social media

“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 […]

Ad Revenue “It’s every bit as certain as death and taxes.” (Meet Joe Black, 1998) . . . And I’d add “holiday advertising.” Q4 2018 proved yet again that advertisers ramp up their media budgets in Q4 to get consumers to buy those holiday gifts. Facebook, Inc. (inclusive of its family of products: Facebook.com, Instagram, […]

Facebook’s tumultuous year made approaching the social giant’s Q4 2018 earnings call complicated, to say the least. Days before the call, news hit that Facebook is consolidating the back-end tech of its family of messenger apps. Why? Then, a story breaks that Apple is pulling a Facebook app that invites users to share their phone […]

Like the opening sequence of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the social media landscape is getting “flipped-turned upside down” by the ascendance of stories. Well, that may be a bit dramatic, but they are certainly starting to make waves. Stories are growing in popularity as a mode of sharing and consuming content on social media. […]

Brandwatch and Crimson Hexagon, two social listening platforms, announced their merger today. The company will maintain the Brandwatch name with Brandwatch Founder and CEO Giles Palmer at the helm. At Forrester, we’ve been pushing for the next evolution in the social listening space. Our recent evaluation, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Listening Platforms, Q3 2018,” found […]

In the past few months, my colleague James McQuivey has written several blogs about the exciting times we live in. In these posts, he focuses on how technology is fundamentally changing the way we interact with the world around us and how that change is grounded in evolution. His research shows that our uniquely evolved […]

Facebook’s Q2 2018 earnings call was not well-received by investors as evidenced by the stock’s 19 percent price drop equating to the largest-ever loss in market value in one day for a U.S. traded company. But if you’re a marketer looking to forecast your spending on social advertising over the next several years, Facebook’s latest earnings […]