Microsoft and Google report solid quarterly results amid slow economy: With AI transforming the future of search, is Microsoft gaining a perceived edge in innovation?

Musk gave advertisers a reason to leave Twitter. He exacerbated long-standing issues and created new ones. Six months into Musk-era Twitter, most brands aren’t ready to resume spending, largely because they don’t trust the man in charge.

Nearly three-quarters of US TikTok users will also use Instagram this year, making it the most popular alternative to the social video app, per our forecast. That’s good news for Instagram Reels, which is positioning itself as a viable successor in the event of a US TikTok ban.

Big Tech layoffs in 2023 have already blown past 2022’s total—indicating that job cuts are expected to continue and that they’re now spreading to peripheral industries.

Amid privacy changes and macroeconomic headwinds, social media will be the channel hurt most by the digital advertising downturn. For 2023, we have reduced our US social network ad spending forecast by $16.21 billion.

Of Microsoft’s $198 billion in revenues last year, only about 6% came from advertising. Could a revamped Bing help build out this revenue stream? It’s hard to imagine, but not impossible. Here are five charts that look at Microsoft’s latest ad moves.

Tech layoffs hit Twilio, LinkedIn, Ford, and Yahoo: We could be facing a secondary wave of cost-cutting in the tech field. The good news is opportunities are open in other industries.

On today's episode, we discuss whether in-store shopping is different now (in a bad way), how much people are shopping on their smartphones, whether LinkedIn's newsletter strategy is paying off, how retailers are facing tougher greenwashing penalties, if retailers have given up on the metaverse, how in-person/hybrid/remote work is working out, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Suzy Davidkhanian and Evelyn Mitchell and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

Francophones in Canada’s second-largest province have been slower to adopt digital devices and services compared with the rest of the country. But the latest data reveals the increasingly digital lives of Quebecois in 2023.

LinkedIn proves the newsletter isn’t dying: Any user can create a newsletter on LinkedIn now, but advertising features have yet to debut.

The UK is seeing stagnant social network user growth. But while reach remains huge, marketers should look at how their target markets are spread across platforms because this is where the real change is happening.

Facebook and YouTube will still be the top US social media platforms for buying ads or monetizing content this year, though their dominance is eroding, according to October 2022 polling by Integral Ad Science.

It’s easy to be pessimistic about the state of social media in 2023. But while challenges will persist, the shifting landscape will also give rise to more opportunities for marketers to reach social audiences.

Facing signal loss and challenging macroeconomic conditions, advertisers are pumping the brakes on social network ad spending. But social video is shining through the gloom.

Pinterest was seen as the safest social media platform in the US last year, though the percentage of users who held that view declined from 2020 (51% versus 41%), according to our “US Digital Trust Benchmark 2022” report. Meanwhile, Facebook was where the lowest percentage of users felt safe, down to just 26% in 2022.

Our outlook for social ad spending in 2022 has deteriorated significantly since March. This report breaks down what went wrong in the past nine months, and what’s ahead in the next two years.

On today's episode, we discuss Meta's two-year outlook, whether the US is experiencing an ad recession, how folks want to return items, LinkedIn's new ad products, why a famous landmark is constantly called the wrong thing, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Evelyn Mitchell and Max Willens and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

LinkedIn isn’t an ad leader, but it’s learning from others’ mistakes: A slew of new ad products highlight user-generated content and privacy initiatives.

Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency, Google’s cookie deprecation, and the impending threat of regulation are challenging data collection. Trust in social platforms is declining. As consumers shy from sharing information, marketers need to meet customers where they’re comfortable. That means finding creative solutions and investing in trusted platforms.