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A new forecast has dubbed TikTok as the worlds third-largest social network, just behind Facebook and Instagram. In its inaugural forecast on TikToks global install base, Insider Intelligence the firm previously known as eMarketer predicts that TikTok will reach 755.0 million monthly users in 2022, after seeing 59.8% growth in 2020, followed by 40.8% growth in 2021.

Facebook, as of its most recent earnings, reported 2.91 million monthly active users after seeing 6% year-over-year growth. And recently, Instagram employees leaked its network had surpassed 2 billion monthly users, up from the 1 billion monthly user milestone reported in June 2018.

However, Insider Intelligences forecast is referencing its own 2022 predictions, which uses a slightly different set of calculations. The firm has its own definition of a monthly active user that may differ from those of each company it analyzes. For example, it only counts users who log in at least once a month consistently over a calendar year period, and it attempts to weed out the fake accounts from its estimates. This is meant to provide clients with a more consistent apples to apples comparison across all platforms.

According to the firms estimates, Facebook will reach 2.1 billion monthly users in 2022, followed by Instagram with 1.28 billion users. TikTok will follow with its 755 million monthly users, ahead of Snap and Twitter.

Image Credits: Insider Intelligence

TikTok, over the past couple of years, has been growing quickly.

App intelligence firm Sensor Tower reported the short-form video app crossed 2 billion downloads across the App Store and Google Play in the first quarter of 2020. A separate report by App Annie later found TikTok saw 325% growth in 2020, and the monthly time spent per user also grew faster than any other app including by 65% in the U.S., surpassing Facebook.

In July 2021, Sensor Tower noted TikTok (including sister app Douyin in China) had become the first non-Facebook mobile app (outside of games) to reach 3 billion downloads globally across the App Store and Google Play, while TikTok consumer spending surpassed $2.5 billion globally. This put the app in the company of only a handful of others that had reached that milestone, including Tinder, Netflix, YouTube, and Tencent Video.

While other firms had predicted TikToks monthly active user base would top 1 billion in 2021, Insider Intelligences forecast is a bit more conservative due to its methodology. But it does expect the app to continue to grow, if at a slower rate of 15.1% in 2022.

As a result of its growth, TikToks share of overall social networking users is also climbing upwards. Insider Intelligences forecast believes TikTok will surpass a 20% share for the first time and will approach a one-quarter share by 2024.

The rise of TikTok is especially challenging for Snapchat, with which it competes head-to-head for the youth audience, remarked Insider Intelligence principal analyst, Debra Aho Williamson. Although TikTok does not share much similarity to Twitter, its massive size relative to the moreestablished platform is a clear reflection of the addictive nature of TikToks content, she said.

Theres still plenty of room for TikToks future growth, the firm also pointed out, as next year, 3.57 billion people will use a social networking app at least once per month.

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TikTok to rank as the third largest social network, 2022 forecast notes - TechCrunch

The debate around social medias impact on mental health is hardly new, but the conversation has recaptured the worlds attention in light of reports this fall that suggest Facebook has been well aware of the toxic mental health consequences of its platforms for teens.

While this data and the knowledge that Facebook ignored these concerns is troubling, understanding social medias impact on mental health isnt all that simple. In fact, theres a strong argument to be made that social media can offer safe, affirming spaces and connections for young people on the journey to discover themselves and their identities.

These benefits are too often pushed aside while the dark consequences of social media rage on. The fact is that todays popular social networking platforms, like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and more, are designed with monetization as a top priority. At their core, these apps encourage excessive use because more user hours on the app equal more ad support.

The tech industry has an opportunity and a responsibility to make space for platforms that arent dependent on ad dollars.

While some have responded to the latest backlash by declaring that spaces like Instagram should be strictly reserved for adults, I strongly believe that its possible to build a social media environment that is beneficial for teenagers one that helps them discover themselves and affirm who they are; one that lets them explore their identities freely; and one that comforts them in times of darkness and helps them know they are not alone.

Im not sure this future can be cultivated by reactive features alone, but there is potential for social media giants to team up with other organizations and nonprofits to make social media a safer place for all people.

While its difficult to imagine a world where for-profit social media is not a monopoly, it doesnt have to be this way. It may not be realistic to eliminate ad-supported social media apps completely, but the tech industry does have an opportunity and responsibility to make space for platforms that arent dependent on ad dollars.

If the number of views, clicks and ads were secondary to peoples wants and needs, we could revolutionize the way social media platforms work. Together, we could build communities that users can come to on their own terms whether to escape pressure from other apps, connect with peers or find an accepting place where they can be themselves.

While a handful of ad-free social media spaces already exist such as Ello and TrevorSpace, The Trevor Projects social networking site for LGBTQ+ young people they are much smaller and have fewer features, and therefore may not attract the high volume of users who are accustomed to the bells and whistles that come with social media apps such as Instagram.

There also needs to be a space online for young people to explore their identities anonymously, which is nearly impossible when social media companies prioritize ad support over their users mental health and well-being. Advertisers want to know exactly who is spending time on social media so they can target users based on their age, gender, behavior and identities. This becomes especially problematic for young users who want to use social media as a vehicle for figuring out who they are but cant do so discreetly.

