Strategic Intelligence: Social Media Sector Scorecard Q3 2025 Update

Although online safety for children is a relatively new area of regulation, a growing number of jurisdictions are putting detailed legislation in place targeting social media companies. There is a global shift towards mandatory age assurance for online platforms to enforce online safety legislation. The UK and some US states have started enforcing age verification requirements, and others will follow suit.

Key Highlights

• Social media platforms have moved from a place where people connect with friends and exchange ideas to one where people endlessly scroll to fill their spare time. 2025 research from GWI found that over the last decade, the shares of people who report using social platforms to stay in touch with their friends, express themselves, or meet new people have fallen by more than a quarter.
• Meanwhile, social media companies, like Meta and Snapchat, are betting on companionship chatbots. My AI, powered by OpenAI‘s ChatGPT and with over 15 million users, is automatically included in the Snapchat mobile app, while Meta AI, built with Llama 4, is offered through WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and as a standalone app. However, many risks are associated with using AI companions, especially for young and vulnerable users. Regulators are worried and have increased scrutiny following high-profile cases of harm to young users of AI companions.

Scope

• This sector scorecard provides a top-down, comprehensive outlook for the key players in the social media sector over the next two years, based on the key themes set to transform their industry landscape.

Reasons to Buy

• Companies that invest in the right themes become success stories. Those that miss the important themes in their industry end up as failures.
• The analyst's thematic research ecosystem is a single, integrated global research platform that provides an easy-to-use framework for tracking all themes across all companies in all sectors. It has a proven track record of identifying the important themes early, enabling companies to make the right investments ahead of the competition and secure that all-important competitive advantage.
• The analyst has developed a unique thematic methodology for ranking all major companies in all major sectors based on their relative strength in the big themes that are impacting their industries.
• First, we identify the top 10 themes transforming a sector across four categories (tech, macro, industry, and ESG). We also rank themes in order of priority by examining activity levels across 200 million alternative data signals, including patents, jobs, deals, filings, social media, and news.
• Second, we research each theme in detail, examining the value chain, key players, and trends. Additionally, we examine the impact of each theme across the 20 industries we cover. Our 200 million signals help identify the leading adopters of a theme in each sector.
• Finally, using our sector scorecards, we rank the companies most likely to succeed in a sector over the next five years.