Alice: Hey Bob, you always seem to be on top of what's new. I was just wondering, what would you say are the biggest trends you're seeing on SNS lately?
Bob: Haha, you caught me! I guess spending a bit too much time scrolling has its perks.
To add another layer to what I was saying about video, have you noticed the rise of "social search"? I'm finding myself, and seeing tons of other people, using TikTok or Instagram as a primary search engine instead of Google.
If I want to find a good recipe, a review for a new gadget, or a cool travel spot, I'm more likely to type it into the search bar on TikTok. You get instant video reviews, tutorials, and real people's opinions. It feels so much more dynamic and trustworthy than sifting through sponsored blog posts. It's a huge shift in how we find information.
Have you found yourself doing that at all? Searching for recommendations on a social app first?
Alice: Oh, "social search"! That's the perfect term for it. I hadn't thought to name it, but you've hit the nail on the head. I absolutely do that, probably more than I even realize.
Just the other day, I was trying to figure out how to style a new jacket I bought. My first instinct wasn't to Google it, but to search on TikTok and Instagram Reels for "[jacket style] outfit ideas." You instantly get dozens of short videos showing you exactly how real people are wearing it, which is so much more helpful than looking at static product photos on a website.
It completely changes the game for travel planning, too. Seeing a 15-second video of a hidden beach or a bustling market gives you a feel for a place that a blog post just can't capture. You're so right, it feels more authentic and cuts right to the chase. It's a huge shift.
Bob: Exactly! The jacket example is perfect. It's the ultimate "show, don't tell." You get the context, the movement, the whole vibe in seconds. And you're so right about the travel planning – I've basically built entire itineraries just from saving Reels and TikToks.
And that actually leads directly into another huge trend I've been seeing: the explosion of creator-led commerce, or the whole "TikTok made me buy it" phenomenon.
It's almost an extension of social search. You search for something, you find a video from a creator you trust (even if you just discovered them), and their genuine enthusiasm is a more powerful ad than any polished commercial. It's not just mega-influencers anymore, either. It's people in super-specific niches, like someone reviewing a niche board game or a specific type of pen. The product is the star of the content. Platforms are even leaning into it with integrated shopping features.
Have you fallen victim to a "TikTok made me buy it" moment yet? I'm definitely guilty of buying a ridiculously effective cleaning tool I saw in a video.
Alice: Oh, "fallen victim" is the perfect way to put it! I am 100% guilty. For me, it wasn't a cleaning tool, but a ridiculously simple kitchen gadget – one of those viral vegetable choppers.
I swear, I saw three different videos of it in one day. It wasn't a big, polished ad campaign. It was just regular people in their actual kitchens, dicing an onion in two seconds with this satisfying thwack. You see someone who looks like you, solving a problem you have (I hate crying over onions), and their genuine excitement is contagious. You're so right, the product is the star. Before I knew it, I was clicking the link in their bio. It's marketing genius, really.
That whole phenomenon makes me think about the overall style of content that's popular now. It feels like we're swinging away from the super-polished, "perfect life" aesthetic that dominated Instagram for years. Now, it's more about being relatable and unedited. Do you think that's the next big shift? This move towards more casual, almost 'anti-aesthetic' content?
Bob: Yes! The vegetable chopper! I know exactly the one you're talking about. The thwack is the most important part of the ad!
And you've absolutely nailed it. I think that shift towards more casual, 'anti-aesthetic' content isn't just the next big shift; I think we're right in the middle of it. The era of the perfectly curated, hyper-saturated, aspirational Instagram feed feels like it's officially over.
Now it's all about the "photo dump"—that carousel of 10 pictures that includes one good one, a blurry concert photo, a picture of your meal, and a weird meme. It's intentionally unpolished. It’s a rejection of that pressure to perform perfection. I think people are just exhausted by it and are craving authenticity more than ever. The goal isn't to make your followers feel envious anymore; it's to make them feel like they know you.
It's even influencing how platforms are built. Look at the whole concept of BeReal. Even if its hype has cooled a bit, the core idea—an unprompted, unfiltered snapshot of your life—really struck a chord and validated this trend.
This desire for more genuine connection seems to be fueling another trend, too: the move towards smaller, semi-private spaces. Instead of just shouting into the void of a public feed, people are using Instagram's "Close Friends" stories, creating private group chats, or joining creator-led Broadcast Channels or Discord servers. It's like we're moving away from the public town square and into smaller, more intimate online 'living rooms'.
Have you found yourself using features like 'Close Friends' more, or maybe joining any of those niche communities?
