The latest report from Nikkei Asia showed that the popular short video creation and viewing service TikTok has overtaken Facebook as the world’s most downloaded app. Until this year, Facebook had firmly held the first position, being the most popular social network in the world and attracting millions of users.
The recent rise in TikTok users has been driven by a combination of factors, including the global coronavirus pandemic, which has forced people to sit at home for months. This has led to a sharp increase in the popularity of the platform among a wide variety of segments of the population and age groups, including even the elderly. TikTok’s growth has also been fueled by the end of the US government’s crackdown on the social network.
The success of TikTok has led to Instagram, YouTube and others launching similar services. The total watch time of TikTok videos in the US and UK is longer than that of YouTube; and shorter videos are gaining more and more attention from users.
“The total viewing time for TikTok in the U.S. and U.K. is longer than that for YouTube, and short videos will continue to attract attention,” Chuzen Kin, marketing manager at App Annie, an app market intelligence company, told Nikkei as he reviewed trends. “In terms of content, music and comedies are becoming more popular”. Vocal social media is also on the up, with Clubhouse taking off in Japan and the U.S. in early 2021.
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TikTok stories are coming soon
TikTok is coming soon with Stories like Instagram, Facebook and many other social networks. Social media apps constantly copy features from each other. Now the Chinese video service is preparing to launch the stories that many users love on other platforms.
Twitter user Matt Navarra revealed on his page that TikTok is testing a new way for content creators to interact with their fans. Stories appear in the sidebar of the app. You can view them within 24 hours after publication. TikTok itself has confirmed this information.
