TikTok, Google Search is on the clock

A growing number of Gen Z users prefer social media sites like TikTok and Insta over Google when searching about certain topics online, like places to eat, per internal Google data first reported by TechCrunch.

📱🔍 A deeper dive… “In our 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,” Google senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan said. For context, Google owns ~90% of the global search engine market.

• The company later confirmed the accuracy of his comment, saying the stat could soon be added to its competition site alongside other industry trends – like how 55% of product searches now begin on Amazon, for example.

🤔 So, what’s next?... Raghavan told TechCrunch that Google plans to improve its search product with new features in order to win back young eyeballs. TikTok also surpassed YouTube in terms of average global watch time last summer.

📸 The big picture: Search and other semi-related tools (Maps, Play, and GMail) brought in $149 billion in revenue for Google last year, accounting for 58% of parent company Alphabet’s total revenue.