Google isn’t too pleased with its latest findings: Gen Z are using TikTok and Instagram to search for information more than Google Search or Google Maps.
Google’s own data has revealed that nearly 40% of Gen Z prefers using TikTok and Instagram to search.
Google Senior VP Prabhakar Raghavan told Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech 2022 conference that “we keep learning, over and over again, that new internet users don’t have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to. The queries they ask are completely different.”
“In our studies, something like almost 40 percent of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram.”
Raghavan went on to explain that the younger generation seems to prefer more visual content and “visually rich forms” of information discovery.
TikTok has been sweeping the internet by a storm, with its rapid growth sounding alarms at American tech companies. Meta recently introduced its Reels on Facebook and Instagram, pushing aggressively on the video-content that made TikTok the phenomenon that it is. Gen Z now prefers watching TikToks to watching YouTube videos as well.
Instagram is also testing a full-screen feed that will resemble TikTok’s format and style.
Google is now working on letting users find TikTok videos when they search information before standard web pages are shown.
Google has also recently introduced its Maps Live View Feature, which will allow users to see their surrounding areas by panning the camera on their Android Phones over an area.
However, Google has realized that it must come to terms with the reality of the internet today and the dominant power short-form video content has.
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Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
