TikTok is the reigning and possibly longest-running star of social media.
In 2021, TikTok achieved a record-breaking 656 million downloads (leaving the second-place platform, Instagram, in the dust by 100 million) and remained the only social media app besides Facebook to surpass three billion downloads.
But TikTok’s dominance is more than statistical and makes even bigger waves regarding sheer influence.
If you’ve noticed your Instagram and Facebook feeds change recently to prioritize video and show you more viral content from outside your network, you can blame it on TikTok. Although all corners of the social media landscape are affected by it, Meta properties seem particularly shaken by just how fast the TikTok takeover happened. Instagram specifically.