In order to overcome this, the industry as a whole needs to make more investments in social media spaces whose purpose isnt profit. Over the past few years, tech giants have made incredible strides in product innovation, which could be applied to other sites that give users a safe place to express themselves and find supportive communities.

Theres a time and place for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other ad-supported apps, but theres also a clear need and want for online spaces that arent driven by revenue. It doesnt have to be one or the other, and we can work together to make room for both.

With TrevorSpace, for example, weve invested in research to better understand our users wants and needs, without the added pressure of meeting specific revenue goals. Through this research, weve learned that our users look to the internet to explore their identities and value having a safe space where they can express themselves.

Beyond investing in more nonprofit social media platforms, theres also an opportunity for tech companies to apply their leading-edge AI developments to improve the user experience on social media and alleviate some of the mental health stressors caused by spending too much time online.

Social media sites currently use machine learning to inform algorithms that encourage people to spend more time online, but its possibilities extend far beyond that. We know that technology has the power to support peoples mental health instead of exacerbating mental illness, so what if we used AI to give users newfound control over social media?

Imagine if AI could help people find what they really need in a given moment like guiding users to content that makes them laugh when they want to laugh or cry when they want to cry, facilitating connections between like-minded users that build positive relationships, or suggesting resources that give them skills or knowledge that positively impact their life.

The majority of social media apps today use AI to determine our feeds, for you pages and timelines for us. However, if we instead used AI to let people guide their own journeys on social media, we could foster a fundamentally different emotional experience one that supported their wants and needs instead of simply monopolizing their time and attention.

This sounds like a no-brainer, and some may even believe this is already happening. However, as recently bolstered by former Facebook product manager Frances Haugens testimony, this is simply not how the content we see is curated in the current hands of social media leaders. That must change.

Thanks to unprecedented innovations and research in social media, we have the technology needed to create sites that are conducive to our well-being; its just a matter of investing time and resources in developing them and creating space for nonprofit apps to coexist with major ad-supported apps.

Looking ahead, I see the potential for social media companies to partner with nonprofit companies to develop AI that gives users control over the content they see and how they interact with it, but it would take major time, investment and collaboration from both parties. It would also require social media giants to be OK with making room for much-needed alternative apps in the space.

Making social media safer and healthier for all people is a goal that many nonprofits, including The Trevor Project, are dedicated to realizing, and we would greatly benefit from social media companies help making it happen.

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Nonprofits have the answers to improve social media: Big Tech has the resources to make it happen - TechCrunch

Join gaming leaders, alongside GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming, for their 2nd Annual GamesBeat & Facebook Gaming Summit | GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 this upcoming January 25-27, 2022. Learn more about the event.

Polygon and Alexis Ohanians Seven Seven Six will invest $200 million in social media projects that take advantage of blockchain technologies.

The partners will fund ideas at the intersection of social media and Web 3, exploring better ways for humans to connect online.

The motivation behind Web 3 is that a better version of the internet is possible, one which empowers users over platforms. It is a response to a pervading sense that the current instantiation as represented by the social media giants has strayed too far from the early webs open source ideals, the partners said.

The result is, as one Facebook engineer famously quipped, the best minds of our generation are thinking about how to make people click ads, the partners said.

The 2nd Annual GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming Summit and GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2

Polygon has mission is to offer a wide range of secure, fast, affordable, and energy-efficient Ethereum scaling and infrastructure solutions for developers, empowering them to build Web3 applications for the world.

Ohanian co-founded Reddit in 2005 at the dawn of social networking. He left in 2010 and returned as executive chairman in 2014 to lead a turnaround before resigning in 2020. He cofounded Initialized Capital in 2010 and was a seed investor in Coinbase, Instacart, Opendoor, GOAT, Patreon, Flexport, Ro, Papa, and more. He is also an outspoken advocate for the open internet and equity and an active supporter of minority and women-owned businesses.

His new venture firm, Seven Seven Six, has a diverse portfolio that ranges from DroneSeed, a company taking on reforestation with drones; Sky Mavis, makers of Axie Infinity, the pioneering play-to-earn Web 3 gaming franchise; Better Brand, which is transforming the most carb-heavy foods into the least; and Stoke Space, a reusable rocket company.

We are still in the early days of Web3 and the most obvious opportunities right now are in gaming and social, said Ohanian, in a statement. This initiative will do just that, with a focus on gaming properties and social media platforms built on Polygons scalable infrastructure. Weve already seen some of the best product founders in our portfolio start building on Polygon and Im excited for Seven Seven Six and Polygon to play a big role in shaping what the new internet looks like.

Polygon is a blockchain protocol that provides scalable, low-fee infrastructure powering the biggest projects in decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including Aave, SushiSwap, and OpenSea. The number of decentralized applications (dapps) building on Polygon passed the 3,000 mark in October, from 30 at the same time last year.

