Virtual influencers and AI-generated avatars are reshaping the influencer marketing game. These digital personas, powered by AI and CGI, offer brands complete control over image, messaging, and consistency, without the unpredictability of real-world creators. Influencer collabs can take many forms – product reviews, tutorials, co-branded content, or limited-edition drops – all designed to drive engagement, awareness, and conversions. Live streaming builds trust and real-time connection with your audience – and when powered by AI, it becomes even more dynamic, accessible, and interactive. Morning Brew often posts threads that start with a punchy hook, then walk users through 5–7 quick insights, stats, or storylines – driving both engagement and traffic to their newsletter or site. Threads and microblogs break down complex ideas into bite-sized, scroll-friendly content.

TikTok ads are also super affordable right now, at around $0.5 CPM and $0.02 cost per click. If you want to expand your reach on Instagram, ask your social media manager or Instagram expert to set up either a Creator or Professional account for your business – the platform has several options for paid social media ads to increase your reach. To stay ahead in 2025, invest in more niche channels — whether that’s creating your own private community, offering subscription-based content, or diving deeper into niche platforms that cater to specific interests. Because modern consumers are looking for channels that cater specifically to their interests, where they can connect with brands and creators without the noise of mass-market content.

Research directions for future studies

• Either ways, the network plays a significant role in a social media user’s online presence and in life.
• People use social media to stay connected with friends, family, and various communities, bridging geographical distances and enhancing communication.
• These posts often feature real workouts using Gymshark gear, shared across both brand and influencer profiles to maximize reach and engagement.
• It blurs the line between media and audience, as users are encouraged to contribute and provide feedback.

Despite the downsides, including the spread of misinformation and child sexual exploitation, social media techleash.com continues to grow each year. However, consensus has yet to emerge on how to measure or mitigate the harms, nor to craft a tax, . The PLATO system was launched in 1960 at the University of Illinois and subsequently commercially marketed by Control Data Corporation. As such, this study constitutes a basis for future research (Van Den Eijnden et al., 2016; Whaite et al., 2018) aiming to understand the impacts of social media use and to find ways to reduce its possible negative impacts. H1a finding suggests that social media use is a significant influencing factor of bonding social capital. This implies that, during a pandemic, social media use enables students to continue their close relationships with family members, friends, and those with whom they have close ties.

Unlike short-form content, long videos build authority and deepen connection, great for thought leadership, product education, or storytelling. They encourage users to share adventurous videos using GoPro cameras, often reposting the best ones on their Instagram and YouTube channels. They’re designed for quick consumption, high engagement, and are often favored by social media algorithms for reach. HubSpot is the best example of brands that effectively use carousel posts to educate and engage its audience. The company often breaks down marketing tips, sales strategies, or analytics insights into bite-sized slides that are easy to swipe through.

Best Social Media Agencies to Hire in Miami

Compare your actual performance against the benchmarks and KPIs you established. That’s why I recommend carrying out a competitive analysis from time to time. It will allow you to understand who the competition is and what they’re doing well (and not so well). You’ll also get a sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set your own social media targets. When it comes to the content you want to create, consider what each platform specializes in.

What Are the Top Social Media Sites?

In 2025, there are 5.24 billion people actively using social media in the world, and this is an increase of 4.1% year-on-year from 5.04 billion in 2023. As you can see from the data above, social network usage is different for men and women globally when examining location. Perhaps the most notable gap in gender differences is where we look at the use by platform. In the U.S., only 25.4% of people actively use social media in their jobs, compared with the highest by country in Nigeria at 65.2%, or the lowest at 8.3% in Japan. Our chart shows the proportion of people aged 16 to 24 who used social networks across various countries. In fact, in rich countries where access to the Internet is nearly universal, the vast majority of young adults use it.

Of course, social bots are not only a problem for social media users but are also a nagging concern plaguing marketers. Similarly, when these bots act as “fake followers,” it can inflate the worth of influencers’ audiences (Bogost 2018). This can also be used nefariously by individuals and firms, as shown in a New York Times Magazine expose that documented the market used by some influencers to purchase such “fake” followers to inflate their social media reach (Confessore et al. 2018).