I remember when Instagram first launched in 2010, and all my friends at school were huddled around my boyfriend’s iPhone 4, creating our Instagram accounts and brainstorming cool ideas. So much has changed since then and I really miss the ‘old’ Instagram. That said, I don’t think I miss it enough to have TikTok step in and try to fill the gap.
a notification on the app stated that TikTok is gearing up to release a photo-sharing app that will allow users to post their photos, called TikTok Notes, which will also convert “existing and future public TikTok photo posts” into messages on the new platform. Currently, Tiktok users can post photo slideshows to music tracks, so it’s safe to assume these will translate to Instagram-like posts on the new platform.
According to The edgeTikTok says it is “exploring ways to enable our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats.” Based on that, we can assume that you can also add subtitles to your Notes messages.
Could TikTok actually take over Instagram?
There have been people I’ve been done with Instagram for a while now. The idea of posting for the general public has largely been left to the influencer types, with most people I know having their Instagram accounts set to private and reserved for friends and family, or using their ‘Finstas’ exclusively. Finstas, or fake Instagramsbecame super popular among young people in 2016 and beyond – a tool for those who wanted to continue using Instagram, but had a section set up to be themselves and post without worrying about perfect photos.
Finstas still hasn’t been able to save Instagram from being labeled as a wasteland of a platform. While Instagram is much more controlled in terms of feed, TikTok has an interesting setup in that publicly posted videos can be sent to anyone in the app, regardless of whether you mutually follow people or not. So it would be interesting to see how this translates to a photo-based app.
TikTok is an insanely popular app and the fact that the new app will integrate pre-existing photo posts could give it the edge it needs to compete with Instagram. I assume it will be a similar case to Instagram Threads, where everyone has already been assigned an account and you simply have to activate it. That opens the door to TikToks an estimated one billion monthly active users to log in and try out the app.
Of course, not every social media doppelgänger is guaranteed success. The demise of Twitter (sorry, ‘X’) brought with it several other similar apps like Mastodon and Bluesky, and despite how awful things have been on Twitter, they’re not Real seeing huge numbers that would make them as big as the app they replace. Threads seemed like a guaranteed hit given the number of pre-existing Instagram accounts, but it was has only 160 million users per monthas compared to X’s 250 million daily active users. I honestly think X needs to be wiped off the internet and our phones before people flock to one of the alternatives.
But overall, TikTok Notes has the social media scene buzzing with anticipation. TikTok’s smart move to integrate existing photo content and its massive user base could challenge Instagram’s reign. However, history teaches us that not every alternative is a winner. As TikTok Notes prepares to debut, we can only speculate about its potential to topple Instagram – or carve its own path in the digital world.