Attention Factory: The Story of TikTok & China’s ByteDance
- Downloads：1532
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-07-25 09:31:15
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Matthew Brennan
- ISBN：B099SH3CL6
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Pavel Vlasov-Mrdulyash
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История TikTok и его материнской компании - китайской ByteDance。 Давно интересующийся Китаем журналист Мэтью Бреннан педантично собрал материал по открытым источникам， осмыслил и упаковал в достаточно детализированный， но не занудный рассказ。 Мастрид для всех， кто занимается онлайн-проектами， да и вообще познавательно。
Asia
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Nice
Hui Lin Tan
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A breathtaking whirlwind tour of ByteDance’s history and the environments that it operated in。
Vibhooti Chauhan
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I wish it was more detailed like No filter on Instagram， more info into strategies， interviews with the early teams。 But it's a really good read。 The author has done a good job in putting together the information and documenting it in the form of a story I wish it was more detailed like No filter on Instagram， more info into strategies， interviews with the early teams。 But it's a really good read。 The author has done a good job in putting together the information and documenting it in the form of a story 。。。more
Benny
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Despite the Cambrian explosion of popularity worldwide， this is the only book that charts the unthinkable rise of TikTok and Bytedance。 Credits to ARK Invest's podcast for recommending this book。 Despite the Cambrian explosion of popularity worldwide， this is the only book that charts the unthinkable rise of TikTok and Bytedance。 Credits to ARK Invest's podcast for recommending this book。 。。。more
Jessica
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just a little too shallow of a bookdidn't feel like enough substance， compared to a lot of the other founder stories I've read just a little too shallow of a bookdidn't feel like enough substance， compared to a lot of the other founder stories I've read 。。。more
Jonathan Mckay
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33rd book of 2021: Red Ocean Strategy “We must face the fact that for 96% of people， their needs are so vulgar，” explained Gao Han， a senior UI designer， and ByteDance employee number twenty-two。 He confirmed the app’s reputation was well-earned， “Toutiao is of course trashy。 It’s all click-bait， all kinds of messy news。” In the west tech companies like to think of themselves as innovators， pursuing a ‘blue ocean strategy’ where competition can be ignored and innovation is paramount。 The cult 33rd book of 2021: Red Ocean Strategy “We must face the fact that for 96% of people， their needs are so vulgar，” explained Gao Han， a senior UI designer， and ByteDance employee number twenty-two。 He confirmed the app’s reputation was well-earned， “Toutiao is of course trashy。 It’s all click-bait， all kinds of messy news。” In the west tech companies like to think of themselves as innovators， pursuing a ‘blue ocean strategy’ where competition can be ignored and innovation is paramount。 The culture created by original tech giants Google and Microsoft has led to an entire industry that pulls its punches and operates with cozy margins。 The Chinese alternate reality of tech after the establishment of BAT （Baidu， Alibaba， and Tencent）， is the opposite: a red ocean where oxygen has been depleted and sharks abound。 Business was conducted like a brutal guerilla war in which developers， engineers， and operations staff worked themselves to death under grueling schedules in which speed of execution was everything。 Bytedance， with its flagship products of Toutiao 今日头条 and Tiktok 抖音 has emerged from the brawl as a winner on a grand scale。 With Toutiao， the race to the bottom in eyeballs for newsfeed had been accomplished long ago。 With sections filled with nothing but pretty girls （美女） Toutiao’s topic selection was low brow but successful。 Since BAT was missing the feed-based company analog to Facebook， there was an opening for Bytedance to succeed。 Pony Ma’s "stance at the time towards algorithmic recommendation could be described as， at best， suspicious， at worst， dismissive。" Tiktok itself is arguably the clone of a clone of a clone。 Bytedance was only able to emerge from a crowded field by copying the key to retention around the combination of music + short form videos and then pouring gasoline on it quick enough to pull away from the copycats。 Adding music to videos produced the same results as adding filters to pictures， effectively transforming smartphone cameras into a karaoke engine。 The true irony is that this strategy didn’t first gain traction in China; most students were too busy studying for exams to produce content。 So bytedance turned to inorganic growth for both content production and consumption。 For content production: “You have to attract immigration， and in order to do so， you’ve got to make a small percentage of people rich first” Bootstrapping an entire community of content creators to get the flywheel started for a new form of content is something that could only happen in China， and it took a company like Bytedance willing to spend billions to make it happen。 Once the growth started， it was explosive: “Over October， Douyin’s daily users doubled from seven to fourteen million; two months later， they reached 30 million。” By 2020， this strategy had worked。 Advertising revenue from short form video had estimated to reach 17% of the overall advertising market beating out social media’s 10% and even search engine’s 15% according to SCMP。 Now that TikTok has been growing in the US for a few years， for the first time， American tech giants have something from China to fear。 。。。more
James Schoeller
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I discovered that my spouse is always on tiktok， so I decided to spy on him to determine if he was cheating and yes！ he was really cheating。 cybereazi “gmaiil” confirmed！
