TikTok has given Instagram an identity crisis – Sydney Morning Herald

OpinionNovember 21, 2021 — 4.50pmNovember 21, 2021 — 4.50pmSocial media can be wonderful. I mean, sure, it’s drastically undermined democracy and public health orders while facilitating the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation.But I just watched a video about a film called The VelociPastor: A Man Of The Claw, about a crime-fighting priest who turns into a dinosaur, so it’s probably worth it.Social media: good or terrible?The only thing more interesting than the high-quality content that sometimes bubbles up on social media is how assorted platforms react when their supremacy is challenged.Instagram has long been one of the most popular social media apps for young people to share photos of their food, look at pictures that make them hate their bodies, and get vaccine misinformation from influencers who peddle diet tea and activated charcoal.It survived the rise of instant messaging service Snapchat by introducing the Instagram Stories feature (where photos are only visible for 24 hours). After all, Snapchat was another photo app, and Instagram wants to be the photo app. However, there’s a new(ish) social media player in town that has Instagram ready to self-destruct.TikTok hit one billion users in September, just five years after launching, making it one…
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