I started creating content online in 2012. Yes, I started as a blogger and I continue to love creating content online. Over the years things have definitely changed and I thought it would be interesting to share some of things that I’ve been thinking about that are emerging to be trends in 2026. By the way, I know that 17 predictions are a lot but several of these trends are interconnected and influence one another.
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Listen to the Episode
The 17 Predictions
I’m curious to see if you agree with the list, think something is missing or should be taken off. Let me know.
Platform Ownership
Building online almost always influenced by a secondary question “How Many Followers Do You Have?” Increasingly, the next question that I’m seeing coming up more frequently is “Are you seeing my content?” “I think I might be shadowbanned” Creators are starting to talk about owning a part of their brand more as a way to protect themselves from the current issues many creators are experiencing with social media platforms. Especially if they’re creating content or spaces that may be considered unsavory, unpalatable or just are disliked by those in power.
An Increasing Focus on Truth
The week that I’m working on this podcast episode we discovered that bots were and are at the heart of a lot of conversations that we’ve been having in and around the United States. Truth in content creation could happen in a couple of different ways:
- Sharing personal stories
- Screenshots of achievements and failures
- Testimonials
- Designing experiences where people actually meet you in-person.
I do want to point out that the perception of truth also depends on who is the audience that you’re speaking to and how they view the concept of truth.
Community
I love building communities and in my previous life community building was a core part of my old job. In 2024 and 2025, it became increasingly clear to me that I needed people. In real life as well as virtually. Interesting and fun folks who were dreaming similar dreams to mine who needed to talk about what they were building. With that in mind, I’ve built out two different community experiences within my Creators Getting Paid brand. The first is The Creator Income Collective-An online membership that I host for free on Slack. The goal is to be supportive of empathetic, compassionate and kind creators who’re in the process of monetizing their brands. Then there’s the meetup group here in Denver that I’ve designed that will go “live” in January. I’m really looking forward to hosting it and I can’t wait to share the concept in January.
The Importance of Using the Right Tools
I spent almost 7 months testing out tools to help me better grow what I’m working on and reduce the stress of building online. Un-ironically, the process was incredibly stressful. I’m so happy that I’m at the tailend of this cycle of testing out what will work for me in 2026 (without being too expensive). The new tools that I’m using:
- Slack for my community-I tested out a number of products and almost launched to Circle but decided that it was too early in that project to justify the cost.
- ScoreApp-This is a quiz builder that I’m using to help me better build my email list. I got it for 70% off for the first 3 months of usage.
- Meetup (dot)com-This is for my in-person community in Denver
- Beehiiv-I’m going to integrate Beehiiv into my email and list building focus
It took a lot of testing and looking at what wasn’t working to land on using these tools.
Recommendations Feature Push Back
I love that people are sharing my work. Please continue to do so! I do want to share that if you’re using this feature on a newsletter platform, it can unintentionally change how the subscribers to your list react to YOUR content. I think this conversation will force some of the biggest platforms using this feature to rework how creators can interact with the Recommendations feature. I’m thinking they should add things such as, the ability to shut down recommendations as the recipient of the recommendations. Limit the number of recommendations shown to new subscribers and add a relevancy feature that creators could use to dial who is the best fit as a recommender for your content.
Newsletter Growth Continues
We still won’t see the end of the Newsletter hype cycle and growth of these forms of media for a few reasons. Traditional media is not meeting the moment that we’re in. Creatives, entrepreneurs, etc. are recognizing this and seizing the moment to fill the gaps by producing thoughtful, beautiful long-form content that otherwise wouldn’t be produced.
Email Lists FINALLY Having a Moment
I think that it’s finally becoming more and more obvious that creative entrepreneurs need to be more proactive about protecting access to their communities. Relying solely on social media to access your community is clearly no longer a safe way to do business. I see almost daily comments where creators are asking if people can see their content, are they shadow banned and voicing frustration that the different links that they’re sharing are penalizing their profiles. Focusing on and building responsive, reliable lists where you can speak directly to your community-regardless of what’s happening on a random social platform is a huge flex in 2026-especially for creators from marginalized communities.
Threads Becomes THE Social Media Platform
A couple of years ago (2023) I ironically decided to say “yes” to Threads when it launched. It was clearly a Twitter knockoff but I was open to playing around on the platform even though I was still active on Twitter. No, I won’t call it its new name. However, at the time I started noticing the cracks in the Twitterverse. Red-pilled creators making community spaces uncomfortable, increasing aggression from what we now know are bots and just an unappealing experience all around. Then I shut down my Twitter account and said “yes” to Threads. When I tell you that Threads has surpassed Twitter (with the exception of not having spaces the audio meetup feature that I wish was on Threads). I’ve had the incredible experience of meeting people from
Substack Deepens it’s Reach
I do want to point out that most people off the platform are confused by how Substack works. First, stop comparing it to Beehiiv-I’ve actually recorded a podcast about this and have linked to it in the episode show notes. Substack is a place for long-form content. It’s a place where creatives can be celebrated, where being intellectual isn’t a course (however-some of you guys are annoying) where the stories that you love you can share and more. It’s a long-form social media platform that gives you the ability to also take your list with you. I have alot of thoughts about the newsletter feature specific to recommendations. However, as Substack continues to grow and evolve it stands out for the enclosed eco-system that it has grown and I will continue to show up in it (even though I’ll be emailing differently in the new year)
Uniquely Branded Collaborations
Towards the end of 2024 I kept thinking that Black creators weren’t leveraging Substack in the same ways that our white colleagues were. So at the beginning of 2025 I reached out to two friends: Corey Gumbs founder of The Black Podcasters Association and Angela Hollowell founder of Melanin MVP and Please Hustle Responsibly. My request felt simple at the time-I wanted to livestream once a week and talk about the Creator Economy from the Black creator perspective. This collaboration become one of the best decisions that I made in 2025. The show is called “Shh, We’re Talking” and we now reference ourselves as “The Anti-Grifters Social Club” in February 2026 we’re hosting a 2 Day Online Summit focused on the power of story. You can sign up for it at: https://creatorsgettingpaid.com/anti A branded collaboration with other creators who compliment the work that you do is a beautiful way to grow your brand and business.
