The Covid Pandemic has left us starved for Entertainment, and my friend Damion Fulton is now on Tic Tok and I bet you don’t know that name.
Social Media has changed how we live, communicate and get entertainment. Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. No one wants a 3 hour movie any more. Try getting your friends to sit through the classic movie “The Great Race”. Even with intermission my wife leaves the room as soon as I put it on.
Trump Hated It
Tik Tok has been banned on any device owned by the US government because it has a built in ability to scan your data and farm it. Trump hated it which probably fueled at least some of its popularity. The Chinese Government even bought into the company and bought a board seat. Apparently millions of Americans don’t care that they are giving everything in their phone to the Chinese in exchange for a little entertainment. We are that desperate and apathetic all at the same time.
I don’t build Tik Tok videos because I need live feedback. There is no replacement for the boo or cheer of a real human. A little heart or thumbs down doesn’t cut it, and I don’t get anything out of seeing how many fans, followers or views I have. I know I can buy all of those.
Because I didn’t want to give away all of my friends names, phones numbers, addresses and other notes, I avoided Tik Tok. Several of my friends use it and talk about it, but I am not one to stare at a small screen all day. I don’t like watching videos on my phone, the only movies I normally will watch are a few classics like The Great Race, Cars, and anything Bond. If I get the movie as a screener to vote for the Sag Awards, then I’ll watch it. and in fact if it isn’t by Chuck Lorre or based in Hawaii I probably don’t watch it.
My Friends Are On Tik Tok?
The first Tik Tok post I saw was another friend in the entertainment business. She is a very talented musician and her sister is a movie writer. Her Tik Tok was a silly little clarinet piece. Honestly I didn’t get it but people loved it.
While working on the Visions documentary about the surf culture I met a very talented artist named Damion Fulton. While he isn’t technically a surf artist, he is very well known in the circles of beach art. What goes on in his head is a mystery to me, but I do like his art. One day I get a mass text that Damian Fulton is now on Tik Tok. When Damion got on Tik Tok, I wondered what he could possibly do? Some high speed painting? Then my mind wandered and I thought a high speed of Phil Roberts making a surf trophy or Rick Reitveld making a wave painting in 90 seconds would be pretty cool.
Fortunately the rules of instagram and other social sites require that each company have a phone number associated with the account. The Fan2Stage project meant that I needed another phone laying around. This also meant I had a phone I could watch Tik Tok on and not worry about giving away any secrets except that Fan2Stage banks at Mercury now.