The ultimate guide to getting back into routine: everything that’s changed on social media

In 2025, social networks are experiencing a major paradox: AI is producing content at an unprecedented speed, while users are demanding real connections and less noise. The rules of the game have changed, and brands that don’t understand this tension run the risk of being left out of the conversation. LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok… they’re all evolving, and with them so are consumption habits and audience expectations. So, what trends will shape the coming months, and how can brands leverage them to stand out without losing their essence? Keep reading and discover the keys to gaining relevance in the new era of social media.

1. Changes in social platforms.

LinkedIn: The place where your brand must be (and stand out!).

LinkedIn is no longer just for job hunting; it has transformed from a job board into the epicentre of professional content. It’s now the key platform for generating valuable conversations and building thought leadership. According to the latest Metricool report, the platform continues to grow, with around 1.2 billion registered users, accounting for 31.4% of internet users. This reflects an annual growth in active users of 9%, a higher figure than TikTok’s 6.7% annual increase, although TikTok still has a larger total number of users.

Why is LinkedIn interesting for brands?

• Employer brand in the spotlight: LinkedIn allows companies to organically showcase their internal culture, attracting qualified talent that aligns with their values. This is a great opportunity for senior management and other company spokespeople to offer a more human and genuine perspective that other channels can’t convey with the same intimacy and authenticity.
• Rise of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs): Collaboration between brands and opinion leaders who have already built niche authority will continue to grow, especially in the B2B sector.
• A network (still) without noise: LinkedIn remains relatively free of controversy and toxicity, making it an ideal channel for building a reputation without the risks of misinformation or polarisation.
• Where video format works: Video content grew by 53% on LinkedIn last year. It’s an expanding format that allows brands and leaders to transmit more human messages with high added value.
• Goodbye to corporate tone: More and more brands are abandoning cold, formal language to adopt a more approachable, informative, and entertaining voice. Cases like Monzo and HubSpot are leading the way.

LinkedIn’s growth is expected to continue, particularly if it integrates AI tools for content production directly on the platform, as other social networks like TikTok Studio and Instagram Edits have done. If this happens, we would be in a new era of native content that will allow brands to continue conquering LinkedIn and coexist with more active users.

Instagram: Conversation, video, and security.

In 2025, Instagram has introduced strategic changes focused on security, native video creation, and direct conversation, in line with what is already working on TikTok and other less mature platforms.

• Greater security for Gen Z: Improvements in parental controls, filters, and privacy are making Instagram a safer space for young people, which is a key point for brands looking to connect with this audience.
• Edits and the rise of TikTok-style native video: Meta launched Edits, an app for creating native, vertical audiovisual content, aligning with TikTok’s logic and facilitating agile content production for brands and creators.
• Boost to DMs: Instagram is promoting the use of direct messages as a direct connection channel between brands and users, with new features for sharing, saving, and replying to content without leaving the feed, as well as automated options.
• Cross-platform integration trend: The Meta ecosystem (Instagram–Threads–WhatsApp) is starting to consolidate a more fluid logic between platforms, opening up new possibilities for cross-channel strategies.

TikTok: A platform beyond entertainment and the concern with well-being.

In 2025, TikTok is no longer just the app for viral videos; it has reinforced its role as a discovery platform and taken action to safeguard the well-being of its users.

• Entertainment is no longer the only thing rewarded: The platform is prioritising useful, relevant content that fosters valuable interactions more than ever. Educating, answering questions, or entertaining with purpose is gaining more weight over purely viral content, which helps the platform continue to position itself as a search engine.
• New tools, all-in-one platform: TikTok is making work easier for creators and brands with a more complete panel that allows them to edit, schedule, and measure results without leaving the platform’s ecosystem.
• More integrated and personalised advertising: Campaigns are becoming more native and segmented, reinforcing the community-first approach. The key has been to integrate them more organically into the feed, adapting to the style of content each user consumes. This allows brands to connect with communities from within, without interrupting the experience.
• Digital well-being as a priority: TikTok is strengthening its commitment to mental health and conscious use of technology through features like Screen Time Management, Sleep Hours, and the new Wellness Missions tool, which proposes short challenges to encourage healthy digital habits. This approach helps build a more balanced relationship between users, creators, and the platform, especially among younger audiences.

The King Is dead, long live the King: The carousel takes the crown from video.

