Different Social Platforms, Same Purpose?

One thing I have never been able to understand personally is why we as a society have multiple social media apps that all seem to do the same thing more or less. That’s why in this post we will tackle three of the biggest social media platforms in the world, these being TikTok, Instagram and Twitter(X). We will briefly define these platforms and then discuss the differences and similarities near the end. 

TikTok

Let’s start off with TikTok. One of the newest social media platforms to enter the world. Launched in 2016, TikTok allows users to indulge in viewing or posting short form and long form content. This content can range from genres of comedy to infotainment and advertisement. TikTok leans into the advertisement aspect of their app by having a fully operational shop that users can buy and sell items from. This social media platform is also friendlier to smaller creators that are trying to form a solid audience. 

InstaGram

Instagram is another social media app founded in 2010. Instagram’s purpose is mainly to allow users to share videos and pictures with everyone else on the app. Instagram also lets the user post temporary short form content in the form of stories. These “Stories” are things that only people that follow the user can see. This social media platform is one of the most popular choices for influencers to get to their audiences. 

Twitter (X)

Twitter is one of the oldest social media app out of the three we are discussing being made in 2006. The core functions of Twitter include following and unfollowing people. Twitter also lets users post messages that can be seen by followers of the user and short form videos that also can be seen by people who follow the user. Twitter’s audience caters more towards spreading information than any other genre of content with twitter being used for news and emergency information. 

Some similarities between these social media apps is that they all have the same core functions which include short form content, following/unfollowing people, messaging and showing their audiences entertaining genres of content. These social media platforms’ differences start to show when a person really looks into the platform directly. Some differences include the evidence that TikTok caters heavily towards selling things on their platform. Twitter can be used more as a work tool than to get entertained from. Instagram feels like a little bit of both. Even though these social media platforms have their differences and are very important to peoples daily lives, I still fail to understand why some people have all three.