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Strategic Intelligence: Social Media

Publisher GlobalData
Published Mar 31, 2025
Length 65 Pages
SKU # GBDT19975413

Description

Strategic Intelligence: Social Media

Summary

2024 was a landmark year in social media regulation. The US Department of Justice’s victory over Google in its antitrust lawsuit, the postponed ban of TikTok in the US, and the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov signaled the end of an era for social media companies. The perceived leniency afforded to them by regulators has been replaced by unprecedentedly stringent rulings.

Key Highlights
  • 2025 may see more severe legislation as Australia’s move to ban social media for those under 16 takes effect while the UK considers banning smartphones in schools. The year may also witness the outcome of Google’s second antitrust lawsuit regarding digital advertising, which could pave the way for more antitrust legislation against Big Tech companies.
  • Several smaller social networks, such as BlueSky, Damus, and Mastodon, have entered the market following regulatory scrutiny of large social media companies’ business practices and users’ desire for more intimate engagement. The regulatory crackdown on monopolistic behavior means the super-app model pioneered by Tencent in China is unlikely to be as successful in the West. Consumer demand will also impact attempts to build pools of connected apps, such as Elon Musk’s bid to transform X (formerly Twitter) into a super-app to diversify revenue streams away from personalized ads. Consumers’ increased concern about the use of personal data and content moderation will instead see smaller decentralized apps (dApps) become more popular.
Scope
  • This report provides an overview of the social media theme.
  • It identifies the key trends impacting the growth of the theme over the next 12 to 24 months, split into three categories: technology trends, macroeconomic trends, and regulatory trends.
  • It contains details of M&A deals driven by the social media theme and a timeline highlighting milestones in the development of social media.
  • The detailed value chain comprises five layers: content, distribution, data, services, and customer. Leading and challenging vendors are identified across all five layers.
Reasons to Buy
  • The report identifies six main categories of social media players (social networks, discussion forums, media sharing sites, consumer review networks, sharing economy companies, and messaging services) and highlights leading and challenging companies across all six categories.
  • It also analyzes Big Tech's presence in the social media sector. In most segments, big platforms benefit from network effects, and, thanks to their larger number of users, they are the most attractive to consumers and advertisers. However, smaller networks are gaining popularity due to user concerns about data privacy and content moderation.

Table of Contents

65 Pages
Executive Summary
Players
Thematic Briefing
The blurred boundaries of social media
Online advertising generates the bulk of the social media industry’s revenues
Social media must differentiate to compete
Network effects can be a barrier to entry
Decentralized apps are rising while super-apps are falling
Trends
Technology trends
Macroeconomic trends
Regulatory trends
Timeline
Signals
M&A trends
Patent trends
Company filing trends
Hiring trends
Value Chain
Content layer
Consumer profile data
User-generated content
News
Film and TV
Games
Distribution layer
Social networks
Discussion forums
Media sharing sites
Consumer review networks
Sharing economy companies
Messaging services
Data layer
Data integration
Data aggregation
Data processing
Data storage
Data validation
Data governance and security
Services layer
Internet advertising
Online payments
Ecommerce
Customer layer
Consumers
Brands
Influencers
Companies
Public companies
Private companies
Sector Scorecard
Social media sector scorecard
Who’s who
Thematic screen
Valuation screen
Risk screen
Glossary
Further Reading
GlobalData reports
Our Thematic Research Methodology
About GlobalData
Contact Us
List of Tables
Table 1: Technology trends
Table 2: Macroeconomic trends
Table 3: Regulatory trends
Table 4: M&A trends
Table 5: Public companies
Table 6: Private companies
Table 7: Glossary
Table 8: GlobalData reports
List of Figures
Figure 1: Who are the leading players in the social media theme, and where do they sit in the value chain?
Figure 2: Social media use has proliferated since 2010
Figure 3: The social media business model relies on harvesting customer data to target ads
Figure 4: The social media story
Figure 5: A declining number of patents have been filed since 2019
Figure 6: Mentions of social media in company filings peaked in 2021
Figure 7: 2024 saw a rapid uptick in the total number of jobs
Figure 8: The social media value chain
Figure 9: The social media value chain - Content layer
Figure 10: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Social networks
Figure 11: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Discussion forums
Figure 12: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Media sharing sites
Figure 13: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Consumer review networks
Figure 14: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Sharing economy companies
Figure 15: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Messaging services
Figure 16: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data integration
Figure 17: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data aggregation
Figure 18: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data processing
Figure 19: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data storage
Figure 20: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data validation
Figure 21: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data governance and security
Figure 22: The social media value chain - Services layer: Internet advertising
Figure 23: The social media value chain - Services layer: Online payments
Figure 24: The social media value chain - Services layer: Ecommerce
Figure 25: Who does what in the social media space?
Figure 26: Thematic screen
Figure 27: Valuation screen
Figure 28: Risk screen
Figure 29: Our five-step approach for generating a sector scorecard

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