TikTok is forcing other platforms to evolve

Video might have killed the radio star back in the day, but the TikTokification of all other social media is enough to do one’s head in. By

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness, Meta/Facebook’s unashamedly going all-in with an increasingly desperate push for attention.

Its short-form video platform Reels, shared across Meta’s platforms in a miserable attempt to beat TikTok, is a shameless copycat product that Meta is apparently betting on to fill the void left by the Chinese platform’s likely demise in the West.

This week, independent privacy research by developer Felix Krause revealed that the social network’s iOS app injecting code could enable it to keylog, i.e. monitor all keyboard inputs and taps.

In July, cybersecurity experts warned TikTok users that the Chinese government could use the app to harvest personal information, from in-app messages with friends to precise device locations.

So, what’s good about TikTok?

Why do more than a billion people actively use the platform, spending at least 45 minutes daily on TikTok?

It’s disrupting the status quo, for the better, not only because of TikTok’s impressive growth since its founding in 2016, but because it’s forced other, more established platforms to evolve.

The first brand to recognise and respond to the threat was Instagram, brand specialist Mark Ritson notes. When Instagram introduced Reels in 2020, it was punted as “a new way to create and discover short, entertaining videos on Instagram”. But it was an almost literal attempt to replicate the functionality of TikTok, which was diametrically opposed to what Insta was about and why users loved it:

“Instagram was about curation and connection and community, not recommended videos from an anonymous vortex of strangers. While video was part of Instagram’s success, it was also a demonstrably image-led platform, not a video site.”

The “innovations” have continued, with “Suggested Reels” replacing more and more of the photos posted by friends.

YouTube has also had to evolve, with a new feature called Shorts, which looks a lot like TikTok – from the full-screen videos to the short video length, to the scrolling, the likes and swipes.

Snapchat has done the same: short, fullscreen videos, vertically scrolled.

What is so wrong with copying TikTok? Users aren’t quite as enamoured with the replicas. As Ritson points out, there are very good reasons not to focus too heavily on competitors, what they do and how they do it. “There is a long and rewarding literature on the power of market orientation and keeping the customer in your crosshairs at all times. And there is an equally persuasive literature on the perils of competitor orientation – of switching our gaze from our customers to our competitors and how they do things. And that danger multiplies significantly if these insights turn to action and we start to replicate our competitors’ moves in our own approach.”

When Instagram began its TikTokification, the decision was slated by influencer sisters Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, who asked their almost 700 million followers on Insta to sign a petition to stop it from “trying to be TikTok”.

“I’m glad we took a risk,” Instagram boss Adam Mosseri told the media in July. “If we’re not failing every once in a while, we’re not thinking big enough or bold enough.”

For the bookworms

Ask what’s good about TikTok and it would have to be #BookTok – a global trend that is electrifying the world of books as teenagers help to create bestsellers and revive classics through social media.

Described as the “most wholesome place on the internet”, the BookTok niche became a social media sensation during the hard lockdowns of Covid and is yet to subside, with fans caressing their books in clips set to music or admiring their bookshelves, filled with books they’re unlikely ever to read.

BookTokker @Abby encourages her more than 420,000 followers to create a reading “vibe” for each book that she features.

@luzlovesbooks, a 20-year-old creator from Louisiana, told Refinery29 that she created her book account because she was longing to find a connection with something she was super-passionate about. “None of my close friends read in their spare time so I took it upon myself to ignore my social anxiety and create an account where I could finally talk about the books that have changed my life.”

Bookshops around South Africa have jumped on the trend, with Exclusive Books noting readership interest has skyrocketed with trending reads across all genres and ages, “all because influencers and users are utilising the TikTok platform to voice their reviews and recommendations in the most unique of settings”.