Is the clock ticking for TikTok?

Is TikTok going to take over the world, or is it another shooting star that will dazzle briefly before fading away? That question popped into my mind after reading an article from local tech site, Gadget.co.za, detailing the current state of social media usage in SA.

Is TikTok going to take over the world, or is it another shooting star that will dazzle briefly before fading away? That question popped into my mind after reading an article from local tech site, Gadget.co.za, detailing the current state of social media usage in SA.

TikTok has seen explosive growth this year, as the article points out: ‘According to the 2020 edition of the SA Social Media Landscape, released this week by World Wide Worx and Ornico, almost a third of major brands intend to become active on TikTok, which is also the fastest growing social media platform among consumers.’

Will it last, though? There’s no doubt that this new social media phenomenon is taking both individuals and brands by storm, but I’m on the fence right now. In my view, TikTok’s story is very similar to Snapchat, another platform that also made quite the splash when it first launched in 2012. Like Snapchat, I suspect TikTok may just be another ‘phase’ that will fade in time, or at least level out in terms of overall users.

There’s no doubting the functionality it offers, with a variety and creative ways of video-sharing, more evident during lockdown. In fact, one of our clients, Itec SA, recently created a TikTok inspired video to promote their service offering, showing that when done right, it can be beneficial.

But as popular music and youth culture site Happy Mag TV pointed out in a recent article, we live in an internet age where nothing except Wikipedia is sacred. So we can only surmise that TikTok will inevitably fall out of favour. As with most trends, popularity is fleeting. You’re only cool until the Next Big Thing comes onto the scene.

Unless you’re an established platform like Facebook or WhatsApp, who have shown consistent growth over several years, it’s hard to stay relevant consistently year after year. Remember Vine and Snapchat? No, me neither. Having said that, though, there are important lessons platforms like these can teach us. As Agility PR says, these are the four top lessons the PR industry should heed:

• TikTok might not be forever, but relevance is
• Videos will keep growing, with mobile-first videos rising
• Brands are taking an interest in monetisation
• Authenticity is still important

A good rule for brands, agencies and communications practitioners is to not be invested in a single channel, but a holistic communication strategy in which digital is merely one of the elements. As for TikTok? It’s clearly here, but is the clock ticking on it? Watch this space.

Image credit – @konkarampelas

Thabiso Moloi,
Social Media Lead at ByDesign Communications