Our Top Social Media Predictions for 2026
On the last day of 2025 the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, posted a 20-slide update on what users & creators can expect from instagram in the year to come along with strategic insights on how creators can stand out this year.
Needless to say, everything is changing.
AI has completely disrupted the creator industry. Everything that made creators matter is now accessible to anyone with the right tools.
Trust in institutions is at an all time low. This change has shifted power to individuals. Your authenticity is going to become your most sacred resource.
As AI content continues to become more & more realistic, the professional look becomes the tell.
So, what can creators do to adapt? We've got to get better at being human. Imperfect. Real. Raw. Connections.
The bar is shifting. People are drawn to the raw aesthetic. It's proof that this is real. Creators who can maintain trust & signal authenticity will be the ones to stand out.
It's time to be real & transparent. The ability to be real, to connect, & to have a voice of your own that can't be faked is what will set you apart.
It’s more obvious than ever, media platforms are changing. Here’s what you need to know to stay ahead of the curve in 2026.
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Followers & Subscriber Count Will No Longer Matter
If you are like the majority of creators in 2025, you might have noticed a drop in followers over the last year. People are becoming pickier about using the follow button. With the increasing power of algorithms, users are trusting their feeds to bring relevant content back to them rather than following individual creations.
So, what does that mean for us? Focus on the metrics that matter: watch time, retention, and engagement.
The biggest takeaway? A creator's audience size doesn't determine how well brand partnerships perform. Brands are heavily investing in how they measure a creator's impact. Average views, engagement rates and audience sentiment are the new metrics to optimize for.
As creators, you can expect brands to be more interested in multi-channel partnerships this year. Think product collabs, custom website landing pages, and a massive emphasis on live events.
Predictability is the new consistency
2025 was the year of the "signature series". If your feed looks anything like mine, you will have seen mini-series and social shows all over your for you page. Audiences are craving predictability. Developing content formats that you can repeat and consistent posting routines will help you get ahead of the curve in 2026.
Creator discovery for brands will be less rooted in demographics this year. Instead, brand partnerships are searched for by topics. The key for creators? Focus your attention on building a dynamic brand that covers multiple different topics for one niche audience.
Social Media is the New TV
It goes without saying, the world has woken up to the power of creators.
More people are consuming social media content on their TVs than traditional media networks. Yes, you heard that right. In 2025, YouTube reported over 1 billion hours of daily watch time. That's more than streaming services, broadcast networks, and cable channels combined.
With these statistics, socials have officially overtaken traditional media:
More people watched YouTube in 2025 than Disney+ and Netflix combined.
Over 2 billion monthly users on TikTok.
67% of marketers plan to increase influencer budgets.
65% of consumers say relatable creator content drives their purchase decisions.
Roughly 50 million global creators are competing in the market.
The Content Creation Industry is worth around $250 Billion and is expected to double by 2027.
So, what does that mean for us?
There are HUGE opportunities coming for creators.
Audiences are expecting more from the social content they engage with.
Over-saturation is leading to the creator market becoming even more competitive.
Now more than ever, we need to make sure that we are creating high quality narrative driven content if you want to stand out from the competition.
High Quality Storytelling is Becoming the Norm + The Death of the Aesthetic Influencer & the Birth of Polished Human Content
In a surprising turn of events, high quality content no longer means overly-polished aesthetics. The creators most likely to succeed in 2026 will be focused on telling a good story with high quality production value.
The data is clear: people are burnt out on aesthetic content. With social media taking the place of TV & the introduction of people telling longer stories (think: “who TF did I marry” TikTok saga) people are using social media in a different way.
Users are less interested in education and more interested in connection, relatability & human-ness.
What does that mean for creators? Focus on casual, polished content that gives audiences value through connection. Think: sitting in your apartment in a sweat suit while filming in 4K.
This is a return to what social media was designed for: connection. This is an era for sharing your journey, your experiences, what you're going through, your opinions, hot takes, and perspective on things. Specifically, all the things you can't get from AI.
As people are getting stricter with their screen time, the bar for the content they consume is rising. In 2026 aim for high quality, good looking, human, connection-based content that is focused on your unique journey. Remember, the hero's journey is a tale as old as time.
AI : influencing the process of content creation & not the end result
With the rise of AI slop in 2025, there has been an overall decline in people's interest in it. Brands are looking to work with creators who produce human content.
For the creators who will succeed in 2026, AI will have a bigger role in the PROCESS of content creation, not the end result. Use these tools to tweak your hooks & scripts as well as speed up the editing process but avoid trying to use them to replace human-to-human connection.
AI engines are reshaping the way people find & discover creators. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is becoming as important as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
So, how can you optimize your content for Generative Engines?
1. Use consistent terminology.
Language models weigh consistency heavily in their search results. The more you can consistently say & write the same word(s) the higher you will rank for that word. Just remember, humans before machines. Try to avoid keyword stuffing: If it sounds unnatural people will be less likely to engage with it.
2. Write your captions & descriptions in short chunks of text.
Believe it or not, AI is less likely to process long paragraphs. Creators who learn how to use direct & concise language to effectively make their point will have a better standing in GEO models.
3. Provide complete & direct answers to your community in your content.
AI engines are looking to pull quick extractable answers to commonly asked questions. The more direct & complete your content is, the more AI will see you as an authority in your subject matter.
It’s time to master the human element
This is the year to focus on connection over perfection. What makes you real? What makes people drawn to you? What is your original & unique point of view?
Audiences are looking for creators they can trust & admire. As AI gets better at making perfectly crafted images & posts, the demand for creator content actually increases.
It's no longer a game of "can you create content", in 2026 creators who stand out will do so by crafting content only YOU can create. Share the blurry photos & shaky videos of your day-to-day life. Your rawness isn't aesthetic preference -- it's proof: this is real because it's imperfect.
