Social Media news and trends

TikTok Kicks Off Agentic Commerce Push With AI Shopping Assistant
Social Commerce // October 05, 2026

TikTok has introduced an in-app checkout solution and an artificial intelligence (AI) shopping assistant, saying in a Monday (Oct. 5) press release that these are the first of several agentic commerce experiences the company is adding to its platform. The in-app checkout solution, Buy Direct, allows users to buy...

Fed’s Bowman Challenges Social Media Story Behind SVB Collapse
Banking // September 18, 2026

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse became shorthand for the digital bank run. Billions of dollars left quickly while warnings and speculation circulated online. Three years later, an independent review is challenging the connection between those two events. “[W]hile many postmortem accounts have asserted that social media...

Meta Offers AI as the Upsell for Free Social Media
Artificial Intelligence // September 16, 2026

Meta is asking consumers who have never paid for Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp to pay for new versions of them that have more features. The company on Tuesday (Sept. 15) launched Meta One with more than 50 features and said it has reached 15 million...

Gen Z Makes Credit Card Switching a Social Contest
Credit Cards // September 15, 2026

For Generation Z, the search for a new credit card is extending beyond bank websites, comparison sites and direct mail into social feeds, where influencers are becoming another source of information about which cards are worth considering. Among Gen Z consumers who changed their primary...

Interviews & Exclusives
Gen Z Makes Credit Card Switching a Social Contest

September 15, 2026
For Generation Z, the search for a new credit card is extending beyond bank websites, comparison sites and direct mail into social feeds, where influencers are becoming another source of information about which cards are worth considering. Among Gen Z consumers who changed their primary credit card, 22% used organic social media or influencer content […]

X Money Wants to Make the Feed a Financial Front Door

August 17, 2026
Digital wallets have made the phone a familiar place to pay. X Money is testing whether a social platform can claim a place in that payment routine. Consumers already have...

Social Media Sales Growth Increases for 46% of SMBs

August 12, 2026
For small businesses in the United States, the clearest growth opportunities increasingly sit beyond the storefront. “Why Main Street’s Digital Survivors Are Pulling Ahead: Four Years of Small Business Data”...

TikTok and Meta Eye a Bigger Role in Financial Services

April 03, 2026
The front door to financial services is widening to include social media platforms, marked by payments integrations and new movements into lending. PYMNTS Intelligence data shows that consumers engage across...

Quick Reads
Pinterest Intros New Guides to Provide How-To Beauty Guidance

October 06, 2026
Pinterest says it wants to help its beauty-focused online users employ that knowledge offline. The social media platform on Tuesday (Oct. 6) launched “Beauty Guides,” described as an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered experience that “turns hair and nail Pins into personalized, actionable guides” to help users recreate the looks they find on Pinterest. “Beauty Guides use […]

TikTok Kicks Off Agentic Commerce Push With AI Shopping Assistant

October 05, 2026
TikTok has introduced an in-app checkout solution and an artificial intelligence (AI) shopping assistant, saying in a Monday (Oct. 5) press release that these are the first of several agentic commerce experiences the company...

Anthropic Makes $13.7 Compute Deal With Trump-Linked Rum Group

September 14, 2026
Anthropic has reportedly signed a $13.7 billion deal with Rum Group, a social media/AI infrastructure company. The six-year deal with Rum — which owns conservative-leaning video platform Rumble, and is linked to...

Instagram Looks to Limit AI-Created Accounts Posing as Human

August 31, 2026
Instagram says its users don’t appreciate discovering that a human-looking profile is actually AI-generated. To that end, the Meta-owned social media platform announced Monday (Aug. 31) that it is taking steps to make...