The so-called “nenis” have become quite a phenomenon. We are talking about this group (mainly made up of women) that has found in social networks like Facebook a way to market hundreds of products as a way to contribute to household income and that now TikTok wants to conquer.
This market has emerged as an especially lucrative one if we consider the value that its transactions represent.
In principle, it is fair to recognize that the term “nenis” refers to “a mix between social networks, address and a WhatsApp catalog. It is a growing economy, very fun, because it is generating a lot of well-being for women heads of families to be able to survive, but it is still an informal market. There are still not many figures on that, but I would risk saying that today we are 150 million people in Latin America using WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook to make some type of transaction ”, according to Santiago Naranjo, president of Vtex Latin America in a media conference Nationals.
For his part, José Ignacio Martínez Cortés, academic from the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences (FCPyS) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) pointed out that the “neni economy” generates about 9 million 500 thousand pesos every day, which is certainly a great income.
Now this market seeks to be conquered by TikTok, a social network that has gained great relevance in the Mexican market and that simply does not stop growing.
A few months ago, figures provided by the Internet MX Association and The Competitive Intelligence Unit indicate that 11.2 percent of Internet users in Mexico have an account on TikTok, a figure that is dangerously close to Twitter where 15.6 percent of Internet users have bill. This happens even when 62.9 percent of users say they know Twitter and 57.3 percent know TikTok.
Additionally, a study provided by Kantar indicates that TikTok was the sixth most used social network during the pandemic (35 percent) surpassed by YouTube (67 percent), Facebook (66 percent), WhatsApp (65 percent), Instagram ( 54 percent) and Facebook Messenger (54 percent).
With this in mind, it is attractive to understand that what TikTok has begun to test the inclusion of virtual stores in its service.
This happens thanks to a partnership made between the social network and Shopify, from which a pilot program will be implemented that will consist of adding a tab for users to link their products to their social profile.
This issue would be of special relevance for the so-called “nenis” who, although they have built their business around Facebook and WhatsApp, could now have one more option on a platform that seems to compete more and more strongly in terms of reach and visibility.
Although TikTok is still far from reaching Facebook in terms of users and penetration, the truth is that on more than one occasion the social media giant has shown that the presence of the Chinese app, at least, makes it uncomfortable.
The adoption of features on Instagram similar to those that have made TikTok attractive is simply a symptom.
To declare that the eastern platform could bring down Facebook in the face of a run-off of “ninis” is simply audacious, however, we cannot lose sight of the fact that TikTok has proven to be a competitor that Facebook cannot help but consider.
Let’s remember that in recent weeks, TikTok became the most downloaded application in the world, which is no small thing.
The information came from Nikkei Asia, a firm that after conducting a worldwide study determined that TikTok has become the most downloaded app in the world.
This is the first time that an application, since 2018 when this study began, has managed to unseat the firms owned by Facebook (Messeger, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp).
The most striking thing about the study is that even in the United States, where Mark Zuckerberg’s apps had always been in the lead, TikTok managed to snatch the crown.
Thus, during the past year TikTok became the most reloaded app in the world by climbing three places compared to what was registered in 2019, to surpass Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger that make up the top 5 of the list.