[tzm]

As funny (or interesting) as it looks, I have to stop and ask do we really need this type of content vying for attention? Watching these videos feels like TikTok on steroids. I instantly ignore this type of content. It's mind-numbing with little substance.

[Rendello]

One of my family members rarely lets her daughter watch TV, and when that kid is in front of a set, she's so catatonic she can't remember her name. I can't imagine if she was an iPad kid with TikTok in front of her, kids especially eat up these splitscreen videos. Educated, working, adult HN readers aren't the target audience for these sorts of things, but even I got caught in the TikTok trap for a year and still watch hours of YT and FB shorts in a stupor. I'm glad HN hasn't introduced short-form video content yet ;)

[rchaud]

Most social media marketing tools are sold with the express intent of spam acceleration. Before TikTok, there were numerous tools for FB/Twitter focused on scheduling posts, or auto-generating posts based on [[current hot topic]].

This tool is tame compared to those. It just centers a 16:9 video and crops it to fit better in portrait mode, while showing the uncropped video below so people can see the full frame as well.

[KaiserPro]

From my casual observations, split screen stuff is either reactions, or a way to beat copyright detection.