Google Confesses More People Using Social Media Than Search Engine

The search engine colossus, Google, has gone panicky, saying, TikTok and Instagram actually pose a threat to not only Google Search but also to YouTube, its own video sharing platform.

Contained in Google’s internal data, the search engine hinted that nearly 40% of Gen Z prefers searching on TikTok and Instagram over Google Search and Maps.

TikTok has exploded in popularity over the past few years so much so that it inspired social media competitors Instagram and Snapchat to roll out copycat video features in “Reels” and “Spotlight.”

Popular Intelligence has predicted that TikTok’s advertising revenue will overtake YouTube by 2024.

Now, a Google executive has confirmed that TikTok’s format is changing the way young people conduct internet searches, announcing however that the Google management is working to keep up.

Google senior vice president, Prabhakar Raghavan did actually confessed at a tech conference that according to Google’s internal studies, “something like almost 40% 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.”

Google confirmed this statistics, saying, “we face robust competition from an array of sources, including general and specialized search engines, as well as dedicated apps.”

It then highlighted changes it plans to make to its search engine to appeal to a younger audience, including the ability for a user to pan their camera over an area and “instantly glean insights about multiple objects in a wider scene.”

Google LLC is an American multinational technology company that focuses on artificial intelligence, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, and consumer electronics.

Undoubtedly, Google has its footprint all over the universe. In Nigeria alone, a report published in February 2021 revealed that the most visited site in Nigeria is Google with a total visit of 220 million.