#Hashtag: Young people use social media as a search engine

For Generation Z (those born after 2000) social networks go beyond entertainment, serving as a search tool for information. At least that’s what a survey of young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK suggests.

Published in July this year by Ofcom (Office of Communications), media regulator, the survey indicates that among the three search sources for young people in this age group are TikTok, followed by Instagram and The YouTube.

By embracing one of the primary functions of the internet, social media platforms are impacting products like Google Search or Google Maps, according to Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan. According to the website Join TechCrunch+, Raghavan mentioned this effect during the Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech 2022 conference, where he discussed the future of Google’s products and their use of artificial intelligence.

to the blog #HashtagGoogle said that while its goal with the search engine is to provide the most relevant and useful information available on the web, more than ever people have multiple channels to search for the information they want.

The company responded that it faces great competition due to the variety of channels, which include, in addition to social networks, virtual stores and other search engines.

In an attempt to better personalize content for each user, Google launched the Google Feed at the end of July, “a place where you can stay informed about your interests in a personalized, practical and easy way”.

With more than 1 billion active monthly users worldwide, TikTok does not disclose data in this regard. Searches there are made using hashtags or keywords. Thus, it is possible to have an idea of ​​the number of views on each term published on the network – a mechanism similar to that of other networks and Google Search itself.

This is how the 3rd year high school student, Ana Carolina Xavier de Santana, 17, searches for content on various topics there, especially on expertise.

For the young woman from Paraibuna (SP), the tool is ideal for finding qualified content about the profession she wants to follow. The differential of the search engine is in the quality of the results.

The professor of new media in the Department of Social Communication at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), who coordinates the Laboratory for Studies on Image and Cyberculture (Labic), Fabio Malini, points out that the flow of searches within TikTok is part of history platforms, which go through a process of “territorialization”.

That is, they allow people to reproduce the same type of procedure as other networks, inserting and seeking territorial information from publications. On Facebook, it’s Check-in, on new networks, it’s locations or even the use of hashtags, which also allow accessing information about places and events, helping to reinforce their status.

Thus, says Malini, who has been researching data on the Internet since 1999, there is a line of continuity between the networks. Under a culture of replicating consumption patterns, people go to places that others have already been, creating a common history.

The researcher highlights that the process enables the creation of bonds, generating conversations between users who identify with elements of a context, even a community to which they belong.

Rejane Toigo, social media and founder of Like Marketing, of digital strategy, the flow of searches in video apps, like TikTok, has to do with the format. “Gen Z wants to see things being done, because video allows people to make their own assessment, with personal judgments,” she says.

For Ligia Gomes Pio, 24, this is all true. The Cultural Production student at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), says that TikTok is more dynamic, intuitive and complete, and compares the platform with others that also have videos, but that have the algorithms less mirrored in your experience.

“The application became a reference during the quarantine. It’s as if everything new and interesting appeared there”, he explains. To find this information, Ligia prefers to use keyword texts over hashtags, because she finds they drive the search clipping — as she would on Google, but more fun on TikTok, she says.

Although Google is more objective, on TikTok there are more details on the subject sought, in addition to being able to find out what people think. At least that’s the opinion of Sofia Paschoal Fontoura, 24. Audiovisual producer and Art History student in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), she explains that she doesn’t find the tool the easiest, but the most complete, to find places and tours.

For Toigo, when content is in a format such as audiovisual and in a suitable context, its value increases. “It’s a question of neurocompatibility: this generation consumes and produces this content.”