It has displaced Instagram. Now Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok, owned by ByteDance, is second only to Facebook as South Africa’s most popular social media platform.

This is a key finding of new research by Ornico, a brand intelligence consultancy, and technology research house World Wide Worx, into the social media landscape in South Africa.

“Facebook, with a commanding 56.7% penetration of South Africans aged 15 and over, living in cities and towns, continues to dominate the social media scene,” the researchers said in the free report, entitled “South African Social Media Landscape 2023”.

“However, TikTok has seen explosive growth, and surpassed Instagram to claim second position at 30.6%. Notably, TikTok’s appeal extends beyond its under-15 target audience, making significant inroads into the 15+ market.”

The data is based on Ask Afrika’s Target Group Index, which surveyed 24 744 respondents. Data is weighted to the population and represents 28.1-million South Africans.

“The youth audience is key to social media in South Africa,” said World Wide Worx head Arthur Goldstuck. “When a platform like TikTok, which has deep reach among those aged under 15, breaks through to this extent in the older youth market, as well as among young adults, we can see the landscape undergoing a significant shift.”

Still popular

Still, Instagram remains a popular choice among South African social media users, with 27.6% penetration, while Twitter “retains a significant following despite its troubled takeover by Elon Musk”, with 22.5% of the market.

However, Twitter experienced a significant decline in the percentage of major brands using it as a marketing platform, dropping from 69% to 63%, compared to a high of 88% in 2019.