Copycat Apps
With all the crazy new trends coming out recently, a lot of apps have been trying to stay relevant. To keep up with the trends, many apps have been trying to incorporate features similar to the style of “TikTok”. Many have noticed that the layout of TikTok specifically, captures the attention of many teens as well as young adults. Something about the way you can simply scroll for hours and laugh on an endless loop of new content is addicting to the human population. Apps are trying to stay afloat during these hard times of Covid-19, while giving people a sort of escape, somewhere they can keep themselves entertained.
Many companies began redesigning their apps to make it more appealing to the eye. However, people are starting to see the resemblance within a couple apps in particular such as Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Triller and Youtube. All of these separate apps have a different name for the location of this viewing section. Here’s how the layout works: each app has a vertical scrolling system that lets you constantly refresh the page when you want a new set of videos to watch. The point of the TikTok app is exactly that, endless entertainment, simple. However, recently Instagram has added what they call “reels” which is basically the same thing as TikTok and very often TikToks get posted on these “reels” to get their content more exposure. Yet, they still get posted under the name of Instagram.
Snapchat has also created their own form of viewing videos called “spotlights”. It has become a pattern for most apps, but also has become quite repetitive seeing how a lot of the videos posted on other platforms are coming from TikTok. The way most companies are now running by popular demand from the targeted audience, which is not bad, however, expecting nobody to recognize the changes is a long shot. Moving on to Triller, the app is basically a remake (most would call it a “knock off”) of TikTok just owned by a different company and some may call them rivals. Many creators have switched to the app Triller in hopes of making more money, but most seem to have failed.
As far as YouTube goes, they seem to have incorporated being able to post “ YouTube stories”. This is the same as Instagram and Snapchat. Giving Social Media influencers more platforms to spread their content, as well as making profit from multiple sources is a great idea. Viewers also love to watch and keep up with what’s happening in the world and in the lives of their favorite celebrities and influencers. YouTube did an amazing job with using their platform to bring people together in, yet another creative way! Overall, even though many apps seem to incorporate many of the same strategies, the public seems as though they’re loving it and interacting with the apps more and more!
