Analysis of the four factors in the game between Tik Tok and its users!

Based on the four elements of game theory, this paper analyzes the game subjects, rules and results between Tik Tok and user usage and user dissemination. At the same time, it dialectically analyzes the profits of both parties under different game results, and demonstrates the internal logic and methods of Tik Tok in recording a better life at the user level.

Keywords : Tik Tok; users; game

1. Overview of Tik Tok

1.1 What is TikTok

Tik Tok is a music creative short video social software, a 15-second music short video sharing community focusing on young people. The unique value orientation of the product is "recording a better life".

Users can choose trendy music and combine it with dance performances, script imitations, talent shows, emotional expressions, skill sharing, life records and other content forms to shoot 15-second music short videos, create their own works[1], publish and share them, and receive likes and comments. At the same time, you can appreciate other people's works, like, comment and share your favorite works.

Users can make videos more creative by adjusting the speed of video shooting, as well as original special effects, filters, scene switching and other techniques, turning them into blockbusters in a second. Since the soundtracks are mainly electronic music and dance music, most of the works have a strong sense of rhythm, giving people a strong sense of coolness and fashion [2].

Figure 1.1 The basic framework of the Douyin app

Figure 1.2 Basic logic of the Douyin app

1.2 Current Development Status of Tik Tok

Tik Tok was launched in September 2016. As of now, 2 years and 3 months have passed. It has topped the app rankings many times and has become the most popular short video platform with 800 million users, 150 million daily active users, and over 300 million monthly active users .

2. The game between Tik Tok and user usage

2.1 The main players in the game between Tik Tok and users

The main participants in the game between Douyin and its users are Douyin and Douyin users . The following analyzes the rules, results and profits of the game between Douyin and its users.

2.2 Game rules between Tik Tok and users

Before users use it, on the one hand, Douyin conducts a cold start to acquire some expert users, stimulate their use and accept their feedback to improve the product, thereby fundamentally enhancing its own bargaining advantage. On the other hand, Douyin attracts users through popular stars such as Yue Yunpeng, Wu Yifan, and Zhou Bichang, and organizes a variety of offline activities such as "Douyin in Chengdu" and "Douyin idou Night" to attract users' attention. At the same time, it has made a strong presence on "Happy Camp", "Day Day Up", "Star Detective", "The Rap of China", and "This! Variety shows such as "Street Dance of China" have expanded product awareness, reached more users, and created a trendy and cool product image , which has a strong appeal to target users.

During the user's use, Douyin's unique algorithm mechanism continuously pushes high-quality short video content of interest to users. The product operation is simple and easy to learn , and it is very easy to use. You can watch the next work by swiping your finger. At the same time, users do not know what the next work will be, but they know that it is a high-quality short video work that they are interested in and that they look forward to watching. This is a psychological motivation for users, and will make them look forward to the next work even more after watching one work. The psychology of internet celebrities in the Internet age will make users actively participate in the creation of short video content, resulting in a continuous stream of new content. At the same time, Douyin has lowered the threshold for creation through various Douyin challenges such as "Shake out the flavor of your hometown", "Selfie Show", and "What Qualifies You to Say I'm Fat". It enriches video creation stickers, filters, and special effects to make the works more beautiful and cool , stimulate users to participate more actively in short video creation, and create a high-quality and unique short video content ecosystem.

From this we can see that in the game between Douyin and user usage, Douyin is pursuing more active users, and users are pursuing higher-quality and richer music short video content.

2.3 Game results between Tik Tok and user usage

The game between Tik Tok and its users can have two outcomes.

The first is that Douyin becomes the party with the advantage in the game . Users are successfully attracted and become particularly loyal fans. The frequency of use and interaction is high, the usage time is long, and the short video content created is large in quantity and high in quality.

The second possibility is that TikTok becomes the disadvantaged party in the game . Users are not attracted to it at the beginning or they think that TikTok affects their original lives. In addition, the content is highly homogenized and its attractiveness continues to decline, so they eventually uninstall the product.

2.4 Profit Analysis between Tik Tok and User Usage

If the game results in Douyin becoming the advantageous party, then for Douyin, it will gain more high-quality and active users, enhance its brand influence, greatly enhance its commercial monetization capabilities, improve its ability to bargain with advertisers, and help increase its commercial revenue; but at the same time, this result increases the pressure and cost of its content supervision and high-quality content creation, and it will also face fierce competition from more market competitors, increasing legal and business risks . For users, they can enjoy more high-quality short videos that they are interested in, effectively spend fragmented leisure and entertainment time, improve their mood, and to a certain extent improve their quality of life ; but at the same time, as the usage time increases, if self-control is insufficient, it may disrupt the original daily life , and at the same time face the economic risk of increased traffic consumption.

