TikTok appeared in online shopping discussions 37% of times, outperforming YouTube LONDON: TikTok has become a more attractive shopping destination for Twitter influencers, who prefer it to other social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, a recent study revealed. After examining shopping-related discussions over the last six months, the Social Media Analytics Platform of GlobalData, a data analytics company, found that TikTok appeared in related conversations 37 percent of times. The video-sharing app outperformed YouTube, which appeared 27 percent of times, Pinterest 22 percent, Instagram 7 percent and Snapchat, which scored 6 percent. The study links the findings to the launch of the TikTok Shop e-commerce platform in the US in November 2022. The TikTok Shop feature allows users to access shoppable links and make purchases while watching livestreams or in-feed videos. It is available in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Phillippines, and the UK. Allegedly, this has greatly contributed to turning TikTok into a shopping source of choice. “For consumers, TikTok becomes a shopping destination — with a personalized Shop tab and order tracking in-app. Product pages have reviews and info on how many others have ordered the item, as well as a way to enter coupons shared on creator livestreams,” Olivia Moore, consumer partner at Andreessen Horowitz, told Charged. TikTok’s 2023 What’s Next Trend Report revealed that the social media giant expects to deepen its influence, anticipating encouraging users “to test out new products and ways of thinking and behaving.”