Speaking of social media—did you know the 2025 Brand Intimacy Study is built on analyzing billions of words about how people feel about brands across the social internet? This year, we factored in data across seven major platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), Quora, and Reddit. These companies are not just the backdrop of our analysis; they are central players. They are a primary source through which we research consumer bonds, but they are also leading brands in one of the most influential industries of our time: social platforms. (To learn more about our methodology, click here.)
Looking deeper into the category, our focus here is on social platforms as brands in their own right. These brands live or die based on the depth and durability of their emotional bonds with users.
The Power and Peril of Social
The world of information, and marketing specifically, is shaped by social consensus and algorithms against a backdrop of volatile politics and post-pandemic recalibration. Today, most consumers are guided by conversations online, even if they participate only as passive observers. 93% say they read online reviews before making a purchase, and almost 53% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.1 Younger generations in particular base purchase decisions less on traditional advertising and more on what they see from peers, influencers, and creators on social feeds. 70% of Gen Z consumers and 69% of millennials only trust a brand after conducting their own research. In addition, 56% of Gen Z consumers said, “Brands often lie about their products or services,” compared with 47% of millennials2.
Love is harder than ever to earn and easier than ever to lose. Collective intelligence has become the new marketplace arbiter. For brands, this is a brutal truth: one viral post can accelerate growth, while one bad week can obliterate trust. Social platforms themselves sit at the epicenter of this transformation, acting as gatekeepers, community builders, and manipulators of attention.
In our 2025 Brand Intimacy Study, the social media industry ranked fifth overall out of 22 industries, with an average Brand Intimacy Quotient (BIQ) of 31, outperforming the cross-industry average by nearly 25%. This outperformance highlights the power and influence of this sector within the attention economy.
Fragility Behind the Feed
Despite their strength, the perceived value of social platforms remains fragile. Studies have long documented negative psychological effects of heavy use, ranging from depression to body image issues, particularly for young users.3
A technological shift has intensified this fragility. What began as networks connecting friends and family has become algorithmic attention-mining, better described as the interest graph.5 Algorithms designed to create engagement now amplify vulnerabilities and fuel division, because that is what generates attention. That’s not to mention other bad-faith actors, often described as “conflict entrepreneurs,” who thrive by deepening polarization4 for their own gain. Feeds no longer reflect who you know; they reflect what will keep you scrolling. The result is echo chambers that foster manipulation instead of empowerment.
Influencers, a core part of the creator economy, may feel especially vulnerable. Careers built on authentic communities can be disrupted by sudden policy shifts, demonetization, or algorithm tweaks beyond their control—let alone the rising threat of generative AI. This fragility is reflected in our industry results, which show how different brands are creating stronger emotional bonds with consumers, and how they are doing it. TikTok, despite its cultural dominance, underperforms and comes in at #12 in the industry, falling behind smaller competitors such as Bumble and Discord. Reddit (#16) and Quora (#15), both with large communities, also ranked near the bottom of the industry. The most striking decline is X (Twitter). Once a leader in Brand Intimacy, it has fallen to #18, the lowest position in the category. Under Elon Musk’s ownership, weakened moderation and dramatic governance changes have driven away users and advertisers. Communities that once relied on Twitter for connection scattered to alternatives. Threads, Meta’s opportunistic spin-up, benefited from the collapse, debuting with a BIQ of 33.3 and ranking #8 in the industry, fueled by 100 million sign-ups in its first five days of existence.6
The Sticky Science of Connection
Paradoxically, social platforms also show remarkable resilience. Their greatest flaws—addictive design, opaque algorithms, and volatile policies—are also their greatest strengths. Curated feeds act as dopamine factories, where every like, share, and swipe sharpens the algorithm until the feed mirrors your desires. That is why people scroll in bed long after they meant to stop.
This resilience often overshadows negative press. Despite growing public skepticism, people return daily—often hourly—with an average of two hours and 24 minutes spent on social media per day. The numbers highlight how sticky these platforms remain.
