Social

WHAT'S NEXT?: In the years to come, social commerce will become more widespread and the level of personalization will improve with advanced AI solutions & chatbots. The number of worldwide social media users is projected to grow from 2.1 billion in 2016 to 2.5 billion by 2018.

• [New] The amenities race will continue this year with a focus on tech-centric amenities, including Nest thermostats, Wi-Fi access throughout communities or smart fitness equipment.
• [New] Councils can help the Government meets it commitment to end transmission of HIV in England by 2030 with long-term, sustainable funding of the public health services which help people stay healthy and reduce the strain on the NHS and social care.
• Trade wars pose the biggest short-term threat to the world economy this year amid widening fractures in the global community.
• The federal government supports provincial expenditures on postsecondary education and social programs through the CST, and Ontario will receive more than $3.3 billion in 2005-06.
• The Australian Government will provide an additional $1.3 billion over four years from 2019-20 for a range of measures to support farmers and communities in drought.
• Nearly 60 percent of the world's population is already online, and the latest trends suggest that more than half of the world's total population will use social media by the middle of this year.
• The government changed the tax structure to obtain more money so it could implement Putin's pledges of higher spending on social services and infrastructure in the next six years.
• In authoritarian countries such as China and Iran, governments will start to grasp how to use social media and other technologies to counter protests.
• Chile's economy is expected to start expanding again in 2020 in the wake of intense social unrest in the final months of last year, edging up by 0.50% in the first quarter.
• Social video ads will make up one-third of US digital video ad spending this year.
• A challenging economic climate may persist this year: according to the Global Risks Perception Survey, members of the multistakeholder community see economic confrontations and domestic political polarization as the top risks in 2020.
• In 2020 the industry will move from a small group of early-movers who have commercialized initial 5G networks, to a global community in which multiple operators in every continent and in many countries will have commercial 5G networks.
• Small island developing states such as Cuba and Tuvalu make up seven of the 10 countries that face the highest risk of internal displacement as a result of extreme weather events and are 150 times more likely to be displaced by extreme weather disasters than communities in Europe.
• Beyond 2012 if the growth rate were reduced to three percent yearly, carbon emissions in 2030 would be 28 MT, which is 70 percent of the UK's entire carbon emissions budget that year for all sectors of society.
• The expansion of power supply to rural communities remains a top priority for Government as it seeks to achieve its vision to make Zimbabwe a middle income economy by 2030.
• Marketers are forecast to spend $112bn (£85bn) on social media advertising in 2020 despite the fact that 31% of CMOs can not show the impact of social media on their business.
• Growth in Chile is projected to recover after interruptions from social unrest in late 2019, to 2.5 percent in 2020 and 3.0 percent in 2021.
• Online video (+16.6% average year-on-year growth) and social media (+13.8%) will remain the fastest-growing channels between 2019 and 2022, thanks mainly to continued increases in consumption on smartphones.
• The International Civil Aviation Organization is considering whether airlines will be able to use forest-based credits to offset their carbon emissions.
• Commonwealth Department of Employment projections show that health care and social assistance is the fastest growing industry in Australia, which are expected to add a quarter of a million jobs by 2023.
• In 2020, the Chinese government announced a social scoring system that will cover violations even by pedestrians - as well as misdemeanors in many other walks of life.
• Cargo traffic is expected to grow 2.0% in 2020 after a year of slowing economic growth, trade wars, geopolitical tensions, uncertainty over Brexit and social unrest contributed to a 3.3% contraction in airline freight business.
• The heads of two key environmental bodies have warned that 2020 is the last chance to bring the world together to tackle climate change to protect communities and nature.

See full forecast

Last updated: 16 February 2020