TikTok wants to be Instagram who wants to be Twitter
TikTok wants to be Instagram who wants to be Twitter
As TikTok faces US removal, Notes looks to compete with the photo-sharing app
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We’ve heard before that TikTok will be banned, but the government actually means it this time.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a bill demanding ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, divest or die.
“The move potentially sets up a protracted legal fight over the fate of the popular social media app, as TikTok has vowed not to go down without a fight,” Ivana Saric writes for Axios. “While the new law won't make TikTok instantly disappear, it gives ByteDance up to a year to find an approved buyer for TikTok.”
Interestingly enough, TikTok is currently working on an Instagram competitor. Enter: TikTok Notes, testing in Australia and Canada. The app will be dead in the water if ByteDance and the U.S. aren’t getting along. But, it could also be dead in the water anyway.
First of all, Substack already did the “Notes” thing. Second of all, TikTok, why? It’d be one thing if the platform were trying to compete in the text-based space to fill the gap left by OG1 Twitter, but they’re stepping into Instagram’s territory instead.
Initial criticism compares TikTok Notes to Lemon8, another app owned by TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance. “Designed to be a lifestyle app, Lemon8 is like a mixture of Instagram and Pinterest,” Chloe West wrote for Hootsuite. The app launched in 2020, but hasn’t gained mainstream popularity.
Does TikTok have enough brand recognition to pull TikTok Notes off? Or are audiences only looking for video content from TikTok because that’s Tiktok’s niche? Either way, somebody’s time is being wasted.
Meanwhile, Instagram continues to strengthen its user interface between Threads and Reels thanks to increased focus from its parent company, Meta.
According to social media monitor Annie Mae, Meta is working on Threads’ direct messages, improved search, and integrated Reels sharing. The platform has also redesigned Story stickers for links, location, and more. (A feature they stole from Snapchat, by the way).
Threads still has a chance to act as an alternative for Twitter, but the going is slow. They’re on the right track with the tweaks noted above, but it still doesn’t top the algorithmic power Twitter had in its heyday to compile live, trending topics. News isn’t a priority there.
Every social media platform now is Frankenstein’s monster – a hodgepodge of unique and stolen elements – which leaves the power in the user’s hands. The more mimicry, the more options. Do you go with the masses? Or do you pick your favorite platforms based on functionality? To me, it comes down to which platform is the better thief.
Meta will win the feature war if TikTok is pulled from the U.S. Reels is already known for repurposing TikToks, and as Threads beefs up, so too will its fanbase. That leaves Instagram sitting on the throne with the trifecta of video, text, and image in its jewel-studded hands.
If TikTok goes, I know where I’ll be.
Read my last social media story: 'Quiet on Set' takes over TikTok with heat on Nickelodeon, Dan Schneider
My weekly roundup:
🎶 What I’m Listening To: Telepath by Conan Gray
🎞️ What I’m Watching: The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
🔎 What I’m Reading: The Performative Poets Department by Craig Jenkins for Vulture
📱 What I’m Scrolling: Taylor Swift memes 😉
Read the full Gen Z Dictionary here.
OG: “original gangster,” slang for the original version of something, usually superior to its successors