Loops is a Fediverse TikTok alternative by the creator of Pixelfed. We try the app out for a spin, and give our honest thoughts.

Loops aims to be an open Fediverse alternative to TikTok, Snapchat, and Vine. We take an early look at the app, and talk about what it’s like!

  • dudenas@slrpnk.netEnglish
    17·
    4 hours ago

    If I understand it right… it will be much more costly to host videocentric platform than other types of content. A serious proposal for sharing the burden of hosting will likely be vital - through funding or decentralized storage/processing. Havent heard about that yet.

    • Sean Tilley@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Object Storage is relatively cheap, and goes a long way towards affordable hosting. Processing video, on the other hand…

      • NickwithaC@lemmy.worldEnglish
        23·
        2 hours ago

        The very first Youtube video is still up. Any serious competitor is going to need to offer that level of reliability with added benefits to woo users over.

        • noodlejetski@lemm.eeEnglish
          4·
          1 hour ago

          have you considered that a platform for sharing short, vertical videos, developed by a single person, perhaps isn’t trying to become a “serious competitor” for Youtube?

        • Jake Farm@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          2·
          1 hour ago

          Loops isn’t competing with youtube. I doubt you would be able to find the first tiktok.

      • dudenas@slrpnk.netEnglish
        1·
        3 hours ago

        not sure about peertube audience size, but afaik it does have a serious subsystem of resource sharing.

    • barkingspiders@infosec.pubEnglish
      1·
      3 hours ago

      I wonder about this a lot. The little research I did suggested DigitalOcean is footing the bill for the moment (and also for Pixelfed? would love to hear more about this). Google, Facebook, TikTok, etc… have all managed to throw enough resources at similar products that people expect a level of performance that is very expensive to maintain. There is some serious hardware and distribution issues ($$$$) with trying to host an “instant and endless stream of short form video”.

      In a counter point though I think large instances like lemmy.world and lemmy.ml have found ways to survive and thrive and the fediverse generally seems to be supported in a very grassroots sort of fashion. Donations, patrons, people who have the hardware and bandwidth sharing what they can for the greater community. Perhaps loops will go the same way.