With TikTok creators facing another few months of uncertainty about the app’s future in the U.S., Instagram is preparing a new push to scoop up wavering TikTok influencers, as it seeks to capitalize on the TikTok sell-off saga, as well as the worsening U.S.-China trade war.
As we reported last week, the White House believed that it had worked out a deal to keep TikTok available in the U.S., in adherence with the sell-off bill that had been approved by the Biden Administration a day before President Trump was inaugurated for a second time.
But with Trump also initiating significant tariffs on Chinese trade, the Chinese government reportedly pulled out of any TikTok deal talks, in protest over these new dealing penalties.
In response, Trump extended the deadline for a TikTok deal for another 75 days, taking it through to June to find a U.S. partner. But with Trump’s team also continuing to escalate its trade war with China, it doesn’t seem like a solution is close for the app, which could actually see it banned completely in the U.S. in a few months’ time.
Which is what IG is now looking to seize on, as creators grow wary of the ongoing concerns about the app’s stability.
According to reports, Instagram’s looking to appeal to TikTok creators on several fronts, by adding an iPad app, improving its search functionality to focus on the content of each post and/or video, and offering new incentives to creators to make the switch.
First off, The Information has reported that Instagram is now developing an iPad app, after years of saying that it wasn’t a priority, in order to connect with a broader subset of users.
The iPad version of TikTok has consistently remained among the top 20 most downloaded apps for the device, and it seems that Instagram has now conceded that this could be a path to luring more TikTok users across.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has also discussed improvements to IG’s search tools, to bring it more into line with the competition, and capitalize on its massive database of content.
As per Mosseri:
“We’re starting to invest more in search on Instagram, because there’s so much amazing content [and] I’m pretty excited about some of the ideas and improvements that are going to go out over the next few months, and few years […] You can imagine, whatever you use Instagram for, that it would be great to be able to find that more easily, but [it’s] also [good] for creators, because it should allow content to resurface, so that you don’t get all the value in those first 24 to 48 hours.”
TikTok has become a valuable search engine, with its advanced entity recognition able to use more elements detected within a video to categorize each upload. That means that if you search for a name that’s not mentioned in the caption, but is displayed in the background of a clip, TikTok will be able to show you that, and Instagram’s now working to improve its discovery tools along the same lines, in order to maximize functionality, with the focus on creators, as Mosseri notes, and expanding their opportunities.
Which leads into the final point.
Instagram has also been courting TikTok creators for months, with offers of increased revenue share deals and promotion if they bring their content over to IG.
Again, from The Information:
“Meta has been actively promoting its platforms as a safe and viable option for creators and users, especially in the face of uncertainty surrounding TikTok’s future.”
“Safe” is a key term here, because not only is TikTok still on shaky ground in regards to the U.S. sell-off push, but it’s also facing a range of safety and privacy lawsuits, which its new U.S. ownership would also be taking on.
And there’s also no guarantee that TikTok will ever be sold with its almighty algorithm, which the Chinese government has refused to sell. Yet, without full algorithmic control, that might not meet the requirements of the Senate-approved sell-off bill, and a TikTok without the algorithm is unlikely to have the same compulsive attraction as the app we know.
As such, Meta’s right to showcase IG as a safer alternative, and it could well end up being a big win for the app, if it can get more TikTok creators across.
Though Instagram is also a very different platform, and the confused focus of the app may not appeal to TikTok stars, who are used to prioritizing their video clips, above all else.
But it does seem like a viable pathway for IG growth, and a logical one in many respects.
It’ll be interesting to see what results of that, and how similar IG gets to TikTok in the next couple of months, as it tries to replicate the platform, in order to make it obsolete.
I mean, it can’t do that. If Instagram had the nous and technical capability to just rip off TikTok wholesale, it would have done so already, like it did with Snapchat Stories, but TikTok’s systems are clearly able to tap into elements and entities that Meta’s team hasn’t perfected in the same way.
Or, the pure focus on a scrolling video feed is just better.
Then again, Instagram could just release a separate Reels app, which is another option that it’s considered. But even if it did, I feel like TikTok’s algorithm is just better, and try as it might, Meta just hasn’t worked out its secret sauce as yet.
Which, as noted, is advanced entity detection, and TikTok’s capacity to understand what you’re watching, and likely why, every time you log in.
It seems like Meta should have the technical capacity to beat it on this front, but it hasn’t yet, and it doesn’t seem like it ever will.
So best to try and kick it while it’s down instead.
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