A junior at New York University, Joy Ridenhour returned home to Virginia for winter break and heard familiar music on her parents’ phones. She thought it was interesting that they were watching TikTok. It was only after this realization that I learned they weren’t utilizing the TikTok app, but rather Instagram Reels.
Mark Zuckerberg agreed last week that TikTok is putting up a “unprecedented” struggle against Facebook, but the war will be far more fierce than most expect. Despite the widespread belief that Facebook is rigged, the business is actively stifling the growth of TikTok’s copycat, Reels, by promoting it to people like Ridenhour’s parents, who may have been late adopters of TikTok but aren’t likely to be so now that Reels has been released.
Despite the fact that reels are still a subpar product, they have some advantages that don’t seem to fit neatly into the story about Facebook’s collapse. In order to have a clearer picture of the battle between Facebook and Twitter, here are a few crucial points to keep in mind:
Instagram’s 2 Billion Users vs. TikTok’s 1 Billion
In the fall of last year, TikTok surpassed 1 billion monthly subscribers, but a few months later, Instagram apparently surpassed 2 billion monthly users. If TikTok wants to keep growing at its current rate, it needs to gain the support of people like Ridenhour’s parents, who may not see the need in downloading an app that is so similar to Reels. Ridenhour added, “They were never interested in TikTok. This camp has a population of one billion individuals.
TikTok could be a gateway drug for younger Instagram users who play with Reels before discovering it. TikTok, on the other hand, is Ridenhour’s 14-year-old brother’s new favorite social media platform.
Facebook’s Cash Reserves
Fear of a competition usually results in a social media business with tens of billions in cash reserves trying to spend that competitor into oblivion. In fact, Facebook and TikTok are doing just that. TikTok has disappointed creators with its own fund, which Facebook announced it will spend $1 billion on this summer. Social media platforms may only be as good as the people behind them, and Facebook may be able to outspend TikTok in this battle for user-generated content.
The India Factor
Before it was outlawed by the Indian government in June 2020, India was the largest market for TikTok. TikTok’s download growth has stagnated without India. Sensor Tower estimates that more than 918 million individuals will have downloaded TikTok by the year 2020. However, in 2021, TikTok’s downloads fell to 670 million, a 26% decline. A similar 8 percent rise was seen on Instagram during the same time period (all data Jan 1 – Nov. 22). The fact that TikTok will not be returning to India anytime soon is a big setback. “There have been multiple attempts to revive the TikTok ambition,” said Venkat Ananth, an Indian tech journalist at The Signal. “That boat has sailed.”
Although TikTok continues to outpace Instagram in downloads, users are spending more time on TikTok. Dennis Yeh, a Sensor Tower analyst, claimed that TikTok users spend around 1.6 times more time on the app than Instagram in the fourth quarter of this year. The task at hand is, in the words of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, unparalleled.
The Facebook Ad Platform
Buyers of advertising will continue to spend their money on Facebook because it is the easiest route for them to go. Despite the fact that the company’s tracking capabilities have deteriorated, advertisers continue to value the product, and TikTok will have a difficult time retaining its current clientele. “I rarely get primary inquiries about spending on TikTok or Snapchat; it’s always about Facebook and Instagram,” said Peter Stringer, a social media ad buyer.
Bottom Line
The most popular app in the globe right now is TikTok. It consistently outpaces Instagram in terms of worldwide downloads. TikTok, according to Ritholtz Wealth’s Josh Brown, is Facebook’s most serious rival since MySpace. Reels, on the other hand, has a lot of resources at its disposal, and you can bet that it will use those resources to avoid a peaceful death.
