TikTok popular among young people: interview with Maud

TikTok: an app for making and sharing short music videos. These days this social media platform is downloaded more often worldwide than Instagram and Snapchat. The Netherlands currently has 3.5 million users, so it's high time we took a closer look at this medium. And what better way to do that than by interviewing an active user? We spoke to Maud Baijens (11).

Of all social media channels, TikTok is the most popular

Maud has had her iPhone 7 for a year now. “The rule in our house is that you get a phone when you're 10.” Maud spends about 1 to 1.5 hours a day on her phone. Most of that time goes to TikTok. “That's where most of my friends are too, and I get lots of notifications from it. So I open the app really often.” If she has to estimate, she spends about 50% of her time on TikTok, 30% on Instagram and 20% on Snapchat.

Arguments about using her phone? Fortunately, Maud doesn't have those. “We did agree on an average screen time, though. That's 1.5 hours. Mum is a bit stricter about it than Dad.”

Ads on Snapchat are just annoying

Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok all give companies the option to advertise. “I actually find the ads on Snapchat pretty annoying; luckily I don't see them that much on Instagram. On TikTok, under ‘for you’, you very often see the same ads for games or bol.com.” Maud doesn't know exactly why she gets to see those ads. She does say she clicks on them now and then. “If they're fun games, I do want to download them.” But she usually does that downloading from ads on another channel: YouTube. Actually buying something she saw in an ad on social media is something Maud has never done.

At the end, Instagram wins

Although TikTok is the big favourite, Maud would never want to delete Instagram from her phone. If she could keep only one app, it would still be Instagram. “I can also send messages to my friends on Instagram, so I really want to keep doing that.’’ So we see that despite all the online options, personal contact matters most. “I'd still rather see my friends in real life than on social media.”

And does Maud have a big wish? “More likes and followers on Instagram.”

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