Polygons network is also quickly becoming the main destination for companies building the foundation for a new breed of social networks. Cent is an ad-free creator network that was in the headlines earlier this year when Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold an NFT of the first-ever Tweet for $2.9 million on its platform.

Sapien Networks team is busy building a tokenized social network built on the Ethereum blockchain, but still finds time for stunts like planting a statue of Harambe in front of Facebooks headquarters. Earth 2 is a virtual twin of our real world and metaverse platform and is now collaborating with Polygon Studios in an exclusive partnership.

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Alexis Ohanian and Polygon will invest $200M in decentralized social media - VentureBeat

Social media and millennials can certainly go hand in hand, which opens up opportunities in 2022 for a pair of Global X exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Instagram noted the forthcoming trends that could shape social media influence on millennials in 2022. This was captured in the first edition of the Instagram Trend Report.

This report is your guide to the upcoming trends, as defined by Gen-Z, that will shape culture in 2022, Instagram writes. In order to create this report, we tapped into the minds of Gen-Z to learn more about the rising Instagram trends across categories including music, fashion, creators and celebs, beauty, social justice, and so much more.

Some of the topics covered in the report include:

One ETF worth noting to capture these trends is the Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL), which seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Solactive Social Media Total Return Index. The index tracks the equity performance of the largest and most liquid companies involved in the social media industry, including companies that provide social networking, file sharing, and other web-based media applications.

Another one is the Global X Millennials Thematic ETF (MILN). MILN seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Indxx Millennials Thematic Index.

In the case of MILN, the underlying index is designed to measure the performance of U.S.-listed companies that provide exposure to the millennial generation as defined by the index provider. The millennial generation refers to the demographic in the U.S. with birth years ranging from 1980 to 2000. The fund offers:

For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Thematic Investing Channel.

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2 ETFs That Tap Into Millennial Influence on Social Media - ETF Trends

WORCESTER Central Massachusettsschool officials are warning parents about a viral, nationwide trendwhere students post generalized threats of school violence that is supposed to take place Friday, Dec. 17.

Thetrend began onTikTok, a video social networking app popular with teenagers, and has now spread to other social media apps such as Snapchat.

"My phone is blowing up.I'm getting numerous calls from staff and principals about threats being made in social media through TikTok in particular," Worcester Schools Safety Director Robert F. Pezzella said. "They're being encouraged. Whoever's out there encouraging this, to call in bomb threats, in school shootings, etc. throughout the United States schools, not just in Worcester. ... So we are preparing, we will be vigilant."

Pezzella said that the trend is separate from the threat that was made at Worcester Technical High School on Wednesday.

"There is a lot of unrest in our schools as a result of what they are reading and what they are now finding out from these threats that are occurring for TikTok," Pezzella said. "I can assure you on behalf of the superintendentthat we will continue to keep our schools safe."

Because of the generalized nature of the threat, some districts, such Auburn, acted preemptively to ensure that the threat was not credible, sending letters to assure parents the matter was not being taken lightly.

"That's really what preempted it was to just reassure people that, 'Look,this has happened. This is out there. We're prepared. We've got all of our plans in place. Your kids are safe with us,' " Auburn Superintendent Casey Handfield said.

More: Offensive Instagram site targeting Black students at Fitchburg HS reported as hate crime

He said, as a precaution, there will beincreased police presence inAuburn schools.

Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School Superintendent Paul S. Haughey also published a letter explaining that the school district was aware of the threat and worked with law enforcement to investigate the matter.

"For us, we just wanted to be proactive and make sure people knew that we had anSRO and we made our local law enforcement available and aware that this issue was being brought forward by parents and families in our community," Haughey said.

The letter also let parents and guardians know that the threats were found to have no credibility.

"We wanted to assure the community with my authoring of a letter today that there's no credible threat in our district," he said.

More: US schools increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting, bomb threats

Unlike the generalized threats being shared on TikTok, Dudley Middle School experienced a very specific threat.

A screenshot of a Snapchat message in which the user whose name matchedthat of a student in a neighboring town threatened to shoot up the school reached school administrators, who then reached out to law enforcement. Information about the user's name used in the message has been corrected here.

Although the threat was more targeted, it is still likely part of the social media trend, Charlton Police Chief Daniel Dowd said.

"Wedon't believe it's a credible threat at this time but obviously, out of an abundance of caution, we continue to work it and try to find out more informationbut we don't believe that is as what was reported," Dowd said.

He said there is a possibility that someone used social media to learn the student's name and location, and posed as the student.

"They may not even knowthis person or they may have had," Dowd said. "What I'm saying is that the student mentioned we don't believe has anything to do with this thing other than his name was used."

Charlton police are still investigating the matter as an extra precaution.

Pezzella said that the No. 1 thing that people can do is reportany type of threats, "even if they think it might be ... just an off-color remark."

He said that people can call his direct line or they can call the school principal or the superintendent.

"We take every threat seriously. We have to investigate every threat," Pezzella said. "So if families or the public is hearing anything, then they can report it."

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Central Mass. rattled by viral trend of school violence threats on social media - Worcester Telegram