The algorithm is way better (just look at Facebook feed these days – certified garbage), plus creators have more ways to actually make money: live stream donations, TikTok Shops, etc. All this pushes TikTok high in mobile app revenue charts since IAPs are what really matter there.
TikTok’s biggest advantage? It’s basically the only social platform that still rewards good content. Make cool videos, and the algo will eventually push them. On Facebook – zero chance. You can’t even reach your existing audience without paying.
Another factor is broken performance marketing – advertisers can’t justify these insane CPMs for terrible audience quality that has nothing to do with their product.
We at Lumora are switching from mostly paid to mostly organic UA. Not easy – you have to rethink everything. Every process, every mental model changes completely. Hard for someone like me who built their whole career around performance marketing and adtech.
But to evolve, you do things you haven’t done before. Sometimes it means unlearning everything and starting over.
If there’s interest, I’ll share what we did and why – frameworks you can try in your startup too. No shortcuts or “hacks” though, that’s for some INSANE threads on Twitter, lol