Facing signal loss and challenging macroeconomic conditions, advertisers are pumping the brakes on social network ad spending. But social video is shining through the gloom.

Elon Musk’s reign over Twitter stirs chaos and user losses in Asia-Pacific. The region is propping up Facebook user growth that is flagging in most of the world. And TikTok is looming large among marketers as its popularity skyrockets.

It will be another turbulent year for social media in Latin America. As the number of users nears 400 million, declines at Facebook and Twitter will have profound, long-lasting implications for the region’s two biggest markets: Brazil and Mexico.

TikTok broadens effort to call out state-controlled media: US, China among countries added to labeling program in bid for greater transparency.

TikTok isn’t solely driven by its famous algorithm: ByteDance employees can make posts go viral without any disclosures.

Gen Z will represent 20% of the US population in 2023, and nearly 40 million of these Gen Zers are adults. This is the data you need to understand how to reach them—and tap their growing buying power.

TikTok’s recommendation oversight could usher in a new era for social media: The embattled app promised regulators access to its algorithm, which could mean similar changes for competitors.

Pinterest was seen as the safest social media platform in the US last year, though the percentage of users who held that view declined from 2020 (51% versus 41%), according to our “US Digital Trust Benchmark 2022” report. Meanwhile, Facebook was where the lowest percentage of users felt safe, down to just 26% in 2022.

Content creation is changing as platforms share ad revenues with creators and all content becomes monetizable. “That’s going to send a wave of quick-hit, low-value content across social media as creators scramble to get more content out,” said our analyst Jasmine Enberg. Enberg predicts smaller creators will shift strategies as they try to earn more from their content.

Amid global economic gloom, Asia-Pacific remains a region of digital opportunities in 2023, highlighted by the increasing momentum of the metaverse in China, surging retail sales in India, and burgeoning livestream commerce in Indonesia.

On today’s episode, we discuss what a looming Netflix and TikTok rivalry might look like, the potential consequences of monetizing influencer marketing on the social landscape, how the rise of retail media will affect social platforms, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Jasmine Enberg and Debra Aho Williamson.

TikTok deal with IMDb enables discovery feature: Users can link to TV and movie content in their videos.

A jarring deceleration in ad spending growth has shaken the advertising industry in many parts of the world. However, this softness is not universal, and it is likely to be short-lived.

Can a new service help Shopify attract more enterprise retailers? Commerce Components by Shopify allows large retailers to integrate Shopify’s tools and services into their online platforms.

Gen Z feels better than millennials about its relationship with social media: But while platforms are popular brands among teens, data shows they can have negative mental effects.

Social buyer penetration is climbing rapidly at TikTok. In the US, the app has already outpaced Pinterest by this metric, per our forecast. By the end of 2023, it will beat Instagram and tie with Facebook.

In 2022, both YouTube and TikTok captured 46 minutes of their adult US users’ attention each day, per our estimates. Netflix reigned supreme at 60 minutes daily. Time spent with TikTok will tick up every year through 2024, when it will reach 48 minutes per day, but it won’t pass Netflix anytime soon.

What trends will be talking about this year? Economic pressures will push retailers to look for new revenue streams this year.

Despite inflation continuing into the new year, we believe that influencer marketing will endure. Why? Trust may have a little something to do with it.

Q4 was another turbulent quarter for social media: Support for a US ban on TikTok grew; Elon Musk announced he would step down from Twitter once he finds a replacement; and Meta suffered its first-ever major round of layoffs. But there were still bright spots for marketers.