Social commerce accelerated in the US in 2020 amid the pandemic-driven ecommerce boom as key platforms advanced their shopping and checkout capabilities.

In Q1 2021, Facebook and Twitter both made big moves to defend their beliefs about news and politics on their respective platforms.

The short-video landscape is bigger than just TikTok. Marketers must develop a strategy to make the most of this form of marketing across multiple venues.

Livestreaming has become a prominent feature across the social media and digital video landscapes. Here’s how marketers are taking advantage of opportunities within the space.

We estimate that one in four US internet users will use TikTok this year, and adult users will spend almost 32 minutes per day on average with the short-video app. Evan Horowitz, co-founder and CEO of creative agency Movers + Shakers, joins eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin to discuss TikTok's ad products, how advertisers are using the app to build brand equity, and the need to tailor social creative to make sense for each platform.

The pandemic has fueled greater social media usage worldwide and prompted revisions to our earlier forecasts. We now expect the total number of social network users to rise 8.1% in 2020, to 3.23 billion—equivalent to 80.7% of all internet users.

Tipping comes to Clubhouse: The social audio app will now let users tip hosts, likely a play to keep creators on the platform as they’re in danger of being poached by bigger players like Twitter and Twitch.

Before brands embark on short-video marketing, one of their key considerations should be the pros and cons of user-generated content (UGC). Marketers have had to learn to be comfortable with showing their brand messages in the midst of UGC on social media—and that’s been harder than ever, thanks to the recent rise in negativity and misinformation on some platforms. But to excel in the short-video format, especially on TikTok, marketers must also be willing to tap ordinary users for inspiration, participation, and viral distribution.

From the growth of TikTok and of social commerce to the challenges of brand safety and the cookieless future, 2021 will be another year of big stories for social media.

Diet Instagram: The new, less data-intensive version of Instagram will help Facebook penetrate developing markets, where consumers are more sensitive to mobile data costs.