I am not a rabid TikTok user. Nor has anyone flattered me by accusing me of being in TikTok’s target demo.
But I do enjoy the platform. Sometimes, when I have a few minutes between meetings or tasks, you might catch me scrolling through the app. And TikTok, being TikTok, knows I like content related to music, travel, tech, business, current events, and so on.
Recently during my routine scanning around for interesting news, I learned that the rate of advertising growth on TikTok was noticeably slowing. Soon after, I read about how the platform’s user metrics were softening as well, at least among its key demo.
This is the subject of an upcoming episode of Localogy’s This Week in Local podcast.
Earlier this month, Search Engine Land reported that “The percentage of weekly users aged 18-24 dropped from 35% in 2022 to 25% this year. Users aged 35-44 increased from 16% to 19% in the same period.”
So of course my next search was to see what the chatter is saying about why user metrics were softening. One article offered the theory that many of TikTok’s core GenZ users are growing up, and out of, the platform. Adulting it getting in the way of their TikTok time, apparently.
But a primary villain did emerge that had nothing to do with doing dishes or paying taxes. And it was TikTok Shop.
A Virtual Department Store
To be fair, the “TikTok Shop is ruining TikTok” thread is not new. Much of the content that came up in my search was dated in late 2023 or early this year.
TikTok rolled out Shop in September last year after testing it since November 2022.
A good exemple of this blame game came in the form of this January headline from Morning Brew, “TikTok’s big pivot to shopping risks putting off users”.
In the article, Morning Brew writes, “Years ago, it seemed like TikTok might fill the void left by Vine. Now, it’s closer to becoming one big virtual department store.”
But are the department store shoppers, i.e., TikTok users, up for this?
While the proof may not yet be there that Shop is ruining TikTok, there is a widespread view that Shop’s arrival changed the nature of content on the platform. And not necessarily for the better.
More and more videos are oriented to directing viewers to buy their TikTok Shop products. A subset of this is side hustle content offering to teach others how to make a killing on TikTok Shop. There are probably paid courses at the bottom of most of those funnels.