Equally important to resilience is the scale of the creator economy. Social platforms have fueled an explosion of micro-brands: individual influencers, niche communities, and content entrepreneurs who capture attention and drive commerce in ways traditional ads no longer can. Valued at over $250 billion in 2025, the creator economy is projected to double by 2027.8 It is both a driver of platform dynamics and a beneficiary of them.
From a Brand Intimacy perspective, Meta reigns supreme and demonstrates enduring strength in its ability to bond with users. Its family of brands is omnipresent:
- Facebook (#1, BIQ: 46.1) tops social platform rankings and enters the overall top 20 across all industries.
- Instagram (#4, BIQ:42.3) continues to dominate among younger users and creators.
- WhatsApp (#6, BIQ: 37.8) shows the enduring appeal of direct, encrypted communication.
- Threads (#8, BIQ: 33.3) represents one of the fastest brand ascents we have ever recorded.
Together, Meta’s connected ecosystem touches nearly 4 billion users globally,9 making it the undisputed gravitational center of the social universe.
From Connection to Commodification
Social media has become the ultimate treasure hunt: every swipe promises a recipe, gadget, workout routine, or meme that could transform your day. This shift from passive consumption to active discovery has redefined how audiences engage, form opinions, and make purchase decisions. Yet the paradox remains: social platforms thrive on emotional intimacy even as they commodify and manipulate it for profit. The trust and personal value that once fueled their growth is now under strain.
For social platforms, the path forward is precarious. Their survival depends on balancing the power of connection with the ethics of commodification. If they can deliver experiences that align users with user passions while reinforcing trust and efficacy, they may deepen the intimacy that sustains them. If not, backlash could become existential.
Content is central to user engagement and to the success of companies like Meta. For brands navigating this ecosystem, the lesson is clear: social platforms are the frontline of consumer perception and are no longer optional. But long-term success in today’s algorithm-controlled environment means more than reach and figuring out how to game the system. Brands on these platforms must use emotional levers— just as Meta does—to build lasting consumer connections and achieve sustainable success.
Get an overview of Brand Intimacy here.
Read our detailed methodology here. Our Amazon best-selling book is available at all your favorite booksellers. To learn more about how we help clients enhance their consumer bonds, visit mblm.com/services.
Sources
1 DemandSage. (2025). Online review statistics 2025. Retrieved from https://www.demandsage.com/online-review-statistics/
2 Vogue Business. (2024, April 18). Gen Z broke the marketing funnel. Retrieved from https://www.voguebusiness.com/story/consumers/gen-z-broke-the-marketing-funnel
3 Uhls, Y. T., Ellison, N. B., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2023). Social media and youth mental health: A call for action. Pediatrics, 152(2), e2023063288. National Library of Medicine. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10476631/
4 Knight First Amendment Institute. (2023, March 7). The algorithmic management of polarization and violence on social media. Columbia University. Retrieved from https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-algorithmic-management-of-polarization-and-violence-on-social-media
5 Cornell University. (2022, September 12). The shift from social graphs to socio-interest graphs within social media algorithms. Cornell Blogs. Retrieved from https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2022/09/12/the-shift-from-social-graphs-to-socio-interest-graphs-within-social-media-algorithms/
6 Forbes (2023, July 7). 100 million sign-ups in 5 days: 8 reasons why Threads is blowing up. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2023/07/07/70-million-sign-ups-8-reasons-why-threads-is-blowing-up/
7 University of Maine. (n.d.). Social media statistics details. Undiscovered Maine – Small Business Resources. Retrieved from https://umaine.edu/undiscoveredmaine/small-business/resources/marketing-for-small-business/social-media-tools/social-media-statistics-details/
8 Forbes. (2025, June 16). How the creator economy is reshaping modern marketing — and why brands are paying attention. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lowes-creator/2025/06/16/how-the-creator-economy-is-reshaping-modern-marketing–and-why-brands-are-paying-attention/
9 Statista. (2023). Meta: Monthly active product family users 2019–2023. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/947869/facebook-product-mau/