Designing The Space(s) You Want
As doors close to certain types of creators, projects and communities we’ll see more folks moving forward and designing the spaces that they wish for. A wonderful example of this is the Museum for Black Girls in my hometown of Denver, Colorado. I remember the first iteration of that project in a white house on Martin Luther King Blvd. It’s now a must visit experience for Black women visiting Denver and housed in the Denver Pavilions.
Elevate the People That You Want to See
I’m very deliberate about the pictures that I use, the guests that I share with my community and more. Nothing that I’m doing is an accident. In fact, my representation process is very purposeful. I think we’re going to see people stop hoping for brands to do the work and will just do it themselves. This is adjacent to the build the spaces you want to experience comment.
AI Search and SEO
AI is not going away and neither is SEO focused search. However, understanding how both work and how to get your content and brand to show up in the results is increasingly a skill we need to learn and master. I’m keeping an eye out to see who starts positioning themselves as “The Expert” in helping people master this skill.
Monetization Conversations-Related to How the Economy is Doing
The American Economy is going through it right now and most of us are feeling it in some way. Eggs are still expensive, prices have gone up for everything and I’m 100% convinced that the conversations around pricing, etc. for small digitally focused business are about to heat up in 2026. Having a well-thought out monetization strategy and the rationale behind it will be an important part about doing business in 2026. There are still people with money in America, but how people are making spending decisions is shifting and how we’re of service as it relates to the work that we’re doing requires some additional thought.
New Events Filling the Gap
I typically attend at least two-three conferences a year. In 2025, I attended just one as shortly after it there was a death in the family and I just didn’t have it in me to show up in the way that you have to at a conference.
In 2026, I would like to attend a few more conferences but I ran into a few problems.
- Problematic locations-If you’re familiar with me you may know that I boycott certain states. Why TF are so many conferences being held in those states (and have been for years) There’s a reason why you haven’t seen me at those events.
- Pricing-Why the fuck am I paying $745 for one day with no food included? Let’s be clear, I’ve clearly paid thousands to attend conferences from ticket prices, accommodation, travel and food. If the ticket starts at almost a grand-without a meal, I think the fuck not.
- Lack of representation-It’s wild to me to how difficult it is to find speaker diversity at many of the events I was thinking about attending. Look, Chad, I’m not giving you my money if you don’t want people like me or who don’t look like you to show up as experts in your space. Speaker diversity has always been an issue, now it’s even worse.
- Timing-A large number of the events that I was looking to attend are being held towards the end of the year. It’s very noticible to me this year.
I think that we’re going to see a lot more informative spaces and events that will fill the gap. Two examples of that are Danielle Desir Corbett’s Grants for Creators Virtual Summit and Paulette Erato’s L.I.P Virtual Summit (Latinas in Podcasting)
Rest will Become Normalized
At the beginning of 2025, I knew that I needed to allocate more of my budget towards rest. At the end of 2025, I’ve come to realize that I need to allocate even MORE time towards rest. In fact, to kick of 2025, I went on an 8 day retreat on the borders of Washington State and Oregon at The Society Hotel. It was fabulous. This year, I’m blocking off even more time to rest, relax and keep my mind right. This could include: walking around town, going to fitness classes/yoga, hiking, heading up to the mountains for a few days or using ResortPass to book a fun experience in town. Usually for me that’s a fitness and hot tub day. For you it could be a day at the beach, a spa day or a local staycation. Whatever rest looks like to you-normalizing its importance as someone building a business and brand will be seen as a badge of honor.
Bonus: Long Form Content is Bae
One thing that I really wanted to point out that I find to be assume is that long-form content has finally returned. The short quips, easy answers-AI has a handle on those things. Thoughtful, nuanced takes and observations about different topics? That’s what newsletter platforms are normalizing. It’s not just newsletter takes, longer blog posts are coming back too. What can AI train from if there’s no content being curated for it?
Words for the Year: Ownership and Action
Finally, I wanted to share my words for the year. Ownership and Action-In this episode I shared the importance of curating and growing your email lists, newsletters, events or spaces that you’re curating. More importantly, I think taking action and not overthinking doing things perfectly will prove to be a winning approach to 2026. Did I forget a trend that you think should be on the list?
