Since the pandemic, TikTok has become one of the most popular social networks in the world. Now, in 2026, looking up information, whether it's important or the most trivial of facts, is no longer just Google's territory.
This social network has become one of the most widely used and effective discovery engines, thanks to its dynamism and immediacy, but it can also be a breeding ground for misinformation that may shape the future.
This phenomenon of searching through social media has given rise to the concept of “Social SEO”: optimizing your platform or profile so it shows up as an answer not only on Google, but also in the search bar of the platform being used.
According to the website SEOSherpa.com, 46% of Gen Z now skip Google entirely when looking for answers, and a number of factors may explain this.
Speed: Since the platform is used mostly on mobile, it's easy for users to jump in and use the app's search bar to look up the concepts or topics they're interested in.
Dynamism: Written answers full of complex terminology are a thing of the past. Because of the nature of its content, TikTok lets users search for and better understand explanations from other users. For example, if you look up a medical term, the search will show the most popular results among the videos that come up.
With its latest updates, TikTok's search interface now includes “others searched for” suggestions. For digital marketers, this is an upgrade for more complete social listening, and it can also reveal content gaps and keyword opportunities for your brand or content.
But all that glitters is not gold. Although social media has become a kind of “new Google,” misinformation and inaccurate data abound. With the arrival of AI, the problem has only grown.
According to a report released by Science Feedback and shared by Euractiv, 1 in 4 posts on the platform is created by AI and contains some degree of misinformation, specifically 24%, compared with other social networks like YouTube (19%) or Facebook (7%).
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, argues that social media has entered a third phase, in which AI plays a central role:
“The first phase was when all the content came from friends, family and accounts you followed directly. The second was when we added all the creator content. Now, as AI makes it easier to create and remix content, we're going to add yet another huge corpus of content.” (BBC)
Technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, but that can be a double-edged sword for a society that is evolving hand in hand with social media.
TikTok, which many outlets and people call the “Google of a new generation,” can be a gold mine on all sorts of subjects, but you should always be careful with the information you take in.
That's why we always recommend looking for information on official websites or on sites that specialize in the topics you're researching.
By Juan Muñoz, aka Juanin.
