TIKTOK'S ANSWER TO INSTAGRAM?
Another day, another new platform!
This time, TikTok is throwing its hat in the ring for the “creating an app that’s exactly the same as one of their biggest competitors and calling it a different name” award.
Meta currently holds the crown for the Threads / X (or Twitter, to the OGs), and after a successful record number of downloads, interest in Threads has seemingly waned.
Is this due to how similar it is to X? Not enough users? Initial curiosity too quickly sated?
Similarly, TikTok has created TikTok Notes (hopefully a working title), which will be solely used for photo sharing (sound familiar?). After prioritising and incentivising photo carousel sharing on the short-form video app, it seems they will now separate the two entirely.
So what does that mean for all of us?!
Essentially, a new platform to get our heads around and learn the tricks needed to beat the algorithm because, of course, there’ll be new rules to follow with this one! It also means more work for businesses as learning the ins and outs of a new app takes time (regardless of how similar it is to another app), so you also have to decide if it’s worth it.
HAVING SAID THAT! Creating stills and photo content is much less time-consuming than video, so having a platform only championing photos could be just what the marketer ordered? Back to basics and that… We’ve always said you can’t do everything and be on every app; you should choose the right one(s) for your business and channel your energy into that.
It’s no secret that people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with Instagram and its new updates and algorithm changes, so it could well be time for a new version of the photo-sharing app.
It would be remiss of us not to recall the TikTok vs. the US debate. With the app under threat of being banned in the US, would this ban then apply to any subsidiaries of the app? The short answer is yes, but this is largely due to the fact that TikTok is owned by Bytedance, a Chinese company. Data and sensitive information sharing are at the forefront of everyone’s mind, so the beef with the US could most probably extend to this new app.
It’s refreshing, though, going back to the good ol’ days of just uploading photos and sharing them with your friends. And it looks like the app will migrate existing photo content on TikTok over to Notes (with user’s permission), so they won’t be starting from scratch.
For now, it's only available in Canada and Australia but could TikTok Notes become another passing fad, or will this one stick and become the new Instagram?