Is TikTok going to replace Google's search engine? Young Americans: TikTok is more Real
Beijing, September 19 (Xinhua) more and more young Americans are using TikTok, a short video app. Whether it's looking for a new lunch place, watching a movie, or planning a weekend vacation to buy clothes, TikTok is in some ways replacing Google's search dominance among young people.
"consumers are turning to social media, especially TikTok, because it's more real," said Jenna Drenten, an associate professor of marketing at Loyola University in Chicago.
When Ashley Storino, 22, wants to buy a new pair of black boots or look for a book she wants to read, she opens TikTok, skimming video after video and looking for comments to make sure she can trust it.
▲, 22, Ashley Storino.
"suppose I want to find the best mascara. The results found on Google and the so-called list may be influenced by external parties or brands of the product. Now I will watch TikTok so that I can get real comments from real people. It's more relevant."
"A lot of videos are less than a minute long, and I can use this information quickly," said an assistant professor of communication at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. In her view, social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram allow users to interact with content creators through comments, questions and likes.
"it's a very good social process and people can get a lot of satisfaction."
Jashani relies on the Internet to solve all kinds of problems: where should I go on date night? The foundation color number of a makeup brand? What is a good salad recipe?
However, instead of typing query keywords into traditional search engines, Jashani turned to social media. The 26-year-old says she now conducts less than 30 per cent of her searches on Google, which consists mainly of "serious" matters such as maps and news. Most of the time, she opens TikTok.
"it works much better, and I can get more information instead of browsing multiple sources on Google."
According to Jashani, unlike Google, TikTok places more emphasis on immediacy. "Google is more static and requires scrolling through a pile of text."
According to a new study by data firm data.ai, TikTok users used an average of 23.6 hours per month in the first quarter of 2022, surpassing Google's YouTube for the first time. In addition, nearly 40 per cent of Gen Z users prefer social media such as TikTok and Instagram to core services such as Google's search engine and maps when searching on mobile, according to Google's internal data.
"We have learned over and over again that new Internet users do not have the expectations and mindset we are used to," Google management said at the Fortune brainstorming technology conference in July.
Google has come under intense antitrust scrutiny in the US and Europe, and has pointed to increasing competition in technology. "you know, we didn't talk about TikTok three years ago," Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google's parent company Alphabet, said at an event earlier this month.
