Well…Facebook has a TikTok now

What’s Facebook doing on TikTok? Scoping out the competition? DM’ing Charli? Recruiting beta testers? Buying ads? We’ll know soon enough because the social networking company has set up its own TikTok account, where it’s already amassed some 15.1K followers, as of the time of writing, despite not having posted any public videos. The account is verified by TikTok and Facebook also confirmed it’s legit.

Facebook’s TikTok (that sounds wrong) was spotted a couple of days ago by social media consultant Matt Navarra.

The account had acquired a blue checkmark indicating its verified status. But its lack of content and somewhat odd bio — “We believe people can do more together, than alone.” — why the comma?! — still made us question whether or not this was really Facebook’s account. In addition, the account’s bio links out to the Facebook app on Google Play, not the Facebook website or some sort of official communication channel.

Also, isn’t it Meta now??

I mean, Facebook already killed its Twitter.com/Facebook account. And there’s no Instagram.com/Facebook, either. It’s Instagram.com/Meta.

But Facebook — err, Meta — told us the TikTok account is real.

“Brands leverage a variety of channels, including some of our social media platforms, to reach and engage with the people using their products and services every day,” a Meta spokesperson said. “Our intent with establishing a brand presence and cultivating community on platforms like TikTok or others is no different.”

It’s possible that Facebook wants to juice its Gen Z user base by leveraging TikTok (or its ad platform), after having recently reported flat monthly active user growth in its last quarter and, significantly, its first-ever decline in daily active users.

And while it is true that large brands use a variety of channels for marketing and communications, it’s a little funny to see Facebook pop up on TikTok, given how often the company has cited the short-form video app as its main competitive threat these days.

In Meta’s Q4 2021 earnings, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reiterated this point in a call with investors.

“People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time, and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly,” Zuckerberg said. He later added that “TikTok is so big as a competitor already and also continues to grow at quite a faster rate off of a very large base.”

The company wouldn’t share any further information on its plans for TikTok, including what sort of content it had in store or whether or not the account would be running ads. (But feel free to DM me if you see them!)

Facebook isn’t the only Meta brand on TikTok. Instagram runs ads, and also just launched an Instagram Creators account, apparently.

In the meantime, we’re feeling…

@angiebhandal #howdoyoudofellowkids #30rock #stevebusemi #meme ♬ original sound – Angie B