As I’ve said before, it’s amazing to consider the impact that TikTok has had on the broader social media landscape.

We’ve already seen various apps try to copy TikTok’s key features, and various others looking to add in similar UI and other elements. And now, Snapchat is testing out another TikTok-inspired option, with the addition of a new ‘remix’ option on user Snaps.
the new process adds a 'Remix Snap' option into your response tools on each Snap. That then enable users to record their own Snap alongside the original as it plays, then reply to the user with their 'remix'. Which is almost exactly like TikTok's 'Duets' option.

Within this new process, which Snapchat confirmed is now live testing, users have the right to control who can remix their Snaps, with the option to tag people in your initial Snap who can then use your content.
you are able to select between side-by-side playback, top and bottom and picture-in-picture mode among others.

It makes a lot of sense and seems like a decent addition to Snap, surely to generate some engagement. However, it is quite much a TikTok function bolted into Snapchat.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Replication has almost become something of a compliment in social media app development, with all the top apps now taking inspiration from each other and looking to provide users with popular tools, wherever they come from, in order to enhance their in-app experience.

There's solid logic to that, by the way: Instagram is an example of a service that has simply exploded with the Stories format that it is cloning from Snapchat. If people are engaged with a certain function, why not add the same within your own app, in order to keep them around, while also serving user interests by providing those tools in apps where they already have established networks, and are looking for more ways to connect?

It makes sense rationally. Once again, interesting how this space has been impacted by TikTok.
While in many ways it feels like Facebook, in particular, owns social, and it'll be increasingly difficult to find a viable challenger for its dominance, tools like TikTok show that clever UI, and smart algorithms, along with a strong sense of user engagement, can still win out, and challengers can still rise and take significant audience share. It is difficult to think of a platform that could surpass Facebook in scale, but then there's TikTok, which is on course to have a billion users by 2021 and is still expanding across the world.

In some ways, that's actually good news for Facebook. The company is under various investigations over antitrust concerns, which suggest that Facebook uses its market dominance to crush any competition. The success of TikTok belies that, and while Facebook would much rather have all of those users stay on Facebook and IG instead, there are some benefits for the company in seeing TikTok gain traction.

In the case of Snapchat, it's more directly competing with TikTok for share of the younger audience, so adding such copycat tools as this, which have already gained popularity on TikTok, will help. Snapchat also has its own TikTok-esque 'Spotlight' short video feed, for which it pays top performance, and it's also tested out a TikTok-like vertical feed UI to tap further into those same trends.

It’s probably a huge concern for TikTok that Snap’s trying out these tools, given its ongoing growth, but it is interesting to see the influence the app has, and to consider the success TikTok has been able to achieve in such a short amount of time.

If you’ve dismissed TikTok in the past, it may be time to reconsider - as every other social app is doing.