TikTok was recently given a 75-day reprieve for its ban. But despite this extra time, the future of the app remains uncertain. This is why social media platforms seem to have formed an orderly queue to replace it.
Most recently, Tumblr, Bluesky, and X have all thrown their metaphorical hats in the ring,
On Jan. 20, for instance, X announced its new dedicated video feed in a post on the platform. The post read: “An immersive new home for videos is rolling out to users in the US today.”
The new feature is accessible via a ‘play’ button on the bottom of a screen.
That same day, Bluesky rolled out its own scrollable, vertical, custom video feeds, writing in a post: “We had to get in on the video action too.”
“With custom feeds, you can customize your Bluesky experience,” the platform added. “The ability to swipe vertically between videos is specific to video custom feeds.
Standard custom feeds and posts that contain video don’t automatically enter you into a video timeline.”
Meanwhile, Tumblr has revamped its ‘Tumblr TV’ tool. The tool was originally introduced as an experiment in 2015, where it was primarily used to search up GIFs.
In an announcement, Tumblr confirmed that the feature can now support videos and that it’ll be rolling out properly.
However, while this feature involves vertical video scrolling, TechCrunch reporter Sarah Perez noted that some GIFs appeared grainy while other videos on the platform weren’t clearly designed for a vertical feed.
While all of these might look like TikTok visually, it takes more than a vertical display to be a compelling replacement for the app. TikTok’s defining feature, after all, is its algorithm — so if any competitors can crack that, they might have a chance.
