The Rise of the TikTok Cities
12.03.25
“How social media trends are shaking up Europe’s Most Talked About Cities”
Europe’s Most Talked About Cities 2025
Several of Europe’s mid-sized cities are poised to become some of the most talked about cities by the end of the decade, driven by the increasing use of emerging digital platforms.
Among these, Berlin is expected to break into the top five, while Vienna, Amsterdam and Brussels are set to enter the top 10. Meanwhile, Marseille and Edinburgh are on track to rank within the top 20.
In an evolving digital landscape, understanding where cities are being discussed is crucial for building brand awareness. The continued growth of platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn, coupled with the decline of others, is reshaping ING’s established rankings, Europe’s Most Talked About Cities, now in its seventh year.
If platform usage continues its trajectory from the past five years, TikTok is likely to emerge as the leading space for city-related conversations by 2030, followed by Instagram and LinkedIn in second and third place, respectively. Current trends indicate that X will contribute a mere 2% of all digital content related to cities by the end of the decade.
This shift presents an opportunity for smaller, more agile cities to leverage digital platforms to their advantage, allowing them to outpace traditionally dominant cities in online conversations and establish a stronger presence on the global stage.
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ING’s digital visibility analysis tracks online news and social media mentions across 60 of Europe’s most talked about cities. In our most recent report we focus on what is driving conversations across European cities, how that has evolved over the years and what cities need to do over the next five years in order to remain relevant, given the evolution of the digital landscape. A snapshot of our findings can be found below.
WHAT DOES THE EVOLVING DIGITAL LANDSCAPE MEAN FOR YOUR COMMUNICATIONS?
Prioritise emerging digital platforms
As TikTok and LinkedIn continue to grow in usage, cities could consider shifting focus from legacy platforms like Facebook and X to these emerging platforms for maximum reach.
Leverage global events for long-term visibility
Cities should develop strategies to sustain their online visibility beyond the immediate impact of hosting major events, ensuring long-term digital engagement.
Adopt a ‘posting, not just hosting’ approach
Cities must proactively capture and amplify conversations about events through social media to maximise their digital footprint and maintain relevance.
Investment messaging should look beyond traditional platforms
Cities seeking to attract investment should tailor their messaging to platforms where younger talent and investors are active, such as LinkedIn and TikTok.
Develop tailored strategies based on your strengths
Cities should assess their digital presence and adapt strategies based on whether they are ‘media moguls,’ ‘digital disruptors,’ or ‘legacy leaders’ to optimise engagement.
Use data to inform future digital communication
It is crucial that cities understand trends in digital content, platform growth, and engagement shifts to refine their communication and investment strategies over the next decade.
To get in touch and discuss what this means for your own communications, please contact Lucie Murray, Senior Cities Strategist at ING: lucie.murray@ing-media.com
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ING Media’s investigation into Europe’s Most Talked About Cities (2025) covered 60 cities and ranked them by digital mentions across 2024. These mentions originate from online news, ‘X’, LinkedIn, TikTok, forums, blogs, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, comments and reviews. Spelling variants included to cover the following languages; English, Chinese (simplified), Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, German, French, Malaysian, Indonesian, as well as the city’s native language. Mentions containing sports, in particular football, have been limited. Key topic shares, generated from a set of keywords unique to each category, represent only English mentions.
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