If you’re familiar with Christian eschatology you know that some people believe a time is coming when you won’t be able to buy or sell unless you get the mark of the beast. (For a fun 70s-ish rock perspective on this, listen to It’s All Right by Matthew Ward.)
“The beast” has (depending on your view) a connection to “the anti-Christ,” and getting his mark shows allegiance to his side. Getting the mark of the beast is essentially a “go to Hell free” card.
I don’t endorse any of this stuff, but it comes to mind as I think about trends in social media.
TikTok is a fast-growing anti-social media platform that is getting a lot of buzz, and a lot of businesses are wondering about ways to use it to sell their products.
If you know anything about marketers, this happens whenever there’s a new technology or product. Like everybody else, they want to be paid to play around with fun stuff, so their first thought is “How can I use it to promote my brand!” Their second thought is “How can I make money and fame on the lecture circuit telling people how to use this new technology?”
I keep hearing from business people about all these opportunities on TikTok. “You need to be on TikTok,” they say.
But TikTok is controlled by the CCP, which is possibly worse than the beast. It tracks you. It steals your information. And it probably provides that information to the communist Chinese.
Doing business with TikTok is essentially supping with the devil.
So … are you willing to get the mark of the beast so you can trade in the new economy?
We’re not to that point. It’s very easy to go about your life without using TikTok. But the pattern is very instructive. In one sense, things are moving away from government control to control by international businesses. They will decide to what extent you can participate in the new economy.