Meta trapped in the middle of its past and future: One year after its bold pivot to the metaverse, Meta is wrestling with poor VR user adoption while desperately trying to resuscitate legacy apps in a flagging ad-revenue reality.

Q4 was another turbulent quarter for social media: Support for a US ban on TikTok grew; Elon Musk announced he would step down from Twitter once he finds a replacement; and Meta suffered its first-ever major round of layoffs. But there were still bright spots for marketers.

2022 brings a dramatic change in fortunes for some social networks: Contracting ad spending growth prompts big downgrade in our forecast.

Will tech have learned its lesson during economic recovery? A mild recession in 2023 could give rise to tech’s recovery during the second half of the year. Expect industry caution.

Social commerce sales will reach $107.17 billion by 2025: While Facebook and Instagram will still attract the most buyers, it’s TikTok that’s making the most aggressive moves.

Meta defends its Within acquisition before an antitrust judge: It’s becoming increasingly clear the company needs VR to replace lost social media ad revenue.

AI, the creator … and destroyer? Potentially one of the most disruptive technologies in history, generative AI has caught the legal system flatfooted. Alongside litigation, expect commercialization to start maturing in 2023.

In 2023, 58.5% of Meta’s $121.90 billion of ad revenues worldwide will come from Facebook, per our forecast. The remaining 41.5% will come from Instagram, whose ad revenues are growing faster than Facebook’s, which will decline in 2022. For the next two years, Instagram will continue to outpace Facebook by this measure.

Gen Zers aren’t watching appointment TV. They’re not even the biggest cohort of connected TV users. (That distinction goes to millennials.) Instead, Gen Z is watching short digital videos and looking for new ways to interact with friends. Here are five charts on what Gen Z’s media consumption looks like.

Amazon continued to dominate ecommerce in 2022: But advertising, not retail, was the company’s biggest success story this year—although not enough to prevent the layoffs of 20,000 employees.

As the ad revenue shortfall deepens, social media’s legacy players face new competition for users, a complicated situation with creators, and a social commerce rewind.

Retail and streaming platforms poised to gain digital ad revenue in 2023: Spotify and other newer players in advertising will see faster growth than Meta and Google.

US government intensifies stance against TikTok: A permanent ban from government devices could push the public sector to further remove TikTok from devices. But some fear the service is too big to fail.

“Attention must be earned in an instant.” That’s according to our analyst Paul Verna. “The dominant ad formats [on social media] are below 15 seconds and in some cases as low as 3 seconds.”

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.

The digital advertising landscape is shifting and it’s every person for themselves in a fight to the top. Let’s get to know the players and place our bets on who will win the battle royale for ad dollars.

Amazon is the latest company to copy TikTok: The retailer is adding a continuous, shoppable feed to its app to enhance product discovery and grow sales.

Last month, Atlantic writer Ian Bogost posed the incendiary question, “Is the age of social media ending?” No, according to our analysts. But it’s definitely changing, which presents an opportunity to reach younger consumers.

Meta succeeds against US regulators but takes a major blow in the EU: Meta insists that news isn’t part of its business model, but its pivot to Reels hits a major roadblock.

Musk loyalists put to the Twitter stress test: Bedrooms for Musk associates at Twitter’s headquarters, lawsuits, and failed content standards give competing social media platforms an opportunity to attract users.