Mark Zuckerberg is trying to compete with the GenZ social, launching a new function which, alike the Chinese app, allows users to post short videos. And, in order to defeat the social competitor, he is trying to steal its “celebrities”.
On the one hand we find Facebook, on the other TikTok, the record-winning Chinese app which appeals to young people especially (with over 2 billion downloads); influencers are right in the middle. While the President of the United States is considering the opportunity to ban the Asian social network from his country, Mr. Zuckerberg is not sitting back; on the contrary, he is planning to counterattack to take advantage of the situation and defeat his enemy.
Despite the problems with advertisers and another claim for having breached the privacy law, Facebook is aiming to take more ground and, hopefully, take back some young users. And similarly to what happened with Snapchat, also TikTok core business, users’ short videos, is being copied. Instagram is indeed about to launch a new function, called Reel, offering users the opportunity to post short videos, which is really similar to its competitor’s (Facebook readies global launch of its TikTok competitor).
After stealing ideas, now Facebook is ready to steal influencers, too
Copying ideas is not enough, apparently. A big launch requires something more appealing than a me-too product. That is why for launching Reel, Facebook is trying to steal TikTok influencers boasting millions of followers. How ? By offering them some money to post their videos exclusively on Instagram or, as an alternative, to post them first on IG and only then, on its competitors. Unfortunately, nobody knows how much money we are talking about. Influencers were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement before starting the negotiations. Which is also a good way to prevent the upping game. Nevertheless, it has been revealed, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. Basically, big bucks (Facebook offers money to Reel in TikTok creators).
Reel, TikTok rival
Instagram new function, due to be released at the beginning of August in over 50 countries, allows users to publish 15 second videos with audio, music etc. Similarly to TikTok, it will offer a series of tools, such as a countdown clock and the adjustment of speed, to modify videos and simplify their creation. However, unlike its Chinese competitor, it does not feature a double paper feed and the videos sequencing option, which allows TikTok users to watch videos one after the other without interruptions.
TikTok reaction
At the moment TikTok is not too well. Users are increasing, young people love it but Governments have been blocking it. India has banned the app, Trump is considering doing the same in the United States . And Facebook, with the power deriving from the Instagram huge number of users, is trying to oust it, hoping to take over, at least in the US.
Despite the fact that TikTok is a young social network, as we define it in Italy, it was not born yesterday. Therefore, ByteDance creation has reacted: a few days ago, it established a 200 million dollars fund to be distributed among video creators and attract some new ones (TikTok unveils $200 million fund to pay content creators).
If someone could believe influencer marketing was dead, they will have to reconsider such belief since the fight between the two giants has just started.
What do you think about the war between social media based on influencer marketing? Is Zuckerberg going to win? Tweet @AgostinelliAldo
If you liked this post, you may also like: “The QR Code is back and offers new opportunities for marketing”
