The last days of social media, or wishful thinking?

19 September 2025

While content proliferates, engagement is evaporating. Average interaction rates across major platforms are declining fast: Facebook and X posts now scrape an average 0.15% engagement, while Instagram has dropped 24% year-on-year. Even TikTok has begun to plateau. People aren’t connecting or conversing on social media like they used to; they’re just wading through slop, that is, low-effort, low-quality content produced at scale, often with AI, for engagement.

When social media is used to be social, it is useful. When deployed (in an attempt) to garner influence, especially through re-posting slop, not so much.

Despite the low quality content, and apparent lack of engagement, I don’t see social media, as we presently know it, going anywhere. Maybe the argument could be made that social media is dead, and presently exists in a zombie like state instead, dead but undead.