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Snapchat may have pioneered the short-form video revolution but TikTok hijacked it and nurtured it to the point of being cloned by Snapchat itself. Spotlight is basically Snap’s in-app version of TikTok.
What is it about TikTok that the Gen Z and millennials just can’t get enough of it? Even in 2021, the short-form video-sharing app continues to lead the social app platform, topping 3 billion downloads worldwide, and is the first non-Facebook app to do so. With US$2.5 billion in consumer spending worldwide, it has managed to reach the level only Tinder, Netflix, YouTube, and Tencent Video have reached. There have been ups and downs and some legal issues but the appetite for TikTok and its bite-sized, immersive video content is still going strong.
Seeing this explosive growth, the mainstay social media platforms are also tapping in on TikTok-like short-form video features. This also means that the war between social apps is officially on. In fact, many other players with TikTok-clones have entered the market building onto the foundation Snap had laid.
Key Players in the Race to Add Short-form Video Features
As TikTok continues to penetrate the market, it’s likely to take away time spent and user engagement from other apps. Perhaps this is a major reason why Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter continue to introduce short-form video features.
Facebook & Instagram are Cashing-in on TikTok-like Features
Facebook is hoping to capitalize on TikTok’s recent bans in India and the United States, two of the app’s most important countries. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, recently launched the Reels feature, which is akin to TikTok’s short video format. In addition to the United States, Instagram Reels is now available in more than 50 countries.
People can swipe up on the touchscreen to see the next short video with this functionality. Facebook’s Android and iOS apps do not yet support the feature. The company is now testing the feature in a restricted capacity before making it available to the public. According to Gadgets360, Facebook is currently developing new capabilities that will allow users to “express themselves.”
A Facebook official shared, “We’re constantly experimenting with new creative tools to better understand how users want to express
themselves. Short-form films are highly popular, and we’re exploring new methods to help users interact, produce, and share them on Facebook.”
Instagram’s Metamorphosis into TikTok
A couple of days back, the Head of Instagram said that Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app. In a video broadcast to his Instagram and Twitter accounts, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri revealed his intentions. Following the success of competitors such as TikTok and YouTube, Mosseri stated that the company is trying to expand into entertainment and video.
He talks about some of Instagram’s planned changes and experiments such as showing users recommendations for topics they don’t follow and making videos more engaging by delivering a full-screen experience.
Twitter’s Short-lived Romance with Fleets
On the other hand, Twitter’s Romance with Fleets was rather short-lived. Twitter finally decided to pull the plug on Fleets after nine months of its launch.
Fleets will be disabled on Twitter as of August 3rd.
Fleets was created by Twitter to foster more users to “join the conversation” because of its ephemeral nature. In other words, the company desired to see a significant wave of new users as well as a greater activity among current users. The social media app shared that those who gravitated toward using Fleets are people who were already active on Twitter, which wasn’t the company’s target.
Youtube Launched Shorts: Google’s Version of TikTok
YouTube “Shorts” are 15-second videos created on mobile phones that are uploaded to YouTube. You’ll be able to stitch together several video segments, shoot with music, and change the video speed. There’s also a timer and countdown so you can record without having to use your hands.
Before being made available to US users in March of this year. Shorts were first made available to Indian users in September of last year, two months after TikTok was blocked. Despite being a carbon copy of TikTok, the Shorts feed has been a hit so far.
According to YouTube’s parent company Alphabet’s quarterly release earlier this year, Shorts currently has 6.5 billion daily views, up from 3.5 billion at the end of 2020. Shorts are accessed in a variety of ways, with some users simply viewing them as standard YouTube clips rather than going through the specific Shorts tab.
That’s not even the most attractive aspect of Google’s Shorts. What makes it attractive to users is that while they don’t post as frequently on YouTube as they do on TikTok, with such large followings, their YouTube revenue potential is likely way larger than that of TikTok.
Meanwhile, a growing number of TikTok creators are pushing out into YouTube and TikTok, with big-name TikTokers like Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae garnering millions of YouTube subscribers.
Why the Bite-sized Video Content will Continue to Trend
We live in a mobile-first experiences world and it’s one of the driving forces behind the wheel. Short-form social video apps like TikTok work because studies have shown that videos that are 15 seconds or shorter are shared 37% more often than those that last between 30 seconds and 1 minute. (Source: Jun Group)
Let’s have a look at a couple of other sources. Bite-sized videos are also easily digestible. A research commissioned by Snap Inc. revealed that 8 in 10 users opt for short-form video content to keep posted on current news and to participate in timely conversations. The same research also reveals that 77% of people have said that short-form video content makes them feel like they’re part of a community.
The findings from the research conducted by the National Research Group also revealed that Gen Z and Millennials are all about efficiency. 7 in 10 people shared that they would rather engage with a lot of shorter videos than get completely immerse in a longer TV or video series. Consumer behavior and their preference for social video apps like TikTok is an indicator hard to miss. It’s a major reason behind the emergence and rise of a plethora of similar apps and others adding short video features like those of TikTok. Google’s Shorts is another epic instance.
So if you’re a business looking to build a social video app similar to TikTok or something better than that, the iron is hot for the striking!
Want to Build a Social App Better Than TikTok?
At CitrusBits, we not only have extensive experience but the essential tools like Hive and Agora in our wheelhouse that place us among the top social app developers in the US. We’ve built real-time audio and video streaming social apps like Erupt for renowned businesses and names like the Emmy-winning film producer Edward Walson and former ABC News/GMA producer Bryan Keinz.
So, if you’re looking to create or upgrade an existing social video app for your business, we invite you to reach out to CitrusBits for a free consultation.
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