Beijing: TikTok known for its viral and short videos is now making significant strides to transform itself from a social app into a search engine.
TikTok is attempting to challenge Google in the search engine domain by introducing an image search feature within the TikTok app. This feature currently available in TikTok Shop is accessible to users in the U.S. and several Southeast Asian countries.
Users who have access to this new feature will see a camera icon in the TikTok Shop search bar. While TikTok Shop already allows users to search for specific items, this was previously limited to text-based searches.
Google Lens has long offered an image search option for shopping and TikTok’s image search aims to compete with this. TikTok is already considered a threat to Google’s dominance in the search sector.
In July 2022, Google acknowledged that around 40% of people aged 25 prefer using TikTok and Instagram for searching instead of Google Search and Maps. A Google official confirmed that TikTok has started changing internet search trends among young people causing concern for Google.
Google’s Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan stated that internal data shows nearly 40% of young users turn to TikTok or Instagram for finding information about things or places online rather than using Google Maps or Search. Young people now seek content that interests them on platforms like TikTok and Instagram instead of Google.
Currently, TikTok’s search engine differs from Google’s model.
