For a long time, we liked to imagine that the following year would revolutionize everything overnight. In reality, Social Media works differently: major shifts first arrive as weak signals and eventually become impossible to ignore.
This is the exercise we conducted in episode 2 of The Feed: separating the probable, the bold, and the desirable. In other words, what will almost certainly happen, what could reshuffle the deck, and what we would genuinely like to see emerge on the brand and creator side.
Our first realistic prediction is clear: social will be even more "Video First" in 2026. Not just on TikTok. Everywhere.
Instagram will continue to push Reels, YouTube will maintain natural dominance, and even more "textual" platforms will have to contend with this logic of attention captured by moving images.
What this changes for brands: Video can no longer be a simple "bonus" in your editorial calendar. It must become the central building block. Not necessarily with Hollywood productions every time, but with real Social First logic: faster hooks, formats featuring humans, lively pacing, and dynamic editing.
The Socialsky nuance: Text won't disappear everywhere. On LinkedIn, for example, long-form content and reading still have massive impact. But globally, if you want to win the attention war in 2026, you'll need to think video before you think images.
This is one of the most concrete predictions for marketing teams: TikTok has become a full-fledged search engine.
Today, nearly 40% of people under 35 bypass Google. We no longer go on TikTok just for entertainment. We go there to find a restaurant address, an Excel tip, opinions on SaaS software, or a DIY tutorial. "Social Search" has taken over.
If TikTok becomes a place where people search, then your content must be more than just entertaining (scrollable). It must be discoverable. Concretely, SEO is moving to TikTok. This means:
Influence marketing is evolving. In 2026, Employee Generated Content will take on massive importance. And that makes sense.
Why? Because an employee proud of their company is ten times more convincing than a perfectly polished corporate page. They know the product, the internal culture, and customers' real problems. They speak with an authenticity that no copywriting can replicate.
For B2B and employer branding, this is the most promising terrain of the year. Companies that will succeed here understand one simple thing: humans are no longer a bonus, they become your best media.
This is the most underestimated prediction: comments now sometimes matter more than the post itself.
User behavior has changed. More and more people view a post (on LinkedIn or TikTok) and immediately scroll to the comments to gauge the reaction, credibility, and quality of debate. In 2026, a brand that posts then closes the app misses a major conversion lever. Moderation is no longer a Community Management detail. It's active engagement: responding quickly, nuancing, stimulating debate, and showing there's a real mind behind the account.
In this episode of The Feed, we also took risks with much bolder predictions:
If we had to dream a little for 2026, here's what we hope to see materialize on the market:
If we had to sum up the Socialsky playbook for 2026 in one idea, it would be this: Stop thinking "publication", start thinking "attention and conversation".
Find the full debate and our analysis in episode 2 of The Feed.
The main trends are the overwhelming dominance of short video format, the rise of Social Search (searching via networks), the explosion of Employee Generated Content (EGC), and the central role of active moderation.
Nearly 40% of younger generations use TikTok as their primary search engine before Google. Brands must optimise their videos (keywords, descriptions, on-screen text) to appear first in these searches.
EGC involves encouraging employees to create content to become ambassadors for their own company. It's an extremely powerful lever for B2B and recruitment (employer branding).
No. On the contrary, the widespread use of AI by some players will create strong demand from audiences for authentic, human content with genuine opinions and experience feedback that's impossible to fake.
