Snap’s origin story as David to Facebook’s Goliath hinged on the idea that one was an innovator and the other a copycat. So what should we make of Snap’s decision to create a TikTok clone of short, scrollable videos called Spotlight? Is it smart adoption of a popular format? Or a sign the Los Angeles-based social media company is running out of ideas?
The move is certainly opportunistic. So is offering $1m for popular posts. But Snap is not alone in fashioning versions of rival ideas. This month, Twitter launched disappearing posts called Fleets, similar to Snapchat and Instagram Stories. Microsoft’s workplace network LinkedIn has done the same. Instagram has rolled out TikTok-like Reels. YouTube is creating a new short video format.
Replication makes it more difficult for new platforms to differentiate themselves. Dominant platforms already have their thumb on the scale. Facebook’s size dissuades advertisers from spreading budgets equally. Its daily active user count hit 1.82bn in the third quarter. Twitter and Snapchat reported 187m and 249m respectively. TikTok does not report user numbers but is estimated to have 50m daily active US users — about an eighth of the total — suggesting the global daily tally is about 400m.
Still, the draw of video content and advertising is hard to resist. US advertisers increased spending on video ads by up to 17 per cent in the first quarter according to emarketer — more than for any other format.
Social media companies are under pressure to improve content moderation. More video ads, the most expensive form of digital advertising, is a good way to cover those costs. Twitter’s net income fell 22 per cent in the last quarter as costs rose and it failed to implement a new ads system. But Facebook managed to report operating profit up 12 per cent to $8bn in spite of increasing headcount almost a third on last year.
Cloning formats has worked in the past. Instagram’s user base doubled the year after it added Snapchat-style Stories. Snap’s chances of a similar bump are unlikely. TikTok users post public videos. Snapchat users value their privacy. Even the chance of $1m for creators cannot bridge that gap.
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