By Victoria Jenkins, Social Associate Director
Social media in 2025 is shaping up to be a mix of owning the ultra-personal and hyper-digital. It’s all about brands connecting deeper, more locally, and (sometimes) more quietly with their audiences. Here are 5 key social trends to watch out for in 2025:
1. Hyper-Personalised Social Content
Local is the new global. Micro-influencers with niche, community-focused content are likely to prosper like never before. As people crave more authentic, relatable content, the glamorous global influencers are feeling a tad out of touch. Instead, neighbourhood style influencers with highly tailored, hyper-local recommendations are set to thrive. Platforms are already experimenting with neighbourhood-based feeds, with smaller private groups. Think less content of celebrities having cocktails in Capri, more customised recommendations from your local coffee shop.
Forget one-size-fits-all. Deloitte’s data shows that nearly 75% of people are more likely to purchase from brands that deliver personalised experience. Generative AI is fuelling hyper-personalised content experiences, creating everything from individualised music playlists based on your daily mood, to AI-powered shopping assistants that redesign their recommendations in real time based on your recent digital purchases. A recent study by Botco showed that 73% of brands are already “using generative AI to help create text, images or videos”. This trend is only set to rise in 2025.
Why this trend owns it: This trend taps into the return to ‘community’, as people seek to establish closer connections online. Local influencers deliver value on the ground with more intimacy and less gloss, really owning their authenticity. People love feeling understood and generative AI tech provides highly tailored experiences, which makes content, recommendations, and even social shopping more enjoyable and relevant.
2. Silent Social and Long Form Content
In 2025, we’ll be more fatigued than ever by endless videos, trending sounds and flashing filters. Platforms are set to launch ‘silent social’ features: text-only posts with no images, videos, or audio. Imagine a social feed that is just text, thoughts, and raw updates. It’s minimalism for the digital soul and serves as a breather from the high-stimulation chaos we’re drowning in. Think of it as the introvert’s dream social media feed.
Despite predictions that our goldfish attention spans were toast, long-form more considered content is making a comeback too. But this isn’t just a return to lengthy blog posts or another podcast. Expect long-form content broken down into interactive chapters, quizzes, or mini-episodes. We’re talking ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ storytelling on social. Apps are developing functionality that lets creators serialise stories, add polls, or integrate micro-games to keep you engaged from start to finish. Even TikTok, the pioneer of short videos, now lets you post up to 10 minutes, while YouTube Shorts has tripled its video length to focus on more meaningful content.
To accompany long form content, the trend of ‘zero-click’ content looks set to rise, with more social posts delivering engagement and value without the need to click through to learn more. Think detailed LinkedIn posts or insightful Threads, where the content is rich enough to keep you hooked without needing to visit a website. This trend makes content more accessible and shareable, delivering instant value right in your scroll.
Why this trend owns it: Social media users are experiencing burnout from always needing to ‘perform.’ Silent social and long form content lets people be part of the conversation without worrying about aesthetics or high production quality. Attention spans are short, but interest in valuable, layered content isn’t. This format allows for full digital immersion, while still catering to the swipe-happy consumer.
3. Social Media for Search
Social platforms are set to seriously challenge traditional search engines as a brand discovery tool. Already, 64% of Gen Z have used TikTok as a search engine according to Adobe’s research, owning the phrase, “I Don’t Google, I TikTok”. The platforms user-generated content is often cited as feeling “more authentic” than the ads and optimised websites typically found at the top of traditional search engine results. A quarter of people said they primarily use social media to search online, this trend is only set to rise in 2025. Brands therefore need to ensure that the digital content they are creating is well optimised for social algorithms.
Why this trend owns it: Social media’s highly curated visual content makes accessing information extremely engaging and entertaining. However, social feeds tend to prioritise sensationalised posts, with the algorithms often promoting shocking content above practical information.
4. The Metaverse is Maturing
The Metaverse is evolving. This time, it’s not just about gaming or digital hangouts; it’s becoming the foundation for virtual shopping, socialising and creating. In 2025, the metaverse will allow for large scale gatherings, from virtual concerts to conferences. As VR and AR devices become cheaper and more accessible, everyone from artists to brands are establishing a presence there. The metaverse is shifting from a novelty to a fully functional, practical extension of the real world.
Why this trend owns it: With the right virtual infrastructure, people can engage in activities that feel less limited by physical and geographic constraints, opening up more accessible, globalised opportunities.
5. Vintage Meets Virtual
Nostalgia is set to reach a new level in 2025. We're not just talking about reposting childhood photos for #ThrowbackThursday - think retro-filtered experiences. Gen Z and Millennials are pulling out the stops to recreate the aesthetics of past decades, all while leveraging the tech of tomorrow. Expect filters that mimic everything from ‘90s VHS to early 2000s camcorder quality, but this time with AI-powered enhancements. We’re talking holographic throwbacks, immersive ‘3D Polaroids’, and ‘Augmented Reality Scrapbooks’.
Brand mascots are set for a big comeback in 2025 too, as AI prepares to breathe new life into these characters. This trend taps into both the younger audience discovering iconic characters and older generations reconnecting with mascots from their past. Expect a whole host of new AI animal friends for the iconic Evil Duolingo Owl!
Why this trend owns it: Nostalgia media plays into comfort zones in a high-tech era. It blends memory with the thrill of today's technology, offering a little bit of past warmth in the cold, hard digital future. In addition to nostalgia, brand mascots are evolving to play a central role in digital brand storytelling and AI social media engagement.
With the social media landscape evolving faster than ever, our final prediction is that we’ll be back in a few short months with a fresh forecast of new trends, and examples of the brands owning these.
