Earlier this month, celebrity and influencer Shay Mitchell launched rini, a line of “clinically backed” and “scientifically proven” beauty face masks for kids. Although rini has attached itself to rising beauty trends, consumers and marketers across social platforms are criticising the way the brand is targeting an audience who might still be mastering their ABCs.
Engagement and reach are now top priorities for social marketers as brand awareness sinks to the bottom of the list. Last year, 76% of marketers named brand awareness their No. 1 priority; this year, that number plummeted to 22%, per PhotoShelter. The sharp pivot from brand-building to performance indicators suggests marketers are under growing pressure to prove ROI in fast-moving social environments, even at the expense of longer-term brand health. To balance reach and awareness, brands should build dual-track strategies, measure brand lift, and optimize for both attention and actions.
Meta added content theft protections to Facebook Reels, giving creators more control over their work. The offering is automatically available to qualifying creators in Facebook’s Content Monetization program. Users that enroll with the content protection program will get notifications when content that’s similar to or identical to theirs is posted on Facebook or Instagram. Brands should encourage partnering creators to enroll in the program to safeguard content. The offering could lower the risk of inadvertently using stolen content, making compliance easier and ensuring creators have full rights to the assets that brands invest in and amplify.
32% of US and UK consumers say AI is negatively disrupting the creator economy, up from 18% in 2023, according to July 2025 data from Billion Dollar Boy.
Key stat: 72% of US buy-side retail media advertisers say they are buying video ads offsite, second only to social media, according to a March RetailX survey commissioned by Koddi.
LinkedIn’s AI-driven people search lets users type plain-language queries like “marketing leaders with AI experience” and instantly find matches—even if those exact words don’t appear on a profile, per TechRadar. The upgrade, available to US Premium subscribers, makes LinkedIn far more context aware—and strengthens its role as a precision targeting engine at a time when its ad business keeps climbing. For marketers on LinkedIn, the implications are significant and offer improvements in precision targeting, campaign efficiency, and intent-driven discovery.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the three big questions surrounding Meta in Q3 and beyond: How will AI-generated social video affect social media? What’s the biggest takeaway regarding Meta using AI chatbot conversations to target ads? And do Meta's new smart glasses really have a future? Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Analyst Emmy Liederman, and Principal Analyst Minda Smiley. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
A Snapchat, Publicis Media, and Ipsos study revealed creator preferences for brand collaborations, outlining the path ahead for brands who increasingly rely on influencer marketing. Accounting for creator preferences is key to striking influencer partnerships that last and make a tangible impact.
Video consumption behaviors are shifting across generations, according to a Deloitte study. Over one-third (35%) of overall consumers spend more time watching video on social media than streaming platforms. For cohorts like Gen Z, that figure is even greater: 58% of their time with video is spent on social media. Advertisers must adjust their definition of “TV” to account for different preferences for digital video consumption and adapt budgets accordingly.
Bluesky’s growth is defying social media convention. COO Rose Wang told EMARKETER the platform’s momentum comes not from algorithmic reach but from conversation and community. “People are coming for the discussion and staying for the connection,” she said. Bluesky, now past 40 million users, is attracting audiences fleeing top-down platforms and gravitating toward participatory, user-led spaces. Custom feeds and decentralized moderation let culture form organically, giving advertisers a glimpse into early-stage cultural formation. For marketers, Bluesky’s appeal isn’t reach—it’s relevance. As Wang put it, “People still want to gather.” In a fragmented ecosystem, that’s a powerful foundation.
Facebook is creating a more social Marketplace experience with collaborative features aimed at making buying and selling feel more interactive. The platform is rolling out “collections” that let users create groups of Marketplace listings and invite friends to browse together. It’s also adding reactions and comments directly on listings. Brands should explore ad placements within the shopping platform to meet high-intent, young customers who are already in a product discovery mindset.
In today’s episode, we explore whether MrBeast’s pivot from giving away money to managing it marks a natural evolution or a red flag and if we looking at the rise of a financial services super-app that competes with banks—or a NerdWallet-style affiliate play that sells Gen Z customers to other financial service providers? Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development Rob Rubin, and Principal Analysts Tiffani Montez and Max Willens.
Microsoft is turning to lifestyle creators to make Copilot a cultural player, not just a productivity tool. TikTok stars like Alix Earle, Brigette and Danielle Pheloung, and Brandon Edelman are showing Copilot in real-life contexts—beauty, fashion, and self-improvement—garnering millions of views and repositioning the AI assistant for Gen Z and women users. Consumer CMO Yusuf Mehdi calls Microsoft a “challenger brand” in AI assistants, with 150 million users compared with ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly. The influencer pivot signals a shift toward utility-driven marketing—content that demonstrates value in everyday life rather than selling aspiration.
Jack Dorsey is reviving nostalgic short-form video culture with diVine, a Vine reboot designed for authenticity at a time when AI-generated creator content is surging. The new app launched with over 100,000 restored Vine videos. Vine gives diVine an emotional head start—but survival will hinge on converting that sentiment into fresh creative momentum. Brands that lean into authenticity will find diVine a clean slate—one where trust and creativity drive engagement. Still, it must overcome one hurdle: persuading audiences to make room for one more app in an already-saturated attention economy.
Healthcare and pharma social media ad spending will surpass linear TV this year, growing 18.1% year over year to reach almost $6 billion. Meanwhile, the industry’s linear TV spend will decline 11% to $5.56 billion. These shifts in spending align with the fact that social media is an increasingly important source of health information, especially for younger people and healthcare professionals.
X’s new link preview function is artificially inflating web traffic and skewing attribution and engagement metrics for publishers and brands, per The Verge. The feature collapses posts when links are clicked on, letting users bookmark, like, repost, and reply while viewing a webpage. It also preloads pages before any interactions, resulting in false page views. Marketers and publishers should audit their analytics tools and scrutinize any sudden, extreme traffic spikes. Prioritizing first-party data and metrics like time spent and conversions—rather than simply counting page views—will help provide more reliable insights.
Social media marketers are prioritizing user-generated content (UGC) and influencer collaborations. More than three-quarters (82%) of B2B and B2C marketers say UGC is at least somewhat important, per Emplifi. But marketers are facing challenges with their workloads. Just 7% report never feeling burned out, and nearly half say they need more headcount and resources. Marketers should invest in joint UGC and influencer strategies and monitor impact beyond vanity metrics, and CMOs should focus on building teams that can work together across silos efficiently.
Snapchat revenues and users grew in Q3—but the company warned that age verification laws would have unpredictable results on its business. While innovative ad tools and a new partnership with Perplexity could offer more value, stagnant growth and new policies that would restrict access to over 18% of Snapchat’s audience make the social platform a riskier investment than those with ad businesses less reliant on a youth-oriented audience like Instagram.
Podcasts are emerging as the most credible, persuasive arm of the creator economy. According to Acast, 84% of listeners have changed their mind because of a podcaster, yet 75% don’t view them as influencers—proof that credibility, not celebrity, fuels podcast influence. Two-thirds of listeners say they’ve purchased something a host recommended. Despite the rise of video, most podcast engagement remains audio-first, underscoring the medium’s intimacy and staying power. For advertisers, podcasts offer a rare trifecta—attention, authenticity, and conversion—at a time when influencer fatigue and algorithmic feeds erode audience trust elsewhere.