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TikTok to take on Instagram with photo app

9 April 2024
Liv McMahon,
Technology reporter

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Getty Images TikTok and Instagram apps displayed on a smartphone screenGetty Images
TikTok is to take on social media rival, Instagram, by launching a photo-sharing
app.

The company said it was working on a "dedicated space" for images and text.

Some users have received notifications saying their photo posts will be shared to a
new "TikTok Notes" app unless they opt out.

It is the latest example of social media firms imitating each others' products -
including Instagram launching Reels, a TikTok-like video tool, in 2020.

“The copycat phenomenon runs rampant across social media platforms", Mike Proulx, a
research director at analysis firm Forrester, told the BBC.

When done well copycat features "pay off", he added, giving the example of when
Instagram copied Snapchat with its "Stories" feature.

However, he pointed out a similar move by Twitter ended in failure, so there was no
guarantee of success.

Instagram's focus on making Reels more central to app has previously frustrated
some users.

Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were among those who shared a petition calling out
changes to the platform that seemed to promote Reels over other features of the app
in 2022.

Instagram U-turned on the changes after the backlash.

'Plenty of them'
TikTok says it has not finalised the design of the Notes app, nor has it confirmed
a release date.

But notifications received by some users suggest the app will let users upload or
share photo posts - which are currently a feature of the TikTok app and let people
post a series of images with sounds and filters.

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Screenshots of the notification showed a toggle on the notifications allowing
TikTok users to opt out of having their photo posts shared to the app.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra said a text or photo app might be a space
where the majority of TikTok users who “lurk”, rather than post, would engage more.

But he said he did not think another photo-sharing app was something social media
users were “desperate” for.

“We have plenty of them, so I don’t think there’s that demand out there
necessarily,” he said.

It comes at a difficult time for the company, with the US passing legislation that
could see TikTok banned unless its Chinese owner sells it within six months of
passing its law.

"Launching Notes as a separate app would be a departure in strategy for TikTok,

which has previously incorporated new features directly into the core app, but it
makes sense given the current regulatory and consumer scrutiny," said Jasmine
Enberg, principal social media analyst at Insider Intelligence.

"There are few places left where it doesn’t have a stronghold, and photo-sharing is
one," she added.

Mike Proulx suggested the best way forward for TikTok might be to copy what Meta
did with its Twitter rival, Threads, where it leaned heavily on the existing
Instagram user base.

"But like Threads, the key will be creating a compelling enough experience to get
them to stick around TikTok Notes beyond the initial curiosity factor," he added.

“When social media features all start to become ubiquitous, what differentiates one
social media platform from another narrows. It comes down to community, user
experience, and, yes, algorithms.”

X gives free blue ticks to its most popular users

Is TikTok really a danger to the West?
Why does the US want to ban TikTok?
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