Last October, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was rebranding as Meta and setting its sights on the metaverse, which he dubbed the “successor to the mobile internet.” But 12 months and more than $15 billion later, the company has little to show for it.

BeReal is the newest kid on the social media block. The app has already captured the attention of Gen Z, and its growing popularity has sparked copycat features from Snapchat, Instagram and, yes, even TikTok. But do brands of all stripes need to embrace BeReal—or is it not ready for primetime just yet

One year later, a new headset—and , a whole set of challenges: Nearly one year and $15 billion later, Meta’s vision for the metaverse remains optimistic even if a focus on business and productivity apps seems premature and risky.

Just 18% of US social media users are confident that Facebook protects their privacy and data, down from 27% last year. Confidence is particularly low among the oldest and youngest users surveyed, at 10% within the baby boomer generation and 18% within Gen Z.

Q3 wasn’t an easy quarter for Meta. Snap is in a tough spot. TikTok was the elephant in the room amid its rivals’ disappointing Q2 earnings calls.

Extra, extra, read all about it: Newsletters and the platforms that house them have had a strong few years. But with churn and tech layoffs, can they keep up?

In this report, we look at the most important updates for social platforms in Q3 and how those changes will affect marketers. For the first time, we’re including updates for YouTube as well.

TikTok bets on social commerce to deliver significant revenues: The platform is reportedly planning to build its own network of fulfillment centers.

Meta shares its earnings with creators: New Reels ads expand choices for brands and revenue opportunities for influencers.

Ahead of its third-quarter earnings, Meta has expanded its ad offerings for Instagram, Messenger, and Reels.

This year, 102.6 million people will buy via social platforms in the US. That’s up just 5.9% from last year, following double-digit growth that’s persisted since we began tracking this metric, in 2016.

TikTok will bring live shopping to the US after all: The platform is partnering with TalkShopLive for the launch, despite lackluster results in the US.

On today's episode, we discuss how the digital ad duopoly is evolving, the most interesting dark horse digital ad giant, and whether Netflix, not TikTok, is a bigger threat to Facebook and Instagram. "In Other News," we talk about ad industry practices coming under fire as privacy lawsuits surge and who the winners and losers will be when the third-party cookie says goodbye. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Paul Verna.

Social commerce experienced two years of exceptional growth amid the pandemic, and while growth in the number of social buyers is slowing, the amount of social commerce sales is still rising rapidly, said our analyst Jasmine Enberg on a "Behind the Numbers" podcast.

In the US, 52% of Facebook users reported seeing more ads on the social network, while nearly half of YouTube and Instagram users said the same of their respective platforms. Across the social platforms we studied, less than 10% of users felt ad load had decreased.

Zuck has a golden opportunity if he doesn't muck it up: Meta’s market valuation drops are tied to its metaverse aspirations. Its upcoming product releases need to be crowd pleasers.

Reels, Reels, and more Reels: Facebook released an API for Reels, allowing users to share short-form videos to the app from outside platforms.

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.