Google Beware! TikTok Is Now Challenging Its Search Leadership: Report

China-based ByteDance-owned TikTok has taken the social media world by storm and has emerged as a serious contender to the likes of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and Snap, Inc’s (NYSE:SNAP) Snapchat.

TikTok, which is loved for its entertainment-focused short videos, is now increasingly presenting a new use case, according to New York Times.

Gen-Z is now reportedly using the video app as a search engine too.

TikTok’s “powerful algorithm,” levered to personalizing videos shown to a user based on his/her interactions with content, and the sense that real people are synthesizing and delivering information, rather than faceless websites have served to give the platform credibility as a search engine, the report said.

When searching for information about a restaurant in a locality, youngsters prefer taking cues from a real person talking about it rather than rely on long-winding written review, the Times said, citing a TikTok user.

See also: TikTok Takes This Step Amid Increased Scrutiny Over Misuse Of US User Data

The Chinese app’s emergence as a search tool is in line with the broader transformation happening in digital search, the report said. People now use Amazon, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) to search for products and Snapchat’s Snap Maps to locate local businesses, it noted.

Alphabet, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google, which is currently the search leader, has taken note of competition gaining ground. A Google executive reportedly told a tech conference in July that the company’s studies have unearthed the fact that about 40% of the young people lean toward TikTok or Meta’s Instagram to locate a restaurant, rather than relying on Google.