Headlines from major tech publications have shown that among Gen Z iPhone usage is very high higher than ever and that Google search is being replaced, with TikTok rising. I am in that demographic, but I defy every single one of those trends. Because of these reasons (and the view count) I have decided to write about it.
1. I have an Android and am interested in Old OSes like Sybian, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone.
2. I do not have personal social media including TikTok.
Beginning: TikTok is a video platform. Sure you can get some search results, but detailed information cannot be acquired in a short video clip. A deep search cannot be done from TikTok. For example, if you want to find only PDFs on Google Search, you can do an advanced search.
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| Source: pexels.com/@cottonbro/ |
Ease of Use: On TikTok, it is only (vertical) video content. A TikTok video can only be sixty seconds long; not that much information can be placed in a 60-second video!! Ease of use is a key factor. On a cellular phone or tablet computer, a Search widget awaits you for easy access. Things that can be placed in a 60-second video (like sports scores) can be easily accessible via the search widget. What is easier, looking up who won the Rockets game by unlocking your phone and searching (or asking the assistant) or opening TikTok, searching for it, and clicking on the video? The web also has fun things called websites and backlinks which I will get to later.
News: If I want to find news on a certain topic, say Samsung, I would just type Samsung into a search bar and click the News icon. It is that easy. In TikTok, you would be presented with a bunch of short-form videos about Samsung. This may be once for some people, but having to sit down and watch a video when you could skim a headline or read a reputable news source (like thetechboy.org 😃) is much better. If I want news from actual world events would I rather watch a super short video from a random person (or maybe a news agency) or read an article about the event?
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| Source: Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash |
Desktop: TikTok's desktop interface is atrocious. Nobody wants a 33% screen of a video when doing a search from a laptop or desktop computer. No search operators, no advanced search, no image search like Google Lens, and not that many backlinks to other websites. This is because TikTok is not a search engine!!
The Beauty of The Web: Websites are amazing and have much more powerful tools than TikTok. For example, look at MConverter. You can get way more in-depth information from a website and other are backlinks and links to other articles on the Internet (yes there are sometimes links to TikTok). Backlinks let you study a topic more and enjoy other articles from publishers you enjoy. For example, I enjoyed the Ars Technica 40,000-word article about the History of Android. On TikTok, that article would have to be condensed to a slideshow.
I hope you guys enjoyed this article.
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