Here it is

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
carry-on-my-wayward-butt
ankle-beez

Nearly half of Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram as a search engine instead of Google, new data shows. pic.twitter.com/nAwPWNFYYK — Pop Base (@PopBase) July 15, 2022ALT
image

[ID: A tweet by Popbase that reads, "Nearly half of Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram as a search engine instead of Google, new data shows.". Below the tweet is a pic of a poorly drawn Goomba from Super Mario Bros with text below him that reads "are you out of your fucking mind".]

lastvalyrian

I love how Gen Z is just slowly turning into boomers due to reverse tech illiteracy

hashtagloveloses

i know that everyone is blaming gen z and alpha and calling them stupid for this, but it actually isn’t their fault:

1) google has gotten demonstrably worse, ON PURPOSE in the last few years. not just because of AI, but how it changes your searches to make more money and is almost all sponsored or SEO-gamed results, plus google and facebook’s now over a decade long dismantling of journalism of all kinds, has led to this. so people of all ages are finding it less useful and finding it hard to parse accurate answers.

The Tragedy of Google Search
With a landmark antitrust trial under way, a giant of the modern web is buckling under its own weight.
The Atlantic


2) it’s a bit of a misnomer to say they aren’t using google at all - gen z, gen alpha, and other generations are using YOUTUBE, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, more than ever before, because despite its many issues and decline, it remains accessible in most countries, unblocked on most networks, and easy to use. TikTok may still be on the rise, but YouTube remains a homepage for a lot of people in the way Google used to be.

3) They’re using Tiktok (and IG despite it not really working well) more like a search engine because the app is molding itself and PROMPTING them to. every video has the search bar at the top with a suggested search term that the app generated through scanning keywords said in the video, caption, and comments. every comment section on popular video has a feature where if a phrase or word is said a lot, it turns it into a suggested search a user can click on and go directly to from the comments. Creators are learning search-engine optimization strategy because the app is prioritizing videos for monetization that are longer and follow common SEO practices (this is to compete with YouTube - TikTok wants more long videos and streaming to make it more like YouTube, and YouTube bolstered YouTube shorts to make it more like TikTok).

I tried replacing Google with TikTok, and it worked better than I thought
TikTok won’t kill Google yet, but it’s a new and fun way to think about search.
The Verge

4) Creators of all kinds - for fun, for education, for anything, who may have written on a blog in the past are turning to making SEO-friendly video on any of these platforms, also, because Google (and the social platforms that used to bring click traffic like Twitter and Facebook) are so broken that they can’t reach people easily (nor sustainably) that way. That goes for everyone from journalists to food bloggers. So which platform are you gonna use? Google, where your results are AI generated or sponsored garbage you can barely trust or that it’s hard to parse, or TikTok, where sure there’s some sponsored stuff but it clearly says when it is (bc legally, influencers HAVE to), and there’s a person’s face giving you advice?

It’s a similar principle to why Reddit has always been a better place for answers when searching than whatever you find on Google - you have real people (or at least the semblance of real people) giving you personal advice, that is informally peer reviewed through comments, thread replies, etc.

5) As we know, Gen Z and younger are not being taught computing skills. I’m a millennial. I was TAUGHT how to use a search engine. I was TAUGHT how to use a database. Many younger people, now even adults, were not only not taught because older generations assumed they’d just pick it up, but the platforms and devices they grew up using actively DISCOURAGE developing the skills to figure it out.

By the sheer fact that I am a millennial who grew up with a new device and platform almost every year, my brain is wired to figure out change with technology. But a lot of younger people grew up with the same platforms, now firmly entrenched, that do not want the user to leave to use google or click a link to someone’s website, because that’s less ad revenue, so they’ve created user interfaces and experiences that discourage leaving the platform, and discourage creators from leading people off of it for additional info.

Schools in a lot of countries, especially the US where they are underfunded, are leaning on tablets instead of full computers, where your only access to the internet is limited to curated app experiences, and discouraged from exploration on the wider internet because it is “bad and unsafe.” If you’re actively prevented from Googling, or never taught, or have apps that provide the info instead, why would you ever do it? How would you learn?

This is not to say that TikTok is good or perfect or the things found there are always accurate or people aren’t responsible for their own ongoing education sometimes. But we shouldn’t be surprised at any of this. It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if all of this wasn’t to sell us more shit, either. But it’s always to sell us more shit - whether on Google or Tiktok.

Also this is ironic given the original post is a screenshot of a tweet from Pop Base, an engagement farm account that basically steals headlines from real outlets and takes all the engagement, not linking to any original reporting or even the source sometimes. It’s literally a part of what created this problem.

cod-dump
cod-dump

Alex, running into the room: Kyle! You WILL NOT believe what Farah did to me last night!

Alex, stopping when he sees Soap: Oh, you have company… I’ll tell you later then!

Soap: *watches Alex leave before he turns and looks at Gaz*

Soap: What the fuck kind of shit do you two talk about?!

Gaz: Same kind of shit Alejandro talks to me about Rudy

Soap: … does Ghost talk to you about-?

Gaz: Maybe

Soap, quietly: Oh my god