Once the domain of gamers and young social media users, AR and VR are entering the mainstream. This year, more than a quarter of the US population will use AR and nearly a fifth will use VR. As device-makers improve VR headsets and AR spreads to new use cases, the number of AR and VR users will continue to grow over the next four years, with AR outpacing VR.

TikTok’s hold on the social media industry is impossible to ignore: The video app and other visually oriented platforms thrive with key demographics.

3D advertising on rise as brands step toward the metaverse: Twitter and Meta are banking on new ad types to propel growth.

TikTok is the social commerce platform of the moment, as brands and marketers look to cash in on the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt phenomenon. While TikTok may not have as large a shopper base as Facebook or Instagram, its shoppers are highly active and engaged.

Meta’s campaign against TikTok will do little to hide its own issues: Negative stories about rivals won’t fix its longstanding advertising and content issues.

Communities, creators, and connection are the keys to success for brands looking to generate sales on TikTok in 2022.

Younger consumers turn to social media to inform their purchases: 45% of Gen Z shoppers use Instagram for product research, 1.5x more than look to Facebook and TikTok.

Read the latest stories on social media regulations from Insider Intelligence.

Instagram’s role in the metaverse will involve NFTs and the creator economy: At SXSW, Zuckerberg hinted at long-term metaverse plans and upcoming NFT features.

Everyone’s concerned about children’s privacy and safety on social media: As more consumers demand that social platforms be scrutinized, a case against TikTok’s handling of children's private data proceeds.

Twitter expands social commerce offerings to catch up with competitors: The social media platform won’t be a shopping destination anytime soon, but that won’t stop it from experimenting.

Jane Ko tried to avoid TikTok. The blogger and creator’s platform of choice is Instagram, where her @atasteofkoko account has about 118,000 followers, and she felt she wasn’t the right fit for an app that burst on the scene with singing and dancing—things she says she isn’t good at.

The “TikTok effect” on influencer marketing is palpable, but Instagram and YouTube are still highly relevant venues for creator video.

The metaverse may be far away, but video is here and now on social media—and consumer usage patterns are changing fast.

For many content creators, Instagram isn’t everything. In the US, 41.0% of creators run websites or blogs to reach their audiences outside of social media. Newsletters and podcasts are also tools they use to staying connected. But perhaps most notably, 43.3% do not use anything other than social platforms.

Ukraine conflict presents a chance for social media to amend a history of misinformation: American tech firms clashed with Russia over the weekend, often rebuking its requests.

Reddit gets its own AI content recommendation page: The new Discover tab will look a lot like Instagram’s Explore page, surfacing photos and videos from communities that users aren’t yet subscribed to.

TikTok and Instagram were once again the top US social networking apps of 2021, downloaded 94.0 million and 64.0 million times that year, respectively. Snapchat took third place with a 10% jump in downloads, leapfrogging Facebook, whose downloads fell by 11%.

Facebook Reels’ global rollout comes with fresh ad formats: The new banner and sticker ads both attract creators to the platform and offer marketers performance ad options for short-form video.

Among US social video viewers, YouTube is the top platform for watching short-form content, with 77.9% of those ages 16 and older going there to stream videos less than 10 minutes long. The No. 2 spot goes to Facebook, which captures a 60.8% share, while TikTok takes third with 53.9%.