After a tumultuous year, the social platforms will close 2020 on a high note in terms of ad revenues and users—and with features that closely resemble each other.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss how Twitter's Q3 earnings should be evaluated. They then talk about whether social audio will be the next big thing, TikTok's new partnership with Shopify, and if 2020 has been the year of live shopping.

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 coronavirus pandemic forced businesses to switch to a distributed employee model very abruptly. This report will detail the best management strategies for people and processes to make remote work sustainable.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch, principal analyst Jillian Ryan, and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss the major digital pivot to reimagined events amid COVID-19. Then, the usual suspects talk about Twitter's fight against election misinformation, TikTok's potential rivals, untapped marketing to lower-income customers, ecommerce within YouTube, and how cats aren't as heartless as they seem.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss how negative emotions are received in ads, whether we're witnessing the beginning of the end of the Upfronts, if paying with your hands is a good idea, the significance of LinkedIn Stories, if parents are actually influencers, what the Boston Celtics and Twitter have in common, and more.

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.

Amid disinformation campaigns over the coronavirus pandemic and the upcoming presidential election, most US buy-side decision-makers are concerned about their ads potentially running up against controversial content on social media.

LinkedIn is the modern professional’s digital Rolodex. Since launching in 2003, it has afforded its users professional network continuity in an era of fluid career movement. In fact, it’s LinkedIn that has helped facilitate greater career mobility from company to company, and even industry to industry.

When it comes to protecting users’ personal information and providing a safe online environment, social network users in the US give lower marks to Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.

Seventy-two percent of US and UK consumers who follow influencers said they were spending more time on social media since the outbreak.