Report Looks at Evolving Social Media and Online Shopping Trends

Are you in the middle of mapping out your 2026 digital marketing strategy?

This will help.

Digital analytics provider DoubleVerify has published its latest series of “Global Insights” reports, which incorporates responses from over 22k consumers, and almost 2k marketers, sharing their experiences with social media, AI, online shopping, and more, which could help to guide your thinking as to which platforms and approaches should be your focus.

You can download DV’s full Global Insights reports here (with email sign-up), but in this post, we’ll take a look at some of the key notes.   

First off, the report looks at the most popular social media platforms among respondents:

As you can see, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram lead the way in overall usage, with TikTok, X, LinkedIn and Pinterest lower down the list. This largely reflects the same finding that Pew Research recently published in terms of overall social media usage, though I do think that a key variance that’s not captured in these consumer surveys is time spent. Because while we all probably open Facebook to check in on what friends and family have posted, I suspect that we’re all also spending much more time in other apps.

That nuance isn’t covered in a binary “Which social media platforms do you use?” query.

(Note: Threads and Bluesky were also not included as an option on DV’s list of social platform options.)

The report also looks at how consumers use social media for news consumption, which can impact the flow of information, and influence voting behaviors.

Younger users prioritize social media, but older consumers still put TV news and dedicated news websites higher in their priorities. So next time you’re wondering why that old celebrity is fronting some new TV show, know that the audience watching TV is also older.

The report also looks at how people use social platforms for product research, and their top sources in the pre-purchase phase.

Note that the question here relates to product research, not discovery, so it’s not surprising that social media is further down the list. But I suspect that in terms of awareness, if the question related to when consumers first discovered a product, social would be higher.

The report also looks at the rising influence of social media influencers, and how they help guide purchase decisions.

As per the report:

“Over 58% of surveyed consumers stated that they interact (follow, like, share, comment) with influencers, especially micro influencers (24%). The lower-funnel strength of these interactions is also high – 54% of consumers reported that social media influencers impact their purchase decisions.”

So influencers are driving more response and activity over time, with more people turning to influencers to learn more about relevant products, or learning about products from influencer content. A worthy note.

The report also looks at the rise of social commerce, which is steadily gaining traction around the world:

Though as you can see, adoption of social commerce is higher in Asian markets, with Western consumers still largely sticking to different apps and tools for different functions, as opposed to integrated social media shopping experiences.

Why is that? I don’t know, no one does. It seems that Asian consumers just have a preference for maximizing in-app utility that Western consumers don’t, though there’s also a broader question of trust in social commerce, and varying regulatory approaches.

The report also includes insights into how marketers are making use of social apps, and which platforms provide the best results in different categories.

There are also insights into AI adoption among consumers and marketers, with more and more people now encountering AI-generated content, blurring the lines between what’s real and what’s not.

There are some interesting notes here, not as in-depth as I would like, more skimming the surface on some of these trends. But interesting nonetheless, which could inform your digital marketing planning for 2026.

You can download DoubleVerify’s full Global Insights reports here (with email sign-up).