Glossary
Social commerce
Commerce conducted within or initiated by social platforms — TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping, live shopping, creator storefronts.
Also known as: Social shopping
Social commerce is commerce that originates on, or transacts within, social platforms. The category spans:
- Native social shops — TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping, YouTube Shopping.
- Live shopping — real-time sessions with creators selling in-stream.
- Creator storefronts — affiliate and shop links operated by individual creators.
- Off-platform commerce driven by social discovery — the bulk of the channel today.
How it relates to creator commerce
Creator commerce is the operational layer underneath social commerce. The creator is the unit of activation; social is the surface; commerce is the outcome. A Creator Commerce OS operates discovery, activation, attribution, and payout across all of these surfaces — not just one.