Creators Are Weighing Meta and YouTube for Social Commerce

If you have connected TikTok in the past week (haven’t we all?), you’ve probably seen the latest #goodbyetiktok and #savetiktok content as US users prepare for the very real possibility that the national ban on the app will take effect on January 19.

While we anxiously await the The Supreme Court Deciding on TikTok’s fate, brands, creators and the app’s 170 million American users (which include a third of all American adults) are weighing their options. which platform to return to next. Do they double on Instagram Reels? Go straight to the original home of user-generated video content with YouTube Shorts? Test the water with ByteDance’s Lemon8 or China’s RedNote, both of which could end up with the same fate as TikTok?

Tough decisions, sure. Because beyond the fun factor of TikTok, it has found more social business success than any other platform. It’s remarkably easy to make an impulse purchase on TikTok, and 17% of American adults have used TikTok Shop according to CivicScience. TikTok has estimated that small businesses could lose more than $1 billion a month in revenue if the ban goes into effect.

Despite the passions of users and creators of TikTok and the strong arguments of TikTok’s lawyers, the Supreme Court seems likely to maintain the ban from publication. While a last-minute Hail Mary to save the app in the US is still possible, if you’re a brand or business owner on TikTok, now is really the time to prepare for the end of the era TikTok.

Why face the facts: While there is no other platform that can easily replicate the success of the first video social shopping that TikTok created, the TikTok Shop boom has shown that social commerce works, which should give competitors a clear road to improve their shoppable offers.

Bottom line: If social commerce is your goal, the two most viable options are Meta and YouTube Shorts.