Social Media: Why are some Apps more Popular than Others?

Different social media apps have different target age groups, in this article we will be focusing on the age demographic that occupies the highest portion in using social media - Millenials (26-40y) and teen Gen Z (13-25y).

In this age of technology, social media can be considered as an inseparable existence to most teenagers. Even though we might have tons of apps on our phone, it is common that there’s a few apps that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to delete but don’t use as often as our favourite apps. In fact, similar apps with similar functions might not enjoy the same popularity. What are the key factors that made TikTok the runner-up of the most downloaded app of 2019, but forced Vine to shut down when both apps are platforms for users to create short videos? What makes the daily active users of Instagram four times more than that of Snapchat?

One of the main reasons which led to TikTok’s huge success is because it appeals to the public’s desire of going viral. TikTok’s front page consists of a “For You Page”, where videos created by any creator will appear almost randomly. By randomly, it means regardless of your popularity, your videos have a chance of appearing on the For You Page. This gives hope to its users that one day, their account can grow as big as the existing dominants of the app, earning fame and fortune. On the other hand, Vine has a major problem of prioritizing already blown up content to put on users’ feed. The videos we watch on Vine are generally produced by people with large followings, meaning small creators will find it very difficult to grow their platform. Since our brains prioritize work that is “easy and fun”, when people can’t find a sense of achievement from Vine, they are likely to not use it anymore, which led to Vine not being able to profit from the app. Another point to note is that TikTok introduces new features that are not included by other apps and constantly keeps their app up to date. One of the fatal reasons for Vine's fall is that Instagram introduced the short video function, overlapping with Vine’s function. Contrarily, TikTok posts new challenges for its users every now and then, keeping them interested. It also launches innovative features, for example fun games, face filters etc. Cherry on top, it is much easier to use than other social media apps, with user friendly video-editing features.

I did a little research on some of my Hong Kong and Singaporean friends and asked them which social media apps they use the most and which they don’t use as often. The responses included apps like Whatsapp, Discord, Telegram and so on. Concluding the results, the most popular app among them is Instagram, while the most voted least popular app is Snapchat. They explained the reason that they are drawn to Instagram more than the other apps is because Instagram has a lot of different features, popular among teenagers and their friends, user friendly in getting information about various artists and organisations globally, and useful for sharing content. Instagram combines features of different social media, including direct messages, video and phone calls, and posting of video and pictures. This allows the app to be almost unbeatable in the sense that it appeals to the different needs of the general public. Elseways, there are certain reasons that Snapchat didn’t attract as many users as Instagram. The dominant reason is that Snapchat is not as user friendly and doesn’t incorporate as many features as Instagram. My friends stated Snapchat has certain flaws like you have to tap on each message to save it, and you can’t view pictures you’ve sent. Also, since Snapchat is friend based, it is not easy to discover and connect with people worldwide. People cannot find useful information, e.g. release date of an artist’s album, as conveniently compared to Instagram.

In a nutshell, to create a successful social media app with the potential of gaining an ever-growing user base, apps need to be user friendly, innovative, cater variety and be up to date. Of course, it is almost impossible that a social media app will be forever dominant, like Facebook success in the 2000s, then Instagram’s most popular years in the 2010s, and TikTok’s lightning growing user base in the present.