OVERVIEW

• Millennials prefer to consume content rather than to create because they only want to see what their friends are doing and stay up to date with news (43%), be entertained (42%), build their network (37%), see their friends (35%), share their opinion (32%), research products they wish to buy (32%), and meet new people.
• Gen Z are more optimistic and have a positive outlook towards creating content to be shared on social media because it gives them a sense of pride in their creativity, which is important to them.

MILLENNIALS

• On average, millennials used social media 6 to 7 hours per week in 2017.
• Millennials are considered to be optimistic, collaborative, digital pioneers, public (i.e. to share their lives on Facebook), and more likely to be formally educated.
• Facebook is the preferred social media platform for millennials because it allows them to keep a history of their life online but they also prefer video entertainment, with over 50% millennials visiting YouTube at least once a day.
• GlobalWeblndex found that in 2018, millennials spent 2 hours and 38 minutes every day on several social media platforms, with an average of 9 social media accounts.
•  44% of millennials use social media to pass the time without necessarily posting any content. Instead, they simply browse to see what is happening on networks such as Facebook (38%) and Instagram (31%).
• They are motivated to use social media to see what their friends are doing and stay up to date with news (43%), be entertained (42%), build their network (37%), share content such as pictures and videos (35%), catch up with their friends (35%), share their opinion (32%), research products they wish to buy (32%) and meet new people.
• Even though millennials like to show their lives on Facebook, creating and sharing content is not popular among them.

GENERATION Z

•  Less than 50% of Gen Z tend to use social media on an hourly basis. They are considered to be realistic, independent, digital natives, private (i.e. have a preference for timebound content sharing) and are more likely to pursue education online.
•  Snapchat is the preferred social media platform for Gen Z because it allows for private engagement with friends and does not store their pictures or videos.
•  95% of Gen Z prefer YouTube and watch videos, with 50% of them expressing a very strong preference for YouTube compared to other platforms.
• Gen Z only spend eight seconds watching videos and are savvy when choosing content to watch, suggesting that their attention span is short.
• They tend to use social media more for content consumption or to pass the time rather than keeping/maintaining contact with their friends.
•  51% of Gen Z use social media to pass the time, 47% find entertaining content, 46% keep in contact with friends, 42% stay updated with news, and 38% share their pictures or videos.
• They have an average of 7 social media accounts and are very picky when deciding where to share their content.
• On average, they spend close to 3 hours on social media every day and tend to use both Instagram and Snapchat more than millennials but use Facebook and Twitter less than millennials.
•  80% of Gen Z believe that their own creativity is important to them, which leads to more than 25% of them posting an original video on social media every week while 65% of them enjoy both creating and sharing content.

ANALYSIS

• Gen Z (77%) and millennials (77%) equally prefer to post images on their social media pages but Facebook is more popular with millennials (87%) than it is with Gen Z (36%).
• Millennials tend to search for "quick synopses of major stories" on social media rather than sharing or creating content.
• They enjoy personalized news on Instagram, 53% of them check Snapchat on a daily basis and use Twitter to follow their favorite celebrities (Source 6)
• Over half of millennials consume social media for news while only a third of them like to share content on social media, the majority of which are images (77%).
• Only 35% of millennials are interested in sharing content on social media but not necessarily content that they have created on their own.
• Gen Z are more optimistic and have a positive outlook on creating content for social media because it gives them a sense of pride in their creativity, which is important to them.
• Due to this level of optimism and positivity, less than a third of them create original videos while more than half of them enjoy creating and sharing content on social media.
• Therefore, using social media for content creation and sharing is more important for Gen Z than it is for millennials.

