As the newest digital startup attempting to profit on consumers who could be looking for an alternative to Twitter, TikTok has announced the addition of text-only posts.
Expanding the Boundaries of Content Creation
In a move described as “expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok,” the video sharing app TikTok announced on Monday that it will now permit users to create “text-based content.” This will “give the written creativity we’ve seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine,” the company said.
Users can also add colourful backgrounds and stickers to the postings, which have a word count restriction of 1,000. Variety contrasted the function to Instagram, where posts can only be remarked on rather than encouraging a conversation. According to the website TechCrunch, the feature’s debut was “likely to take on Twitter (now X) and Meta’s Threads.” Elon Musk recently changed the name of his firm to X, a move that many have dubbed “extremely risky” since he purchased Twitter in October.
With advertisers delaying investing on the site, Twitter said in July that its ad income had decreased by 50%. Rival software firms have taken advantage of the perceived confusion and disruption caused by Musk’s purchase of Twitter to draw some of its user base and introduce competing platforms. Instagram’s text-based app, Threads, was introduced earlier this month to much excitement and uses the platform’s user base. Though Threads saw 100 million join up in less than five days after it launched, Forbes says that the number of daily active users has subsequently dropped by 70%.
Growth despite Bans
According to the company website, TikTok has slightly over a billion subscribers, but Instagram has 2.3 billion, according to industry website Business of Apps. The UK Communications watchdog found this week that TikTok is the top news source for 12 to 15-year-olds, followed by YouTube and Instagram. As a result, TikTok has a younger audience than Instagram.
However, TikTok has come under fire for having ties to China, and the governments of Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia have restricted its use on equipment they own. The business disclosed this week that some Australian user data is accessible to staff headquartered in China.
Declining Number of Threads Users
The number of daily active users on Threads has decreased 70% as of Friday since reaching its peak on July 7 according to data from Sensor Tower, according to The Wall Street Journal. Currently, there are only 13 million daily active users. According to a Statista research, TikTok counts 1.7 billion users and producers globally.
