Cyberattacks and overloads disrupt industries: From telecom strikes to service failures, 2024’s outages underline the fragility of tech systems and the urgent need for diversification and resilience strategies.

Automated ad systems, boosted video ad spending, and platforms leaning into their unique qualities led to a bounce-back year in 2024 for social networks overall.

As social media strengthens its grip on consumers’ digital lives in 2025, political polarization, regulation, and a desire for deeper personalization will shake up the landscape.

Retailers looking to capitalize on retail media’s growth opportunities need to understand the market developments, formats, and challenges shaping ad spending in Latin America.

2024 was a year of legitimacy for the creator economy. 2025 will be a year of professionalization, as creator content scales beyond social media and marketers focus on proving the ROI of their growing influencer marketing investments.

"In 2025 we are going to see brands think community-first,” according to Jennifer Quigley-Jones, CEO of Digital Voices. One place they will do this is on Instagram Broadcast Channels, the one-to-many messaging feature that allows users to directly engage with followers. As of last week, subscribers of the exclusive direct messaging (DM) channels can now communicate with the creators and brands they follow, similar to how they might use Discord or Patreon.

Its errors show the dilemma of curbing misinformation while protecting users’ rights, especially as pressure mounts under new US leadership.

What to make of Australia’s murky social media ban: Social platforms will lose access to users under 16, prompting marketers to shift strategies.

This year, most buyer and sales growth will be driven by TikTok Shop, which will convert over 40% of TikTok users into buyers. Social commerce and retail media will converge as Amazon’s ad partnerships with the social platforms start to pack a punch.

"We would not have re-accelerated our revenue in the last two years if it was not for AI," Alex Schultz, CMO and vice president of analytics at Meta, said on our "Behind the Numbers" podcast. "It's that important to us. We wouldn't have recovered from AppTracking transparency [or] been able to do more with less data if it wasn't for AI. So that's the very core of our business."

The average age of new mothers was 27.4 in 2022, meaning they are digitally native, per the CDC. They are more familiar with the internet and digital devices than previous generations. They’ve embraced these tools to help navigate motherhood.

New mothers are increasingly digitally native. But their digital habits are defined more by their children’s life stage than by their own generational cohort.

Aimed at teens and active users, this move could enhance personalization, increase engagement, and boost Meta’s ad appeal.

His track record of investigating Silicon Valley hints at regulatory shake-ups, though ethical controversies may cloud his confirmation path.

EU penalties and a US trial highlight growing pressure on Big Tech acquisitions and market practices.

Like all consumers, for high-income consumers (earning $150,000 or more a year), the physical store is the top source of discovery, according to our US High-Income Consumers’ Path to Purchase 2024 report.

Social commerce is gaining momentum in the UK—with sales set to double by 2028—as major brands join TikTok and as more people shop on social platforms.

Gen Z leads in digital usage by most proportional measures. However, social network use cuts across categories, influencing video viewing and digital buying.

Meta and Roblox show how teen safety has become a priority: A year of heavy scrutiny from regulators has prompted similar platforms to overhaul protections.

After experiencing downturns in recent years, social CPMs are on the rise again in the US, per our forecasts. That’s a sign that brands could invest more in social media ads amid optimism about the economy.