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.

Big Tech faces dilemma in Russia-Ukraine conflict: While rushing to get refugees to safety, companies debate remaining neutral, which would seem like compliance with Russia, or leveling sanctions and risking retribution from the Kremlin.

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.

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%.

On today's episode, we discuss whether Donald Trump's new "Truth Social" platform can make some noise, Facebook rebranding the News Feed, whether LinkedIn is the best social network, Uber and Lyft's rebound, how Apple changed Facebook, an unpopular opinion about Disney, where Valentine's Day came from, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our director of forecasting Oscar Orozco and analysts Blake Droesch and Peter Vahle.

The rollout of AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) in iOS 14.5 effectively deprecated the primary way publishers and advertisers track users on iOS and changed how the mobile ad industry approaches monetization and measurement.

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.

Apple's introduction of AppTrackingTransparency in iOS 14.5 changed how the mobile app industry approaches monetization and measurement. Here’s what you should know about the changes, along with best practices for mobile publishers and advertisers.

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%.

Clearview AI’s quest to grab 100B photos could be running out of time, money: The company is raising funds for a database of every person’s face, but investment should go into removing racial bias.

Apple’s 2021 privacy updates have advertisers approaching iOS with caution and accelerating their investment in Android. Last May, soon after the changes rolled out, US Meta ad spending rose at about the same pace on both types of devices. By the end of December, growth on iOS had slowed to 3% year over year, while Android’s soared to 101%.

Meta’s lawsuits, settlements, and consumer sentiment are a mounting problem: The company can’t acquire its way out of this one.

On today's episode, we discuss how concerned everyone should be about Facebook's latest Q4 earnings showing that daily active users were shrinking for the first time ever. Then for "In Other News," we talk about consumers' current feelings about social commerce and the likelihood of social media subscriptions catching on. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

Payments Ecosystem: This year will reveal how providers must adapt to lasting pandemic-driven digitization across payments channels, ranging from in-store retail to B2B ecommerce.

TikTok was the No. 1 mobile app in the US last year, with 94.0 million downloads, a 6% increase over 2020. Runners-up Instagram and Snapchat reached 64.0 million downloads and 56.0 million downloads, respectively, meaning the three most downloaded apps in the US were all photo- and video-sharing platforms.

Amazon lifts the veil over its advertising business: The retailer’s 2021 ad revenues outpaced YouTube’s and are poised for continued growth.

Meta’s future is muddled by declining Facebook users, slow metaverse adoption and a beleaguered ad model: In response to TikTok's success, Meta will shift focus to video, but will the reactionary move be enough to recover losses?

Meta’s earnings miss shows the vulnerability of its ad revenue model: The company could be in for a $10 billion hit from Apple’s privacy changes, and the rise of TikTok isn’t helping.