Our social media feeds are always changing, but recent trends towards quantity of posts over quality, seem to be eroding trust.

The mystical ‘algorithm’ controlling our feeds is under strain, and recent studies may explain why. The firehose of content that makes up out social media feeds used to be more closely aligned with our interests. But as the sheer volume of content being created has increased - and with this so has the depth and quality within our interest areas. This now means we spend more time filtering, and putting up with more misses.

Generative AI is pumping out content cheap and fast. People are using it to increase their publishing speed, but it’s tainting feeds and eroding trust. It was never truly personal, but lately it feels hollow. Scams are multiplying faster than platforms can remove them.

Misinformation is no longer the exception, it’s becoming the rule.

This might be the moment for the platforms step in and fix the problem by narrowing our interests with greater specificity - but this is a two edged sword. Either way, we’re at an inflection point - and one symptom of late was a recent Pew global survey. Alarmingly over 65 percent of adults in Australia have experienced scams or attacks this year, and across 25 countries, a median of 72 percent now see false information online as a major national threat.

That’s less of a vibe, and more of a measurable condition.

So what happens when people start to lose focus with social media?
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Trust is shifting - from broadcast to smaller groups

This shift exposes something fundamental: the broadcast model of influence is eroding. Virality is short-lived and faster than ever. Ads are skipped and blocked. Influencer marketing has entered its diminishing-returns phase. What seems to persist - even growing - and what compels people to act is word of mouth - and it happens in communities.

Some platforms acknowledge the shift towards the group chat is real and happening. Meta is bolting safety features onto WhatsApp, adding prompts to warn about unknown group invites and tools for scheduling calls. This is a new side quest from their usual focus on reach-expanding moves. It’s a defensive play designed to preserve trust where it still exists - inside small, private circles.

Look around and you’ll start to see them everywhere.

Run clubs are now the new dating scene and mental health support network. This tells us that we are using communities to engage in one thing -  and discussing everything - with the people we trust.  So the new influencer is the chat group.

It's the hike leader who gathers a group every Saturday morning. The cold plunge crew that meets at dawn on winter beaches. The rum or beer brewing club that rotates kitchens and stories. The micro health fad groups that chat and trade advice and recipes late into the night. These communities are growing.

Influence has moved from being loud to being local. 

From the broadcast stage to the group chat - and that offers new reach - and if local trust can be earned, a great deal of resilience.

Human Creators still out perform AI influencers

There is still hype about AI influencers and synthetic content. They fill feeds with glossy content - but when you look at the economics, the contrast is sharp. Human creators outperform AI across every meaningful metric. The average high end human influencer earns $78,777 per post. An AI persona at the same level scrapes in at $1,694. The gap is forty-six times.

This suggests that authenticity isn’t soft. It’s monetisable.

User-generated content’s effectiveness as a marketing magnet tells another side of the same story. An analysis of e-commerce offers (Emplifi’s Q2 2025) showed that brands using UGC drove 5.29 times more conversions than those relying on polished brand assets alone. Website visits were more than doubled. Average order values climbed more than fourfold. In a climate of declining ad ROI, these numbers matter. They prove that when people create and share, people still act.
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Trust is our firewall

Brand experiences buy recognition, but belonging and community buys resilience. The difference matters and recognition can be fleeting; while resilience compounds. Communities are not campaigns. They are systems of trust, rituals, and shared identity. They keep people returning not because of algorithmic reach but because of human connection.

Trust is like a human firewall in a saturated attention economy. And unlike impressions, it’s difficult to buy at scale. It has to be built.
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The Connectors

The real leverage point is the connector or the core people. Every group has its founders, its leaders, the ones who take responsibility for others as well as themselves. They are the ones who organise the Saturday hike or host the monthly dinner. The one who starts a WhatsApp group and keeps it alive.

When brands invest in supporting connectors - providing resources, recognition, or even small budgets - they aren’t “buying influence or an audience” - they are underwriting belonging and relevance. 

And the return might make it well worthwhile. A connector brings people together again and again, creating a rhythm that advertising can’t replicate.
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Offline is where memory is made

Communities aren’t only digital. The strongest signals happen offline. Shared rituals embed themselves in memory. Cold water plunges, kitchen tastings, battle of the bands competitions - these moments stick.

They are where brand energy becomes embodied, not abstract.

For a brand, supporting these offline extensions is critical - and delivers authenticity if the brand can contribute personally to the cause. Digital platforms may host the coordination, but the real loyalty will be earned and forged in person.
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Three moves for brand builders in 2025

There's good reason for brand builders to try new things in 2025 - and heres some food for thought:

1. Invest in connectors

Identify them, recognise them, equip them to lead. They need to have real relevance to your people and your cause -the best place to start is to look within your organisation. When you do find them - treat them as media owners, because they are.

2. Go beyond online

Embed your brand in the rituals that happen offline. Make it easier for people to meet, share, and repeat. Sure, a little digital amplification will help everyone celebrate - just keep it humble, and respect the need to stay local.

3. Shift the spend from attention to belonging

Reduce budget for campaigns that chase impressions. Redirect it to structures that build trust and pride in local communities.
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Is micro is the new macro?

We believe that brands building community are the ones that are going to win.

The smartest brands are not chasing followers, they're chasing community. Strong community is beating things like ads, influencers, and massive TikTok virality right now. Trust is the gold standard. Especially in the hyper saturated attention economy. We say that not because it sounds provocative, but because evidence suggests this may be happening. The feed is no longer where trust lives. The group chat is. In an age of media saturation, AI content floods, and collapsing trust, belonging is a very defensible strategy for a brand to build.
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Belonging lasts.
Reach fades.

Influence in the age of AI will be measured by who people trust, not how many people saw.

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Referenced in this article
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Pew Research Center
Online Scams and Attacks in America Today (July 31, 2025).
False Information Online as a National Threat (Aug 19, 2025).
pewresearch.org
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Financial Times
‍The rise of the AI influencer (Sept 2025).
ft.com
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Emplifi
‍Q2 2025 Social Media Benchmarks Report (Aug 2025).
emplifi.io
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‍The Verge
‍WhatsApp will show a “safety overview” before you join unknown group chats (Aug 2025).
theverge.com
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Economic Times
New Safety feature warns you before you join random WhatsApp groups (Aug 2025).
economictimes.indiatimes.com

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