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.

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.

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.

Pinterest and LinkedIn get top marks on social media trust report card: Research reveals users have low confidence overall in platforms’ ability to safeguard their information.

Amazon’s Q3 earnings are a mixed bag: Strong sales and ad growth helped return the retailer to profitability, but the company’s retail business continues to lose money.

There’s still a large percentage of social media users who don’t buy via social. Understanding what makes current social buyers buy can help brands and platforms increase sales and potentially grow their customer bases.

TikTok bets on social commerce to deliver significant revenues: The platform is reportedly planning to build its own network of fulfillment centers.

For more than half of US social media users, a platform’s privacy and data practices are extremely impactful on their decision to engage with ads on that platform. Other top influences on ad engagement are reliable content and safety. The relevance of the ads themselves is less of a factor.

Digital trust is the confidence people have that a platform will protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content. Our sixth annual benchmark survey of US social media users reveals that trust in social media platforms has declined substantially this year in key areas including privacy, safety, and ad relevance.

User trust in the major social platforms is down this year, according to our sixth annual benchmark survey, especially in the areas of privacy, safety, and ad relevance. Trust affects ad engagement, and in a year when ad revenue growth is slowing for many platforms, it’s imperative that they stem the declines.

Pinterest’s new “Don’t Don’t Yourself” ad campaign highlights the platform as a site for genuineness and creativity, while hinting at the darker sides of other social media networks.

Meta seeks secrets: The social media behemoth is asking rivals for confidential information in its lawsuit to prove it isn’t a monopoly. The strategy could backfire, leading to more lawsuits or intensifying regulation.

Reports that Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are abandoning some of their shopping features are not a reflection of the platforms’ overall commerce ambitions. But as social commerce buyer growth slows, brands should focus more on reengaging existing customers and less on direct buying capabilities like native checkout.

Facebook is still the king of social commerce in the US. More than 60% of US social media users ages 14 and older will make a purchase via the platform this year, and about 40% will do so via its sister app Instagram. TikTok will grow the fastest in this regard, drawing nearly one-quarter of social buyers in that age group.

Our inaugural forecast for retail ecommerce sales by product category in Brazil will help retail professionals understand the current state of the country's ecommerce ecosystem. We also look at the 10 categories driving growth in 2022 and beyond.

Our inaugural forecast for retail ecommerce sales by product category in Argentina will help retail professionals understand the current state of the country’s ecommerce ecosystem. We also look at the categories driving growth in 2022 and beyond.

The power of creators is alive and well—despite reports suggesting the opposite. Marketers are increasing, not cutting, their influencer spending, particularly on TikTok. But creator partnerships may not be right for every marketer, as challenges from brand safety to measurement persist.

Shopify broadens the services it offers merchants: It partnered with YouTube to allow creators and merchants to sell products on their channels and bolstered its logistics platform by buying Deliverr.