If the game results in Douyin becoming the disadvantaged party, then for Douyin, on the one hand, the return on its investment of human, material and financial resources will be reduced, which will increase the average cost of acquiring and retaining each user, and the cost of enhancing brand influence will also increase; on the other hand, this result will weaken its advantage in the game with advertisers and competitors, which will be unfavorable for its commercial realization and market share, and its profits will be reduced ; but this result will also help it eliminate non-target users , making product positioning clearer and market penetration more precise. For users, their daily lives can return to normal, the efficiency of time use can be improved , more value can be created, and self-satisfaction can be enhanced; but at the same time, they lose some entertainment content, lack a leisure channel, and will also have difficulty integrating into some social topics in groups such as friends and colleagues.

3. The game between Tik Tok and user communication

3.1 The main players in the game between Tik Tok and user communication

The main participants in the game between Douyin and user dissemination are Douyin and Douyin users . The following analyzes the rules, results and profits of the game between Douyin and user dissemination.

3.2 Game rules between Tik Tok and user communication

Before users spread the word, on the one hand, Douyin provides users with high-quality short videos of interest through a unique algorithm mechanism . Through step-by-step stimulation, users spontaneously spread the high-quality short video content of their interest through social channels. At the same time, it targets the social needs of users and creates common social topics in their circles through user sharing, putting the sharers at the center of the topic and generating effective psychological motivation for them.

On the other hand, Douyin takes advantage of users’ psychology of wanting to be internet celebrities. Through various prompts and decentralized algorithm recommendations, it displays relevant cases of some ordinary people creating popular short video works, making users believe that becoming an internet celebrity on Douyin is not a dream, fully satisfying their need for self-expression and stimulating users to spread their original short video works through social channels. At the same time, after users spread the information, likes, comments and other interactions from friends in the social network will have a strong psychological motivation for users, increasing their satisfaction with their sharing behavior.

From this we can see that in the game between Douyin and user communication, Douyin is pursuing lower customer acquisition costs, faster customer acquisition speed and stronger brand awareness, while users are pursuing higher social status.

3.3 Game results between Tik Tok and user communication

The game between Tik Tok and its users can have two outcomes. The first result is that Douyin is in an advantageous position in the game and has successfully stimulated users to spread content.

The second result is that Tik Tok is at a disadvantage in the game and fails to stimulate user dissemination.

3.4 Profit Analysis between Tik Tok and User Communication

If the game results in Douyin being in an advantageous position, then for Douyin, on the one hand, this result enhances its brand awareness and product reputation, helping it to acquire more users faster and at a lower cost, and create greater economic benefits ; on the other hand, if due to regulatory loopholes , users share vulgar music short video content on social channels, it will have a huge negative impact on the brand image and may even cause user loss. At the same time, it will face administrative and legal sanctions from relevant departments, causing unpredictable risks and losses. For users, on the one hand, when sharing short video content created by others, they can make more friends with common preferences and strengthen the relationship with friends of similar preferences in the existing circle of relationships, but at the same time it may also cause disgust among some friends with opposite preferences; on the other hand, when sharing short video content created by themselves, it satisfies their Internet celebrity psychology , better shapes their interpersonal image, and may make them famous and obtain potential commercial benefits. However, if the short video content they share is relatively vulgar, it will damage their image in interpersonal relationships and they may face sanctions from regulators, resulting in unnecessary losses.

If the game results in Douyin being at a disadvantage, then its operating costs will rise and its operating pressure will increase, but at the same time it will be forced to further enrich and optimize the short video content on the platform and promote better product iteration . For users, it is a loss of a good opportunity to enhance their social influence , but it will also make them more rational in using Internet entertainment products .

4 Conclusion

The most critical link for the survival and development of Douyin is users . If Douyin wants to better record beautiful life, it must engage in a more advantageous game with user usage and user dissemination.

Of course, this article only analyzes the four elements of the game between the two parties and fails to use a complete data model for a more in-depth analysis. In future research, a more complete theoretical model will be constructed for in-depth analysis, and the dimensions of analysis will be increased, such as analyzing the game between Douyin and advertisers, competitors, the government and other relevant entities.

Source: Ziwei Research Society (ID: ziweiyjs )