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.

As users and advertisers jump ship from Twitter amid Elon Musk’s takeover, there’s no shortage of platforms for them to land on.

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.

This year, US adults will spend 25.7% of their social media time on Facebook, down 9.6 percentage points from 2019. As Facebook’s share drops, TikTok’s will continue to grow. US adults will devote 16.7% of their social time to TikTok this year, up 12.2 percentage points from 2019.

Reddit tries to solve its brand safety problem: A new partnership with DoubleVerify brings much-needed metrics and safety tools to its burgeoning ad platform.

US social network user growth has slowed to a crawl, and that means the social platforms will compete fiercely for users and engagement. Marketers should optimize their spending to take advantage of shifting consumer behaviors.

Reddit trails other social networks in time spent: The platform’s efforts to boost its mainstream appeal could improve engagement.

Consumers are worried about the surge of ads in gaming: Xbox and Sony both have in-game ad programs in the works, and consumers aren’t thrilled.

Read the latest stories from Insider Intelligence about artificial intelligence in social media.

Reddit gets its own AI content recommendation page: The new Discover tab will look a lot like Instagram’s Explore page, surfacing photos and videos from communities that users aren’t yet subscribed to.

TikTok is now the third largest social network in the US, ahead of Snapchat and Pinterest. Facebook won’t be able to stop the teen exodus, Instagram’s user base is growing older, and Twitter will start losing users.

Video is a growing part of advertising on social media. Here’s how advertisers are using video ads on social platforms to drive ad performance throughout the funnel.

Social commerce is one of the biggest trends in social media in 2021. The major platforms are all pushing commerce to the forefront of their business strategies, introducing new features aimed at convincing consumers to go from inspiration to purchase with a click of a button or a tap on a mobile screen.

Our exclusive primary research survey reveals which platforms US social media users feel most comfortable buying on, and why trust is essential for the future growth of social commerce.

On this episode of Brand Anatomy, where we get exclusive looks inside leading brands, eMarketer Briefing director Jeremy Goldman sits down with Harold Klaje, executive vice president and president of global advertising at Reddit, to discuss which markets are the platform’s top priority, how Reddit caters to users and advertisers abroad, and how brands are building their own presences on the site.

Every national market in the world will finish this year with more ad spending than in 2020. In most categories, worldwide growth records will be shattered. But 2021 was a very unusual year, following a very unusual 2020.

Brand suitability tools give advertisers some power back as targeting restrictions tighten: They are no substitute for true targeting tools, but they offer marketers a bit more control over the context of their ad placements.

Gen Zers make heavy use of many social networks to create connections, consume multimedia, play games, and share content.

Our fifth annual primary research survey reveals the level of trust US social media users have in nine major social platforms, and the role trust plays in the willingness to engage with advertising on those platforms.