When TikTok took off in 2020 — with short dancing or comedy clips providing much-needed entertainment to many users at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — it launched a short-form video arms race. Suddenly, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social platforms were rushing to roll out similar products, encouraging users to make videos up to one minute in length that would be displayed vertically, in a scrolling feed with endless recommendations for what to watch next. Those other platforms spent the following years trying to play catch-up to TikTok’s popularity, especially among the crucial teen demographic. But now, the short-form video pioneer is changing course and pushing users to make and consume longer videos. With TikTok’s US$1 billion Creator Fund coming to an end last month in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France, creators in these countries who want to monetize their content will have to join the new “Creativity Program Beta,” under which they’ll have to make videos longer than one minute if they want to get paid by the app. TikTok is now following its legacy peers into a content format that’s often more profitable. The strategy could also encourage users to spend even more time on an app that some teens already say they’re using “almost constantly.” But some TikTok creators are frustrated with the move, worrying it will take away from what initially made TikTok so popular: the ability to quickly scroll through lots of different kinds of content, and for nearly anyone to easily make videos without extensive planning or resources. “I don’t always have a minute of content in me,” said Nikki Apostolou, a TikTok creator with nearly 150,000 followers known as “recycldstardust,” who makes content about Native American history and culture on the app. “I feel like there are so many creators out there who came to TikTok because it was the short-form video app,” she said, “and now they want to be like ‘mini YouTube,’ and I feel like it leaves out creators who came there for the short-form content.” TikTok spokesperson Zachary Kizer said in a statement that the company developed the new creativity program “based on the learnings and feedback we’ve gained from the previous Creator Fund. As we continue developing new ways to reward creators and enrich the TikTok experience, we value the feedback and direct insights from our community to help inform our decisions.” (SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關(guān)詞匯 【軍備競(jìng)賽】jūnbèi jìngsài arms race an ever escalating race or competition 【特定年齡用戶群】tèdìng niánlíng yònghùqún demographic a market or segment of the population identified by demographics 2020年新冠疫情流行之初，一飛沖天的TikTok利用熱舞或搞笑短視頻為廣大用戶提供了急需的娛樂(lè)，掀起了一場(chǎng)短視頻軍備競(jìng)賽。 突然之間，F(xiàn)acebook、Instagram、 YouTube和其他社交平臺(tái)紛紛推出類似產(chǎn)品，鼓勵(lì)用戶制作長(zhǎng)度不超過(guò)一分鐘的視頻，這些視頻以豎屏呈現(xiàn)、滾動(dòng)推送，無(wú)休止地“投喂”給觀眾。隨后幾年，TikTok大受歡迎，尤其在青少年用戶群體無(wú)人匹敵，其他平臺(tái)都在努力追趕。 但現(xiàn)在，這個(gè)短視頻先鋒正在轉(zhuǎn)變策略，推動(dòng)用戶制作和觀看更長(zhǎng)的視頻。隨著TikTok上個(gè)月在美國(guó)、英國(guó)、德國(guó)和法國(guó)終止10億美元的“創(chuàng)作者基金”，這些國(guó)家的視頻創(chuàng)作者如果想通過(guò)內(nèi)容賺錢(qián)，就必須加入新的“創(chuàng)作計(jì)劃測(cè)試版”。 TikTok正追隨行業(yè)中歷史更久的公司，采用一種更容易產(chǎn)生利潤(rùn)的內(nèi)容形式。這一策略還能鼓勵(lì)用戶在TikTok上逗留更長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，雖然一些青少年表示他們已經(jīng)“幾乎不停地刷TikTok”。 但一些 TikTok內(nèi)容創(chuàng)作者對(duì)此舉感到沮喪，擔(dān)心這將動(dòng)搖讓TikTok迅速爆紅的根基：用戶能快速滾動(dòng)瀏覽大量不同類型的內(nèi)容；無(wú)需詳細(xì)策劃或占用大量資源，幾乎任何人都能輕松制作視頻。 尼基?阿波斯托盧是一位TikTok博主，擁有近15萬(wàn)粉絲，賬戶叫“recycldstardust”，視頻內(nèi)容講述美國(guó)原住民的歷史和文化。她說(shuō)：“我不常能拍出時(shí)長(zhǎng)1分鐘的視頻。我覺(jué)得很多創(chuàng)作者選擇TikTok是因?yàn)樗亩桃曨l形式，現(xiàn)在他們想轉(zhuǎn)型為迷你YouTube，這會(huì)讓那些沖著短視頻來(lái)的創(chuàng)作者感到失望。” TikTok發(fā)言人扎卡里?基澤爾在一份聲明中說(shuō)，該公司“根據(jù)從之前的‘創(chuàng)作者基金’項(xiàng)目中獲得的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和反饋制定了新的創(chuàng)意計(jì)劃。在繼續(xù)開(kāi)發(fā)獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)創(chuàng)作者和豐富TikTok體驗(yàn)的新策略時(shí)，公司非常重視直接來(lái)自社群的反饋意見(jiàn)，以幫助制定明智的決策。”(Translated by Debra) | 