The coronavirus pandemic boosted social media usage around the world, as many people stayed home for weeks or months. In 2020, there will be nearly 150 million more social network users worldwide than we expected before the pandemic—more than the entire population of Russia. That will lift the total to 3.23 billion, well ahead of our predictions in November 2019 and June 2020. As a result, nearly 81% of internet users worldwide will be social network users.

Justin Rosenberg, CEO and founder of honeygrow, speaks with eMarketer vice president of business development Marissa Coslov about flipping its dining-in model to 100% mobile app orders with the help of third-party delivery providers.

Steve Lesnard, CMO and global vice president of product creation at The North Face, speaks with eMarketer vice president of business development Marissa Coslov about responding to shifts in consumer behavior trends, such as increased online searches for outdoor activities, and more.

TikTok’s user base will increase substantially in 2020. Despite a ban on the app in India and efforts to restrict it in the US, TikTok will continue to expand in many countries in 2021.

The number of monthly Instagram users in Western Europe will rise by 17.0% in 2020 to 132.8 million. That’s more than three times higher than the growth rate we had predicted before the pandemic (5.2%) and equates to 19.3 million new users from 2019.

In this year’s “Key Digital Trends” report, we examine changes coming to the digital media and technology landscape in 2021—including legislation, privacy, entertainment, social media, and more—and why they matter to marketers.

In 2020, Facebook’s worldwide user base will grow 8.7%, nearly double the rate we had forecast before the global pandemic began.

In 2020, Instagram’s total number of monthly users will hit 1.00 billion for the first time, thanks to a worldwide user growth rate more than double what we had predicted before the pandemic.

The pandemic has fueled greater social media usage worldwide and prompted revisions to our earlier forecasts. We now expect the total number of social network users to rise 8.1% in 2020, to 3.23 billion—equivalent to 80.7% of all internet users.

As with other social networks, Twitter’s user base grew unexpectedly this year as pandemic-driven stay-at-home orders drove up social media usage overall.

Facebook, including Instagram, will net $33.48 billion in US ad revenues this year, up 12.4% year-over-year.

On July 1, 2020, many advertisers pulled their spending from Facebook and Instagram, and in some cases Twitter, to show solidarity with the racial justice movement and for other reasons. While it got a lot of media attention, the ad boycott did not negatively affect the social properties’ ad revenues.

Social network ad spending has substantially rebounded since the early days of the pandemic. In 2021, the biggest issues social media marketers will face are in the areas of brand safety, ethics, and privacy.

The COVID-19 outbreak undermined many of our pre-pandemic US forecasts. Insight can now be gleaned by examining the difference between what we thought would happen as of February 2020 vs. what our forecasts now show.

Many people turned to social media in recent months to stay connected with friends and loved ones and to share information. But the pandemic didn’t increase the number of people using social networks or messaging apps.

The 2020 US holiday season, set amid the backdrop of a pandemic-driven consumer economy, will see an unprecedented shift to ecommerce.

Business Insider Intelligence research associate Hirsch Chitkara and eMarketer principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Mark Dolliver and Nicole Perrin discuss the latest intelligence report from the US House of Representatives, what it could mean for advertisers, and what its findings might mean for the future of Facebook.

This report explores the latest developments in the social media landscape, including a look at TikTok Global, Instagram’s launch of Reels, and new election-related moves from Facebook and Twitter.

eMarketer vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna speaks with Business Insider Intelligence senior research analyst Audrey Schomer and research associate at Insider Intelligence Daniel Carnahan about a recent report titled "Digital Trust Report 2020: How US social media users rank 9 major social platforms on privacy, safety, misinformation, ad annoyance and ad relevance." They break down the report into easy-to-understand bits and examine how users are helping to shape the popularity of the platforms examined in the report, available on eMarketer PRO.