Googling is out, videos are in. TikTok overtook Google as the most popular website of 2021.
New data shows that TikTok also surpassed Facebook to become the most popular social media website.
Web security and performance company Cloudfare released its data in a blog post this week announcing that TikTok gets the most hits than any other site. The data shows that in the beginning of 2021, Google mostly held the throne for most visits.
But TikTok swept the top slot for the first time in February, then again for a few days in March and May, and then held onto the number one position since August. There were a few days where Google was the top site on some days in the second half of the year, but most days, TikTok was visited more, including major bank holiday days including Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Google was the top site in 2020. The other top ten sites in order were Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Twitter, and WhatsApp.
Facebook is also no longer the most popular social media website, a position it has long held.
Cloudfare says that the data shows that social media usage is high in the second year of the pandemic. All nine of the major social media apps were in Cloudfare’s top 100 list. Lockdowns mean people have been stuck at home, and have gone online to seek out entertainment.
TikTok was downloaded more than three billion times this year alone. There are more than one billion active users around the world, and continues to grow. The social media app is owned by Chinese company Bytedance. It launched internationally in 2018. As one of the only globally successful Chinese apps, its safety, security and privacy have been major concerns of international politicians and regulators.
In China, TikTok is called Douyin, in order to comply with the country’s intense censorship laws. It also runs on a different network. Douyin was released in China in September 2016. This year, China announced that users aged 13 and under will be limited to 40 minutes a day on the app.
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