Over the past few years, TikTok has been hard at work trying to introduce new features in an attempt to not only maintain its dominant position in the short-form video market but also to gain some market share in the search industry. Now, in line with these efforts, TikTok has introduced a new search widget for iPhone and Android users, making it easy to access the platform’s search functionalities.
This move aligns with a marketing campaign earlier this year in the UK, where the company advertised itself as a search engine aimed at catering to the changing patterns in online content discovery. This is because immersive experiences offered by platforms like TikTok and Instagram are now gaining more importance over traditional keyword-based searches.
Speaking on this shift, Google’s Senior Vice President, Prabhakar Raghavan, stated, “We keep learning, over and over again, that new internet users don’t have the expectations and the mindset that we have become accustomed to. These users don’t tend to type in keywords but rather look to discover content in new, more immersive ways. In our studies, almost 40% of young people, when looking for a place for lunch, don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram.”
Therefore, to add the search widget, iOS users can long-press on the home screen, tap the “+” icon, search for TikTok, find the “Search” widget, and tap “Add Widget.” On the other hand, Android users can find the new widget by long-pressing on the home screen, tapping on Widgets, and searching for TikTok.
The increasing influence of TikTok
While the new search widget is a step in the right direction for TikTok to grow as a search platform, experts and lawmakers have raised their concerns about the company’s influence, especially in the UK, where many young adults are now considering TikTok as a news source. Moreover, recent reports of a former ByteDance employee claiming that the Chinese Communist Party keeps a watchful eye on the platform and uses it as a propaganda machine and the ongoing FBI investigation on TikTok spying on US journalists have added to the concerns of UK lawmakers.