Today’s sociopolitical events have lit a fire under brands to address social injustice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in deeper ways than they have in the past. Companies are using marketing and advertising to respond to and support discussions about systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter protests, the fight for LGBTQ rights, the #MeToo movement, the COVID-19 pandemic, and issues of immigration reform, to name a few.

Our new forecast for global mobile messaging app users shows that the pandemic has accelerated adoption of OTT messaging services, though not in every country nor to the same degree for every app.

The vast majority of mobile time is browsing online. We estimate that US adults will spend, on average, more than 4 hours with mobile internet, with 88% of that time spent within apps.

The coronavirus pandemic is changing how people interact, and mobile devices have served as a social and entertainment lifeline as Americans stay at home and practice social distancing measures. This report looks at how US adults are using those devices.

As with every other aspect of our lives, COVID-19 is impacting social media usage and advertising. Some of those changes, along with other important ad product launches, will continue to affect advertisers once the pandemic ends.

Businesses struggling to align company objectives and employee behavior with digital transformation efforts should read this report to learn about goal-setting methodologies, collaboration tools and best practices for implementing these platforms.

Instagram will remain the world’s second-largest social network in 2019, with 788.4 million users. Growth will primarily come from emerging or developing economies, including Russia and India, but every country that we track will add new users in 2019.

It’s official: WhatsApp Status ads are coming, likely sometime in 2020. And though paid advertising is just one piece of the puzzle for companies looking to connect with customers on WhatsApp, it’s a major change for the chat app, which has so far remained ad-free.

Advertising is the core of Facebook’s business, so it was only a matter of time before the company found a place to show ads on WhatsApp. That place will be in Status, WhatsApp’s version of Stories on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.

This report series explores how companies are building a data-driven, 360-degree customer view to support relevant customer experiences across every touchpoint.

Businesses struggling to align company objectives and employee behavior with digital transformation efforts should read this report to learn about goal-setting methodologies, collaboration tools and best practices for implementing these platforms.

As 2018 nears its end, we are looking back at what happened with Facebook usage, monetization and data privacy over the past year, as well as forward into what changes 2019 may bring.

John Duffy, co-founder and CEO of 3Cinteractive, discusses the new texting standard set to replace SMS and what it means for marketers.