TIKTOK IS PERCEIVED BY PEOPLE IN US AS CONTENT CREATORS APP

• In the United States, TikTok is generally perceived as a content creator app as it is referred to as a community of creators.
• It is an app that accommodates a large community of creators and enables individuals to create content and gain a following as long as they can go viral.
• TikTok is viewed as an app that is more about generating a moment, leading many to consider it to be authentic as they can be very creative with their content.
• It facilitates a space that is more creative, and partaking in the newest video challenge using TikTok is as easy as creating a Facebook status.
• During the first half of the year in 2018, TikTok served as the most-downloaded app for iOS devices in the United States.
• In Q1 2019, Tik Tok was the most downloaded app overall in the United States. It was ranked number two in the Apple Store and number one in the Google Play Store between Jan. 1, 2019, and Mar. 31, 2019, according to Sensor Tower.
• The New York Times stated that TikTok operates as a video creator app, where the mode of creation is unconventional because users can search for content to post and recruit others into hashtags, group challenges, or popular songs.
• With TikTok, the bar and stakes are low, with a notable audience that is simpler to reach and more minuscule ones are not difficult to locate.

YOUNG PEOPLE PERCEIVE TIK TOK AS A CONTENT CREATORS APP DUE ITS RAWNESS

• According to a report from Google, young people have more of a connection to creators on YouTube than with celebrities. Tik Tok allows them to produce videos in short amount of time.
• Users can utilize TikTok to act as filmmakers, and it makes finding a large audience easier. Also, TikTok makes stardom much more accessible, and the key is having content go viral.
• Younger generations, particularly Gen Z, desire influencers that are authentic, real, and raw, and TikTok can develop those influencers for them.
• Meanwhile, Millennials viewed TikTok as Vine's replacement, occupying the space left behind by the platform after it was closed down for good in early 2017.
• Most young people are attracted to TikTok. Around 60% of TikTok's monthly active users in the United States are aged 16-24, while 52% use iPhones.
• Between Q3 2018 and Q4 2018, TikTok downloads on Google Play rose by about 70% in the United States, leading to the platform becoming as the top application within the Google Play Store at the end of the year.
• TikTok is based solely on engagement instead of a user's follower numbers, and what matters most is whether the broader community enjoys the content.
• The platform is associated with individuals who concentrate on creativity instead of a budget and exhibit who they are as opposed to who they desire to become.
• American youth generates a sizable amount of revenue for TikTok. Outside of China, the United States comprises 42% of the app's revenue among iOS devices.

STATS SHOW THAT MORE THAN HALF USERS CREATE AND UPLOAD VIDEO TO TIKTOK

• Over half of TikTok users, or 55%, upload videos.
• A large portion of users (43%) uploaded a duet video as a collaboration with other people.
• Around 41% uploaded a "react" video to TikTok.
• These figures serve as evidence of why TikTok is perceived as an app for content creators due to the high portion of users that actively contribute to the platform.

Research Strategy:

Millennials — Original Videos

• According to a survey conducted by ClearVoice, many millennials in the United States have never published a live video but enjoy sharing videos on social media platforms. Of the millennials surveyed, over 33% of them post original live videos online.
• The survey also revealed that of those 33%, only 14% of millennials make it a practice to post live videos more than once a month.
• More than one out of four millennials surveyed claimed that they share videos through direct messages numerous times each week. It was also found that two-thirds of all millennials have shared videos through direct messages at some point in their lives.

Useful Insights

• According to a report published by Global Web Index, millennials spend over 2 hours and 38 minutes each day on various social media platforms for numerous reasons such as entertainment, communicating with friends, and research.
• The main motivation for millennials to visit social media platforms is to share videos and photos with their friends and family. The Global Web Index report reveals that over 35% of millennials chose to visit social media channels just to share videos and photos.
• Studies show that over 82% of millennials watch videos on a mobile device. It was also found that over 74% of millennials utilize videos for comparative shopping needs.
• Based on the statistics published by Omnicore, over 50 million users on Facebook are content creators.
• Millennials generally spend over 5.4 hours each day engaging in user-generated content. It was also found that 49% of millennials trust content that's generated by social media users while 25% of them prefer to trust in content created by brands.
•  One out of five videos uploaded on Facebook is found to be an original live video.

Research Strategy: