TikTok lost the Supreme Court case. Here’s what to do now.
The ‘TikTokization’ of social media isn’t going anywhere but that doesn’t mean you should jump to the nearest TikTok clone.

Language learning app Duolingo has been a huge beneficiary of TikTok’s success. Their U.S.-based TikTok account boasts 14.4 million followers. It has regional accounts in other countries around the world, including the likes of Germany and Mexico.
While the loss of its primary TikTok account would still be a major hit for Duolingo, the company proactively started to diversify its content strategy about a year ago, not long after Congress passed a law to ban the platform in the country if it weren’t sold.
“We started reposting TikTok content on Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and other channels. It was a big push to ensure that we didn’t rely too heavily on one platform,” Monica Earle, Duolingo‘s senior PR manager, explained.
Planning for the near future
The plan outlined by Earle is the exact approach that Greg Swan, senior partner at FINN Partners, has tried to impress on his clients over the past 12 months. His team has developed a two-phased approach – short-term and long-term – to help their brands find success with whatever happens next on the TikTok front.
- Archiving content: Download all TikTok posts, comments, messages and interactions and save them for future reference. Archiving is important for potential compliance purposes or legal reasons, but it can also be helpful when evaluating approaches to content. Many platforms have archiving as built-in option, but there are vendors who offer this service as well.
- Planning the plan: Create a contingency for paid media, including a framework for what to reserve and what to reallocate to other channels. This’ll help avoid the needy to scurry to make last-minute budget or planning decisions.
- Evaluating influencer agreements: If TikTok disappears, a lot of brands will have existing influencer contracts they’ll want to evaluate based on performance metrics on other platforms. Look for opportunities to make an addendum and update the channel or the deliverable as necessary, Swan said. If there are affiliate or tracking leads, those things may need updating as well along with any measurement goals.
- Benchmarking analytics: Make sure to save all TikTok metrics, like views and engagement, so you can compare them against performance elsewhere. And who knows, TikTok could come back at some point.
“You just never know,” Swan said. “It could be that in the future … access to those data analytics from TikTok could be important.”
Down the road
The FINN Partners team is advising clients on two primary social media alternatives as they navigate a post-TikTok landscape: Meta’s Reels and YouTube Shorts. They also list offer an “other” category that lists platforms such LinkedIn or even Pinterest, based on specific business needs.
“Regardless of what happens to TikTok in the U.S., the ‘TikTokization’ of social media isn’t going anywhere,” said Sirui Hua, head of audience analytics of NowThis Media.
He said NowThis experienced “high double-digit growth” on the viewership on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts from 2023 to 2024.
At the same time, the social media landscape is growing more fragmented, with new platforms emerging to serve niche audiences or offer alternative user experiences, Hua said. He said, ironically, many of these platforms are converging on the same core features – from short-form vertical video to carousels to shopping – making it simpler for brands to repurpose content across multiple channels.
“In this environment, platforms differentiate themselves more by their values, vibes and specific use cases than by their content formats,” Hua said. That means brands can experiment with other apps like Snapchat and Threads or more emerging platforms Bluesky and RedNote without drastically overhauling their creative approach.
This pivot has paid off, with Duolingo seeing year-over-year growth on other platforms. In 2024, Duolingo’s YouTube Shorts views jumped by 432%, from 210 million views in 2023 to over 1.1 billion. The brand’s YouTube channel has grown by 179% year-over-year, with over 5 million subscribers.
“We’re not trying to recreate TikTok elsewhere; we’re adapting to the strengths of each platform,” Earle said.
Seeing Red(Note)
Because Duolingo has a team in China, it’s familiar with RedNote, a popular community-focused Chinese social media app. Earle refers to it as “Red.” Although most of its content is in Mandarin Chinese, Duolingo has attracted over 400,000 followers.
Lately, they’ve seen an increase in U.S. followers as people explore new platforms. To take advantage of this, Duolingo’s Pittsburgh-based creatives have been working with its China team to create Mandarin TikTok posts, welcoming American users to RedNote. A recent post at the airport features the Duolingo mascot teaching essential Mandarin phrases.
“As users leave TikTok for an app entirely in Mandarin, we’re saying, ‘Hey, we know you’re heading there, so here’s some more,'” Earle said.
While RedNote is hot right now, things are bound to change again, Swan said. He described the evolving trends as the “maddening thing” about social media. He cautioned against reactionary “flight to other networks.” Whether it’s TikTok or some new fad social network, Swan suggests holding off a bit until you can evaluate the options through the lens of the brand’s goals, audience and measurement capabilities.
“This is a great opportunity for brands to take a beat and say, let’s look at all of our platforms, all of the channels that we’re maintaining and ask, are they worth it?” Swan said.
Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.