Edelman has released “Perspective on 2026-Tipping Points,” which portrays the emerging trends of 2026. Here’s a quick, ‘at a glance’ run-down of key takeaways!
1) People are becoming quieter…
More and more people appear to share less and less of their public lives with the world at large. One third of social media users posted less this year than last year.
2) People who were building digital personalities throughout the last two decades are disconnecting from the internet and connecting to offline, real communities.
3) Finding your partner/soulmate by swiping the mobile screen is giving way to making actual, real life connections and going for ‘real world chemistry.’ The online communities are now meeting more and more offline, in the real world.
4) Using technology for convenience (Eg: getting your food delivery to your doorstep using a mobile app) is a trend that is on the reverse. Let the app stay there… It’s now time to casually walk into the BBQ restaurant, place the order, and savor the dish slowly, at the spot…
5) A plague of loneliness is taking hold. Fewer and less human interactions, replaced by touchscreens and remote controls, is not what people are yearning for. Then what do they want? Micro-interactions with others….so that you feel human.
6) The return of ‘privacy’… With stricter codes on quoting of public posts, and declining rates of online posts themselves, brands are at a loss to understand consumer sentiments with ease and are compelled to go to the streets, speak to the consumer, and find the market realities.
7) The new understanding that a peak, a revival, precedes a ‘rot’- a downturn. Anxiety/rot, therefore, is in fact ‘welcome.’
8) AI and internet slop are festering due to content saturation. In that, a small social media post as well as an acclaimed work in international literature, such as War and Peace, get stuffed into ‘content’ leading to slop.
8) Writers deliver to position their content not for human minds but for GPT AI scrapers and scanners. As a writer, your real audience may be an algorithm.
9) Sustainability, today’s go to ‘harvesting grounds’ for brands, is viewed with cynicism -unless a lasting difference is demonstrated.
10) You may be sick due to wellness! 45% of global consumers say they are “experiencing wellbeing burnout… Some people are rejecting wellness practices that no longer serve them.”
Is there an underlying theme across most of these tipping points? Hard to say – though “content/message saturation” and “slop” seem to stand out rather prominently…
