Gone are the days of tedious video editing on a smartphone. Now, you have free apps on the Store to help express yourself in all kinds of exciting ways you can imagine. Leading these apps currently is the trendy TikTok followed closely by uprising Snack Video. Read through to determine which one is for you.
TikTok
TikTok, or Douyin, by ByteDance, came into being after Musical.ly merged with Douyin in 2018. It is a social media platform used to create a variety of videos based on a plethora of genres and has revolutionized the way people express themselves.
With 2 billion+ downloads globally and 1.9 billion monthly active users (MAUs), TikTok is the fastest growing brand that has altered the course of the global social media industry.
A number of user-friendly features help Tiktok stand out such as creating videos with background music of your own choice or the option to choose from the app’s database.
Videos based on content you have interacted with or searched for appears in the ‘for you’ section. A ‘duet’, feature of Musical.ly helps users record a video within a video and emoticons can be used to ‘react’ to them.
How can you earn on TikTok?
You can send or earn ‘gifts’ and thus make money – depending on your followers, visibility via hashtags, and the content’s engagement rates. A
- Inviting friends through your link will earn you followers
- You will keep earning if the followers who signed up through your link continue watching the videos on the app
Such a vast platform of videos – ranging from entertainment to information to sharing daily activities and personal lives – is bound to attract all kinds of users and harbors all sorts of concerns. Despite filtering out problematic material, certain questionable content has had some countries putting a ban on the use of TikTok.
To fill the void created thus, many other apps jumped in to capture the user base, the most popular being the Snack video.
Snack Video
Tencent-backed Snack Video is the earliest short-video platform in China where it’s also known as Kuaishou. Developed by Joyo Technology Pte. Ltd., it recently came up as the main competitor to TikTok.
The UI is similar to TikTok and has a plausible base of users where they upload and share content with the help of a wide array of features. In 2020, Snack Video had 20 billion videos uploaded, making it the biggest short-video hub globally while in 2021, Snack Video has recently crossed 1 billion MAUs on the back of live-streaming.
How can you earn on Snack Video?
The app allows you to earn by doing the following:
- Open the app daily
- Watch videos for 15 minutes daily
- Invite your friends to the app using your referral link
- Share the videos from the app with other social media
With famous celebrities already using this app, developers have nudged their digital marketing by incentivizing and hiring trending TikTok-ers in the face of the recent ban on TikTok in various countries.
Which App is perfect for you to start earning money and, possibly, a career?
Tiktok and Snack Video differ mainly in their audience demographics with TikTok achieving a bigger audience and MAUs, not only in Asia but in US and Europe as well. Its algorithmic recommendations help the content reach the target audience more smoothly, representing 80%-90% of viral content from accounts that are trending on the app.
In comparison, Snack Video has a tighter social circle, a closed e-commerce ecosystem with higher conversion rates, providing better engagement within the specific social network. Its “Discover” section harbors 40%-50% of content personalized based on accounts in the user’s following.
| Features | TikTok | SnackVideo |
|---|---|---|
| Availibility | All platforms | All platforms |
| Monetization / Earn Money | Few options | More options |
| Competition | Higher | Lower |
| Best for content creation | Best | Best |
| Video views | Medium chances | High chances |
| ID Stamp | Available | Available |
While Snack Video exercises parental controls like TikTok, it has a stricter policy regarding third-party engagement, promoting a “safer” experience. Although both apps warrant a medium to express creativity and offer prime earning opportunities, it is eventually individual preferences that determine which one of these apps is the right one for you.
Bottom line: If global outreach is your goal, then TikTok is still leading by a margin; but if you want a controlled experience and you reside in a country that has put a ban on TikTok, then Snack Video is your go-to for content creation.