News from Meta that daily active users (DAUs) on its flagship Facebook platform fell by 1 million through the fourth quarter of 2021 begs the question, “Where are they all going?”
The short answer: “Mostly to TikTok and YouTube.” But it’s more complicated than that.
Marking the first time in its history that the social media giant lost users — and at scale — the company reported in an earnings presentation that global DAUs fell to 1.929 billion in the fourth quarter from 1.930 billion in Q3.
It’s a small but meaningful drop. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called out the TikTok video app specifically as a cause, noting the battle for younger audiences is heating up between platforms. This after TikTok pushed Google aside as the most visited internet site in 2021.
Read more: TikTok Beats Google for Most Visited Site in 2021
Meta Chief Financial Officer David Wehner told analysts: “We’re seeing an impact from strong competition, particularly from TikTok,” adding that while Facebook is “seeing tremendous growth in Reels, TikTok’s also growing off a big base as well. It’s definitely a competitive battle.”
Reporting on data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, TechCrunch said that by July “TikTok (including sister app Douyin in China) had become the first non-Facebook mobile app (outside of games) to reach 3 billion downloads globally across the App Store and Google Play, while TikTok consumer spending surpassed $2.5 billion globally.”
Alphabet launched YouTube Shorts in Q1 2021 more to compete with the viral popularity of TikTok than Meta’s family of apps. In a Jan. 25 letter to creators on the platform, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said YouTube shorts have gotten more that 5 trillion views in under a year.
Usage data for TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is hard to come by, but various reports have place DAUs for the video platform at 1 billion in 2021.
News site Influencer Marketing Hub reported that micro-influencers had engagement rates of 17.96% on TikTok, 3.86% on Instagram and 1.63% on YouTube, while mega-influencers had 4.96%, 1.21% and 0.37% rates on the respective platforms.
In January, PYMNTS reported that TikTok “wants to reach at least $12 billion in ad sales this year. And a source at ByteDance says the video-sharing platform now has a sales team numbering in the thousands, primarily in North America.”
Read more: TikTok Sets 2022 Target of $12B in Sales
A good deal of TikTok’s rise versus brands in under Meta’s umbrella, most notably Instagram, can be explained by demographics and market positioning.
As Digital Information World reported, “Most TikTok users belong in the 10- to 19-year-olds age bracket, i.e., people who grew up witnessing the boom of influencer culture. On the other hand, Instagram’s user base is dominated by people aged between 25 and 34 years old. Such people were wired in their childhood to expect ads and commercials in between their favorite TV shows.”
See also: Microbusinesses on Instagram Learn There’s No Such Thing as a Free Sale
As are other social platforms, TikTok is competing on commerce and content, debuting both its TikTok Seller app in new markets and its Creator Next service in December.
Read also: TikTok Seller App Manages Online Stores via Smartphones
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