2020 has been a promising year for growth in social media usage and emerging social media platforms, especially with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of global social media users now surpasses the 3.8 billion mark, which is just under half of the world’s population. The most exciting thing about social media growth is staying on top of the latest trends. Have you considered the next big thing?
Let’s talk about TikTok
TikTok is not only the fastest growing social media network of 2020, but also one of the fastest growing social media networks of all time.
TikTok has 500 million+ active monthly users and more than 800 million global downloads. TikTok is a combination of two long gone platforms, Vine and Music.ly.
It has been primarily adopted by users under 30 years old. Of those users, a whopping 41% are between the ages of 16 and 14. However impressive those numbers may be, TikTok isn’t the only player that’s taken off in early 2020.
OK, Zoomer
To rival the short-form video apps that are growing rapidly in 2020, video conferencing programs are taking a lead as emerging social media platforms as well. An unsuspecting champion came out atop the ongoing pandemic: Zoom.
The changing social distancing standards led to a demand that Zoom quickly jumped right into and comfortably made itself at home.
According to CEO Eric Yuan, “Our platform was built primarily for enterprise customers. We did not design the product with the foresight that, in a matter of weeks, every person in the world would suddenly be working, studying, and socializing from home.”
Unfortunately, with the new spotlight, Zoom was not without its controversy. Plagued with security concerns, including a time when hackers got a hold of 500,000 passwords, Zoom was considered “unsuitable for government secrets.” Luckily for Zoom however, most of their regular users considered the benefits outweighed the safety doubts and Zoom has maintained a strong user base, and they have gotten creative.
Zoom now is being used in all kinds of unexpected ways by a wide variety of users. As Zoom has proven adaptability to now host everything from weddings to yoga sessions to conference calls, this is a rapidly emerging social media platform that is surely here to stay.
Want to host a Houseparty?
Zoom isn’t the only application that’s “winning” the race for dominance when it comes to filling this new demand. Houseparty co-founder and CEO Sima Sistani jokes that while it’s “Zoom by day,” it’s all about “Houseparty by night”.
The face-to-face social network, acquired in 2019 by Epic Games of Fortnite fame, skyrocketed to popularity without pause.
The video chat app differentiates itself from other similar applications by focusing on mobile, group chats users can drop-in on, without the stiff formality of a scheduled conference like Zoom.
By mid-April 2020, Houseparty has seen 50 million signups. It surpassed even Facebook Inc.’s trio of Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp and “has been the most-downloaded social networking app in Apple’s U.S. App Store every day since March 20.”
Notice a trend yet?
Whether we’re looking at TikTok, Zoom, Houseparty and other emerging social media platforms in 2020, or our old and trusted Instagram or Facebook options, it’s true that video is still the future of content.
Stryker Media is here to help you develop quality video advertising content to increase engagement and garner leads on emerging social media platforms. Click here to find out more about Stryker Media’s services.
Talk to us today and find out about how media services such as video can serve you in advertising on apps like TikTok and more.