Dom
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A thought-provoking account about a team that seems to have best nailed the attention economy so far。 I am fascinated and unsettled in almost equal measure。 This international success story seems a lot about the lever human pulsions provide and how much one could and should use that lever。 It also made me wonder if China ain't the actual experimentation nation these days。 Don't search for another book， this one comes recommended 😉KeywordingAmerican dream App。 Anger， a form of mental laziness。 Ap A thought-provoking account about a team that seems to have best nailed the attention economy so far。 I am fascinated and unsettled in almost equal measure。 This international success story seems a lot about the lever human pulsions provide and how much one could and should use that lever。 It also made me wonder if China ain't the actual experimentation nation these days。 Don't search for another book， this one comes recommended 😉KeywordingAmerican dream App。 Anger， a form of mental laziness。 App pre-install conundrum。 Apps building a core graph。 App factory to avoid the fad。 BATX and TMD go FAANG。 Central User Profile and Interest Graph， the core asset。 Challenges so that no one has to think。 Content， user， and environment profiles。 Content， not social platform。 Copy from China age。 Cultivate Committed Community。 Collective challenges and advanced filters to break into the "Japans" of the world。 Data network effect。 Don't make them think。。 Douyin， shake the shaky。 Experimentation Nation。 From people looking for information to information looking for people。 Globalize products， localize content。 Jack's brashness & confidence vs Yiming's mild-mannered & gentleness。 Japan， the litmus test。 Leanback convenience。 Lowbrow traffic acquisition。 Masses to massive。 Oil the data and content flywheels。 One metric obsession。 Passive is the new active。 Pump a pulse， big buck style。 Remove technical， creative and motivational barriers to make a rocketship lift off。 Record beautiful life， to cross the chasm。 Reveal， Dance， Challenge， Filter and Concept Triggers。 Screen estate， the most precious real estate。 Scrooge doesn't scale。 Start with the filter。 Television entertainment for the mobile age。 Toutiao， the news reads you。 World Wild West， legally。 。。。more
Stefan Mitev
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Жанг Иминг - създателят на TikTok има необикновена история。 Компанията му ByteDanse успява да наложи няколко мобилни приложения на жестокия китайски пазар， а едно от тях става световноизвестно。 На какво се дължи успехът му？Идеята за споделяне на кратки клипове не е нито нова， нито уникална。 Многобройни мобилни приложения са създадени по-рано от TikTok， но никое от тях не достига успехите му。 Според самия Жанг Иминг ключовите фактори за постигането на световна доминация са таргетиране на правилна Жанг Иминг - създателят на TikTok има необикновена история。 Компанията му ByteDanse успява да наложи няколко мобилни приложения на жестокия китайски пазар， а едно от тях става световноизвестно。 На какво се дължи успехът му？Идеята за споделяне на кратки клипове не е нито нова， нито уникална。 Многобройни мобилни приложения са създадени по-рано от TikTok， но никое от тях не достига успехите му。 Според самия Жанг Иминг ключовите фактори за постигането на световна доминация са таргетиране на правилната начална публика， използване на изкуствен интелект за персонализиране на предложените клипове， както и повсемествното разпространение на 4G технологията， позволяваща всеки да стане "инфлуенсър" за броени дни。Живеем в свят на безмилостна борба за вниманието на публиката。 TikTok е големият победител， за който ще чуваме все повече。 Приложението е символ на тъжния факт， че задържането на вниманието върху една конкретна задача ще става все по-трудно。 Кое е най-доброто， което може да предложите само за 15 секунди？ 。。。more
Yash Gadodia
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One of those books I probably should read end-to-end but I just skimmed through and tried to pick up as much as I could ByteDance is a fascinating company。 I will definitely pick this book again in the near future。
Dalan
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Fun & engaging。 Covers everything from the founders story， to the M&A involved to the tech involved。 Even for someone for who followed the rise of TikTok， lot of details don't seep out of China。 Breezy read - finished it in just over a day。 Fun & engaging。 Covers everything from the founders story， to the M&A involved to the tech involved。 Even for someone for who followed the rise of TikTok， lot of details don't seep out of China。 Breezy read - finished it in just over a day。 。。。more
James Di
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 A nice and comprehensive book on how Bytedance started and came into power today。
Jason Parmar
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I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book。 I had seen an online PDF with most the data heavy charts and expected a deep analysis of numbers & general insights。 But this is so much more and so much more interesting！ Matthew Brennan has gone into amazing detail in areas while maintaining a very easy to follow and captivating story split out into chapters that slightly overlap。 The way China works vs the West， the way this very unlikely clone of a clone app that we know as Tiktok， came to be and I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book。 I had seen an online PDF with most the data heavy charts and expected a deep analysis of numbers & general insights。 But this is so much more and so much more interesting！ Matthew Brennan has gone into amazing detail in areas while maintaining a very easy to follow and captivating story split out into chapters that slightly overlap。 The way China works vs the West， the way this very unlikely clone of a clone app that we know as Tiktok， came to be and take over the world’s culture， it’s fascinating。 I learned so much more than I bargained for here and was thoroughly entertained with these amazing real life characters and how ByteDance is much more than just Tiktok and how Silicon Valley may be copying China more in the future rather than vice versa。 。。。more
