with a focus on potential harm. But when my just-turned-7 year old points out to me the scammers in the Roblox game she’s playing, and can articulate why they are scammers, and what they are trying to scam, well, part of me is heart broken that at age 7 they need to know these things, but part of me feels better too–she’s developing a capability that many grown ups have yet to–to navigate the online world with intelligence, skepticism and understanding. 

My lesson is we need to approach this new world (and it is a new world) with nuance and the will to understand. It’s coming, the only question is will you be part of it?

Things I’ve been reading (or otherwise found interesting)

The Original Renegade

In my intro I referred to the dance ‘The Renegade‘, an unbelievable viral sensation made popular on Tik Tok by Charli D’Amelio, who has around 28 million followers on the platform. Tik Tok has made her wealthy, and The Renegade is no small part of that. Only, she didn’t create the dance nor did it originate on Tik Tok.

The dance was created by a young African American dancer from Atlanta, Jalaiah Harmon, and while this an extreme example, it’s far from uncommon.

‘”I posted on Instagram and it got about 13,000 views, and people started doing it over and over again,” Jalaiah said. In October, a user named @global.jones brought it to TikTok, changing up some of the moves at the end, and the dance spread like wildfire. Before long, Charli D’Amelio had posted a video of herself doing it, as did many other TikTok influencers. None gave Jalaiah credit.
The story, unlike for so many African American artists who helped shape modern global poplar culture, has a more happy ending than some. It’s well told here in this New York Times article.’

The Art and Science of Tik Tok

The success of dancers, musicians and others on platforms like Tik Tok, like the success of SEO driven organisations on the Web, is no random occurrence. 

If you’re interested in the dark art of Tik Tok success, this overview from past Web Directions Speaker (and one of our most popular ever, Hannah Donovan) has a lot of detail.

Or just ask your 10 year old daughter. Hmmm, maybe I could have mine provide Tik Tok consulting services? 

Wither Cash?

Money is one of the great, possibly the most impactful of all human inventions. The idea of a thing of value (precious metals, but also other valuable, compact transportable things like cowrie shells) has been around for millennia, while the innovation of a thing we agree has value, that in itself is not valuable due to scarcity is essential to the modern world.

While money is not going anywhere, cash, the piece of paper/plastic/metal we use as a means of exchanging value is, more quickly than we might imagine. In Australia in 2016, around 20% of transaction were conducted using cash and I’d hazard a guess this has plummeted since. 4 years ago many of the places–cafes and restaurants in particular–I routinely went to were cash only. Some are now cash free. I only use cash for little athletics canteen, and we’ve even got our football club canteen using Square. 

But what happens when a society is entirely cash free? What place is there for a currency at all when every transaction is “simply” the transfer of value from one bank account another? It’s not simple at all as this MIT Technology Review piece examines.

How to build belonging at work (even if you’re not a manager)

Think back to the last time you started a new job. Chances are, it took a minute before you felt like you fit in. It doesn’t matter how qualified you are or how cool the vibe is. Just because you got the job doesn’t mean you feel like you belong there. For people from historically marginalized and underrepresented communities, this struggle is particularly pervasive and often long-lived.

This piece from FastCompany has some excellent thoughts and actions ideas.