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TIKTOK TAKES OVER GOOGLE: THE POWER OF GEN Z

Everyone uses the internet, whether coding or looking for dog videos, we spend 192 minutes a day browsing the internet. But which is the website you start on? Our money says it’s Google. The search engine turned global powerhouse has become a force to be reckoned with within the industry in the last two decades. Starting off as a simple web-page search function, the US based company has since expanded into mobile phone space, home accessibility gadgets and music streaming services. So, it may come as no surprise that for the last 15 years Google has been sitting in the number one position, after taking it off Yahoo in 2006, and has remained the most visited website across the planet. That is until now.

2021 was the year that saw a social and digital revolution thanks to the power of Gen Z and the global pandemic caused by the C-word. During lockdown, the way we all consume and digest content changed dramatically. VOD services and ways we can use the internet exploded, with sites like YouTube and Amazon Prime changing the way we find information. Gen Z helped to drive this change. Gen Z’ers are people born between 1995 and 2010 and are the most influential segment counting for 40% of global consumers. Social media has always been popular amongst teenagers, but it is this ever-increasing segment of people and recent changes in consumption habits that social platforms thrive within. Especially Tiktok.

In case you didn’t know, Tiktok is a Chinese birthed, video-focused, era-defining, social media site and believe it or not – it was 2021’s most popular website of the year. You may remember Donald Trump trying to block the website from touching US networks earlier in the year. The Trump administration labelled Tiktok “a national security threat”, apparently primed to be used by “Chinese Communists”. But since then, the app has seen a phenomenal success in the States during the first year under Joe Biden, and he has recently stated that a national security review of the app is underway.

Tiktok grew monumental amounts in 2021. At the close of 2020, 700 million followers (more than double the numbers of 2019) were using the app, but by the end of 2021 the number had further increased to more than 1 billion users

To put these stats into perspective – that’s more than 1 in 8 people on the planet actively using Tiktok. Since pre-Covid times, there has been a 42% increase in time spent on the app overall, on the app overall, with the most significant growth in time spent on the app being 287% by 16 to 18-year-olds.

Gen Z consumes totally differently to previous generations, they get their news more quickly from a range of platforms, and can easily spot fake news when they see it. Compared to Baby Boomers and the 90’s kids, who saw the come-and-go of floppy disks, dial-up internet and the true birth of streaming services, Gen Z were born into a highly accessible world where this wealth of content and information is commonplace. They are born into an information overloaded environment where they can reach news in a few scrolls

It poses the newer generations, specifically Gen Z, no longer have the desire to search for truth on Google. Have they lost the need to research everything they hear, and fact check what’s being told to them? Rather than it being a case of believing everything they see – Gen Z can spot fake news, they already follow the accounts and outlets they need to get the information and news they can trust. When you compare market share and the overall volume of Gen Z, it’s not hard to appreciate the sheer size of the generation. As Baby Boomers and 90’s babies evolve into new stages, the Gen Z remains the largest segment. When you look at the target demographic of Tiktok, it correlates with such a high number of captured users. Tiktok is Gen Z fuel, with its instant content and all the information they could possibly want.

As impressive as Gen Z is, possibly being the most technological savvy generation of children the world has ever seen, are they becoming more interested in pop culture rather than world affairs? Or do they not trust the information around them and so become tuned in but zoned out. Our research suggests that newer generations have a lower desire to research news, and this is reflected in the Tiktok takeover last year.

Gen Z have been thrown into an already overloaded world and, with information available at their fingertips, the need to Google has dropped off compared to the need for entertainment. With Gen Z taking up the largest segment of consumers, magnified by the impact of the global pandemic, it’s no surprise Tiktok has become so popular.

You can check out the top ten websites of 2021 below.

TikTok.com
Google.com
Facebook.com
Microsoft.com
Apple.com
Amazon.com
Netflix.com
YouTube.com
Twitter.com
WhatsApp.com

We have bags of of experience developing and delivering impactful TikTok content for brands, and we can do the same for you, get in touch to find out more.

The rise of Insta-Gran By Jack Moore

Almost every one of us has been there…having a browse on Facebook, checking what our mates got up to at the weekend whilst we wait for the bus, when suddenly a friend request pops up. Upon opening the request, it dawns upon you that Great Aunt Dolly has got Facebook, and she wants to be your ‘friend’.

Putting aside the mental gymnastics we’ve all done to justify ignoring the friend request, one thing is clear – Facebook’s audience is getting older and is no longer limited to a younger market. According to Hootsuite, 56% of online users in the US aged 65+ are using Facebook, and a whopping 79% of 30-49 year olds are joining the ranks of the social savvy on that channel too.

Social media platforms have traditionally been seen as a space for young people to share their lives with friends, but now the parents and grandparents of this generation are getting in on the act. And now, in this technologically advanced age, YouTube channel subscribers can be easily bought. So, what does it mean for PR and social media activity?

Our insights suggest that women aged 40-65+ are 40% more likely to engage with posts on Facebook than the average user. They’re also 13% more likely to click on an ad or boosted post making them an active and lucrative audience for the right brands or content.

As this ever-growing audience begins to connect with friends and their favourite brands, it offers PR agencies the opportunity to engage them with exciting, creative and targeted content, sure to drive the conversation around brands and have them tagging friends and sharing in no time.

