Tiktok – is known for its viral dance videos, challenges, and tutorials. But for Gen Z, Tiktok is more than that. Tiktok has become one of the biggest platforms for searching for information and diverse content.
More and more younger people utilize Tiktok’s robust algorithm and database to get information and entertainment. That tailors with a sense that real individuals on the app are synthesizing and providing facts (or not) rather than faceless websites.
TikTok’s rise as a finding tool is part of a broader digital search adaptation. While Google stays the world’s most prevalent search engine, individuals depend on Amazon to explore products and Instagram to remain updated on trends. The universe of ways to find information is growing as the digital world continues growing.
Google has noticed TikTok edging into its territory. Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) increasingly turns to TikTok for information. While Silicon Valley argued that Gen Zs are using TikTok to substitute its search engine, someone publicly noted the rival video app’s search abilities.
In the meantime, however, Google has to contend with no longer being some users’ first stop when they want to discover new places or information.
This trend was becoming so pronounced that the tech giant confirmed it was working on deals allowing it to index Instagram and TikTok videos in Search last fall. You can see some of this progress already — search for a keyword followed by the word “TikTok,” Google will return rows of results of TikTok videos before you see any standard web pages.
A finding tool for Gen Z
Exploring on TikTok is often more interactive than typing on Google. Rather than just treading through walls of text, Gen Z-ers crowdsource suggestions from TikTok videos to find what they are searching for, watching video after video to cull the content. Then they confirm the abundance of facts based on comments posted concerning the videos.
This mode of searching is implanted in how Gen Z uses TikTok to look for products and businesses, ask questions about how to do things, and find justifications for what things mean. Many said that with videos often less than 60 seconds, TikTok provides more relevant information.
Example: During the pandemic, people are more interested to learn new things, new hobbies, or new entertainment sources. Instead of scanning through Google or Facebook, Tiktok provides an avenue for creating trends through challenges and product information. At the same time, you can easily find recipes through Google search; these short Tiktok videos of how-tos are more enticing.
More than ever, people were keen on trying a popular recipe on Tiktok; that’s how air fryers became a thing. Most people wouldn’t know what Dalgonna coffee is or how it’s made. Tiktok made that happen and more. People come to seek information through this social media juggernaut.
TikTok’s effects “don’t seem as prejudiced” as Google’s, as it offers “a different view” from what ads and websites optimized for Google. More young people are using TikTok’s algorithm — which personalizes the videos produced for them based on their exchanges with content — to discover knowledge uncannily catered to their preferences.
Almost 40% of Gen Z members prefer TikTok for online inquiries over Google, according to internal data from Google. “In our studies, almost 40% of young people don’t go to Google Maps or Search when looking for a place for lunch. They go to TikTok or Instagram,” said Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan at an industry event, according to TechCrunch.
How Tiktok Works
TikTok’s rise as a search engine may suggest that more people struggle with misinformation and disinformation on the app, which could then be boosted and disseminated further. The platform has strumbled with reconciling misleading content about the war in Ukraine, Covid-19, elections, and even abortion.
TikTok’s algorithm keeps someone on the app, causing it harder for them to divert to other sources to fact-check inquiries. TikTok has tilted into evolving a venue for discovering information. The app is testing a feature that recognizes keywords in comments and links to searches for them. Southeast Asia is also experimenting with a feed with local content so that people can locate businesses and events near them.
It was found that users were “consistently fed inaccurate and misleading claims when they explore TikTok for information about notable news subjects.”
A new study by NewsGuard has discovered that one in five TikTok content contains some misinformation. For instance, if a user searched for “Covid vaccines,” TikTok showed “covid vaccine truths” or “Covid Vaccine HIV” as suggestions. Also, searching for “climate change” produced results for “climate change debunked” and “climate change doesn’t exist.” Around 19.4% of the search results were misleading (105 out of 540 videos analyzed), according to the study.
How alarming is this for this generation? But Tiktok is not going to stop there. These misleading impacts on TikTok become all the more destructive when we think about the app’s primary user base – the platform is a favorite among youths.
TikTok “is evolving into a one-stop shop for content in a manner that it wasn’t in its earlier days.”
How can you take advantage of Tiktok?
TikTok may be controversial, but it is one of the most popular social media apps today. Not only is it available in 141 countries, but it is also top in 124 countries worldwide. Micro-influencers have an engagement rate of 17.96% on TikTok than any other social media platform. TikTok users spend more than 850 minutes of their time in a month creating and watching billions of content, according to Statista.
When we talk about disruption, TikTok certainly has the potential to turn the tide. It might not be integrated with the Big 4 social platforms, but it is a great place to advertise your product since it is cheaper. With approximately 500 million daily users, TikTok can be a goldmine of engagement for businesses. It focuses on content creation rather than monetization; for any marketer, this is a great place to start your audience awareness stage.
Read more about how you can use Tiktok to create your marketing campaigns in my previous blog.
