TikTok is now Generation Z’s preferred search engine

Google is almost unusable for searching information these days. Recently I tried to google milwaukee because the redlettermedia guys are from there and it kept giving me links to some power tool company websites. Even the wikipedia link goes to Milwaukee Electric Tool article. You need to jump through hoops just to get to the city of Milwaukee article. Little things like this are getting more and more common with the trash pile that is google search engine. Even bing is better, though switching to that is clearly not a long term solution. Google is a joke. I miss the days when it was good.

Saw this claim elsewhere and it’s very misleading. Here’s what was actually stated:

> Google senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that according to Google's internal studies, "something like almost 40% of young people when they're looking for a place for lunch, they don't go to Google Maps or Search, they go to TikTok or Instagram."

https://www.businessinsider.com/nearly-half-genz-use-tiktok-...

I expect most active HN posters, aka writers, feel a pang, a frisson, as they realize that reading and writing are a dying practice. Big money idea: the platform that replaces authored written documentation with acted presentation documentation.

Edit: imagine, it will be normal to watch a 1 minute TikTok video for each API method.

Very interesting. I personally wasn't able to get into TikTok. The content I saw was just not interesting at all.

But I can see how a short video of how a restaurant look and feel to be useful.

I can definitely see the usefulness of a shorts platform for instruction videos or learning a specific skill, but text is much more lightweight for many other queries. If I wanted to find "how to get on my school's basketball team", I would probably want my school form and requirements page. Its unlikely there's a video on TikTok about that, so I don't see how TikTok replaces Google (at least for now).

"...This trend has not gone unnoticed by Google: Prabhakar Raghavan, a senior vice president at the company, has acknowledged that, according to his internal studies, 40% of Gen Zs use TikTok or Instagram – rather than Google – to search for information..."