Creatopy has recently published a detailed guide, discussing potential trends that social media platforms will have to prepare for in 2022.
2021 is wrapping up, and with its end comes a time of contemplation for every online platform there is. Not quiet contemplation, mind you, because who wants the peace of mind, right? No, this form of contemplation is very public, and celebratory, even. Literally every social media platform publishes a report on their year in review, and will often launch some associated feature that involves users into the whole thing. YouTube used to release Rewind videos as a method of celebrating both its success across the last year, as well as honoring the content creators and YouTubers that got it that very success. Then again, considering the last 4 years, maybe Rewind isn’t the best approximation of a successful attempt at reminiscing. At any rate, most companies think to look back and adopt, but only the best and leading ones dare to look forward. We’ve already discussed articles about potential trends in technology that we might see across 2022. Now, it’s time we address social media, considering just how much of a grip it has on our day to day lives.
Cookies have taken massive hits across 2020 and 2021. With Apple’s Tracking/Transparency features, combined with Google’s refusal to accept cookies anymore in lieu of its own system of personalized ad delivery, we might be seeing a paradigm shift of sorts. I wouldn’t say that ads are going to decrease in amount, since that is more or less impossible in the capitalistic world we live in, but things will change. User data might be relatively safe for a bit, at least for early 2022. After that time period, most ad agencies and platforms will have become wise to the fact that they now have to collect personal user information on their own. That’s something we’ll be seeing a lot of moving forwards.
Social commerce blew up in 2020, continued to aggressively expand across 2021, and will see a similar continuing trend in 2022. With Instagram having introduced a dedicated store where content creators can sell their own merch, and Snapchat also heavily investing in AR-fueled online shopping, we’ll be seeing a lot of interesting ways that e-commerce will be integrated across social media platforms in the future.
Short-format videos will probably shift to being the method of choice for shooting videos in 2022. If TikTok’s massive success somehow wasn’t enough to convince users on the concept, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snap Spotlights should honestly be enough evidence. Everyone’s looking to go all in on the short-form video experience, even launching creator programs investing millions into users creating riveting content starring the short-form video format. Another trend that I’ll just add here for relevancy’s sake is that TikTok will only continue to grow and grow in years onwards, perhaps even leading to the app being un-banned across certain countries. I wouldn’t cross my fingers, however, as TikTok’s user data collection definitely seems shady.
We saw a lot of, ahem, diversity and inclusivity from brands across 2020 and 2021. I’d be fully happy with the trend dying, since if all pretenses were dropped I believe that brands would keep on recasting the same white men across all ads. However, since brands want to keep getting those woke points, we can all look forward to a rather arduous set of Pride Months in the coming years.
Live Streaming was already a very popular concept pre-2020, but the one-two punch combo of the COVID-19 pandemic across 2020 and 2021 has led to it being even more celebrated. Twitch is drawing in money by the millions with its userbase, and platforms such as YouTube have already invested in the tech as well. The general assumption for 2022 is that this trend will keep on going, and even more social media platforms will end up adhering to it.
Read next: The Graphic Design Trends That Will Dominate 2022 (infographic)
2021 is wrapping up, and with its end comes a time of contemplation for every online platform there is. Not quiet contemplation, mind you, because who wants the peace of mind, right? No, this form of contemplation is very public, and celebratory, even. Literally every social media platform publishes a report on their year in review, and will often launch some associated feature that involves users into the whole thing. YouTube used to release Rewind videos as a method of celebrating both its success across the last year, as well as honoring the content creators and YouTubers that got it that very success. Then again, considering the last 4 years, maybe Rewind isn’t the best approximation of a successful attempt at reminiscing. At any rate, most companies think to look back and adopt, but only the best and leading ones dare to look forward. We’ve already discussed articles about potential trends in technology that we might see across 2022. Now, it’s time we address social media, considering just how much of a grip it has on our day to day lives.
Cookies have taken massive hits across 2020 and 2021. With Apple’s Tracking/Transparency features, combined with Google’s refusal to accept cookies anymore in lieu of its own system of personalized ad delivery, we might be seeing a paradigm shift of sorts. I wouldn’t say that ads are going to decrease in amount, since that is more or less impossible in the capitalistic world we live in, but things will change. User data might be relatively safe for a bit, at least for early 2022. After that time period, most ad agencies and platforms will have become wise to the fact that they now have to collect personal user information on their own. That’s something we’ll be seeing a lot of moving forwards.
Social commerce blew up in 2020, continued to aggressively expand across 2021, and will see a similar continuing trend in 2022. With Instagram having introduced a dedicated store where content creators can sell their own merch, and Snapchat also heavily investing in AR-fueled online shopping, we’ll be seeing a lot of interesting ways that e-commerce will be integrated across social media platforms in the future.
Short-format videos will probably shift to being the method of choice for shooting videos in 2022. If TikTok’s massive success somehow wasn’t enough to convince users on the concept, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snap Spotlights should honestly be enough evidence. Everyone’s looking to go all in on the short-form video experience, even launching creator programs investing millions into users creating riveting content starring the short-form video format. Another trend that I’ll just add here for relevancy’s sake is that TikTok will only continue to grow and grow in years onwards, perhaps even leading to the app being un-banned across certain countries. I wouldn’t cross my fingers, however, as TikTok’s user data collection definitely seems shady.
We saw a lot of, ahem, diversity and inclusivity from brands across 2020 and 2021. I’d be fully happy with the trend dying, since if all pretenses were dropped I believe that brands would keep on recasting the same white men across all ads. However, since brands want to keep getting those woke points, we can all look forward to a rather arduous set of Pride Months in the coming years.
Live Streaming was already a very popular concept pre-2020, but the one-two punch combo of the COVID-19 pandemic across 2020 and 2021 has led to it being even more celebrated. Twitch is drawing in money by the millions with its userbase, and platforms such as YouTube have already invested in the tech as well. The general assumption for 2022 is that this trend will keep on going, and even more social media platforms will end up adhering to it.
Read next: The Graphic Design Trends That Will Dominate 2022 (infographic)