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Top social media news of the week
Why brands are flocking to Reddit
Mackenzie Taylor
January 20, 2026
Weekly social roundup
Leaning into long-form
I’ve declared it once, and I am going to declare it again: 2026 is the year we bring long-form content back! Gimme a 25-minute video on YouTube! Gimme a blog post that hits 2000 words all about your favorite meal you had in Spain! Gimme a long Instagram caption that doesn’t quite make sense and is mainly a run-on sentence!
I want it ALL.
And without further ado, here is my long-form newsletter just for you. News, thoughts, stats, articles, everything you need to know about social media this week.
RIP likes and hashtags and old IG
Instagram likes are dead. This is what you need to focus on instead.
Dailydot
As someone who works in social media for a variety of clients, I get so PUMPED when a post gets a ton of likes. It’s so rare these days that I feel on top of the world when it happens.
It’s so strange how likes and comments happen so infrequently these days. Back in 2016, you’d post a heavily filtered photo of you and some friends and instantly get 200 likes. Now, you spend hours on a series of curated carousel photos that are supposed to look like you randomly chose them for the “vibes,” and are lucky to hit 50 likes.
Users are now more observers than participants. People like to watch what is happening online but not actively engage with it.
So what metrics should you be paying attention to instead? Shares and saves, baby.
In the past year, I’ve noticed the posts that have the highest amount of shares and saves have dramatically increased my stats on the post. It reached more people. It was interacted with more. And I had more engagement overall on my page than any other post that might have had more likes and comments.
It’s a strange era we’re currently in with social media. It seems to constantly be changing, and if you’re a social media manager trying to explain to your boss why likes don’t matter anymore, I wish you all the luck.
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Top Meta news from the week
You will now have full control over your algorithm on Instagram. Here’s how.
Instagram likes are dead, and these are the new engagement indicators you need to focus on instead.
Instagram is finally labeling Reels that have been translated with AI.
Meta’s Smart Glasses are getting a cool accessibility upgrade with Conversation Focus, where the voice of the person in front of you will get amplified so you can better hear them.
Speaking of Smart Glasses, Meta is going all in as it plans to double its production as demand increases.
Meta claims it has improved Reel recommendations by utilizing in-app surveys to better tailor content.
Community Notes on Facebook is rolling out worldwide.
Tired of X? You can officially import your followers from X into Threads.
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Top TikTok news from the week
TikTok released its marketing trend report for 2026, and some of them have surprised me.
Age-verification on TikTok is rolling out around the EU. It seems lots of tech companies are nervous about an imposing ban, much like in Australia.
The rise of the mini series on TikTok is here! And now the platform has launched its very own microdrama app.
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Top X news from the week
X appears to be cracking down on third-party websites as the platform gets overrun by AI spam comments.
Elon Musk said that X will publish its algorithm code to be fully transparent about how content gets pushed to users.
After the app was threatened to be banned in the EU and UK, Musk denied that Grok, X’s AI tool, generated deepfakes of underage children.
Speaking of which, the US Senate passed the Defiance Act where users to sue anyone who creates sexually explicit and non-consensual deepfakes.
Want to win a $1 million? X is giving away one million dollars to a user who has the top X article on the platform this month.
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Top YouTube news from the week
YouTube is updating how creators and brands can target users on the platform. YouTube Promote will allow creators to push content to users based on interests.
YouTube is protecting kids by allowing parents to ban their kids from watching Shorts.
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Top other social media news from the week
OpenAI is adding ads inside chats now. Welcome to a new version of hell.
YouTube and X are getting first priority in Google Discover Feed. Womp womp.
Yikes! LinkedIn comments are becoming more and more spammy … even linking to malware.
A new app is hitting the market that is supposed to be Reddit’s rival. And it was created by Reddit’s very own co-founder.
Does social media actually harm teens’ mental health? Scientists say no.
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Interesting Stat for marketers
Google organic search is down … by a lot.
According to Reuters, Google organic search traffic is down … by a lot.
“Google traffic from organic search to over 2,500 sites was down by a third (33%) globally between Nov 2024 and Nov 2025 and by 38% in the United States.”
It seems that being in the AI summary is now more important than ever.
Trust and authenticity, baby!!
Why brands are flocking to Reddit
I have been a lifelong Redditor (never commenting, always just in the comment section laughing, sharing, and finding joy in the comment section … mostly), and it’s the last place on the four walls of the Internet that still feels … human.
And it seems that is the exact reason why brands are now flocking to the platform. To try and win back users through “authenticity” and to also show up in that pesky thing called AI summaries.
Yes, brands are realizing that if they show up on Reddit and have good word-of-mouth on the platform, they are more likely to show up in AI summaries and be visible in search on Google (thanks to the Google and Reddit partnership).
Last week, Jim Squires (EVP of Marketing and Growth at Reddit) wrote a piece for AdWeek on how brands can increase their visibility by using Reddit and how to effectively market themselves on the forum.
He gave five tips on how to use Reddit (which you can view here), but the biggest piece of advice he gives is something that I think is fundamental for everyone to hear now in the age of AI:
“AI can’t generate trust … The new marketing playbook requires brands to go beyond paying for attention and start earning trust, because in the AI era, trust is the only thing the algorithm can’t generate.”
I think this is crucial and something we must all start thinking about more and more in 2026. Yes, AI can summarize and tell us what people are talking about the most. It can TLDR long think pieces. It can compile data and tell us how to meal prep for the week. But what it can’t do is build actual trust.
Nothing helps a brand more than trust and word-of-mouth from actual customers and clients. And that’s what I will be focusing on this year in 2026.
See you all next week!
I hope you enjoyed it all. I’ll talk to you all next week.
Mackenzie
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