Journalism’s influencer obsession will age poorly

For more than a decade, social media didn’t just serve Black communities, immigrant communities, and young people — these communities built social media into the global force it became. They were the early adopters, the culture-makers, the organizers, the storytellers. Hyperlocal newsrooms were born on Facebook groups. WhatsApp became a lifeline for immigrant families. Instagram fed cultural reporting. Twitter shaped political journalism in real time.

They made big social matter. And now, they’re walking away from it.

In 2017, I predicted here that this moment would come — that audiences would turn away from large platforms that no longer served them, and that journalism would lose its grip if it didn’t build independent pathways to reach people.

Nearly nine years later, that prediction has come true.

If 2022 exposed the cracks, then 2025 is when the post-social media era began in earnest. 2026 is the year the bottom falls out — whether journalism is prepared or not.

The Prediction: In 2026, the collapse of “big social” and mass youth abandonment of mainstream platforms will force journalism and philanthropy to rebuild civic information systems around something social media no longer provides: trust, safety, and community control.

Influencers won’t save journalism. Algorithms won’t save journalism. Corporate platforms won’t save journalism.

Communities will. But only if we pivot — fast.

Big social is melting — and 2026 is the breaking point

The signs were everywhere in 2025. CMSWire called it the beginning of “The Great Social Media Meltdown.” X (formerly Twitter) descended into chaos; Meta lost users under-30; AI-generated slop filled feeds; misinformation surged; trust cratered; advertisers fled.

But the biggest shift came from young people — the very group that once defined platform culture.

• 48% of U.S. teens say social media has a “mostly negative effect” on people their age (up from 32% in 2022).
• 45% say they spend “too much time” on social platforms.

And when they unplug? Just one week off social media yields

• 16% lower anxiety
• 24% lower depression
• 14.5% lower insomnia

That’s not ambivalence. That’s abandonment.

In 2026, young people won’t be “moving” to new platforms — they’ll be moving out of the platform model entirely.

They’re choosing smaller, private, human-scale spaces where authenticity outweighs algorithms.

That’s why journalism’s influencer obsession will age poorly in 2026

As young people shrink their digital footprints, newsrooms are doing the opposite — sprinting toward influencers like they’re life rafts.

A late 2024 Pew study revealed:

• 37% of adults under 30 get news from influencers
• 77% of influencers have no journalism training
• Their incentive structure is attention, not accountability

Influencers can amplify journalism, even though they often share that journalism without attribution. And they cannot replace journalism — or build a durable civic information system.

Depending on influencers means tying journalism to:

• unstable algorithms
• volatile personalities
• platforms losing younger users
• misinformation-heavy environments
• no ethical guardrails

In 2026, journalism will look back on its influencer mania the way it now views the “pivot to video” — as a costly diversion from building real community infrastructure.

For Immigrant Communities, 2026 Intensifies the Safety Crisis

A decade ago, I was the first funder of Documented’s WhatsApp news service — a model now used nationwide. It succeeded because it met immigrant communities in a trusted digital space.

But 2025 brought renewed immigration crackdowns. Suddenly, WhatsApp — a lifeline for so many — became a point of vulnerability. WhatsApp encrypts messages, but not metadata. And metadata can expose networks of vulnerable people.

In 2026, this becomes impossible to ignore.

At The Pivot Fund, we’re confronting the hard truth philanthropy has avoided: Where communities are isn’t necessarily where they’re safe.

So we’re asking:

• How do we support immigrant communities shifting from WhatsApp to safer platforms like Signal?
• Who funds secure civic information infrastructure?
• How do we rebuild distribution systems when platforms collapse overnight?

2026 will force journalism to treat digital safety not as a feature — but as a fundamental part of civic health.

The Real 2026 Disruption: Community-Owned Information Networks

The next great disruption in civic information won’t be another mega-platform. It will be the rise of small, secure, community-owned networks.

People will increasingly get news through:

• neighborhood group texts
• encrypted messaging circles
• community newsletters
• offline gatherings
• mutual-aid networks
• culturally fluent hyperlocal newsrooms

Not by Silicon Valley.

Not by influencers.

Not by billionaire political actors.

At The Pivot Fund, we’re already supporting this shift. Our landscape analysis identifies outlets rooted not in algorithms, but in relationships. These outlets will be the ones that survive 2026 intact because their power doesn’t evaporate when a platform shuts down or an algorithm changes.

They operate in a civic universe where trust — not virality — determines impact.

What journalism and philanthropy must do in 2026

To meet this moment, journalism and philanthropy must finally pivot from platform dependency to community sovereignty.

1. Stop funding platform dependence — start funding community independence. Text networks, encrypted channels, in-person engagement, secure tech infrastructure.
2. Replace influencer fetishism with community trust-building. Influencers fade. Trust endures.
3. Prioritize safety for immigrant, Black, youth, and other vulnerable communities. Especially as surveillance, harassment, and political targeting escalate.
4. Invest in hyperlocal newsrooms not for their content — but for their relationships. These outlets are the new civic infrastructure.

The 2026 reality check

2022 through 2025 showed us the cracks once and for all.

2026 is when the old system collapses — and a new, community-owned one begins. This is the year journalism finally learns that leaving big social behind isn’t a setback. It’s liberation.

The future of civic information will be:

• smaller
• safer
• more secure
• more human

And that’s exactly the future democracy requires.