We’ll leave you with a few of our favourite social influencers that are showing the world that age is no barrier to being a social star!
Baddie Winkle

Baddie has a staggering three million Instagram followers and has worked with brands such as Misguided to help reach new audiences.

“Stealing yo man since 1928”… need we say anymore?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRs80brDfsQ/?taken-by=baddiewinkle&hl=en%20

Iris Apfel

This New York style icon has over 500,000 followers on Instagram and lives by the motto “More is more & less is bore”. Preach.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRJOBjWFbjf/

What Does the Facebook Rocket Icon Mean? By Becky Mann

Over the last few weeks, people may have noticed Facebook users sharing rare sightings of the lesser-spotted Facebook rocket on their social feeds, calling for the community to confirm its purpose on their timeline.

For those not yet in the know, Facebook has introduced the rocket icon to just a handful of users as part of its test for a second, complementary News Feed concept. Hoping to introduce people to fresh new content they wouldn’t have otherwise accessed, this customised feed is filled with videos, stories and articles that Facebook algorithms believe the user will be interested in.

Whilst Facebook is already suggesting content based on what users have previously engaged with, it’s thought the new feed only provides content from pages that are unknown to the user as well as items that their friends and family have reacted to. As a result, it allows users to connect with content they won’t have seen to date – broadening their social horizons!

But what does this mean for PR and content creation? Whilst it’s not yet known at this stage whether the rocket icon will be rolled out to all Facebook users, or the final details of how the second feed would work, the one thing we believe here at Rich is that customising content will only increase in importance as these explore-style functions continue to pop up across social channels.

When developing content briefs, it’s often tempting to set out trying to please as many audiences as possible in order to maximse your reach, your budget and ‘spread the net’ as far as you can. Knowing your specific audience and daring to tailor make content and promotional plans for their needs, rather than creating for the masses, can be more daunting than you’d think but it’s certainly necessary to ensure success. There’s a big difference between people seeing content and openly engaging with it. And, as more and more emphasis is placed on engagement through algorithms and dedicated exploration feeds, we’ll need to be more pinpointed with our content than ever to ensure we’re saying something relevant to the right people in order to inspire that all important reaction that will get your content noticed and shared.

Instagram unveils its new look

Instagram has unveiled big changes to its logo, moving away from the highly recognisable polaroid-camera style icon in favour of a new, flatter and multi-coloured design. The app has also been tweaked, now sporting a black and white look, in a move Instagram’s head of design Ian Spalter says was made to reflect the aesthetics of its users. The brand’s other apps, Boomerang, Hyperlapse and Layout have all been given the same treatment.

The new look is undeniably more minimalistic and sleek; a big departure from the retro style Instagram was known for. In a world where sharing a picture of your smashed avocado on toast with your friends is no longer the sole purpose of the app, some changes were expected, but this complete image overhaul has come as a surprise to many.

There’s a few mixed opinions on the new look flying around the office so it’s safe to say the jury’s still out on this one. Instagram will be hoping, however, for a favourable reaction. No brand wants to emulate the Gap logo disaster…

Luckiest Girl Alive – book review

When Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll was been tipped as the must-read book of 2015, it went immediately onto our reading list. Yes, it’s taken us a little while to get round to it, but hey, we read a lot! Anyway, the novel entered the UK market in July last year with a position in the Top 10 New York Times Betseller list already under its belt, along with comparisons to previous blockbuster hits in the contemporary fiction world, including Gone Girl and Girl on the Train.

It’s no plot spoiler to suggest the protagonist is perhaps not quite as lucky as the title portrays, from the poisonous sting of yellow font on the front cover overlaying a deadly black rose, to the first sentence “I inspected the knife in my hand.” Not the subtlest of introductions but the subsequent pages turn effortlessly as this latest popular thriller unfolds.

With Reese Witherspoon snapping up the rights to a film adaptation in the US, and media outlets across both sides of the Atlantic rushing to leave rave reviews, the book has also gone on to perform sensationally here in the UK since its release, buoyed by traditional marketing techniques enhanced by social media.

Central to this has been Jessica Knoll, of whom it could be said has taken on a character herself in support of promoting her first fictional work. A former senior editor at Cosmopolitan in the US and currently an editor at SELF, Knoll has played a critical role in the story behind the story, with comparisons being made between herself and her fictional anti-heroine.

Supported by a clever influencer strategy helping to maintain in excess of 2 million impressions of the hashtag, #LuckiestGirlAlive on Twitter in only one week, the social buzz was peppered with cross platform author Q&As, interviews and competitions, including a $1,000 prize draw, covering everything from the contents on the page to Knoll’s career path.

Whether interested in Jessica’s steps to stardom, or fictional TifAni’s road to redemption, Luckiest Girl Alive is definitely worth a read for fans of crime fiction. We’d like to see the next smash hit focus on a more positive female role model. Drunk, damaged or dangerous has been the topic of debate around the female dialogues in the latest genre success stories including the aforementioned Gone Girl and Girl on the Train. While the tortured hero is not a new character concept for men either, it would be nice to see an inspiring female lead take the spotlight, we’re confident ‘good’ girls can be interesting too.