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I'm not sure I agree with how you're framing this. It doesn't seem relevant to me who TikTok's customers are, nor what it's business model is. I think we're talking about aspect of the product.
TikTok's product is a platform that lets users upload and view videos from other users, and interact with each other via this platform.
SN's product is similarly a platform on which users can interact with each other (primarily via text). What do I think the problem is that this product solves? Hopefully, the mess that is a platform based on user generated content. If it isn't highly constrained, it turns into internet flame-war-porno-bot-swamp.
For instance, Polymarket has some amount of user generated content (the individual shares people buy). They don't have to worry about moderation much. If they were to do what Predyx does and allow users to create their own markets, they'd have to put a lot of budget toward dealing with the crazy things users do.
But in most cases, users are attracted to social media that allows them to be creative and do what they want with less constraint. So social media requires moderation or algorithms or the other things I listed in the OP. I think that SN is using markets to solve this problem just like reddit uses mods or X uses an algo.
I don't think it's relevant then who inhabits the role of customer, nor is it particularly relevant what SN's business model is.
flame-war-porno-bot-swamp
Now this sounds like a promising platform
I think it's relevant because it implies that the platforms are trying to solve different problems. The choice of what moderation tools to use, how to set the boundaries of user generated content, are all motivated by who their customers are.
https://stacker.news/SimpleStacker#research-in-public, obvi
I think it already does influence the brand. From what I can tell, users who like to write are attracted to SN. This makes sense: you get rewarded for writing.
That being said, I imagine the percentage of people who like to write, or to read long writing, is pretty small. That's why every social media trend has been to go after the people with lower attention spans.
Regarding solving things with a market, I am wondering what you are trying to solve. It needs to be understood that the users on Tik Tok are not Tik Tok's customers. Tik Tok's customers are the advertisers. So the market is really between content creators and advertisers, with TikTok providing the market infrastructure. The viewers are like an environmental variable.
On SN, the marketplace is between posters and readers (with the understanding that everyone is both sometimes a poster and sometimes a reader.)
They are fundamentally different markets, so much so that I wonder if it's even appropriate to compare them as being in the same business.