Artificial Intelligence in social media in 2026: what's new?

As 2026 began, many users wondered whether social media's response to artificial intelligence would be gradual or aggressive. The reality is that considerable uncertainty still persists, as new generations are increasingly preferring a more conscious lifestyles less conditioned by media. For this reason, they favour authentic and genuine content rather than AI-generated material.

Based on these considerations, social media platforms are modifying their algorithms not solely according to user interests, but also based on how users think and communicate through their online interactions (comments, likes, shares, and saves). This represents an important signal of a return to quality over quantity, underscoring the importance of attracting a young, conscious audience that is more discerning than previous generations. 

AI Features + Data Driven Outputs

As marketers, to remain relevant in the eyes of our clients, it is important not to apply filters to our communication but to be authentic and not focus our entire communicative strategy on promoting the products or services offered. In recent times, various social platforms such as TikTok and Reddit penalise simple product advertising (when it comes to organic content), which confirms the theory that it is necessary to be innovative and less aggressive in company promotion.

Simultaneously, various social platforms are displaying extensive and careful application of AI tools in their features: for improving photo quality, for text suggestions, for dynamically searching other users and trends, for providing customisable reports and analytics, and much more. This trend is driven by the need to motivate users to be more active while browsing content.

Communities & Platforms

A development that is strengthening in 2026 is certainly the role of communities - that is, restricted groups of users who share interests or opinions related to a specific topic. Thanks to AI support, the various algorithms of social media platforms can identify potential new trends by gathering valuable information on how users behave within communities. Consequently, we no longer talk about "reaching as many users as possible", but rather about communicating directly with people interested in our message. This makes the strategy more targeted, and the role of AI agents becomes essential for categorising and defining the profile of the user group we want to reach.

This new targeting approach is based on continuous AI support, and most of the social media platforms leverage this integration to improve user experience and keep them on the platform as long as possible.

To summarise what has been discussed, it is not possible to define in a few sentences how AI influences trends on social media and consumer behaviour, but it is certain that social media will continue to play an important role in communication in the future. For this reason, if AI systems already have a significant effect on social media, consequently all users and companies will need to adapt to the ongoing changes.

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