A clear trend is emerging: the carousel is gaining prominence as the leading format on social media in general. While its impact is smaller on TikTok—where video remains the dominant format—its growth on other platforms is undeniable. 

On LinkedIn, for example, carousels have positioned themselves as the formats with the highest engagement (45.85%), with an average of 791.12 interactions. On Instagram, carousels receive an average of 154 more interactions than single-image posts, a 16% year-on-year increase. 

Pretty Little Marketer already anticipated this content paradigm shift with a small manual (in carousel format, of course) on the key reasons why they work and the types of content brands and creators can use to get the most out of them.

2. What’s trending?

The impact of AI on the digital ecosystem and the quest for authenticity. 

Have you seen the kangaroo with the rejected boarding pass at the airport? It’s not real, but it went viral on TikTok. AI has unleashed an era of limitless creativity but has also brought a downside: cloned, superficial content and more misinformation. In response, platforms like YouTube and Meta have started to take stricter measures, updating their policies to penalise “non-original” content and reward creators who genuinely add value within the platform.

The shift towards authenticity also explains the boom in Pinterest (570 million monthly active users) and the resurgence of Tumblr (135 million active users, 50% of which are Gen Z). These two platforms are ideal options in this context oriented towards authenticity, reflecting the transformation of user behaviour and their migration from platforms in the near future.

What are the ‘must-haves’ for content to be more authentic?

• Don’t replicate a trend… make it your own! It’s not enough to just replicate a meme or mindlessly join any trend. Brands must first ask themselves if it adds anything to their universe. If the answer is “yes,” it’s not about just following the trend but about adding a unique insight, aesthetic, or approach. This allows you to build an authentic and recognisable brand language, creating strategic content that differentiates you in an oversaturated context. A great example is Duolingo, which adapts trends to its identity with a unique voice and its now iconic green characters, recognisable all over the world.
• Create for a community, not for “everyone.” Connect with micro-audiences and niches; hyper-personalisation will do the rest. Users value brands that can participate in conversations and topics that aren’t mainstream or obvious. Explore new, more segmented spaces to strengthen more authentic connections! Let’s look at the case of Ryanair, which creates “risky” and different humorous content, shaped by the needs and socio-political context surrounding low-cost travel.
• Use AI, but with a human touch. AI is not your enemy, but the human touch is essential to resonate on social media. The key? Creative editing, a unique voice, and being transparent about its use. Toyota has managed to get the most out of AI thanks to the human factor, creating original and relevant content through creative concepts that also manage to convey their story and the brand’s innovative spirit.

@toyota_esp

El #Toyota #bZ4X se funde con la naturaleza 😏🦫 #Capybara

♬ sonido original – Toyota_Esp – Toyota_Esp

Digital Fatigue and the Return to Analogue.

The term Digital Fatigue is becoming more and more prominent in 2025, and it’s no coincidence. We are hyper-connected, but also exhausted. The constant avalanche of content on our screens has gone from being an advantage to becoming an impossible-to-sustain mental noise. According to an eMarketer report, 81% of Gen Z adults and 78% of Millennials want to disconnect from digital devices more easily. And almost half of young people—46%—are already taking action, actively limiting their screen time.

In line with this, Pinterest’s Summer Report was already anticipating users’ widespread desire to disconnect from the digital world and connect with nature. This is very clear from the increase in searches for terms like “digital detox ideas” (+72%) and “digital detox vision boards” (+273%).

Given this saturation, brands are exploring a different path: creating analogue experiences that spark emotion by playing with the tangible, giving people back the feeling of real connection away from screens. A good example is Rare Beauty’s recent campaign in New York, where they installed a “scratch and sniff” billboard that allowed passers-by to smell the product by scratching the surface.

The proposal revives a nostalgic and analogue resource, such as those scented advertisements in magazines from the 1990s, but reinvents it in a contemporary way by combining the physical and the digital in a hybrid approach that connects with audiences through sensory surprise and emotional memory.

Authenticity Redefined: From UGC/EGC to AI.

Saturation isn’t just an attention problem, it’s a catalyst that is redefining the value of authenticity on social media. In a digital landscape where generic content is proliferating (partly due to the democratisation of AI), audiences not only want to disconnect but also crave genuine and transparent connections. This is where the paradox comes to life: while AI generates an unprecedented volume of content, the most innovative brands are responding by betting on the human element. In 2025, user-generated content (UGC) and employee-generated content (EGC) are the strategies brands are using to break through the cloud of digital content and truly connect with their audiences.

