Reuters Institute Digital News report 2023 poll has revealed that Kenya, an East African nation, tops the globe in TikTok usage.
Kenya tops the platform, with a stunning 54% of users using TikTok for different reasons, with 29% especially using it for news consumption.
Thailand comes in second, closely followed by South Africa, where 50% of users use TikTok for general content and 22% for news.
According to the survey, the Chinese-owned social network reaches 44% of 18-24s in all markets and 20% for news. It is expanding most rapidly in Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America.
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It goes on to say that on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, viewers are paying more attention to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than to journalists.
The research also emphasizes how the nature of social media is evolving, as seen by the dropping interaction with established networks such as Facebook and the emergence of TikTok and other video-led networks.
”Our statistics reveal, more clearly than ever, how this trend is greatly impacted by the habits of the younger generations, who have grown up with social media and now often pay more attention to influencers or celebrities than they do to journalists, even when it comes to news,” says the research.
Talking about news consumption, Facebook is still the most popular platform for reading news (averaged across 12 countries), with 28% of users. However, this number is 14 points down from its 2016 peak of 42%.
Facebook has been moving away from the news industry for some time, decreasing the percentage of news stories people see in their feed (according to the company’s latest figures from March 2023, it was 3%), and in the past year, it has also reduced direct payments to publishers and other schemes that supported journalism.
”The emergence of YouTube as a news source is sometimes overlooked, but it, together with the advent of TikTok, shows the trend towards video-led networks.”
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More on TikTok Usage
TikTok’s meteoric rise in popularity in Africa has led the business to see the region as a promising new market. While TikTok has a varied user base, it is most popular among Gen Z and millennials.
It has also grown in popularity as the chosen medium for African users to truly and artistically express themselves and exhibit their abilities. Although TikTok has made impressive gains in market share, by the end of 2020, Facebook will still be by far the most popular social media site in Africa.
Debuted in 2016, TikTok has stormed into the social media landscape by allowing users to make short-form films of up to three minutes in length. As individuals share humorous experiences and pranks, it’s become a centre for intriguing content. However, many companies are getting on board and utilizing it to inform their customers and advertise their products.
In terms of growth, TikTok remains the fastest-growing social network. TikTok’s income generation has expanded substantially in recent years. It generated $9.4 billion in annual revenue in 2022.
