Move over, millennials: The new kids in town, Gen Z, have claimed the crown as most sought-after demographic for brands. With their deep digital nativity and social influence, this generation is making its mark on society and brand strategy.

In four years, its smartphone penetration will be the highest of any generation, eclipsing that of millennials (95.2%), Gen X (89.7%), and baby boomers (71.2%). Top smartphone activities among iPhone users ages 18 to 25 include texting, surfing the web, watching streaming video, and using social media (Measure Protocol, March 2021).

As a result, many of those teens and young adults share TikTok content with relatives or friends, who then buy the featured item for them elsewhere. People who shop on TikTok browse and buy goods more frequently than shoppers on other social platforms.

Baby boomers are also growing older and aging out of social media. Millennials and Gen X are still Facebook’s main users. Together, those two generations will make up more than half of Facebook’s US user base in 2022. Even as Gen Z’s user share rises, it won’t reach that of either Gen X or millennials through at least 2025. Facebook will add nearly 9 million US users between 2020 and 2025.

More than three-quarters of internet users in Latin America, or 337.3 million people, will watch digital video on any platform—not just social media—this year, according to our September 2021 forecast.

However, more than a third of millennials and nearly a quarter of Gen Xers will also use BNPL. While BNPL makes up around 1% of US retail ecommerce dollars, fast growth means merchants are noticing an opportunity to grab sales.