Digging Into The Data

Hello Social Social Clubbers!

I am currently in the grips of Chanty Beluga lore and trying to decide if I am genuinely engaged or too afraid to admit that it all makes me feel like a boomer. Ultimately I’m glad that social media still has room for arbitrary experiments like this one, and that algorithms can still be bent into pretzels by real humans (behind fictional characters).

The past few weeks have been eventful for us here at Slate, with one epic fail and lots of incredible in-person meetups that I’d be remiss not to recap so that you can all laugh at me. First of all, the incredible Lauren Sandborn of Sea Change Communications helped us host another Lattes & Likes breakfast event in Seattle, where we got to chat about social and caffeinate with some west coast Slate supporters! (Lauren’s recap is here if you want to see some beautifully captured photos).

We also teamed up with Sarah Whittle of Unicorn Social to host an aptly named Sl(ate) Dinner in NYC late last month, and this is where the epic fail part comes in. I (Carmen) had planned to attend the dinner + the Creator Economy Live conference and was feeling so excited to travel in from Toronto to see my NYC social family, but flight delays had other plans. You have all heard stories of terrible air travel lately, so I don’t need to give you much setup, but the TL;DR here is that I spent 2 hours on the tarmac, then de-boarded, then had to go through customs again (?!), which totalled about 6 hours and ultimately resulted in me missing both events entirely (because there were no additional flights that day). I was a little crestfallen, but also equally impressed that my stateside colleague Carter was able to swoop in and make it to the event just in time. For what it’s worth, my kids were thrilled that my flight got cancelled, and I took them out for burgers and fries, so not all was lost. NYC, I’ll return soon enough!

Catch Carter’s whirlwind recap of her last-minute flight to NYC here.

Read Sarah’s lovely reflections on hosting her first brand dinner here.

And assume that I would have made a great post about it, had I attended 😅.

1. Is The Grid Dead? By Isabel Bekele
   A fascinating article in Dazed about how younger generations increasingly avoid posting on main (perhaps a sign of what’s to come UX-wise).
   On why ghost posting is desirable: “It's posting without the pressure – and, like carrying out a digital seance, there‘s a comfort in knowing you can always bring old content back to life.”
   Running to use “digital seance” casually in conversation now.

2. The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes How We Experience Everything by Kathryn Jezer-Morton
   KJM is a professor, a columnist for The Cut, and one of my favourite writers. I recently went to her book launch for the above title, which I’ve just started reading, and loved her even more in person. My biggest takeaway from hearing her talk about the book and all the research that went into it is that social media isn’t going anywhere because humans love telling the stories of their lives.
   Please read it and then send me a DM on LinkedIn so we can discuss.

3. Mark Zuckerberg’s Convenient Truth By Will Oremus

   This sharply written dagger essentially argues that you (Zuck) can’t fail if you constantly (and conveniently) reframe what your goalposts are. Meta has shifted products, strategies, and plans countless times, because “[Zuckerberg] has a penchant for cloaking his vested interests in lofty, universalist rhetoric—and then abandoning it when the winds shift.”

In August’s Social Social Club, we interviewed our panelists — Bryna Corcoran, Director of Social Media at HubSpot, and Lauren Mendoza-Routt, Senior Marketing Manager at Marketing Against the Grain — about the recently released HubSpot 2026 Social Media Trends Report.

It was great to chat with two very knowledgeable social pros about the state of the industry, but as Bryna pointed out, it’s also rare that we get to reference data of this caliber (1000+ people surveyed with results analyzed by a dedicated research team). Here are a few of the points that stuck with me:

1. 73% of marketers believe community and trust will matter more than reach in the future. That’s a strong take, but it also seems to be affirmed by the engagement metrics that are weighted the strongest these days. Shares, sends, saves — these are the units of engagement that every platform reiterates are the most important, rather than lower-value likes and impressions.

2. Execs are finally interested in supporting social teams. This is obviously hard-won, but not without some lingering frustration. Is it because other channels are failing and web traffic is down? Eric covered this in his recent LinkedIn post, and it’s hard not to feel that social is gaining legitimacy because other historically dependable strategies are seeing waning efficiency in the age of AI. Either way, leadership teams are suddenly on board.

3. The report is both validating and intended to be a real-world resource. Bryna and Lauren made it clear that the aggregate data within can be leveraged in meetings and pitches to secure more budget for social teams in the seasons ahead.

Yesterday we soft-launched our new events page, which gives you an overview of what’s upcoming, recaps from previous events, and even a form where you can apply to be a panelist. Check out the full thing here.

This Adam Mosseri spoof made me laugh at my desk. Every time I see his face (the real Adam) pop up on my feed, a shiver goes down my spine.