Tik Tok Needles YouTube

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Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

YouTube had insomnia, about an upstart app that was becoming too big for its boots. Upstart? Yes, upstart. Tik Tok is the name.

Initially, YouTube dismissed Tik Tok as the funnies, something to make you laugh. Not anymore. It is taking Tik Tok seriously. That’s why it is aggressively advertising its latest baby: YouTube Shorts.

Of course, YouTube will not openly admit it has a serious competitor.

After all Tik Tok is just an app, while YouTube is the garden of Eden for moving images called video.

Competition for YouTube? Yes, if competition can be defined as drinking from the same  pond. In this case, the youth is the pond. For a long time, YouTube had the monopoly of young people.

They not only watch movies and other pre-packaged content, they create their own videos as well. YouTube calls them creators. They are producers and directors of their own comedy series, movies, ‘reality’ shows, etc. Do your kids or grand kids have a YouTube channel? Ask them.

‘No mom. I have a Tik Tok hustle now. More followers if you know what I mean.’

Mom might not know what Tik Tok is, but she knows that followers translate into money. YouTube knows what is riding on followers. They created the beast.

YouTube came up with YouTube Shorts because of an endangered commodity: time. Young people are the customer base for both platforms and they don’t have time. They have the world at their finger tips. Which is? Cellphones.

They want something short and sweet. Tik Tok allows them to watch and create that sweetness, at their finger tips, on their phones. Laptops are for parents and hackers.

Tik Tok, Tik Tok, time is ticking away.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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