KATHMANDU: As the year comes to an end, Google brings us an interesting feature called ‘Year in Search,’ where one can view the popular trends across various categories like sports, movies, songs, games, people, shows, and much more.
Luckily, Google does not list popular websites because this year it would have to contend with a second spot on its own listing. According to Cloudflare’s data, TikTok has outranked Google to claim the top spot for most popular domains in 2021. This includes Google’s suite of applications such as maps, translation, flight bookings, news, photos among many other things.
TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to post videos up to three minutes in length. Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, the app-based platform is the global version of Douyin that was launched for the Chinese market in 2016. In 2018, TikTok merged with another Chinese social media platform, Music.ly after which there has been no looking back.
Users post content ranging from pranks to stunts, jokes and tricks, lip-synced songs, and even dance performances on the platform. While this attracted the younger audience at first, it has now found takers across all ages, Gizmodo reported, especially during the pandemic.
According to Cloudflare, TikTok topped global traffic rankings in February this year and then faced a few ups and downs in March and June. However, since late August, the platform has received the maximum traffic and occupied the top spot ever since. Gizmodo reported that Cloudflare’s list is only based on its raw data and does not include a detailed analysis of the trends.
Even prior to the numbers, marketing departments of companies have tapped into the popularity of the platform. A New York Times report called it the holy grail of marketing, while another report from W3 lab states that top content creators on the platform can earn up to $150,000 for promoting a brand.
Other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook also allow users to create such forms of content on their site. Interestingly, Reddit called TikTok ‘fundamentally parasitic’ in February 2020, and then launched a similar service for its users in August this year.
Gizmodo also pointed out that TikTok is the only non-American platform in the Top Ten List, a major sign of how the times might be changing. Agency