Top 5 Social Media Trends in 2022

Where are we now and where are we headed with social media trends in 2022?

A common question among digital marketing professionals and social media gurus alike is where are we headed with social media trends in 2022? The digital landscape is a rapidly growing and evolving ecosystem with no signs of slowing down. Perhaps one of the biggest and most important parts of that ecosystem is social media.

With more and more social platforms launching at a rapid rate, and with established platforms like TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram leading the charge of innovation, it’s hard to keep up with the trends. Luckily, this article will aim to provide you with a roadmap of sorts, outlining the top social media trends of today, as well as those of tomorrow. Next year, 2022, is expected to be a whale of a year in the tech space, and the same is expected of social media transformation.

So, with that being said, what follows are the top social media trends of 2022!

The digital landscape is a rapidly growing and evolving ecosystem thanks in large part to smartphones.

Top 5 Social Media Trends to Follow

Because social media, and all digital innovations for that matter, grow and evolve at a rapid pace, it’s important to note that the following trends about to be discussed aren’t necessarily brand new, but rather evolving trends set to make an exponential impact on how company’s do business and how individuals utilize social media.

Moreover, because social media is growing so quickly, it’d be near impossible to list and discuss every potential trend on the horizon. Instead, we’ve decided to choose what is in our minds the top 5 trends to look out for in 2022.

E-commerce Meets Social

While the shopping and swipe-up features have been a familiar integration in recent years, most notably on Instagram, there’s since been a major push towards making e-commerce a mainstream social feature.

What was once an exclusive feature available only to verified and highly followed accounts is now available to the masses. Whether you’re a small local business, brand new “influencer,” or multi-conglomerate brand, you have the ability to link out to your website, share your offerings, and allow for purchases to take place all within the confines of the social platform (i.e. Instagram).

This, however, is only the beginning. What’s to come is a major shift from a separation of e-commerce and social, to an all-in-one-place approach. Consumers will have the ability to shop to their heart’s content, all in convenience of their social media feeds.

From groceries to hardware, consumers will have the ability to shop at their convenience within social media feeds.

The Adoption of Short-Form Video as the Gold-Standard

While short-form video has been around for years, seen on all major social platforms past and present, from Vine and Music.ly, to Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, it’s quickly becoming the gold-standard of consumable content.

This is, in large part, due to the rise in popularity of the now infamous social app known as TikTok.

What we’re now witnessing is the pivot from other major social platforms towards a focus on short-form content and away from longer-form video, with the exception of YouTube.

With that said, while Instagram is noticeably and openly shifting towards a video-centric app, so too has YouTube implemented new features such as YouTube Shorts to tailor to those demanding short-form content. This is only due for further growth in 2022.

Social media trends in 2022 include short-form videos becoming the gold standard of consumable content.

Will other major social platforms take down TikTok or will it prevail as the premier app for short-form video and more? Only time will tell.

TikTok to Surpass Instagram

As a segue, the next top trend to be discussed is the exponential growth of TikTok. First thought to be just another Music.ly for young children and pre-teens has now turned into a media shark, competing for the number one spot of social media platforms amongst the likes of Instagram and Facebook.

TikTok has well over 1 billion users to date. Its search percentage is well above any other social media platform when it comes to short-form video. And with a monthly growth rate of over 1100% in comparison to Instagrams historical 6% monthly growth rate, it’s all but inevitable that TikTok will surpass Instagram as the #1 social network in the world.

The Rise of Audio Content

While auditory social is still somewhat of a long-term play for many networks, it’s most certainly within the scope of their short- to medium-term goals of development. Since the launch of Clubhouse, and with the rise of audio podcasts, streaming services, and more, it’s apparent that there’s a shift being made.

Although there’s not yet a fully functional use-case for auditory-exclusive content, there is compelling data to suggest its validity both now and in the years to come. The only question is whether or not we’re too early on this trend or not.

With the rise of audio podcasts, streaming services, and more, it’s apparent that there’s shifting interest in audio content.

The Arrival of AR/VR

Similar to a move towards auditory content potentially being a longer-term play, the arrival of AR and VR might too be a longer-term vision of the digital ecosystem. With that said, there’s no doubt that this trend is on the move and it’s here to stay.

Most notably, Facebook’s most recent rename to “Meta” and the announcement of the Metaverse has stirred up endless conversation and hype around the realistic view of what AR and VR might look like in our modern world.

It’s an exciting topic to discuss, and it seems to be getting more real by the day. Is 2022 the year that this trend makes its mark? It’s hard to say. However, there’s no doubt that it’s an evolving trend that’s here to say. And it’s worth keeping an eye on!