6 Social Media Trends Shaping the Future of Business in 2026

Prae Dumrongmongcolgul, Country Director of Facebook Thailand at Meta, said that customer purchasing paths are changing rapidly, becoming more flexible and increasingly integrated into the social environment. At Meta, we view social platforms as a powerful growth driver—whether it's using AI for one-to-one personalization, expanding reach, or helping businesses grow in foreign markets.

Our continued investment in AI helps enhance the advertising ranking system and recommendation system, ensuring that the right product reaches the right customer at the right time. For instance, early 2026 improvements to the models resulted in a 12% increase in ad quality on Facebook and a 3% rise in conversion rates on Instagram.

This reflects the strength of the advertising performance, with social platforms becoming a full-funnel sales engine linking product discovery on Reels to purchases through chat (conversational commerce) or integrated shopping. AI is embedded throughout the entire process—from automatic targeting to the development of creative ad materials—transforming traditional group-based targeting into advanced hyper-personalized marketing.

This means that social media is no longer just a growth support tool for businesses but is becoming an essential infrastructure for businesses. With over 3.58 billion daily active users across Meta’s apps, businesses now have unprecedented opportunities to engage with target audiences in ways that can be developed and personalized to meet specific individual needs.

1. Automation and Generative AI Drive the Entire Customer Journey
AI is revolutionizing how businesses reach and serve customers quickly, from identifying target audiences to optimizing ad delivery. AI-powered ad ranking systems improve the relevance of marketing messages and conversions, with ad impressions increasing by 12% compared to the previous year. Generative AI is also revolutionizing content creation, allowing businesses to quickly and cost-effectively produce diverse, high-quality content.

Our Q4 2025 earnings report highlights significant use of GenAI in business, with annual revenue from AI video creation tools reaching $10 billion in Q4. The growth rate, compared to the previous quarter, was nearly three times higher than overall ad revenue growth. The combination of automation and GenAI allows for mass customization of personalized content at the same time, boosting competitive ability significantly.

2. Instagram Unlocks Growth Through Creativity and Community

Instagram’s power in Thailand is clearly visible, demonstrating its potential and strong growth. The platform is becoming a crucial space for communities to connect, leading to deeper sales and relationships with brands. We see significant expanded reach across multiple generations of users. For businesses, Instagram offers special opportunities to connect with diverse communities, from younger, digital-focused users to consumers with higher purchasing power, all within the same ecosystem.

Importantly, Instagram is where creator-led brand discovery occurs. Creators are trusted voices who can reach people amidst the overwhelming amount of information, making Instagram an essential tool for advertisers seeking to build real engagement. The rapid growth of short-form video content like Reels is driving this engagement, with view time increasing by over 30% compared to the previous year in Q4 2025.

This growth is a direct result of the AI optimization we’ve implemented to improve recommendation quality, allowing our system to better identify user interests and open new revenue-generation opportunities for businesses. A clear example of this is the Thai fragrance brand, Journal Boutique, which used engaging video ads to showcase real-life product usage through Reels and Stories. This approach allowed the brand to communicate effectively and efficiently about what the product is, how it’s used, and the results, creating initial awareness and building momentum for subsequent retargeting campaigns.

3. Messaging Becomes the New Marketplace

Conversational commerce is a key way to connect with customers in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand. Messaging platforms like Messenger, Instagram DM, and WhatsApp facilitate quick, personalized service, product discovery, and transactions. AI now significantly enhances this by managing conversations more effectively. The exciting opportunity we see for Thai businesses is using messaging and chat as an effective channel to re-engage and retain customers. Specifically, features like marketing messages on Messenger enable businesses to send personalized promotional messages to followers, using CRM lists or custom audiences to connect with customers who may not be reachable through other channels. With over a billion Messenger users per month, the potential for businesses is immense.

Furthermore, down-funnel measurement allows businesses to optimize overall marketing strategies. Messaging is becoming a full-fledged digital storefront, seamlessly integrating customer service, marketing, and sales. Thai businesses can work with Meta Business Partners in Thailand, such as ZWIZ.AI and V Rich, to leverage this feature, which is already available on Messenger and will soon expand to WhatsApp in Thailand.

4. AI-Driven Creator Economy Accelerates Sales Through Facebook Affiliate Partnerships

Creators now play a crucial role in product discovery and reviews, with AI enhancing the creator-brand ecosystem by matching content with audiences likely to engage. Meta has launched Facebook Affiliate with Shopee, where creators can directly tag Shopee products in posts and Reels, enabling consumers to make payments instantly on Shopee, and creators will earn commissions.

Additionally, we have partnership ads that allow advertisers to collaborate with partners like creators. Both accounts’ names appear in the header of the ad, using signals from both accounts to improve ranking and increase performance. This partnership benefits creators by giving them access to new audiences and creating more revenue streams, while advertisers benefit from more authentic and engaging content, improving results and accessing valuable advertising performance insights.

5. Video and Live Commerce Turn Engagement into Results

Video is already the most popular content format worldwide and in Thailand. Our AI efforts and products are turning this increased engagement into valuable business outcomes. In Q4, we saw a 7% increase in organic content views in the feed and video posts on Facebook, positively impacting the largest quarterly revenue in two years. Using live video ads on Facebook helps brands promote their live streams to a wider audience, increasing interest and providing opportunities for real-time Q&A and interaction. This trend enables Thai businesses to leverage video commerce to drive brand discovery.

6. Cross-border Commerce Growth Becomes Easier with AI

Cross-border commerce in Southeast Asia is growing rapidly, and digital platforms are key to effective regional and international growth for Thai businesses. By leveraging robust AI-powered targeting and trade solutions like Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, Click-to-WhatsApp/Messenger, and paid marketing messaging, popular in industries like tourism, beauty, and health, businesses can discover new audiences, test markets, and expand cross-border efficiently. The opportunities are limitless, especially with Meta apps, which reach over 3.58 billion daily users.

When these capabilities are combined, social platforms will not only support business growth but will become the essential infrastructure for businesses ready for the future. Now in 2026, it’s a crucial time to embrace AI-driven and social media-driven changes fully.