Introduction Online shopping contnues to grow at a rapid pace, with e-commerce making up 10%of total retail sales worldwide and reaching $2.3 trillion, a 25 percent increase overthe previous year (source: eMarketer). And though social media privacy and data issuescontnue to dominate our news feeds, users have been reluctant to give up theiraccounts. In fact, they’re using social media more than ever. In our inaugural social commerce survey conducted in 2016, we learned that Facebookwas, by far, the most important channel for brands and retailers to utlize as theymarketed on social media. But while Facebook remains king, its infuence has seen adecline as users become less trustng of the major platorm and its data practces. Thisskeptcism has both its pros and cons as users become more aware of emerging socialtrends but less prone to use them to shop.To understand the burgeoning but changing social landscape and how brands andretailers can efectvely navigate the space to infuence purchasing decisions and drivetransactons, we conducted another in-depth survey to gain insights about how usersinteract with diferent social channels during the online shopper’s journey. Sample Size 1,046 respondentsSurvey Period May 2018 Demographics U.S. consumers ages 18 and over 53% women, 47% men Survey Goals To reevaluate social media’simpact on consumer behaviorand purchasing habits, as well asunderstand how emerging socialplatorms and technology canserve e-commerce brands andretailers.The last two years have been a whirlwind for the social mediaspace. Despite recent privacy and ethical concerns surroundingusers’ accounts, 81% of respondents say that they use social mediaregularly, which refects no change since 2016. Though Facebook has received the bulk of the critcism, consumersremain loyal. The platorm did see a drop in usage, with 67% ofrespondents statng that they use Facebook regularly comparedto 79% in 2016, though it stll remains the most widely used platormby a long shot.Instagram saw an increase in usage, moving from 29% in 2016to 38% in 2018 and making it the second most frequently usedplatorm, while Snapchat nearly doubled in usage. 4The Power of Social 81 % of respondentssay they use socialmedia regularly. Platorm20162018% Change Facebook79%67%-15% Instagram29%38%29% Snapchat13%25%96% Pinterest29%24%-17% Twiter25%23%-10% % of respondents that regularly use the following social media platformsInstagram saw an increase in usage making it the secondmost frequently used platform ...as Snapchat nearly doubled in usage. 2016: 29% 2016: 13% 2018: 38% 2018: 25% 。。。。。。