Only The Paranoid Survive: Facebook’s Creator Strategy

TikTokers at the Gates

Mark Zuckerberg is an empire builder. Facebook gobbles up online advertising dollars like Joey Chestnut eats hotdogs. Every month, nearly 2.9 billion people use one of its apps. In some parts of the world, Facebook is synonymous with the internet. Yet despite a net worth in the billions and impressive hydrofoil surfing and boar hunting skills, I get the impression that Zuckerberg doesn’t sleep very well.

There are a few reasons to be anxious. First, Facebook doesn’t own a mobile operating system, so it’s at the mercy of Apple and Google. That’s why 20% of Facebook’s engineers are working on virtual reality. Having a passenger seat to Android and iOS in mobile, the company wants to be in the driver’s seat for the next evolution of the internet. Similarly, competitors occasionally threaten its hegemony. Regulators too.

The latest competitor, and possibly the fiercest, is TikTok. Launched in 2016, TikTok has been downloaded over three billion times. Four other apps have hit this milestone: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp; all are Facebook properties. In the first half of 2021, TikTok was the most downloaded app globally. What’s more, TikTok drives popular culture. In 2014, Facebook shaped culture with the Ice Bucket Challenge. While Instagram still influences the design of coffee shops, TikTok has arguably become a larger cultural force, particularly in music.