What alternatives are there to Instagram and TikTok?
You know you want to delete your TikTok or punt your Instagram. But where can you go next?
It is absolutely WILD to me how quickly TikTok went from bad to worse, just in the few days between me writing last week’s piece about social media usage rights and the publishing of it.
TikTok’s terms of service got even creepier, citing their right to use information such as your mental health or your physical location. Additionally, reports of censorship of political content were already mounting within 48 hours of Larry Ellison’s takeover, with new posts from left-leaning creators being held in moderation or rejected.
That’s been the final straw for a lot of users (myself included): uninstalls of the app have spiked 150% just in the past few days.
It’s BAD, folks. Between recent TikTok developments, and the ongoing shenanigans at Meta, now feels like a good time to ask (again): what alternatives are out there?
Let’s talk about a few of the photo/video-centric options--some you may know about, and some you might not.
Upscrolled wants to prioritize freedom of expression
Upscrolled bills itself as “the social platform where every voice gets equal power,” and that makes sense when you learn its story. Founder Issam Hijazi, who has Palestinian roots, reportedly created the app partly in response to the censorship of stories about Gaza that he saw taking place on other social apps.
From a user standpoint, Upscrolled may be the most Instagram/TikTok-like of the bunch; it offers a media grid and is image- and video-friendly. It also accepts text-only posts, however, which could be appealing to creators who don’t always want to create an image or video to go with everything they want to share.
Upscrolled has also seen a bump in new subscribers over the past week-or-so since the U.S. TikTok deal took effect: they crossed the 1 million users mark just last week, and have been hustling to add the infrastructure to support all of their new users.
When I downloaded the app a few months ago, the content in my Discover tab was pretty heavily weighted towards news about Gaza, and creators in and around that region, so I’ll be interested to see how it evolves as new users come into the space.
Flashes offers an Instagram-like makeover for BlueSky users
Flashes is pretty much what it says on the tin: a photo and video app for Bluesky. It even offers Instagram-like features like photo filters. You do need to create a BlueSky account in order to use it, but once you do, your postings go out into their network of 40+ million subscribers.
There are a couple of limitations to be aware of before you dive in: videos are limited to 1 minute in length, versus 3 minutes on Instagram, or up to 60 (?!) minutes on TikTok. Additionally, Flashes allows posting of only 4 images at a time. When you compare that to Instagram’s upper limit of 20 images per post–or 10 per post, if you’re using a 3rd-party scheduling tool–it can feel pretty constrictive.
It does make up for those constraints with noticeably fewer constraints in how users see your content, though: because it’s built on BlueSky’s framework, users can browse content with custom-built, algorithm-driven, or even (gasp!) chronological feeds. It also offers customizable profile tabs and a portfolio mode, so you can tailor your profile to better fit the types of content you’re sharing.
YouTube is a natural next step for video creators
When news of the potential TikTok ban broke early last year, TikTok creators started looking towards YouTube, and it makes sense: YouTube is the OG of video-centric platforms, and it actually boasts more active users than TikTok.
With the addition of YouTube Shorts in 2021, it offered short-form video structure that competes directly with TikToks and Instagram Reels. The view rates from YouTube Shorts reportedly lag behind Instagram and TikTok, but this could easily change as more creators, and users in general, peel off from TikTok.
Also worth considering: as I noted last week, Creator Spotlight’s recent overview of content usage rights concluded that YouTube’s terms of use were the most creator-friendly of the big three video-centric platforms.
Suffice it to say, we’re in the midst of some “interesting times” in the social media space. It’s worth considering what pivots might be in your future, and what feels aligned with the values you want to lead with in your business.
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