The Social Platform Map Looks Different in 2026
My old picks are gone or unrecognizable
I wrote about picking a social platform by format back in 2023. The principle held up. The map did not.
Most of the platforms I named are different now. Some are dead. Some swapped their identity. One didn’t exist yet and now eats much of my attention. So this is a redraw.
Platforms
Pick the platform that fits your format. Not the one that’s trending. Not all of them.
If you write, go where writing is the point. If you talk, go where audio lives. If you film, go where video gets watched. Spreading yourself thin across six platforms is the most reliable way to be invisible on all of them.
That hasn’t aged.
If you write
In 2023 I said Twitter.
Twitter is X now, and X is a different product. The text-first culture is still there. The reach is not, for most people I know. The algorithm rewards a narrow set of voices, and small accounts feel smaller than they used to.
Substack Notes is the (new) place text-first writers actually live. It works a lot like old Twitter. It feels light(er). It also pushes you toward your newsletter, which is the point.
Bluesky exists. It’s an option.
Threads is still around, technically. I never warmed to it. But some have success there.
So: Notes first. X if you have history there. Bluesky or Threads as a backup.
If you film
TikTok survived its forced-sale year in the US. Still the format leader. Still the place a short video can go from nothing to a million views overnight. The platform US lawmakers spent three years trying to kill is bigger than ever.
Instagram Reels is a good bet for many creators, still.
YouTube Shorts is even better than Instagram, I think. It pays. It ranks in search. It feeds the long-form channel if you have or want one. If you’re going to do short video anyway, Shorts is probably the highest-ROI version of it.
If you talk
I made fun of Clubhouse in 2023. Remember that one? Audio-only social media. It’s dead.
Audio didn’t die. It went back where it was working: podcasts, audiobooks. The “social audio” wrapper was the part nobody needed or wanted.
If voice is your thing, start a podcast. Don’t wait for the next Clubhouse. It isn’t coming.
If you make images
Instagram, still. Less obvious than it was, though.
Pinterest second. SEO-driven, long-tail, kinder to small accounts. It rewards a body of work over a single viral post. That fits a lot of creators better than they realize.
If you make photographs as art, neither is great anymore. The format that platform was built for got eaten by short video.
Trying all of them
I tried many. It didn’t work.
Six platforms means six content engines, six tones, six audiences who don’t overlap as much as you’d think. The math just doesn’t work for one person.
One platform you like, plus your owned channel (blog or newsletter), beats a thin presence everywhere. By a lot.
Downsides
Picking one platform means missing the next one. Probably.
If TikTok actually gets banned somewhere it matters, that’s a problem for anyone who put everything there. If X keeps drifting, the writers who stayed lose more than they realize.
Owning your audience somewhere a platform can’t take from you is a great idea. Email is still the best version of that.
The Bottom Line
The map in 2026 is quite different from the one in 2023. Clubhouse is gone. Twitter is X. Notes is the writer hangout. Threads are somewhat flatlining. TikTok is strong. Pinterest is underrated.
The principle holds up to this day, I believe: Pick what fits. Make the good stuff there. Send people from there to a list you own.
That’s been the play the whole time.