social media

More than one in three consumers believe social media does more harm than good. Many brands spend tremendous time and money on social media, only to get a tepid (or even angry) response. On this episode of What It Means, Senior Analyst Jessica Liu discusses a timely question: Is it time to break up with social media?

There may be more to the move than meets the eye. The acquisition will give Facebook access to data it will find useful.

A detailed analysis of how consumers are using social media in the customer lifecycle and an intriguing option for brands.

The Q4 2019 earnings reports are in for Facebook, Snap Inc., and Twitter. Here are our top takeaways for marketers: Facebook, Inc. Last year, we at Forrester argued that despite the number and extremity of Facebook’s scandals, they wouldn’t doom the company in the short term. So far, that’s held up, as the user base […]

Today I present the third of five key consumers lessons to take away from the 2010s. You can find the previous two here and here. Ten years ago, a wave of demonstrations and protests in the Middle East reshaped our understanding of social media’s influence; the Arab Spring turned up the volume on debate about […]

Employees’ Advocacy Boosts Your Content And Customer Interactions While trust in brands has dwindled, B2B buyers hold those same brands’ employees in high regard as authentic and compelling sources of information. And they want to engage with them. In our new research, “Mobilized Employees Engage Buyers With A Trusted Voice,” Matthew Camuso and I explored […]

“The Forrester Wave™: Social Suites, Q4 2019“ is live! We’re particularly excited about this report because it represents a culmination of years of Forrester research on social technologies. Since 2015, we’ve covered five distinct social tech categories: Social listening platforms aggregate and analyze social conversations. Social adtech buys, manages, and optimizes social ads. Word-of-mouth platforms identify and […]

While 2018 was a challenging year for global social media advertising amid the implementation of GDPR, privacy scandals, and brand safety concerns, Forrester forecasts that social will remain the fastest-growing digital advertising channel globally over the next five years. This growth will be driven by increasing revenue per user and will be fastest in Asia […]

In perhaps one of the few (only?) times that Twitter is grateful not to be the size and scale of Facebook, Inc., it announced this week that it “accidentally” shared user data with third-party measurement vendors and advertisers against users’ wishes. Despite users being able to adjust their ad setting permissions to not share data, […]

GPDR has upended digital advertising in Europe. But this isn't the advertising apocalypse some predicted. Learn more.

We first published research on social selling in 2016, and B2B sellers continue to flock to various networks to interact with their customers and prospects. Social provides the opportunity for authentic connections, mutually beneficial professional relationships, and positive business outcomes for both buyers and sellers. But sellers’ inconsistent and boorish behaviors and a lack of […]

Based on the many press inquiries we’ve received at Forrester, the industry is keen on predicting Facebook, Inc.’s immediate demise. (Note: Facebook, Inc. is inclusive of the Facebook app, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and its other apps, services, and hardware. We simplify and call it “Facebook” for the purposes of our research.) But not so fast. […]

On the outside: Social media’s total global advertising spend is expected to balloon to $110 billion by 2022 (with Facebook taking 75% of the global spend market). Social networks are happy. Investors see dollar signs. Marketers feel justified in their spending. On the inside: Social media’s underbelly conveys a picture of turmoil. Consumers can’t quit […]

Here’s what retailers and brands can expect and should focus on regarding social communities and social media for the rest of 2019.

Even Big Digital Companies Need Little Humans . . . Lots Of Them Amazon offered $10,000 of startup capital and up to three months of pay to qualifying employees who quit . . . and go start a local last-mile delivery business. The eCommerce giant had previously invested in local delivery companies, seeding the creation […]

Among a series of updates unveiled at Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference on Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg echoed a common refrain: The future is privacy. Fresh memories of Facebook’s mistakes and looming fines are not the only reasons why Zuckerberg’s refrain is relevant; in this cultural moment, consumers are clamoring for brands that build community around specific […]

A Tech-Driven Transformation Payoff In The Face Of Food Quality Issues Chipotle is in the midst of a food quality turnaround and a digital business transformation payoff. The company has invested in technology-driven innovation and an adaptive model leveraging point-of-service store systems, mobile ordering, food delivery (via DoorDash), and loyalty (a few months old and […]

In recent years, a wave of so-called digitally native direct-to-consumer (DTC) startups have burst onto the scene and have grown in popularity. Consumers are increasingly purchasing products and services such as mattresses, shoes, razors, and groceries from the over 400 DTC firms now in operation. Forrester forecasts that online spend by DTC enthusiasts will grow […]

For years, I’ve maintained that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Inc., has had his eye on a singular goal: becoming the global version of China’s WeChat. WeChat is China’s most popular messaging app, with 1 billion monthly users. China’s population is 1.4 billion people, which means approximately two in three Chinese are on WeChat. But WeChat […]