TikTok’s latest feature, which encourages users to explore the platform via suggested search terms, has netizens raising questions about its viability as a new search engine.
TikTok’s place in the world wide web is an interesting one. What was once a site for Gen Z kids to post videos about them lip synching and dancing is, well, still that. However, it has also grown massively in both scale and scope, becoming a behemoth that caters to nearly all age groups, backgrounds, and forms of content alike. Quite similar to how millennials and Gen X relied on YouTube as a know-it-all encyclopedia for learning all sorts of information, TikTok’s content bank too has diversified to the point that it can be relied on for all sorts of information. Let’s be honest, Google is amazing but not everyone does well with learning via words. Visual learning is an incredibly important aspect of information gathering, and some people simply respond to it better. I, for one, would have a much easier time learning the guitar via watching videos rather than reading a WikiHow article that Google Search tossed my way.
Another major aspect that works in TikTok’s favor is the ever decreasing attention span of our current generations; and yes, I mean generations. No matter how much we want to talk about Gen Z having ADD mindsets, literally everyone has a much shorter patience bar for online content. It’s a trade-off for living in the information-dense landscape of today, and I’m honestly still not sure if we got a good deal or not. At any rate, with TikTok’s limited video time, people find searching up content and tutorials on the platform much more enticing as compared to other options. This, combined with the site’s massive success, means that there’s always going to be a steady stream of diverse content producers, and an audience that’s just as diverse, waiting to tune in.
TikTok’s success is nothing short of a modern-day phenomenon, and it’s a sociological milestone in the history of the internet. No matter how much people criticize the platform for being annoying and for kids, which are ridiculously immature criticisms to hurl, it’s success as a content warehouse has also led to it being one of the most unintentionally affluent search engines online. Also, just as a parting note, why does no one ever bring up the mass privacy issues that TikTok afflicts its populace with when discussing reasons for being annoyed at the platform?
H/T: SEJ
Read next: TikTok Takes New Steps That Ensures US Data Remains Separate From Its Chinese Parent Company
TikTok’s place in the world wide web is an interesting one. What was once a site for Gen Z kids to post videos about them lip synching and dancing is, well, still that. However, it has also grown massively in both scale and scope, becoming a behemoth that caters to nearly all age groups, backgrounds, and forms of content alike. Quite similar to how millennials and Gen X relied on YouTube as a know-it-all encyclopedia for learning all sorts of information, TikTok’s content bank too has diversified to the point that it can be relied on for all sorts of information. Let’s be honest, Google is amazing but not everyone does well with learning via words. Visual learning is an incredibly important aspect of information gathering, and some people simply respond to it better. I, for one, would have a much easier time learning the guitar via watching videos rather than reading a WikiHow article that Google Search tossed my way.
Another major aspect that works in TikTok’s favor is the ever decreasing attention span of our current generations; and yes, I mean generations. No matter how much we want to talk about Gen Z having ADD mindsets, literally everyone has a much shorter patience bar for online content. It’s a trade-off for living in the information-dense landscape of today, and I’m honestly still not sure if we got a good deal or not. At any rate, with TikTok’s limited video time, people find searching up content and tutorials on the platform much more enticing as compared to other options. This, combined with the site’s massive success, means that there’s always going to be a steady stream of diverse content producers, and an audience that’s just as diverse, waiting to tune in.
TikTok’s success is nothing short of a modern-day phenomenon, and it’s a sociological milestone in the history of the internet. No matter how much people criticize the platform for being annoying and for kids, which are ridiculously immature criticisms to hurl, it’s success as a content warehouse has also led to it being one of the most unintentionally affluent search engines online. Also, just as a parting note, why does no one ever bring up the mass privacy issues that TikTok afflicts its populace with when discussing reasons for being annoyed at the platform?
H/T: SEJ
Read next: TikTok Takes New Steps That Ensures US Data Remains Separate From Its Chinese Parent Company