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The 7 Most Exciting Social Media Trends of 2024

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Success on social media requires a marketing strategy that keeps up with the times. Take advantage of our recommendations and gain an edge over the competition now. Learn more about the 7 most exciting social media trends for 2024 and how to fully leverage your digital potential.

1. BeReal: The hype is dying down 📉

BeReal has gained over 73 million users in a short period of time. However, its popularity is waning just as quickly. Statistics show that only one-third of these users are still active on the platform (Ariel, 2023).

The steady decline in monthly figures shows that users quickly uninstall the app once the novelty wears off. This behavior pattern is particularly prevalent among Gen Z.

2. Meta Threads ✍️

As a result of the restructuring at X (formerly Twitter) in recent months, many other text-based platforms have gained market share in 2023. Meta Threads was launched in July 2023 and has attracted more than 44 million daily users in record time.

The Threads app is the fastest-downloaded app of all time. With 30 million downloads just one day after its release, Meta has dethroned ChatGPT. The AI tool had reached one million downloads after its first five days.

The Threads app icon next to Instagram, Facebook, and X on a smartphone

Meta Threads poses serious competition for X. According to a tweet by Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, the switch from X to Threads led to a sharp drop in traffic on X. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and X CTO Elon Musk have even hinted at settling the matter with a fistfight. 🥊

Threads has been available in Switzerland and the EU since December 14, 2023.

3. AI & Written Content 🧠

X (formerly Twitter) is losing active users (Lohnmeier, 2023), and advertisers are pulling out. Yet the rising popularity of competitors like Meta Threads and Mastodon shows that users are still interested in text. Even on Facebook, simple text posts are still very popular and successful.

And that’s where AI comes in. Words tell stories and share experiences. But you shouldn’t spend hours racking your brain trying to find the right words for your next social media post.

An animated hand begins to write on a blank notepad

Instead, use AI tools like ChatGPT, which can generate captions, headlines, and other text-based content in seconds. Provide the application with information about your target audience and brand preferences, and it will create context-based text for you.

Automated text generation using AI saves valuable time. However, the results should still be reviewed and edited by a human before publication.

4. The Return of Longer Videos 🎬

“Longer” doesn’t mean “long.” This refers to videos that are two to five minutes long. This contrasts with short videos, which typically last less than a minute.

Here are 3 reasons why the algorithms prioritize longer videos:

  1. Major platforms keep increasing the maximum video length

    → Instagram Reels can now be up to 15 minutes long

    TikTok is also testing this length

  2. User behavior is changing

    Social Media as a Search Engine → Content creators on social media need to answer questions in detail in their videos. To do that, they need more time—and, consequently, longer videos.

  3. Social Media as a Cure for Boredom

    → Users want to be entertained more and more. In 2024, social media will take up even more of people’s free time than it already does.

    → Streaming service Paramount uploads full-length movies to TikTok

5. The Rise of Telegram ⏫

Telegram has over 800 million monthly users and records about 2.5 million new registrations per day. The platform has been around since 2013. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been using Telegram as a communication channel since the war with Russia began. As a result, the platform has established itself as a full-fledged social media network.

Telegram app icon surrounded by paper airplanes

Telegram was originally designed for secure messaging. Today, it already offers several exciting social features and is evolving rapidly. Telegram currently offers the following features:

✅ Group chats, secret chats, and video chats

✅ Support for media, links, files, music, and speech

✅ Stories feature

✅ Broadcast channels for delivering news to large audiences

✅ Payment bots for sending money when making purchases

✅ Telegram Pass for secure identity verification

✅ Paid posts via Telegram Ads

6. Shares Instead of Likes & Comments 🤝

Comments, likes, and followers can be faked. This makes it easy to inflate views and impressions, which undermines the true value of reach. Shared content provides an engagement signal that is much harder to fake.

When a third party shares content, it’s clear that they’re willing to vouch for that content to their own audience. Don’t worry—likes and comments remain valuable indicators of engagement. But if you design content to be shared, you can also expect likes and comments afterward. The reverse isn’t always true.

A woman speaking through a megaphone as a symbol of sharing content

7. YouTube Shorts 👇

When YouTube Shorts was launched in 2021, many dismissed it as just another TikTok clone. According to Google Trends, interest in the platform in the U.S. has risen by over 500 percent since 2021. Learn more about YouTube advertising.

Google Trends data for YouTube Shorts in the U.S. from July 2021 to October 2023

By 2022, YouTube Shorts already had 1.5 billion monthly active users. In 2023, that number grew by another half a billion. If you already have a YouTube channel, Shorts gives you the opportunity to reach a whole new audience. You can also easily repurpose existing short videos from TikTok or Instagram Reels here.

YouTube app on a smartphone against a red background

8. Summary

In the ever-changing landscape of social media, these trends for 2024 are groundbreaking and offer exciting opportunities to optimize your digital strategy.

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Julia Vanoni
About the author

Julia Vanoni

Member of the Management Team

Julia Vanoni is a member of the management team at onlineKarma.

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