Social Media Apps are Integrating Search Engines. Is this competition for Google?

Gen Z and millennials are consistently looking for new ways to find digital information.

Gone are the days when we would have to spend hours at the library looking for a book that would be somewhat relevant to what we need to research for our studies. Now we can log onto TikTok or Instagram and find precisely what we seek through hashtags.

This is mainly optimizable and easily searchable, gaining quick access to trends, popular viral videos, and users of similar interests.

UGC, or User Generated Content, is social media content generated by the individual rather than the brands themselves. This type of content appearing on platforms is far easier and personable to find, gaining more likes, views, and notoriety.

TikTok is a platform that thrives having its' own search engine and UGC, as it was originally built for short-form educational videos. In' China userbase, the children who use the application at home can be educated through science and mathematic -- however, this version of the app is known as "Douyin". This version of the application also promotes the Chinese traditions and culture to the children, making it a wildly different experience to a child in China versus a child in the United States.

It seems with every new blog post, AI, or artificial intelligence, is integrated into what we, the users, consume -- whether unknowingly or intentionally. Whether we like it or not, it's become a part of everyday online browsing. Most social platforms, therefore, do rely on these AI tools to see precisely who is using the content and the behavior or what the users need. A thing to keep in mind about TikTok is that the more the user views one video, the more the application will be led to believe that this is the content the user wants to see. To conclude, it will consistently send more of it, giving the user an endless cycle of content.

Will this new method of social search be Google's or Firefox's (another private browser) competition? As it is a new feature, it is far too early to tell for sure. Though perhaps there will be an increase in young folks utilizing this new possibility for social search.

An interesting tidbit of data, is that most young folks (we categorize this age bracket to be between the ages of 18 - 29), use a smartphone. Conversely, when looking at recent data in terms of browsing search on the Savvy Socials website, most users are seen on their smartphone devices. It is reasonable to assume that from this combined data, that there will be a continued trend going into the year of 2024 of this becoming more of the norm.

To conclude, let's not compare Google to search engines within social media platforms, as they are entirely different entities. Instead, let's further discuss how the user got there in the first place, and whether (or not) they decide to continue searching. Time will tell if this new feature will become a formidable opponent to the multi-media giant.