My goal was to reach 1,000 followers on TikTok - currently, I'm at 210 - but I realised that 1,000 followers isn't the only way to become eligible to go live there.
Paying For Views
We can go live by paying a few quid to gain some views. About €7 was enough to promote a video for a day, and by doing that, I became eligible.
So, I just went for it because, screw it, it's only a few euros and I figured it would kind of be worth it to get a few more views, and potential followers.
The video - by the end of the day - had reached something like 6,400 views, and gained a few likes and even a couple of followers too which is decent.
TikTok Studio
I had it all ready to go and write a new piece of fiction - or maybe even continue one of the ones that I've been meaning to write for a while - but sadly, after getting the mic and stream prepared I hit that big red "go live" button and it popped up saying that the studio feature is under review and takes about 1 business day to complete.
I was a bit disappointed, but I just closed out everything and now I just need to wait a bit to get confirmation to go live.
It'll be really cool though, when I finally get on there. I think it'll be a lot of fun, and even if I don't get any viewers I don't mind, because I'll be writing stuff anyway, so it's no biggie.
It's good to be able to stream my writing process though and talk with people if they tune in to watch it.
I'm not diving in with high expectations or anything, and when it comes to this type of stuff, that's the best way to approach it.
I don't use it, but I know it's big. How do people feel about it possibly being banned in the US? I saw a load of people went to some other Chinese platform, but that just seems silly.
Yeah, it's a bit stupid making that jump, even if it's a form of protest.
Personally, I don't think it will be banned. TikTok is one of the only popular social media sites not formed in the US, so I reckon this is a ploy to lower the stock prices for the US to potentially buy it at a bargain.
Same thing governments have typically done with crypto over the years. Talk shit, price falls, their friends buy, talk positive, price rises.
We shall see. There is tension between the US and China that means this is about more than just business. I've lost trust with some of the big corporations as they have let me down or turned toxic.
I've always tried to focus on only putting out stuff that's primarily fun for me to write about, and I think that unless you're trying to replace a full time job with it... being chill and going through it with that perspective is way more healthy and folks can tell if you're passionate about it or just... farming.
Yeah, that makes sense man. I've always gone into everything with that attitude, and you're right, people can tell if you're doing stuff for yourself or not. Like with the band too, we always did it for the fun of it, and people can 100% tell if someone is genuine or not.