Might be the culture (Instagram was already ridden with influencer culture), might be the algorithm, but TikTok content is just more entertaining. The fact that the app is better (which it is) is just the silver lining.
This may be one reason but it doesn't apply to me and I have used both significantly.

I spend far more time on TikTok now than Instagram and that is for a few reasons which may appear minor but make the difference:



Instagram recently removed keyboard slipping in stories. Now it’s useless. Some people have 50 items in their featured stories.

If you stop/switch while watching anything, you’ll have to start one again. If does allow you to scrub within certain videos but the UI is very finicky.

They try to trick you into “opening” ads by swapping gestures for ads (swipe down is different)

TikTok is simply a lot faster in terms of ui and responsiveness.

At a certain point, if will hang with videos until you change networks. Might be related to my network, but if it’s the only app that has this issue.

Search is just bad… super bad. I have to rely on google to search on Instagram

No links/ ways to go to part 2 etc.



For me the reason is actually much more simple - I just get better content. Instragram gives me bunch of marketing and influencer stuff not unlike the crap on Facebook feed. TikTok has much more dumb entertaining content. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



Not sure why you were downvoted. This is exactly my experience. TikTok content is just better.

All Instagram feeds I've seen are boring attention-grabbing videos from so-called influencers. TikTok is grandma cooking pasta, my weird cousin doing some funny shit on his bedroom, some random bloke making a joke to his dog and the dog farts... I know. It sounds stupid... but it's way more entertaining.

Might be the culture (Instagram was already ridden with influencer culture), might be the algorithm, but TikTok content is just more entertaining. The fact that the app is better (which it is) is just the silver lining.



the article sort of highlights the first point

the patent wars between multiple big tech companies have left the news cycle for a long time, but I wonder if this is a component of these distinctive UIs and algorithms, because TikTok's is obviously superior for both platform's goals



Without reliable numbers, I can’t take this post seriously. As much as I am on “TikTok’s recommendations are better” camp, my direct surroundings only share things with me on Reels. Obviously it’s very age and location related observation, but when you consider places like Hong Kong/India, where it is banned, I don’t think IG is losing big way. Add that the usual “TikTok bad cause data mining”, you’ll get a lot of people who avoid it as plague.

That being said, I hope both of them magically disappear for the greater good of society :)



"age and location related "

I am completely out of touch. Which age bracket prefers Instagram, which TikTok in your opinion?



Most people who are on TikTok, are most likely using Instagram in one capacity or other. Some people who are on Instagram, think TikTok is "cringe and for little funny dances".

Younger people on TikTok seem to be setting the trends (as it has always been throughout the history), which eventually make their way to Reels, Shorts and etc. So, they think Reels is cringe, as they just copy TikTok.

It's the usual "I don't want to be where the old people are" problem of every tech company that tries to attract younger user base. Similar to why people under 30 would use Facebook's social media section (yes, Marketplace, Groups and etc. are wildly being used by everyone), as that's what their "grandpas and grandmas are doing".

The whole thing becomes a mess and hard to evaluate when you think which app is banned where, so location plays a major role in userbase as well. In the end, I guess both are making a bank somehow.



At least here in Canada, Instagram is used by millennials, and TikTok is Gen Z.



The reasons are simple:

1. Gatekeeping for no good reason. They broke web-experience as much as they could. There is a huge banner that doesn't let one view the content on the web version. It wasn't enough, so they blocked TOR and proxy. Now, I can't even view it without proxy of any kind. The account creation is complex, a phone number is required.

2. Censorship.

Youtube and other platforms are slowly poisoning themselves, too and will end up being irrelevant as time goes.



Both are doing the same thing we saw happening to real-estate leading up to the 2008 meltdown.

Replace real estate with Attention and its the same story. Attention is finite just like Land. There is only so much of it that can be sold limited by money supply in the system. Once that limit is reached cook up bullshit to keep selling real estate and in this case view counts up.

Interesting difference is it's not just about bubble bursting but also info sewage accumulating in people's heads through this notion that info flow into people's heads can forever increase.



