In my work I am constantly being asked about Social Media these days. How to do it, what platform, why is Facebook so bad etc. etc. and for a few years I have always spoken about “The Social Media Game” that you have to play to really get the best out of social media. However, in 2026, even the social media game is changing, and many are now refusing to play it! Here I will explain a few of my thoughts about why social media is changing and why for many it is no longer what it was…
So why do I call it the social media game? Well simply put, it is a game. A game with secretive rules nobody really knows, a game where your looks can make a difference, for better OR worse, a game that you have to play otherwise social media is a pretty pointless exercise and finally something you have to play i.e. try to do to make the best of it! Now in 2026 that game is far, far worse – for a multitude of reasons, but I shall try and break them down in this post for you…
In fact whilst writing this argument the UK Government has announced plans to make tech firms, so in effect social media firms, remove abusive images with 48 hrs otherwise severe punishments will be applied, and in the announcement they talk about 1 report means ALL instances of that image need to be removed. I cannot see how this law will be either easily applied or not result in a pretty much complete collapse of current social media usage as it will pretty much ensure that the “free” social media account in the UK is unsustainable straight away. We all have that “friend” on social media who is continually in FB jail, they will no longer have anywhere to easily post so they will go to either different platforms, or just leave social media. Paid social media I cannot see happening (though I know a few who pay for youtube premium which kinda counts) so pretty much the majority will leave what we currently regard social media as pretty quickly. In the UK this news, coupled with age verification and legislation around ads that is surely coming pretty much means 2026 will see the end of the “free” social media account for the vast majority!
So as the tinternet evolves, gets more and more regulated and free speech is eroded, social media is in the crosshairs of governments more and more. We have already seen how social media posts in the UK have resulted in people being jailed, and that really resulted in a lot of people stopping posting as much and has resulted in people moving to more liberal platforms and/or platforms that align with their political ideals. This swing means your choice of platform actually begins to tell people about how you are thinking WITHOUT you saying anything. Similarly platforms are also becoming age banded, so Facebook for example is now the preserve of the older (and less technical) users out there. Tik Tok is younger users, threads is more for people who want to just talk about things and not really do the media side or really link elsewhere. Instagram is rapidly becoming the middle ground, though as ads become more and more prevalent on that platform as well others are moving away. All of these things then also are influenced by the country you live in. Some countries just simply don’t use some platforms or they are banned. Without delving into specifics Meta owned platforms are being shunned by users who are not sympathetic to the US hold these platforms have, and to be fair, like in the UK, these same platforms are constantly under pressure now legally as well. All of these contribute to users going elsewhere. Long gone are the days that FB was the only worthwhile social media platform like it pretty much was for the first 10 years of it’s existence. I am seeing americans go back to X/Twitter again as they like the platform there for various reasons as well. The trends ebb and flow, but the one trend is that people are posting less than they used to. Either people post literally constantly or not as often as before. Take a look at your contacts/friends/user you follow, and nowadays it is common to see people who haven’t posted for a year or 2, yet still lurk about. Yes there are plenty who still post regularly, but their engagement is just not what it was generally. I am forever getting moaned at when people say nobody sees what they post or responds, and well, the simple fact is that people are just less likely to “like” everything these days. I know many who doomscroll and don’t like anything, ever, and comment even less. This is a simple by-product of the sheer amount of rubbish and AI slop about. Platforms are full of AI rubbish these days, and a lot of it is so obviously AI it is unreal(!). Also as these same platforms fight to keep your attention, and your ad money – then around in a big circle we go! I mean we have all seen the FB ragebait posts with a link in the first comment to get around FB policies about spam and links haven’t we? Users get (rightly) annoyed about this and eventually the constant rubbish posts drives them away. I cannot see how any reversal of this trend will happen either. Any platform/website needs traffic and ads to survive or they go down the hated subscription route, and here subs are declining according to pretty much everyone I speak to. Less disposable income has seen to less subs, it is a simple equation! I use FB as a point often because it is still (just) the biggest platform, but even that appears to be changing with it losing users hand over fist and the numbers joining are not boosting the overall numbers like they used to! Also regarding FB I am seeing a large number of people who actively despise the platform, and FB users are finding that this has had a huge impact over the years along with the above points…
So after all I have said, why do some users still see massive amounts of traffic and viral posts are still a thing. Well, it is down to luck and timing a lot of the time. The amount of viral posts seems to have gone down, but there is still room for a viral post to be massive. I do have to sound a note of caution here though, as many of the so called influencers use various methods to boost their numbers. Paying for likes is still a thing in 2026, and plenty of people still make large amounts of content in the hope one of their posts will be massive and they will earn a large amount from their work. Also out and out lying seems to be on the increase. I know loads of people who have blatantly lied about how much they make, how many views and likes or interactions they get. Bot farms will also guarantee you a couple of thousand likes and that is easily enough these days to tip a post into going viral as the algos will soon boost it further. I know plenty of users who also budget each week to boost their posts to keep up numbers. That isn’t sustainable in the long run and is a symptom of something that is beginning to fail. The amount of users who are out to just make money is now astounding and with this competition it just becomes harder and harder for average people to have their posts seen. The old fashioned way of Facebook for example being about connecting people is disappearing fast, with even the FB execs and especially Le Zuckerberg saying it is NOT about connecting people any more but content. Threads is about connecting people and this means that there has been a huge shift away from FB, and I can only see a 2-tier social media setup coming along with those that pay and those that simply don’t. Most of the people I know simply won’t pay and soon you will see features being removed unless you pay. There simply isn’t the disposable income for many nowadays for traditional “free” social media to work, you might have a “free” platform but they literally sell EVERYTHING about you and laden everything with so many ads it is pointless. Here in the UK we are already seeing newspapers having so many ads that they are worthless and then a paywall on top! Social Media is going that way…
So there we are – social media is changing. The internet is changing! The regulations mean that people cannot just post what they want any longer without repercussions and wholly that IS a good thing. I mean we will have a lot of pain in the eyes of many before it comes good again, and I am confident that the internet in general is going to become a lot more expensive to just enjoy. This will, and already has, put off a lot of long term internet users, but this is basically how it has become. Think of 2026 as when social media goes through the transformation that streaming has brought to TV and/or music where a monthly subscription is thought of as normal. That is the way social media is going, you don’t have to pay but you will get more if you do…