Traven Teng Teck Poh Poh
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Best book on ByteDance/TikTokThough it's hard to be 100% accurate is ByteDance is constantly evolving but the author has put together app the relevant info you need to understand this high growth giant tech company。To sum it off， ByteDance is more than just TikTok， you'll be deeply impressed after understanding it's mission and vision。I'm gonna re-read it again！ Best book on ByteDance/TikTokThough it's hard to be 100% accurate is ByteDance is constantly evolving but the author has put together app the relevant info you need to understand this high growth giant tech company。To sum it off， ByteDance is more than just TikTok， you'll be deeply impressed after understanding it's mission and vision。I'm gonna re-read it again！ 。。。more
Frank
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TikTok is perhaps the first social media app developed by a company in China that has gained close to worldwide adoption。 This book provides a good start to understanding how TikTok became so popular， and why it has succeeded in the short-video space while many of its social media competitors failed。 I thoroughly enjoyed Matthew's narration of TikTok's origin story， along with his comprehensive descriptions of the subtle cultural differences and competitive technology landscape in China。 Through TikTok is perhaps the first social media app developed by a company in China that has gained close to worldwide adoption。 This book provides a good start to understanding how TikTok became so popular， and why it has succeeded in the short-video space while many of its social media competitors failed。 I thoroughly enjoyed Matthew's narration of TikTok's origin story， along with his comprehensive descriptions of the subtle cultural differences and competitive technology landscape in China。 Throughout the book， Matthew makes several interesting observations about TikTok and ByteDance （the parent company）， from CEO Zhang Yiming's initial naming of the company （he named ByteDance in English first， before finding the Chinese name， because he wanted the company to be a global company）， to TikTok's 'moat' that's making it challenging for competitors from moving in and taking its market share （e。g。 Lasso， Reels）。12/18 update: Dua Lipa's new music video for her single 'Levitating'， using a mashup of TikTok videos， has close to 1M views on YouTube。 Further proof that TikTok has succeeded in defining the short video corner of the consumer Internet。 Hard to imagine many people thinking of TikTok as 'cringy' back in 2018， which also goes to show how successful the app is in re-defining its public image。This is the first English book I've seen dedicated to analyzing TikTok and ByteDance's rise， and I hope it will be the first of many to come。 。。。more
Jacek Bartczak
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Lots of business tips from the USA already arrived in Poland （thank God entrepreneurs in the US use English！）。 Tips from China only start arriving。 If in US and European books you don't see "anything new and mindblowing" then now you can read about one of the biggest China tech giants。 From the book about the company which created TikTok you can learn:- why TikTok achieved global scale， but Musical。ly and other competitors don't，- how did look the beginnings of ByteDance，- what those famous TikT Lots of business tips from the USA already arrived in Poland （thank God entrepreneurs in the US use English！）。 Tips from China only start arriving。 If in US and European books you don't see "anything new and mindblowing" then now you can read about one of the biggest China tech giants。 From the book about the company which created TikTok you can learn:- why TikTok achieved global scale， but Musical。ly and other competitors don't，- how did look the beginnings of ByteDance，- what those famous TikTok's algorithms are，- how over years the way in which people consumed content was changing。 This is also a history about how a short video became a daily habbit of millions of people。 。。。more
LifeSparring
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I don't give book praise easily but Matthew Brennan's book "Attention Factory: The Story of TikTok and China's ByteDance" is an absolute must-read for everyone interested in digitalization e-commerce and the internet in general。 Matthew not only tells the story of ByteDance and TikTok， but also manages to explain almost all internet-based business models in plain and easy to understand English。 I could not put the book down and finished it in 2 days， which indicates Michael Lewis like writing qu I don't give book praise easily but Matthew Brennan's book "Attention Factory: The Story of TikTok and China's ByteDance" is an absolute must-read for everyone interested in digitalization e-commerce and the internet in general。 Matthew not only tells the story of ByteDance and TikTok， but also manages to explain almost all internet-based business models in plain and easy to understand English。 I could not put the book down and finished it in 2 days， which indicates Michael Lewis like writing qualities。If you are looking for one book to understand the state of the internet economy in 2020， don't look any further！ 。。。more
Cedric Chin
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This isn’t a great book， but it is the best that is currently available in the English speaking world about Bytedance and its people。 I should note that the author does NOT have privileged access to the primary sources of the Tiktok story; what he’s done is that he’s taken relatively well known stories （in Chinese） about Bytedance and translated them into a coherent English narrative， for an international audience。
Book
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