2025 trend: The 'TikTokification' of social media will outlast the potential TikTok ban

Every platform is preparing for a TikTok ban. Every social app is now a short-video platform. Some are also combining short, long, and live video into one TikTok-like feed.

• YouTube Shorts are no longer “short.” As of October 2024, videos can have a maximum length of 3 minutes, up from 60 seconds.
• LinkedIn is testing a short-form vertical video tab. It’s encouraging users to post videos from other platforms to help build it up.
• Facebook has launched a singular video feed. It combines Reels, long videos, and live videos, similar to TikTok.
• Snap has redesigned its app. It combines Stories and Spotlight into a unified entertainment feed that is separate from the chat tab and camera.

Some 117.9 million US TikTok users could be up for grabs in 2025. Our estimate doesn’t include the over 7 million US businesses that TikTok says also use the platform. In December 2024, some TikTok creators started encouraging their fans to start following them on other platforms, particularly YouTube and Instagram.

Roughly $15 billion in ad revenues could also be at stake, per our 2025 estimate. Meta and YouTube would be the biggest financial beneficiaries of a TikTok ban, but Snap and others would also likely benefit. Most TikTok advertisers have indicated that they are staying put, but that could quickly change.

With or without TikTok, social media will remain focused on video. In 2025, we expect US social users to spend 61.1% of their time spent on social networks watching videos, up from 33.3% in 2019—before TikTok became popular. We also expect US social video ad spending to surpass linear TV ad spending for the first time next year (both estimates exclude YouTube).

Predictions

• LinkedIn could push live video. It’s a more fitting format than short video for some professional content, such as webinars.
• YouTube Shorts will have its moment. YouTube was the top platform marketers intended to increase their investments in next year, per 2024 data from Smartly.io. Expect a fair share of those investments to go to Shorts.
• The short versus long-form video debate will end. Creators and brands will focus on developing original, evergreen content, both independently and in partnership with each other.

Read the full report, Social Trends to Watch in 2025.