TikTok General Manager Vanessa Pappas attends TikTok After Party at Bowlmor Lanes at Anaheim Garden Walk on July 11, 2019 in Anaheim, California.
Jerod Harris | Getty Images
TikTok has surpassed Instagram as U.S. teenagers’ second-favorite social media app, according to a report published on Tuesday.
The short-video app is now favored among teens second only to Snap’s Snapchat, according to Piper Sandler. The report found that 34% of teens list Snapchat as their favorite social app followed with 29% picking TikTok. Trailing Snapchat and TikTok was Facebook’s Instagram, with only 25% of teens picking it as their favorite social app. TikTok placed no. 3 in the spring 2020 version of the Piper Sandler report.
Usage was a different story, according to the report. In that regard, Instagram remains in first place with 84% engagement, followed by Snapchat at 80% and TikTok at 69%, up from 62% in the spring.
The report shows TikTok is continuing to gain market share among young U.S. users, which are a key demographic for social apps. These users are next a key demographic for advertisers, which are the main source of revenue for social apps.
To circumvent the growing TikTok threat, Facebook in August released Reels, a copycat version of TikTok that lets Instagram users make short-video clips of them lip syncing, dancing or doing skits.
TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance. Last month, President Donald Trump gave approval for a deal that will allow Oracle and Walmart to acquire 20% of TikTok Global, a new company that will handle Americans’ TikTok data.
