TikTok has, for the first time ever, surpassed both Facebook and Google as the most popular internet website. According to a technology firm tracking online activity called Cloudfare, TikTok was deemed to be the most visited website and most widely used social media platform. The ranking is based on how much web traffic a site generated in 2021.
TikTok was launched back in 2016 by Chinese startup ByteDance, garnering massive attention a year later when it bought rival app Musical.ly. Popularity surged in the US in 2020, with some of the platform’s most iconic videos hitting the web.
Despite garnering massive attention, TikTok never rose higher than Number 7 in web traffic. This changed in 2021, with it’s top spot achieved in February for a day. After that, it constantly rose to the top, keeping it steady by August. According to Cloudfare, more than 1 billion users sign on to scroll TikTok monthly, most of them kids or teenagers. It has also notably led to the rise of several artists and stars, including Lil Nas X.
TikTok was followed by Google and Facebook in 2nd and 3rd place. Netflix follows Amazon in 7th and 6th place respectively, with YouTube in 8th place. In terms of social media platforms, Facebook remains one of the most widely used platforms, outranked only by TikTok in 2021. YouTube, Twitter and Instagram follow suit in 3rd, 4th and 5th place.
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