But do social media companies ever really pay for the externality that is "info sewage accumulating in people's heads"? To me that's a cost that will always be borne as a society— chaos in the public square, unproductive political discourse, broken families, acts by extremists, etc.



> Sometimes I’m not in the mood to look at a certain celebrity’s third carousel of vacation photos so I scroll without hesitating

This is also a key point. on tiktok the algorithm is very good anyway but you can ‘train’ it whilst using it to get it to show you what your interested in at that point in time.

If i want more silly videos i simply watch those and skip others and it very quickly gets the message. The next time i use it it resets and i can choose longer form informational videos that time.

On Instagram it’s the opposite and I’ve found myself having a mix of accounts to ‘trick’ it into showing me very different content types.

For example there’s no way that Instagram would ever show electronics or developer content my main account explore page I’ve tried! So i had to create a separate account for that kind of content.

Interestingly i get no sexualised content on my other accounts but where I’m following interests that are typically very male oriented i get the overly sexualised content. I never see any of that on tiktok and it covers all my interests sometimes without me even telling it!



Slightly digressing, thought atleast in India, Instagram has started catering to a lot of serious businesses especially startups. If you want to market, go to Instagram.. Well Tiktok has been banned but it was never taken here as a serious platform by businesses.



> serious platform by businesses

Which is exactly why TikTok is better.

I'm there for entertainment, not for business.



Just saying Instagram has become relevant outside of pure entertainment as well.



TikTok’s basic algorithm prioritizes smaller content creators, while Instagram / Meta properties in general still mostly only care about well-established accounts. Posting on Instagram feels like shouting into the void, while I’ve had TikTok posts (posted from a small account) get millions of views.



Honestly find that Instagram tries too hard to show me thirst traps - that I’m not interested in. It assumes that since I’m a male, I must automatically overwhelmingly like looking at attractive women.

Its too one dimensional.



If you want to have a nice experiment, create a new FB account and identify as a 30-40yo male.

Don't like any pages or anything, then check the suggestions: It's a 100% softcore porn for horny dudes.



I actually hardly ever see thirst trap posts, my feed is pretty much just an endless wall of memes.

Maybe it’s because I signed up with a burner phone number and I avoid (as much as I’m able) giving Meta any scrap of data to link to my IRL identity



This thesis is absurd. Who gives a shit where the poster's identifier sits? No one. It's all about the feed.

Instagram's feed is full of bullshit that has nothing to do with anyone I follow. It's a conduit for spam at this point, and everyone knows it.

TikTok on the other hand is just a sewer line. I don't know what dictates the effluent they're funneling through anyone's feed, but it represents a new low even to cynics. Just... mind-boggling stupidity.

Vine came and went. So why the ascendance of TikTok? Human stupidity. My condolences to Vine's creators.



Instagram also has a very good/addictive algorithm, for what it’s worth.

I think it is more just network effect in play here - I feel that every generation has their de facto social media platform — the “boomers” have facebook, then comes instagram, and among the youngest generations is tiktok the biggest.

Though I don’t have hard data on that, just anecdotal evidence.



TikTok's is far more addictive and engaging. instagram content is mostly just reposted TikTok for millennials to see two weeks later. Pause and check out the same content on TikTok and you'll see far more engagement and be sucked into the rabbit hole just for watching.



That's the right term, it's addictive but I wouldn't say it's engaging.

Every time I am uninstalling TikTok my life feels better, more relaxed.

Moving to my new phone I've again left it uninstalled, now for 2 months and I hope I can keep it that way



So you imply millennials usually are on Instagram. This mirrors another comment here that; Gen Z is on TikTok and boomers are on Facebook - seems likely, people keep to their age group mostly.

So if that were the case and Instagram only gets content reposted from Tiktok, it would mean that millenials do not produce content. But of course they do.



> do not produce content

that would be an interesting observation if I hadn't written

> is mostly just

words matters



Teens often don't want to mingle with their parents/adults online, so they find their own place and many continue using it when they become adults.



Why pizza failed to become lentils



My conspiracy theory is TikTok was allowed to succeed to give Facebook a competitor so it couldn't be accused of being a monopoly.



And who would have masterminded that tridimensional chess play?



It was them! Always is



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