TikTok, the popular short form video sharing platform, has taken the world by storm. It is immensely popular, according to recent statistics, there are over 150 million United States citizens using the app more than 90 minutes a day. That is immensely impressive. With such popularity comes copy cats and some of those are what I am going to look at in this article.
Before we get started, I want to point out, there is no 100% copy of TikTok available at this time. Something will be missing, depending on how you feel about missing things, it could be a deal breaker for that app. That is something I will be focusing on in this article.
TikTok offers use of music, audios from television shows, filters (face, body, area around you) and effects. I mention these items because from my research, those are desired features. Next is the ability to “duet” other creators – your video is put beside the original and they play concurrently. Often duets are for two person audios, groups do duet chains of 5+ people, and more.
For this article, I will focus on those features while touching on ease of reach to viewers.
First up, we have Triller (my account)which was founded in 2020. Triller is American owned and operated, a stark difference to Chinese owned TikTok.
Filters here are rather basic, and seem to be borrowed from SnapChat. Sadly, they did not borrow many filters at all – mostly screen and color effects.
Duets in Triller are non-existent. There is no option to duet other creators. None.
Audios in Triller are interesting. Trending, Top Picks, categories, and more. With Triller you are given the full song to work with and can set the portion length up to 45 seconds. That is different than most other platforms that limit you to parts of songs that are pre-approved.
Getting views on Triller is hard. It seems that there simply are not a lot of users on the app anymore. The opening page, often referred to as the FYP, For You Page, is one of three videos for me.
Next up is the first app from Meta, Instagram (my account)Meta added short form video to Instagram, called Reels, in August 2020. Formerly focused on pictures, Instagram adding video could have been viewed as a natural progression of the platform.
Filters with Instagram run the gamut, still falling short of what TikTok offers, there are many available. Many more than what Triller offers. Of the apps I tested for this article, Instagram leads in the filters department. It even beats out Facebook, another Meta owned app offering short form video options.
Duets are possible in Instagram. You can choose side by side, like what TikTok offers, or after the original video (TikTok called this a Stitch). If duets are a must for you then Instagram or Facebook are your best options (though Instagram gets the edge due to filters).
Audios are similar to Triller – a preset length but you can choose whatever part of the song you want to use. I like this option because TikTok’s predetermined cuts often don’t contain the part I want to use in my videos.
Views on Instagram are all over the place. I have posted over 50 videos on this platform and the most popular has hit nearly 200,000 views. Most of my videos hit around 250 or so views.
Next we have what is probably the oddest app in this lineup. SnapChat. It is odd because short form video is obviously tacked on here. Only Meta’s options require more clicks to get to the videos section.
Regardless, SnapChat offers video sharing through their “Spotlight” option. Confusion is what I label SnapChat as far as short form video sharing.
Filters are king here. Simply no other app can compete with the sheer number of filters that SnapChat offers. Not even TikTok. You can use face, environment, and even gaming filters (catch rings on your long nose for instance).
Duets are not an option in SnapChat. You cannot even play your video after the original here. Need duets? Then you don’t need SnapChat.
Audios are limited here. More so than even TikTok. At least on other apps, you can see how much of the song you are given to use. SnapChat does not even tell you that so you are guessing. I think it is preset to 15 second clips. Don’t hold me to that, I did not use a stopwatch or anything.
Getting views on SnapChat is hit or miss, mostly miss from my experience. Some of my lowest view counts on average are on SnapChat. It seems here, viewers are more interested in physical comedy – videos that you have seen to death on TikTok are on here with 15+ million views.
Out of these three apps, Instagram is the winner. It is simply the closest to TikTok in features and ease of use. It is still a slight chore to get to videos here though, that is to be expected considering Reels is added onto the platform.
Next I will pit three more apps against each other to find another quality TikTok alternative.
This article was originally published on Medium.com
