Half of worldwide consumers in Snap Inc./Foresight Factory’s survey said they found it frustrating not being able to try products on in-store before buying during the pandemic, with that share rising to 58% among millennials. The social platforms—as well as brands, retailers, and other ecommerce sellers—have turned to AR as a solution. The Social Platforms Are Driving AR Innovation and Evolution.

Sustainability is a hot topic, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, most ecommerce buyers, sellers, and logistics firms are taking steps to be more eco-friendly. But commitment and progress are patchy.

The pandemic was disastrous for many retailers; we estimate that total retail sales worldwide plunged 2.8% in 2020. Though, while many physical stores were shuttered, digital retail sales soared by over 25% in a single year.

Is TikTok ready to take on Amazon? ByteDance wants to launch an international ecommerce platform; whether it rolls out as a TikTok integration, or as a standalone app, will be a litmus test for the strength of the US social commerce market.

The pandemic sparked greater global awareness of environmental issues and a renewed commitment to finding solutions. Climate change ranked as the top personal concern of Gen Z adults worldwide, ahead of both unemployment and disease prevention (amid a global pandemic), per Deloitte in February 2021.

The For You page and trending videos were among the top places TikTok users worldwide discovered products in the food and beverage, luxury, and automotive categories, per an August 2021 Warc survey. The #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

Social commerce is rising rapidly worldwide. But to what extent can the US market mirror that of China, the world leader in social commerce?

The majority of US social buyers still order from retailer websites, rather than directly on social platforms. In December, 61.5% said they made their most recent social commerce purchase on the retailer’s site, while 38.5% reported doing so through the social network’s checkout feature.

Like many marketers, the social companies haven’t always taken creators seriously. That’s now changed. “Except for YouTube and maybe Instagram, the social platforms have long had this mindset that creators are no different from any other user,” said Eric Dahan, co-founder and CEO of influencer marketing company Open Influence.

The major social platforms hit the ground running in 2021, making substantial investments into many of today’s top social trends: audio, influencers, and short video, to name a few.

Every national market in the world will finish this year with more ad spending than in 2020. In most categories, worldwide growth records will be shattered. But 2021 was a very unusual year, following a very unusual 2020.

The company formerly known as Facebook will face its toughest challenges ever, while viral commerce will take center stage, TikTok-style short videos will evolve, and social audio will fade away.

Sprout Social. Tinuiti.

TikTok is now the third-largest worldwide social network, according to our inaugural forecast. It will have 60% more users than Snapchat and twice as many as Twitter this year.

The global pandemic has had a profound impact on Generation Z’s well-being and is setting the stage for how they interact with and navigate the healthcare system.

Social network ad spending also spiked in 2021, though not as sharply as search—mostly because social platforms held their own in 2020, while search suffered as many consumers were conducting online searches that weren’t easily monetizable.

And when applied to alternative data sources, they can grant visibility into companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) vitals—enabling advisors to build ESG-focused portfolios that are tailored to individual client interests. Introduction.

But Meta also highlighted the potential for social interaction in a video announcing the company’s name change. Heavy is the head: However, both of these visions heavily rely on the use of virtual reality headsets like those made by Meta-owned Oculus.

Gains in the country (it more than doubled its user base there last year) helped Snapchat achieve a 20.9% increase in worldwide users in 2021. User increases will be much slower in the rest of the world, generally in the mid-single-digit percentages in 2022. The next fastest growing region will be Central and Eastern Europe, up 6.6% this year.

On today's episode, we discuss the opportunities and challenges within social advertising and how automation will play its part. We then talk about what to expect from micro- and nano-influencers in 2022 and what the most interesting social media video statistics are. Tune in to the discussion with global director of marketing at Smartly.io Riikka Söderlund and eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Debra Aho Williamson.

These manufacturers are trying to tap into a market for AR and VR devices that the International Data Corporation (IDC) expects will have a compound annual growth rate of 67.9% between 2021 and 2025. Why It Matters. The metaverse is still amorphous, with different companies holding different visions.

AR shipments will jump from 1 million in 2021 to 21 million in 2025, and VR shipments from 8 million to 29 million, according to the International Data Corporation.

The concept will be based out of existing kitchens and use restaurant employees, but TikTok Kitchens will be responsible for recipes sourced from the social platform as well as food packaging. Menus are to be rotated quarterly, though it remains to be seen if that’s fast enough to take advantage of viral food trends.