Social media usage, advertising, and commerce will reach new levels in 2021, presenting big opportunities for brands to engage consumers.

Social networks will reach almost full penetration among adult Gen Zers this year, or 99.0% of users ages 18 to 24. The next-highest penetration rate will be among the 25-to-34 age bracket, younger millennials, at 90.9%.

US and Canada. The US accounts for the lion’s share of Snapchat users. As a result, the decelerating growth in the country means North America, which we define as the US and Canada, will see only a modest increase in the number of Snapchat users, too. This is despite a better-than-expected bump in Canada. Mixed fortunes mean modest growth overall.

Canada trails only Japan worldwide across a variety of Twitter penetration metrics: About one-fifth of the population (22.1%), a quarter of internet users (25.0%), and more than a third (35.2%) of social network users in Canada use Twitter. Compared with the US, Twitter adoption in Canada is significantly higher.

Facebook’s US and Canada ad revenues came in at roughly $8.38 billion, up from $7.20 billion in Q1 2019. The US and Canada accounted for roughly 48% of Facebook’s worldwide revenues. On the earnings call, Facebook CFO David Wehner said the precipitous drop in revenues during March had moderated in the start of Q2.

Ecommerce’s share of total retail in Canada is higher than we previously expected, as brick-and-mortar outlets are forced to shutter and online shopping becomes a necessity.

After reaching an expected saturation point last year, daily media time in Canada will climb further this year based on our latest forecasts. COVID-19 has driven up demand for media while people are quarantined at home, which will impact our full-year forecast.

According to an April 2020 poll from the Ryerson University Social Media Lab, LinkedIn trails only two other social networks, Facebook and Instagram, in the number of account holders in Canada. Of the adult internet users in Canada surveyed, 44% said they had a LinkedIn account, compared with 83% for Facebook and 51% for Instagram.

TikTok’s user base will increase substantially in 2020. Despite a ban on the app in India and efforts to restrict it in the US, TikTok will continue to expand in many countries in 2021.

There was especially notable growth in the US and Canada, where core Facebook gained 5 million users between Q4 and Q1, the strongest growth it has experienced in those markets in many quarters. Facebook also grew strongly in Europe, adding 12 million users in Q1.