The Future of Short Form Video is Bright But Will TikTok Continue to Rule the Pack?

New revelations about weak security measures at ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, have prompted concerns about the future of the platform and the potential rise of competitors like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

According to a report by The New York Times, ByteDance employees have been sharing user data, including personal information and potentially illegal content, on Lark, an internal communication platform similar to Slack.

This has been going on since at least 2019, and it undermines TikTok’s claims of robust data security and privacy measures.

For one, the personal data of a British TikTok user, including her photo, country of residence, internet protocol address, device, and user IDs, was shared on Lark after she lodged a complaint about another user’s behavior, making it accessible to ByteDance employees globally.

TikTok didn’t answer the NYT’s questions about where Lark data is stored today.

But in 2021, an attorney-client privileged ByteDance fraud risk report provided an answer. Here are references to the internal doc from our reports in Oct and Nov of last year: https://t.co/WaKTN78uby pic.twitter.com/8ZBUaR5F2O

— Emily Baker-White (@ebakerwhite) May 24, 2023

This latest scandal has led to increased concerns about the platform’s security risks and ties to China.

Similar concerns have already caused various entities, including the state of Montana, universities, government agencies, and the military, to ban the app.

Despite TikTok’s efforts to distance its US operations from ByteDance and shift American user data to domestic servers under Project Texas, this latest incident counters its assurances.

The data exposed on Lark was stored on servers in China as of late last year, the NYT report said, citing four current and former employees.

“The documents seen by The Times included dozens of screenshots of reports, chat messages and employee comments on Lark, as well as video and audio of internal communications, spanning 2019 to 2022,” the report said.

Short-Form Videos Are All the Rage But Will TikTok Remain Leader?

Short-form videos, videos that typically last 60 seconds or less, have taken the internet by storm.

According to statistics from Wyzow, 73% of customers prefer watching a short-form video to find out about a product or service, highlighting that short-form videos are an essential component of any digital marketing strategy.

It is expected that short-form video ad revenue will exceed $10 billion in 2023, according to market research by Woosuite.

When compared to other social media marketing strategies, short-form videos have the highest ROI. Short-form video marketing strategies can yield up to a 30% ROI when executed correctly.

This makes short-form videos an attractive option for businesses looking to maximize the return on their marketing investment.

While short-form videos continue to dominate the internet, the recent revelations could have some broad implications for TikTok’s market position, potentially providing an opening for competitors like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.

Internet Traffic Revolves Around Short-Form Content and Videos

There has been a seismic shift away from long-form blogs, videos and articles to short-form videos that are easy to consume passively.

This is evident from the fact that 49% of business videos are less than a minute long, with the average business video duration getting shorter over time.

When it comes to either watching a video or reading text to learn about a product or service, 72% of people prefer video.

It is not hard to see why short-form videos are winning the race as they are easily consumable, attention-grabbing, and budget-friendly.

Reasons why short-form video is so popular:

✅ Easy to watch & share
✅ Accessible on any computer or mobile device
✅ Cheap and easy to produce
✅ Free to access on social platforms
✅ Prioritized by the algorithms
✅ A preferred format for learning about new things

— Buffer (@buffer) May 31, 2023

In today’s fast-paced world, short-form videos cater to people’s decreasing attention spans by delivering concise and engaging messages that can be quickly understood.

They are also easier to consume than long-form videos and can capture and hold viewer attention by using eye-catching visuals and sound effects.

Finally, short-form videos are generally less expensive to produce than long-form videos, making it an ideal format for businesses and individuals looking to create video content on a budget.

To some, this may seem like it is setting TikTok up to become even more dominant over other social media platforms but its data security issues may hold it back. While Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts aren’t as popular now, that could change quickly.

Read More:

• Best TikTok Spy Apps : Top 10 for May 2023
• TikTok vs. Instagram Reels: What’s the Difference?
• 7 Short-Form Video Ideas to Promote on Social Media