When it comes to Social Media Facebook and Instagram lead the race but could there be a new social super power about to emerge? Back in 2007 I joined Facebook. In order to gain access to the social site you had to have a college email address. It wasn't long after I joined it was open to anyone who wanted a profile. From there things grew quickly.
Part of the success of Social Media giants like Facebook and Instagram is the business buy in. There are millions to be made in literally any field thanks to the two social sites. Not that Snap Chat, Twitter and YouTube are obsolete, they just run on a content creator type model. We live in a consumer society so we easily flock to the site that feeds that.
TikTok is on the come up but does it have what it takes to fight in the social media arena? TikTok is a social media app that holds the attention of a 12-25 demographic. Boasting about 400 million active users lip syncing and dancing to their favorite viral songs. Artist like Doja Cat saw success because her song " Say So" became a TikTok user favorite.
Businesses are hopping on the TikTok train which could lead you to believe the app may have some longevity, I predict it won't. Facebook and Instagram work because they appeal to the 18-35 demographic aka Millennials. At this point that is the group with the largest spending and buying power. This group is also the group setting the tone for what passes socially. TikTok is fun and it'll have some sticking power but it lacks the consumer edge Instagram and Facebook provide. Like I said earlier we love to get, have, buy. We say we hate ads but honestly we had traditional advertising.
TikTok could possibly gain momentum and totally prove me wrong. I see it a lot like Vine though, it was fun to make the videos but then the sparkle wore off and we went back to the tried and true social apps. The apps that are hella user friendly and you don't have to be a good dancer to feel like you should create an account. I'd also like to acknowledge there's more than lip syncing and dancing on TikTok but it's popular for those reasons. Instagram has survived because it followed the model of it's parent company (Facebook) while appealing to the Millennial demo. Meanwhile Facebook holds the attention of Gen X which run a close second in spending/consumer groups.