“In 2023, 40% of young people prefer to search on Instagram and TikTok rather than Google.”
This statistic from a recent study has sparked a surge of interest and controversy, with many people questioning whether this is the death of search engines as we know them.
It is said today that 59% of the population uses social media for an average of 2 hours and 30 minutes a day. This data, although pretty staggering, comes as no surprise. We all know far too well how you can easily fall victim to social media’s compulsion and spend endless time aimlessly scrolling.
As the use of social media usage continues to rise, alongside it so does the use of social search. Every second spent on social media, audiences are digesting boundless information on the latest fashion styles everyone is wearing, to new ideas to decorate your home and trending healthy recipes everyone is making at the moment. Introducing the world of influencer marketing. As more and more people use social media, we as a population are more influenced than ever.
But we already knew this, didn’t we?
The difference today, however, is that when audiences see something they like online or see their favourite influencer recommending a product, they increasingly choose to search for the product on that same social platform they were first marketed to on. Why is this? Convenience. People want short and snappy streams of information, and likewise, they want seamless searching. Having the ability to search directly into the same platform, provides just this.
But is this just another fad people are jumping onto? Surely this isn’t the end of Google’s reign in search.
Although more and more audiences are choosing to discover new products and services on social platforms, search engines like Google are still the number one choice for search. However, as audiences increasingly turn to the search bar on social platforms, we simply can’t ignore this social movement. It’s time to look beyond purely traditional methods for search campaigns.
In order to improve online visibility in today’s world, it is recommended to adopt a holistic approach to search campaigns. Gone are the days of solely focusing on traditional search engines, instead, focusing on a combination of search engine optimisation and social search will generate overall web visibility for your search campaigns. Maybe this is the future of search.
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