Social media companies will increasingly diversify away from their ad-funded business model, which regulators have attacked. Companies like Facebook and Google stand accused of using ad-targeting techniques that prioritize profit over respect for user’s privacy and content quality. They are also accused of acting as gatekeepers around access to personal data to the detriment of smaller players in the online advertising sector.
Scope
This report provides an overview of the social media theme.
It identifies the key trends impacting 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 shows comprises five layers: content, distribution, data, services, and customer. Leading and challenging vendors are identified across all five layers.
Key Highlights
Social media companies will increasingly position themselves as the gateway through which users can access multiple services, blending social networking, ecommerce, and entertainment. The super-app model, pioneered by Tencent in China, is now being copied across the world, with Facebook leading the pack.
In pursuing their super-app aspirations, social media companies could end up attracting even more regulatory scrutiny. They are viewed as data monopolies in whichever sector they move into, increasingly at odds with antitrust and data privacy regulations.
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 how Big Tech has succeeded in dominating 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 both consumers and advertisers.
