What Will 2025 Mean for Social Media? Some Thoughts

Image Credit, Raam Gottimukkala

2024… that’s a wrap!

It was fun watching social media continue to evolve rapidly, especially in shaping how businesses and consumers interact online. This past Black Friday, shoppers ditched the mall in favour of shopping online. U.S. retail stores reported a modest 0.7 percent rise in sales this year versus a 14.6 percent rise for e-commerce.

2024 showed us that social media isn’t social. It’s a digital collection of bubbles, where like-minded individuals gather in their respective bubbles and talk “us versus them.” Thus, achieving social media success at a minimal level is becoming increasingly challenging since curating an audience—the key to social media success—requires attaching bubbles of like-minded people rather than freethinking individuals.

The popularity of videos under 45 seconds on social media will continue to grow in 2025, with platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and LinkedIn driving this trend. Short-form videos, all types of snackable content that capture attention within seconds, will continue to be one of the most effective ways to pique someone’s interest enough to stop scrolling momentarily.

One of the most significant shifts in 2025, because it allows users to own their data and have a say in how content is moderated, will be the growing popularity of decentralized social media platforms, often abbreviated as DeSo. These platforms operate on independently run servers rather than being controlled by a single company, such as Meta (Facebook, Instagram). Mastodon, Lens Protocol, Steemit, and Gab Social, which I recommend you check out, to name a few, are decentralized platforms built on blockchain technology—equivalent to a digital notebook where everyone can see and trust the entries; hence why Bitcoin uses blockchain technology—giving users greater control over how their data is used and monetized. 

Despite the growing concern over personal data, social commerce is set to thrive in 2025. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest have significantly invested in their shopping features, allowing users to discover products organically and make purchases without leaving their app. This shift is transforming social media platforms from merely a place to create and foster brand awareness to a cradle-to-grave sales channel.

After years of cultural sanitization and emotional suppression, I anticipate, thanks to Donald Trump’s re-election, social media will become more unruly, as Trump supporters will feel justified in speaking their minds. Sadly, social media is likely to regress to the toxic environment it was during Trump’s first presidency, particularly on his preferred platform, X/Twitter, especially now that he has Elon Musk by his side.

People feeling comfortable saying their quiet parts out loud will intensify rage-baiting as left-leaning Americans and right-leaning Americans entrench themselves deeper in the “you must submit to our political beliefs” war that millions never seem to get tired of. Meanwhile, with an October election imminent here in Canada, Canadians can expect to witness a Justin Trudeau (left) vs. Pierre Poilievre (right) battle royale on social media platforms. I see a perfect storm brewing for 2025.

All this uncivilized discourse will be a boon for social media companies. The human tendency to be drawn to car wrecks but indifferent to roadmaps keeps us glued to our feeds. Scandals and drama ignite curiosity, while constructive solutions barely flicker on the radar.

The elephant in the room is TikTok’s future in the U.S. On April 24th, President Joe Biden signed a bill, often referred to as the “TikTok TikTok’s,” that would ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform to an American” buyer by January” 19th, the day before Trump’s inauguration. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Friday, December 6th, after a federal appeals court upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok as soon as late January, “Today’s decision is an important step in blocking the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok.”

If the law is upheld, as is likely, TikTok, with its massive American user base of over 170 million, will cease to operate in the U.S. on January 19, 2025. Thus, the biggest foreign competitor to American-based social media platforms will be eliminated. Ironically, given how banning TikTok would benefit X/Twitter, Trump, who in 2020 proposed banning TikTok to punish China for COVID-19, now opposes it.

You don’t need me to tell you we’re heading toward a serious power struggle between traditional and alternative media in the coming year. Everything we’re already seeing—the ongoing decline in trust in legacy media paired with the rise of alternative media via social media, podcasts, Substack, and private newsletters—will come to a head in 2025.

Admittedly, I spend more time than I should in the “digital world. ” I’m now questioning, as do many people in my circle, how much time I spend reading and viewing other people’s lives and thoughts rather than living my own. There’s just so much you can take in before your life goes by in a blur that you miss, and you realize life offline is a luxury.

One thing we won’t see changing in 2025 is the reason why we go onto social media; because other people go there.

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Nick Kossovan is the Customer Service Professionals Network’s Social Media Director (Executive Board Member). Feel free to send your social media questions to nick.kossovan@gmail.com. On Twitter and Instagram, follow @NKossovan.