Social Media

Paying for content: Facebook announced this week that it will invest $1 billion in incentive programs for creators across its increasingly broad array of monetization products.

TikTok aims for platform and brand safety: The short-form video app rolled out a series of new content moderation guidelines for influencers, encompassing both sponsored and organic content.

Fleetus Deletus: Twitter is culling the underused Stories-like feature after a month of trying to improve adoption.

On today's episode, we discuss what Facebook has become and is trying to be, what to make of social media platforms looking more and more alike, and which of these "copycat" moves might strike gold. We then talk about the significance of Nextdoor going public, how India's social media content liability laws could impact Twitter (and others), and some changes as to what advertisers can, and can't, do on social media. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Jasmine Enberg.

Going global: YouTube is expanding access to its TikTok clone, Shorts, to more than 100 countries this week as competition from TikTok heats up.

For the first time, we have published our TikTok user forecast for Mexico, one of the hardest-hit countries by the pandemic. As people there stayed home more in 2020, many turned to the internet for entertainment, and the number of monthly TikTok users surged 222.5% year over year, according to our estimates.

Creator economy crescendo: Amazon is quickly building out areas of its business that center on influencers, as the walls between social media and ecommerce erode and creators' roles in those spaces start to blend together.

On today's episode, we discuss what the most interesting areas of Amazon's business are, what longer videos mean for TikTok, why marketers should focus on Clubhouse and/or podcasts, why one company is bringing TV ads to console games, where Walmart beats Amazon, when we can expect to enjoy space tourism, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer director of forecasting Cindy Liu, forecasting analyst Peter Vahle and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

Twitter bets more heavily on the algorithm: It's now recommending Fleets from other accounts to users in a bid to increase time spent and improve adoption of the Story-like feature.

On today's episode, we discuss what Facebook's new virtual reality (VR) ads look like, the ad formats that will be unique to VR, and what's driving VR headset growth. We then talk about the breakdown of what Americans are watching on TV, whether we will ever see ads on Disney+ and Netflix, and whether YouTube TV has the answer for sports fans. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Victoria Petrock and Paul Verna.

The YouTube recommendation algorithm regularly recommends misinformation and other content that violates the company’s own policies per a new study. The findings further highlight the inherent tensions social media companies face when relying on algorithms to both drive and moderate content.

TikTok copies Cameo: The Shoutouts feature will let fans pay for personalized videos from their favorite influencers, another monetization route that should help keep creators on the platform.

Nextdoor's next steps: The company is planning to go public on the heels of a successful 2020, owing largely to huge user increases and growing interest among marketers due to its valuable location data.

Social commerce sales in the US are picking up, but the size of the market pales in comparison to that of China, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast on social commerce.

Tweetus deletus: Twitter is now legally liable for unlawful content posted on its platform in India following its refusal to comply with the country's new social media laws. Its response could set a precedent for how it tackles similar liability laws in the future, including the US' Section 230.

Norway aims to curb photo retouching: The country's new amendment requires advertisers and influencers to disclose edited photos, but wrangling influencers into compliance will be almost impossible.

Twitter could let users bucket tweets by topic: This Facebook Groups-like hypersegmentation could help Twitter hone its recommendation algorithm, in turn driving up time spent and improving ad targeting.

The gaming gender gap: The number of male teens who found in-game ads the most captivating was more than triple that of female teens, though this may be the result of female preference for mobile over PC and console gaming.

On today's episode, we discuss what Google delaying getting rid of third-party cookies means for everyone, whether people will want to listen to audio on Facebook, what to make of TikTok's new mini apps called Jumps, Google's EU ad tech antitrust case, if moviegoing is making a return, what if time didn't exist, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analysts Audrey Schomer and Sara M. Watson and analyst at Insider Intelligence Nina Goetzen.