• UGC: The voice of the community as social proof, strategically orchestrated. UGC is the content your audience creates spontaneously. However, in 2025, “spontaneity” is an illusion. The reality is that the most daring and agile brands don’t wait for it to happen; they orchestrate it with a masterful strategy. That’s why the most agile brands are understanding that the best way to inspire this content is through IRL (in real life) events, trips, memorable PR packages, or by building strong communities of creators.
• EGC: Employees as authentic ambassadors. Who knows your brand better than the people who build it every day? EGC is the content created by your employees that shows the company’s culture, mission, and values. It’s a glimpse into the real life behind the curtain, which builds trust and closeness. Brands like Repsol and Eroski have opted for brand ambassador programmes. Repsol, for example, turns both executives and employees into thought-leaders and ambassadors through its “galaxy of voices”. With the We Community, the brand opts to build from within, influencing, connecting, and inspiring. Through shared publications, experiences, and knowledge, several of these ambassadors have managed to position themselves as Top Voices on LinkedIn, creating an authentic network that amplifies the brand’s impact. Eroski, on the other hand, has demonstrated the importance of senior leadership. Its leaders have understood that by taking the first step on LinkedIn, they not only position themselves as voices of authority but also set an example to reinforce brand values and empower the employees who make it up.

But where do AI influencers fit into all this? In the 2025 landscape, virtual influencers are a hot topic. One example is Mia Zelu, who went viral covering Wimbledon, gaining more than 160,000 followers despite never setting foot on a single tennis court. Mia, with her virtual perfection and consistent content, presents herself as a charming and effective figure. While UGC and EGC continue to provide that spark of human authenticity that we all need, AI influencers are beginning to redefine what it means to be genuine. Is it truly authentic when the “influencer” representing a brand is completely digital? As brands explore new ways to connect with the public, the big question is: can a virtual avatar generate the same trust as a friend, an employee, or a real consumer?

Beyond Generation Z.

In 2025, digital saturation has led to a redefinition of social media consumption. Although platforms are an intergenerational medium for entertainment, Gen Z is the only age group that has decreased their social media use. This aligns with the trend that 67% of Gen Z are no longer interested in fame, which makes segmentation by age lose relevance in favour of segmentation by interest. 

For brands, the key is not to exclusively pursue Gen Z, but to embrace intergenerational consumption. Algorithms have evolved from a Social Graph to an Interest Graph, prioritising behavioural patterns over demographics. This represents a great opportunity: the most agile marketers are generating content that connects with different ages, as 66% of Millennials and Gen Z enjoy watching videos of older people. Inclusivity is not just a value but a tactical advantage that expands a brand’s reach and generates more meaningful connections. To achieve this, brands must be intentionally diverse in their content strategy, which includes:

• Integrating ALT text to ensure accessibility.
• Prioritising visual diversity in casting and collaborations.
• Collaborating with influencers who break age and body stereotypes

3. Future Predictions.

Goodbye to the traditional content plans: Personality and connection as the protagonists.

In 2025, the traditional editorial plan, with its rigid calendars and pre-established schedules, has become obsolete. The paradigm has changed: brands should no longer ask “what do I want to say?” but “what are people talking about?” and “how can I join that conversation?”. The real value lies in understanding that social media are not platforms to fill gaps but cultural spaces where users co-create trends. Agility and real-time relevance are now the keys to generating connection. This requires a flexible approach, focused on the brand’s personality and its ability to participate authentically in a conversation that moves unpredictably. How can brands incorporate this into their workflow?

Active listening as a driver of innovation.

To stay relevant, brands must demonstrate that they actively listen to their audience. A key example of this is instax, which observed a pattern of recurring comments about their favourite cameras, the Mini Evo and the WIDE. The brand listened to its community, which expressed their love for the large format and analogue aesthetic, and understood this demand as a fundamental pillar for its innovation. By actively monitoring comments on its social media, instax shows that it directs its product development based on its followers’ wishes. This approach not only responds to the needs of its community but also reinforces its values as an innovative brand. The tangible result of this active listening was the launch of the instax WIDE Evo.

