How TikTok Is Shaping Itself as a ‘Safe Place’ Alternative To Facebook

Savas Abadsidis April 4, 2022

Internal emails allegedly suggest Meta paid a political consulting firm company to “undermine” TikTok, suggesting it is “a danger to American children.”

Reports alleged that the company, Targeted Victory, encouraged operatives to amplify reports of dangerous trends linked to TikTok. Meta representatives believe “platforms including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success.”

Sam O’Brien, Chief Marketing Officer at performance marketing platform Affise shares his insight into the rapid growth of TikTok, its anti-competitor targeting strategy and how it keeps its brand’s reputation safe.

The rise in TikTok’s popularity
“Meta clearly sees itself in a battle against TikTok for the hearts, minds, and attention spans of millennials, a significant chunk of the social media market.
“The video-sharing app, best known for viral dances and trends, has experienced a staggering growth of users since the onset of the global pandemic, taking over a huge chunk of its competitor’s audience, hitting 1 billion monthly active users at the end of 2021.
“It is evident that users love to stay on-trend, and TikTok’s ability to identify and create a space for users to jump on trends is one of the reasons why TikTok has become so popular.
“Originally aimed at younger users with its 13 and over age policy, it has now become a platform also used by Gen Z, Gen Y and businesses who want to reach younger audiences with their sales and marketing strategies.”
Anti-competitor targeting strategy
“Facebook has always been the biggest competitor in this space for dominating users, and while tactics that allowed the brand to dominate past industry foes by launching Instagram Stories and mirroring Snapchat Stories has worked in the past, it seems it can’t quite tap into convincing TikTok’s loyal users to revert back to its platform.
“TikTok has figured out its own way to give the platform an addictive quality, offering short-form videos that users will continue to flick through and the ability for young users to explore their entrepreneurial side, this gives the platform a unique element over its competitors.
“While TikTok could tap into what its competitors are doing and interpret stories like Facebook and Snapchat, it seems users are more than satisfied by the features already embedded on the platform.
“Recent data revealed 16% of British toddlers use TikTok, clearly showing the popularity the app has with such young users. Surrounded by fun and educational videos depending on algorithms, the app is theoretically helping educate younger years to develop valuable entrepreneurial skills through its content.
“This is one of the key reasons why it is dominating the younger demographic audience, accompanied by educational and safety resources for parents which instruct them on how to use Restricted Mode – a setting that limits the appearance of content that may not be appropriate for audiences of all ages.
Safe brand reputation
“TikTok’s decision to design an experience that prioritises safety, inclusion, and authenticity was a turning point in its journey to becoming one of the most transparent social platforms.
“Social media can always be a dangerous place, and while there are far too many hateful ideologies uploaded to platforms that can have significant impacts upon users, this stricter approach shows the app’s efforts in becoming a safer place for some of the most vulnerable and impressionable users.
“A significant chunk of its younger users are LGBTQ+, and the app decided to ban deadnaming (addressing somebody with the wrong pronoun), misgendering as well as content promoting controversial conversion therapy practices.
“As well as this, TikTok’s efforts in prohibiting unauthorised access to the platform including content, accounts or systems with a hidden agenda of criminal activity, will gain significant trust in users of the apps- particularly with the rise in online fraud.
“This update of the app’s community guidelines will significantly help the app become an extremely trustworthy platform for its users, protecting its brand reputation.”