Alice: That "online living rooms" analogy is perfect. That's exactly what it feels like, and you've completely put your finger on why the "anti-aesthetic" is taking over. The "town square" just got too exhausting.
And to answer your question, yes, absolutely. My 'Close Friends' list is my favorite feature on Instagram now. It's not for state secrets, but it's where I'll post a truly terrible selfie, complain about my commute, or share a niche meme that only a handful of people would find funny. It’s like a pressure-release valve. You get to share without having to curate.
I've also joined a couple of those Broadcast Channels for podcasts I listen to. Even though it's mostly one-way communication from the creator, it feels more intimate and direct, like you're getting a little insider update.
All these trends we've talked about—social search, creator-led commerce, the anti-aesthetic, and now this move into 'living rooms'—they all seem to point toward a desire for more genuine, specific, and useful connection.
It makes me wonder what the platforms themselves will do next. With users carving out these smaller, more meaningful spaces for themselves, how do you think the big apps like Instagram or TikTok will have to evolve? Will they lean even harder into these private features, or will they try to find a new way to make the public 'town square' feel valuable again?
Bob: That is the multi-million dollar question, isn't it? Your summary is spot-on – it's all about this pull towards genuine connection. I don't think the platforms can afford to pick just one path. I bet they're going to try and do both at the same time, creating a kind of two-tiered system.
On one hand, they have to lean into the 'living rooms'. They'll make them even more functional. I can see them expanding 'Close Friends' into customizable lists, like "Work Friends" or "Family," and building out more robust group chat features to compete with apps like Discord or Telegram. They know that's where the deep engagement is, the stuff that keeps people opening the app multiple times a day. Giving creators more tools to monetize these small communities—like paid subscriptions for 'Super Close Friends' lists—seems like a no-brainer.
But on the other hand, they can't abandon the 'town square'. That's their engine for discovery and, more importantly, for ad revenue. So, they'll have to re-engineer its purpose. I think it'll become less about broadcasting your life to everyone and more about being a hyper-personalized utility. They'll double-down on the 'social search' function, using AI to make it so good that it becomes indispensable. The public feed will be the place you go to discover that new jacket, that viral recipe, or that niche creator you never knew you needed.
So, the public feed becomes the powerful discovery engine that introduces you to new things, and the private features become the cozy spaces where you actually connect and discuss them. It’s a loop: Discover publicly, connect privately.
That brings up a whole other can of worms, though. With this push for personalization and utility, the role of AI is going to become even more central. Do you think that's a good thing? Will it make our feeds perfectly curated to our tastes, or just a little too... creepy and predictive?
Alice: That "discover publicly, connect privately" loop is a brilliant way to put it. I think you've completely nailed their strategy. They have to cater to both the massive, ad-friendly 'town square' and the intimate, high-engagement 'living rooms' to survive.
And that leads right into your question about AI, which I think is the real tightrope these platforms are walking. Honestly, I think the answer is that it's both. It will be both perfectly curated and deeply creepy.
On one hand, the AI is already incredibly good. It's the magic behind the TikTok 'For You' page. When it works well, it feels like the platform just gets you. It surfaces a video about a book from a tiny genre you love, or a tutorial for a DIY project you were just vaguely thinking about. In that sense, it's an amazing utility that saves you from sifting through garbage to find gold.
But then there's the other edge of that sword. It’s that "wait, how did it know that?" feeling. You have a brief conversation about needing new running shoes, and suddenly your entire feed is shoe ads. It crosses a line from being helpful to feeling like surveillance. My biggest worry is the filter bubble it creates. If the algorithm gets too good at predicting what I like, will I ever see anything that challenges my views or introduces me to a completely different world? It feels less like discovery and more like you're being led down a very narrow, pre-approved path.
So, I think we'll get feeds that are incredibly useful and entertaining, but at the cost of some serendipity and, let's be honest, a bit of our privacy. It makes me wonder if the next big user demand will be for more control over our own algorithms. What do you think? Will we see features that let us actively tell the AI, "Hey, less of this topic," or even a 'surprise me' button that intentionally breaks the pattern just to show us something new?
Bob: You've absolutely hit on the central paradox of the whole thing. It's this constant battle between utility and surveillance. And I think your idea about users demanding more control is not just likely, it's inevitable.
In fact, we're already seeing the primitive versions of it, right? TikTok has the "Not Interested" button, and Instagram lets you "snooze" or "mute" accounts and keywords. But those feel more like damage control.
