knowledge.ai, the corporate previously often called App Annie, has revealed its annual overview of app performance trends, highlighting all the important thing shifts and developments of be aware in 2022.
The 91-page report features a heap of insights throughout varied app sectors. You’ll be able to obtain the complete report here (with e mail sign-up), however on this submit, we’ll check out the social media-specific insights, and what the important thing traits had been in social apps over the past 12 months.
First off, knowledge.ai highlights the rise of BeReal, which noticed a giant soar as customers sought a extra genuine, easy social media expertise.
As per the report:
“BeReal broke out as a popular social sensation in 2022, appealing to users by selling a more authentic, less curated, experience. In fact, no social app has added more new users in the US in any of the past five years than BeReal’s 5.3 million in August 2022.”
That stat, in isolation, could possibly be a bit deceptive, as BeReal didn’t crack essentially the most prime obtain stats, total, in most areas.
As you possibly can see, that crown stays safely within the clutches of Meta, although TikTok additionally carried out effectively in most markets.
The problem for BeReal now, as knowledge.ai notes, is diversifying and constructing on that spotlight, as a result of whereas prompting customers to share an image as soon as a day clearly has a stage of attraction, there’s not loads of engagement or monetization potential inside that.
Which will not be a difficulty – BeReal itself nonetheless appears undecided if it even wants to incorporate ads. However then once more, at some stage, it’ll should fund its prices, so it’ll want to include some type of add-on or promoting to generate earnings within the app.
It stays to be seen whether or not that’s a bridge that it’ll have the ability to encourage customers to cross.
TikTok, in the meantime, is the opposite key speaking level of information.ai’s social report, with the insights additionally displaying that TikTok generated essentially the most in-app income of any social app in 2022.

As you possibly can see in these charts, which break down precisely what folks had been shopping for in every app, TikTok has offered a heap of its in-app Coins, which allow customers to donate cash to creators or purchase objects in-stream.
These are notably common on live-streams, enabling customers to make purchases and contribute to broadcasters within the app. Stay-stream buying, total, hasn’t develop into a significant pattern exterior of China as but, however the stats right here present that extra TikTok customers are shopping for in-app forex, which factors to future potential for the method, if it may possibly get it proper.
As you possibly can see, Snapchat’s Snapchat+ subscription possibility has additionally fared fairly effectively, when it comes to in-app purchases, whereas Instagram’s live-stream badges, which spotlight your feedback in-stream, have additionally been comparatively profitable, compared to its different choices.
Although these aren’t precise buy quantities, so it’s onerous to place any actual inventory within the worth of those stats.
Additionally, the Twitter Blue numbers right here replicate the unique Twitter Blue providing, not the up to date, $8 verification plan.
knowledge.ai additionally notes that the US has now handed Japan and China to develop into the highest marketplace for client spending for social apps, whereas smaller markets are additionally seeing extra progress in in-app spend.
“Markets outside of the big three (the US, China, and Japan) only combined for 30 percent of consumer spending in 2019. This climbed to nearly 40 percent in 2022 while global spending more than tripled over this period.”
That, once more, factors to the potential for in-stream buying, together with creator monetization, if every platform can get its respective providing/s proper. Shoppers are more and more keen to spend in-app, it’s now a matter of incentivizing that motion, and facilitating higher cost experiences and choices, to be able to lean into and develop that conduct.
Lastly, knowledge.ai additionally notes that complete time spent utilizing social apps rose 17% year-over-year, now surpassing 2 trillion hours on Android telephones in 2022.

Clearly, social apps proceed to dominate consideration, with cell video more and more taking on an increasing number of person time, which stays a key pattern of be aware for entrepreneurs seeking to maximize consideration and attain.
General, the info seemingly doesn’t reveal something surprising or stunning, however it’s price noting the precise numbers behind the important thing traits, and what they could imply for future improvement.
And as you possibly can see, TikTok would look like sitting on the largest alternative, based mostly on each the money and time being spent in-app. If TikTok can additional construct on these behaviors – and avoid a ban in the US – it may go from energy to energy in 2023.
You’ll be able to obtain knowledge.ai’s full ‘State of Mobile 2023’ report here.