Trends, experimentation, and meaningful creativity.

Brands must be selective with the trends they follow, but also more creatively daring, exploring new formats and getting out of the echo chamber. They should start thinking more like creators and less like isolated entities, but without losing their strategy and brand ‘why’. A good example is Burberry, which has managed to modernise without losing its essence. 

The brand has combined luxury with accessibility, connecting with younger audiences through collaborations with influencers and content creators who represent contemporary British culture, such as Aimee Lou Wood and Richard E Grant. Burberry has used its social media, particularly TikTok and Instagram, in an experimental and creative way, not just to promote products, but also to tell emotional and cultural stories that resonate with both its traditional and current audiences, as well as newer ones. 

Loewe, on the other hand, demonstrates an equally bold but different approach. The brand has cracked the TikTok code, a medium that has historically clashed with the exclusivity of luxury. Instead of limiting itself to showing perfection, Loewe immerses itself in spontaneity and humour, becoming a “cultural chameleon”. Their campaigns go viral not by following trends but by creating them, whether with a video of Sofia Richie’s husband joking about the design of a £2,700 pair of boots or transforming the confusion over its pronunciation into a viral short film. Instead of ignoring the joke, Loewe joined the conversation with wit and agility, proving that it can laugh at itself without losing its essence. With this strategy, Loewe is not only winning the hearts of Gen Z but is also building a personal connection that lays the foundation for its long-term legacy.

@loewe

#duet with @Sofia Richie Grainge The ducks that get it, get it 🦆 💅 #LOEWE

♬ original sound – Sofia Richie Grainge

Resurgence of live video and shopping.

The digital universe is so vast that several opposing trends can coexist at the same time. While digital fatigue has led to a return to analogue, it is paradoxically living alongside a clear antagonist: Mass Live Shopping on social networks. This live e-commerce format, which originated in China, is revolutionising social media and aligning perfectly with fast shopping. This phenomenon, which has only just begun in the West, allows brands to conduct live broadcasts where users can view products, interact, and make purchases in real-time. This social e-commerce model is, of course, expanding globally, with giants like Instagram and TikTok adapting and integrating live shopping functionalities, as seen in the success of brands like QVC.

The rise of long content.

Contrary to the belief that attention spans are getting shorter, long-form content is making a comeback. Movies and albums are getting longer, and this trend is also reflected in the return of the newsletter format through platforms like Substack. This platform, which reached a valuation of $1.1 billion in 2025, has more than 5 million paid subscriptions, demonstrating the viability of this model. Interest in deep, detailed content has doubled since 2019, as shown by searches for “video essays”. 

Furthermore, 71% of podcast listeners are from Gen Z or Millennials. For brands, this presents an opportunity to go beyond fleeting formats and build deeper connections through storytelling. The key strategy to capitalise on this trend includes serialising content, creating different tiers of content, and thinking of the team as the brand itself.

Leaving the feed for more “private” spaces.

Faced with the saturation of the public feed, where the competition for attention is fierce, brands are redefining their strategies to seek a more intimate and direct connection with their audience. The trend is clear: abandoning an “on-air” mindset to adopt a “conversational” one. Brands are migrating to more “private” or semi-public spaces where dialogue is the protagonist. This manifests in various ways. On the one hand, we see the rise of broadcast channels and the integration of WhatsApp into marketing strategies, allowing brands to send direct and exclusive messages to more select communities. On the other hand, interacting in the comments section has become an art: brands not only reply to their own posts but organically participate in other people’s or even competitors’ conversations. With this approach, they stop being a corporate entity and become a participant in the digital culture, demonstrating authenticity and agility in real-time.

The new metric of relevance: Human connection.

In 2025, relevance is not measured in products, but in people. The human voice and “behind-the-scenes” outweigh any corporate claim. Brand ambassadors, when they fit the energy and purpose, are no longer an accessory and become living proof of a coherent universe. The rise of formats like Instagram’s Repost or newsletters on Substack confirms that connection and reflection generate more traction than volume. 

This has led to mindful posting: agile, less bureaucratic calendars that can respond in real-time. In this same context, brands can no longer be limited to communicating; they are part of cultural movements, and that belonging has become non-negotiable.

In a scenario of digital fatigue, what prevails is not perfection, but the human element: imperfect, diverse, and real.