Your idea of a "surprise me" button is the next level. That's a proactive tool for curiosity! Imagine clicking it and getting a random video from "PotteryTok" in South Korea or a popular meme from a community completely outside your bubble. It would reintroduce that sense of serendipity and global connection that the early internet promised. It turns the algorithm from a passive mirror into an active discovery tool that you get to direct.
From the platform's perspective, it's actually a pretty savvy move for long-term survival. If people start feeling too bored or trapped in their filter bubbles, they'll eventually leave. Giving users those little levers of control builds trust and makes them feel empowered, which is way more valuable for retention than just showing them one more perfect shoe ad.
This whole AI discussion makes me think of the other side of the coin, which is maybe the wildest trend of all: AI-generated content itself. We're seeing it everywhere now, from those AI filters that turn your photos into fantasy art to AI tools that can write video scripts.
It creates such a fascinating tension. All of our other trends point towards a hunger for authenticity—real people, unpolished moments, genuine connection. So what happens when the tools to create completely inauthentic content become widespread and easy to use? What does "authenticity" even mean when it becomes impossible to tell if the beautiful travel photo you're seeing is a real place, or if the witty creator you're following is even a real person?
Alice: That is such a fascinating and, frankly, slightly terrifying tension you've pointed out. You're so right. We're running on two parallel tracks that are destined to collide: one racing towards radical authenticity and the other towards flawless artificiality.
First off, your "surprise me" button idea is brilliant. It's exactly the kind of user-led control that would make social media feel fun and expansive again, not just predictably efficient.
But your question about AI content completely flips the board. What does authenticity mean in that new world? My gut says it will force it to become more extreme. I wonder if it will create an even higher premium on things that are difficult to fake. The messy, the live, the unscripted—the shaky-cam video of a concert, the live-streamed Q&A with all the "ums" and "ahs," the "Close Friends" story that's just a blurry photo of your cat. These might become the new digital watermarks of being human.
But then there's the other side, where AI just becomes another creative tool, like Photoshop or a synthesizer in music. Maybe the next wave of creators will be entirely transparent about using AI, and their "authenticity" will come from the originality of their ideas and prompts, not from the raw footage. The authenticity won't be in the pixels, but in the human vision guiding them.
It really feels like we're heading for a "trust apocalypse" if platforms don't get ahead of it with clear, mandatory labeling like a "Made with AI" tag. It's going to force our definition of authenticity to evolve from "Is this a real photo?" to "Is the person or idea behind this sincere?"
That makes me think about the creators we were just discussing—the ones whose genuine enthusiasm sells us vegetable choppers. What does this massive shift mean for them? Will AI become their greatest assistant, helping them brainstorm and produce content faster, or will it become their biggest competitor, able to generate a perfect "review" on command?
Bob: "Trust apocalypse" is the perfect term for it. That's exactly what's looming. And I love your idea that authenticity will have to evolve—that it will be less about the raw materials and more about the sincerity of the idea behind it. That's a huge, insightful distinction.
And your final question is the one that every single person making a living online must be asking themselves right now: Is AI an assistant or a competitor?
My honest answer is: it's both, and it will be the ultimate test for every creator out there.
For the smart, personality-driven creators, AI will be the most powerful assistant they've ever had. Imagine it: AI can brainstorm 50 video ideas in 10 seconds, write a script draft, suggest trendy audio, edit out the awkward pauses, and generate perfect captions. It handles all the tedious work, freeing up the creator to focus on the things only they can do: their unique humor, their expert opinion, their on-camera charisma, their personal story. The creators who embrace this will become super-creators, able to produce higher quality content faster than ever.
But for a certain type of creator, AI is a direct competitor. Think about all the faceless accounts that just pump out generic content—listicles, basic life hacks, narrated Reddit stories. An AI can do that faster, cheaper, and probably better. That entire layer of low-effort content is likely to be replaced.
Let's go back to our vegetable chopper. An AI could easily generate a slick, perfect video of the chopper dicing an onion with a pleasant, generic voiceover. But the reason you bought it wasn't the slickness; it was the relatability of the human who said, "I hate crying over onions!" AI can't genuinely hate crying over onions. It can't have a shared human problem.
So, in a strange way, I think the rise of AI will force the value of true human authenticity to skyrocket. It will weed out the content machines and make the genuine connectors and storytellers even more indispensable. The human touch becomes the ultimate premium feature.
This puts a massive responsibility back on the platforms, though. Do you think they will even care to differentiate? As long as an AI-generated video gets millions of views and sells products through their integrated shop, does it matter to them if a human was truly behind it? Where does their responsibility to the user—and to reality—begin and end?