Facebook Is Everywhere, Even on TikTok
Facebook has been around since the mid-2010s and has since become one of the world’s biggest and most ubiquitous tech brands. If there’s one place it could be, it is on what is arguably the world’s hottest social media platform (and its biggest competitor, it claims). Chinese and American tech news sites reported that Meta’s flagship social network recently set up a TikTok account. Without any fanfare or even content as of this writing (24 March 2022), it has gained at least 266,000 followers.
CN Beta spotted the Facebook account on the platform, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, pointing out that the account has already attracted a significant amount of followers. The website noted that this move by the company reflects how times have changed in the social media landscape. Facebook is still the juggernaut with 47% of the world’s population aged 13 and above using it, but it is worth noting that, of the total active user population, only around 12% of its female users and 17% of its male ones are between the ages of 13 to 24. On the other hand, TikTok’s numbers have surged since its launch in 2016, and one can interpret those Facebook stats as saying that this demographic doesn’t spend as much time on the platform as they used to.
The account has been around since about the middle of March 2022 and was discovered by social media expert Matt Navarra, who tweeted, “I hope their first tiktok is a watermarked Reel.” The reference is to Meta’s photo-sharing social media platform Instagram, which launched the Reel feature in response to TikTok’s growing popularity. Ironically, from this writer’s experience, a fair number of the Reels he sees happen to be TikTok reposts.
However, TechCrunch’s report points out that while the Facebook account on TikTok has a blue “verified” checkmark, there are two things they found odd. First, they pointed out that the bio wasn’t quite proper English (with an extra comma where it shouldn’t be). Secondly, they noted that the link to the app on the account was to the Google Play Store site, not the official Facebook website. They also noted one important fact: “Isn’t it Meta now??” This was a reference to the October 2021 rebrand that positioned the company as an important player in the emerging metaverse phenomenon. One proof of this rebranding is that the company’s official Instagram account uses the Meta name.
Despite those doubts, both reports cite Facebook spokespersons saying that this TikTok account is indeed legit. Here is a statement from one of them, quoted on TechCrunch: “Brands leverage a variety of channels, including some of our social media platforms, to reach and engage with the people using their products and services every day. Our intent with establishing a brand presence and cultivating community on platforms like TikTok or others is no different.”
Facebook’s presence on TikTok acknowledges one reality that the platform has had to face: not everyone wants to use it as often anymore. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Meta reported flat active user growth and, for the first time, a decline in daily active users. Even if Facebook considers the one-minute video-sharing site its biggest rival, they are beginning to realize that the only way forward is to remind TikTok’s user base that they still matter. However, one can only see how that strategy will work when they upload their first video. We hope to keep readers posted about that major development.
Facebook, Meta’s flagship platform, created a TikTok account that was first spotted in mid-March 2022, attracting at least 266,000 followers as of this writing (24 March 2022).
The news comes in the wake of disappointing active user stats for the social media giant which were reported in the fourth quarter of 2021.
As of this writing, Facebook’s TikTok account has had no videos on it yet.