TikTok swoops in to fill the addressability drought: D2C brand spending increased 231%, but its lead won’t last forever.

Watch this video, featuring Meta’s John Cantarella, vice president, community and scaled partnerships, as he explains how fostering a community can give brands of any size a competitive edge because of how the relationships built over time can be leveraged for engagement and growth. In his role at Meta, Cantarella leads a team that helps leaders, creators, and brands—including Airbnb and Tonal—with their community strategy across Instagram and Facebook.

Digital trust is the confidence people have that a platform will protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content. Our sixth annual benchmark survey of US social media users reveals that trust in social media platforms has declined substantially this year in key areas including privacy, safety, and ad relevance.

User trust in the major social platforms is down this year, according to our sixth annual benchmark survey, especially in the areas of privacy, safety, and ad relevance. Trust affects ad engagement, and in a year when ad revenue growth is slowing for many platforms, it’s imperative that they stem the declines.

Pinterest’s new “Don’t Don’t Yourself” ad campaign highlights the platform as a site for genuineness and creativity, while hinting at the darker sides of other social media networks.

On today's episode, we discuss what to note about TikTok's ascent, how much time on social media is spent watching video, and the discrepancy between TV and connected TV ad spend. "In Other News," we talk about how Instagram Reels' engagement stacks up against TikTok's and whether ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) ad spending can overtake traditional TV ad spend by 2025. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Jasmine Enberg and Paul Verna.

The personal luxury goods sector is riding a wave of high demand in the US and China, buoyed by wealthier consumers who are relatively immune to the impact of price increases. But brands will need to appeal to the rising Gen Z consumer, as well as strengthen loyalty among their most important customers.

Meta seeks secrets: The social media behemoth is asking rivals for confidential information in its lawsuit to prove it isn’t a monopoly. The strategy could backfire, leading to more lawsuits or intensifying regulation.

There’s no denying Facebook is a commerce powerhouse. But it also has Facebook Marketplace, which is primarily intended for C2C shopping and buying, though it also allows companies to list their items and place ads.

In 2021, affiliate marketing investment drove $71 billion in ecommerce sales and a 12-to-1 return on ad spend, illustrating that this area is still booming for creators and the brands that support them.

Reports that Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are abandoning some of their shopping features are not a reflection of the platforms’ overall commerce ambitions. But as social commerce buyer growth slows, brands should focus more on reengaging existing customers and less on direct buying capabilities like native checkout.

Last week, Twitter finally announced a “share” button for its Android app. The feature’s already standard in iOS, making Twitter really, really late to its own game. It’s just the latest example of a social media platform chasing revenues from competitors. Apps aren’t above copying off a classmate’s paper to get ahead.

Facebook is still the king of social commerce in the US. More than 60% of US social media users ages 14 and older will make a purchase via the platform this year, and about 40% will do so via its sister app Instagram. TikTok will grow the fastest in this regard, drawing nearly one-quarter of social buyers in that age group.

Instagram retreats from social commerce: The move comes a little more than a month after parent company Meta reported its first year-over-year revenue decline this quarter.

TikTok commands attention in the UK market: Though it doesn’t make the top 10 among mobile apps in terms of consumer reach, the app leads in time spent per user.

Meta faces litany of fines in EU: Ireland fines Instagram $403 million for exposing underage users’ personal data. Persistent privacy penalties and lack of user protection could diminish Meta’s wider metaverse ambitions.

Google and Meta have maintained a steady lead in digital ad revenues worldwide, ahead of the likes of Amazon, Twitter, and Snapchat. But that's not without their own growing pains. Both Meta and Google saw revenues dip by several billion dollars in Q1 of this year. Still, the companies are tens of billions of dollars ahead of triopoly competitor, Amazon, in digital ad revenues.

Our inaugural forecast for retail ecommerce sales by product category in Brazil will help retail professionals understand the current state of the country's ecommerce ecosystem. We also look at the 10 categories driving growth in 2022 and beyond.

Our inaugural forecast for retail ecommerce sales by product category in Argentina will help retail professionals understand the current state of the country’s ecommerce ecosystem. We also look at the categories driving growth in 2022 and beyond.

Instagram is jealous of BeReal’s attention: But if it wants to copy the newer app’s core features, its own reputation and clutter will get in the way.