Just this year, TikTok had already reached a billion users. The milestone was significant in that it solidified TikTok’s popularity and influence as a potentially major platform; gaining exponential growth within just 2 years as opposed to its closest competitors. Despite ongoing challenges with regulatory concerns, as well as increasing pressure from its rival platforms, TikTok continues to gain ground and looks to further bolster its user count this 2022.
According to App Annie’s latest data, TikTok’s momentum shows no sign of slowing down and is actually poised to go beyond 1.5 billion users within the next 12 months. TikTok’s cultural influence is expected to further spread across the globe and hit record-breaking figures as the app is emphasized in App Annie’s 2022 Mobile Forecast.
A Strong Start and Finish
If the forecast holds true, then that puts TikTok well ahead of Instagram, which has sat at 1 billion users since 2018, presumably. That in itself is pretty odd, considering that Instagram has made substantial additions and improvements since then. It would seem that the platform’s growth has somehow just ‘stopped’, which does leave a lot to be asked about the app’s broader relevance. Will Instagram stick around in years to come? Or will it be assimilated by its rivals? The answer, for now, remains only a question.
On an important note, App Annie’s predictions, too, have remained quite precise. Back in November 2020, App Annie predicted that TikTok would hit over a billion users some time during 2021, which it did exactly back in September. As noted by App Annie, TikTok’s growth was unprecedented. This fact is only amplified with TikTok becoming a cultural force faster than any other social platform in history. Facebook and Instagram, though both have achieved similar, had a harder time reaching these figures since they needed to establish new habitual behaviors, something that TikTok greatly benefited from in its rise.
Further attributing to the app’s rapid ascent is the fact that it was able to hit a billion without India, which for a time also served as its highest user-market at 200 million monthly active users (MAUs). Had TikTok not been banned in the region back in June 2020, then that same user base would likely be up to 500 million, bringing TikTok to 1.5 billion actives by now.
It’s actually quite remarkable how TikTOk managed to achieve and maintain such strong performance, especially in an increasingly crowded space. Furthermore, the fierceness of competition would’ve been enough to curb any new player’s attempt to rise to the top, with the example of IG Stories having copied Snapchat’s offer, thus greatly slowing its momentum. TikTok posed such a great threat, that even Meta implemented Reels for both Facebook and Instagram in an attempt to steal back audience share. In fact, TikTok’s format has proven to be so effective, that other platforms are looking to adapt their own, with YouTube adding Shorts, and Snapchat adding Spotlight. Despite all this, TikTok stands firm and continues to dominate.
TikTok’s true success lies in its algorithm matching, which is said to be far better than any other platform in terms of providing highly personalized and targeted content. TikTok’s virtually endless stream of ‘addictive’ content is such because it’s very good at aligning with each user’s personal interests.
The Wrap
TikTok is able to maximize its full-screen feed, with each and every interaction providing distinct data to its algorithm that better contributes to content matching. While Instagram may have similar functionality now, it doesn’t have an algorithm that’s as good at detecting personal interests as TiKTok’s.
TikTok has a far better process when it comes to the distribution of highly-targeted, simply ‘addictive’ content. It showcases that cultural nuance needed in order to grow and maintain your audiences. What’s more, the next step for the company seems to be to dive more into the realm of eCommerce and monetization, with the platform looking to also be economically autonomous with respect to its growth and requirements.
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