Hi, I hope you're well? I can't remember if I've already wished you a Happy New Year. We were in that Teams meeting and a few of us said it then, but it wasn't very clear. There was a group of us online and my washing machine was making noise in the background when I shouted it, so you probably didn't hear. But anyway... Happy New Year!
2026 seems to have started just as wildly as 2025 ended, and it's difficult to avoid some of the doom and gloom in world news of late. But remember that there's still excellent people doing excellent work, and hopefully this newsletter can continue to provide some of that balance over the coming year - the light and the shade. Either way, lots of interesting stuff below to help kick off the Snapshot in 2026.
Also, a quick amendment from last month's issue. I mentioned that this Google Drive of useful reports on 2026 trends was created by Ash Mann when in fact it was created by ACIG. Thanks to Ash for the correction!
📰 Latest news
- Ofcom's annual survey, the 'Online Nation Report', has found that people are spending over half an hour longer online each day than they were during the pandemic. I think it's important to mention that this isn't necessarily a problem, depending on what that online time is replacing.
- Reddit has overtaken TikTok as Britain's fourth most visited social media site. Apparently its popularity is rising fast with younger internet users, partly thanks to Google prioritising helpful discussions from forums in search results (you've likely seen Reddit popping up in your search results more often over the last few months).
- 'Meta is informing some users that they will soon be restricted in how many link posts they can share each month, unless they pay for its Meta Verified subscription service'. Meta is currently running this as a limited test, but I'd be surprised if we didn't see it rolled out more widely. Something important to consider for your 2026 Facebook strategy.
- France is the latest country to propose an Australia-style social media ban for children. They hope to enforce it this year and you should expect that more countries will follow suit.
🤓 Useful / shareable
- I shared one of the main headlines from the Online Nation Report in the section above, but there's lots of other interesting stuff in the report too. For instance, adults are less positive about the internet's impact on society than they were last year. Read the whole report here.
- A recent report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has found that media executives around the world fear search engine referrals will fall by 43% over the next three years. This is due to the increasing prevalence of AI search summaries.
- This is an interesting look at the results of the first month of Australia's social media ban for under-16s.
- I missed this last month, but this is a great article from Stagetext on the impact of subtitles.
💥 Distracting / entertaining / inspiring
- Sarah Cox, the Chief Creative Director of British Animation Studio Aardman, has shared some interesting thoughts on the use of AI in animation.
- Adam Koszary has a great newsletter called 'Content of the Week', where he shares great examples of content from in and around the sector. In his latest issue, he shared the most-clicked on content from his newsletter in 2025. Lots of inspiration to be found.
- Lego has unveiled a 'Smart Brick', which aims to bring its sets to life with sound, light and movement reactions. Personally I feel like the main draw for Lego is that it's explicitly non-digital. But then I often say that digital should be used to augment the physical experience, rather than replace it - and that seems to be what Lego's planning. Either way, most people seem conflicted.
- Whatever happened to 3D? This is an interesting article looking at the 'future of cinema', otherwise known as the slow death of 3D film.
👍 Something good
- Gen-Z have their own 'OK, Boomer' for millennials. So if you get called Unc, here's why.
And that’s all for this edition.
Don't forget we're here to support you with training, research and consultancy, so please do get in touch.
You can find all past editions of the Digital Snapshot here.
Image by Brian Lundquist available on Unsplash.
