Mariem Abbasi

The thing with trending content is it often does more for the trend than it does for the brand. You get engagement in the moment, maybe a few thousand likes, and then it's gone. No real followers gained. No reason for people to come back.

The Turing test is not in the “rawness” of the content, but in the originality of the thinking behind it. Original thinking can be iterated on, interpreted in multiple formats, executed through different tactics, and it still stands out over time. It’s also hard to imitate.

“This isn’t like the dot-com era. A survey in 1995 found 72% of respondents comfortable with new technology such as computers and the internet. Just 24% were not. Fast forward to AI now, and those proportions have flipped: just 31% are comfortable with AI while 68% are uncomfortable, a summer survey for CNBC found.” He also included data from a... See more

Nostalgia for the future

This quarter brands featured people (who are likely above the age of their average customer) with captions like “i see my future and it’s bright” and “me and you in 20 years”. Not only do these posts feel unexpected and wholesome, but the nostalgia for the future is shareable—who doesn’t want to grow old with their best... See more

And, especially if you’re a big brand, no amount of posting like us will gain you that trust. Hence why most trends end the moment a brand joins in and the response is generally, “Why’d you have to ruin our fun?” If you as a brand want us to engage with your content in our space, you better be bringing something to the table.

“people are going to inevitably start craving what they’ve lost” is a great way to predict what will be big on social media in 2026. What will we lose when AI-generated images take over feeds?