Social Media Is Becoming Less Social, New Report Finds

Social platforms are moving away from personal sharing and toward entertainment, according to a new survey from Incogni. The study, based on responses from 1,000 Americans, found that people are posting less frequently and increasingly favor private messaging over public updates — a pattern that lines up with broader industry data showing platforms leaning harder into algorithm-curated, short-form video.

Posting Has Long Been Dominated by a Small Minority

The survey found that a majority of respondents post far less than they did five years ago, with many opting for closer, private exchanges instead. This isn’t entirely new: older research, including data from Twitter in 2019 and the long-cited “90-9-1” rule from 2006, has consistently shown that only a small fraction of users on any platform actively create content, while most simply browse.

Creator Burnout and Political Fatigue Are Driving the Shift

More than half of respondents said keeping up a social media presence “feels like work,” a burden felt most acutely by younger users chasing the kind of success seen by top creators. Yet data shows most creators earn modest income online, and a small percentage of accounts capture the majority of views. Rising political content and algorithm-driven division are compounding the fatigue, pushing many users toward disengagement or app breaks.

Still, whether people are truly spending less time on these platforms is unclear — Meta has reported rising time-on-app for Facebook and Instagram, largely fueled by short-form video consumption. The takeaway for marketers: audiences are shifting from social connection toward passive entertainment, a trend worth building strategies around.