‘Swiping up’ - the latest habit difficult to undo.
#TikTok, the inventor of the short video format on social, developed this swiping up feature. And that drove its popularity by leaps and bounds.
When Tik Tok was banned in India, it already had 190 million app downloads. Globally, it already beats YouTube in the number of hours that viewers spend on its platform. By the end of 2022, it is expected to have 1.8 billion users bringing it much closer to Instagram.
#Instagram reached two billion active users in Q3 2021. It is on track to reach 2.5 billion by 2023. The popular feature ‘Reels’ was copied from TikTok.
#YouTube and then even #Facebook launched short videos with same swiping up feature.
While Facebook overall is struggling on user growth, the video format is helping to keep pace with other platforms to retain attention of users.
YouTube too, has seen the consumer behaviour changing to shorter version and has ‘Shorts’.
So, why is this short video growing like a drug?
Because it’s entertainment at a swipe. Random videos that platform suggests to cater to this human need to ‘run away when bored’. And swiping up is super easy!
And if I don’t like first video, I will swipe to second and third and fourth…remember TV channel surfing habit of yesteryear’s ?
Now, here is what shocked me.
I saw kids aged under 10, using YouTube shorts. So, when parents want them to eat or give them some gratification time with mobile, this is what they do. They swipe. Mindlessly. From one video to another.
When asked, why do you like these videos?
Because they are funny & small.
Why have you subscribed so many random channels?
People in video told me to subscribe now if you want to get A or dont want A.
For eg, one so called influencer says ‘ subscribe if you like your parents’. This I found disgusting.
In videos these folks, use kids placating tactics with some reference to cartoon character or rhymes to push thier content to more such easy targets & get more followers!
Obviously, kids shouldnt have access to mobiles and even social. But reality is that kids do access youtube on most parents mobiles or even TVs. Its a big menace - swiping up!
Thoughts?
#marketing #socialmedia
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