The Daily Dose

In the consumer world, personal data has been used as a “payment” for services, whether that be a Facebook account or a grocery discount or a loyalty rewards program. If you take the Facebook example, consumers “pay” for the service by supplying data which in turn makes the company money through ads that rely on this data. Despite the severe — and warranted — backlash over data privacy, I don’t think the existing data-in-exchange for services model is inherently a bad idea. Where those systems break down is in the lack of trust and transparency, and when the bargain is…

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TikTok’s sudden popularity might’ve taken many by surprise as the app burst out on the social media scene seemingly out of nowhere. But TikTok’s origin is clear, it’s based on its one year-older predecessor, Douyin 抖音 which has over 500 million monthly active users. New TikTok features often make their debut on Douyin, bringing Chinese successes to the rest of Asia and Western markets. So by examining the Chinese predecessor, we can get a hint at what TikTok’s future will look like. What’s Douyin? Douyin launched in September 2016 and, in less than a year, began expanding internationally under the…

This story continues at The Next Web