Biztrends 2026 Highlights Shift Towards Authentic, Community-Led Brands Says Sociable Founder

Jason van Dyk, founder and CEO, Sociable app. Image supplied

We live in an age of abundance. Where putting dinner on the table often requires little more effort than deciding which delivery app to open. But this wasn’t always the case.

Early humans lived in a world of scarcity, where survival depended on co-operation rather than convenience. Food was hunted and gathered collectively, shared within the group, and consumed together.

Those who endured discovered humanity’s first real “life hack”: when we come together, we don’t just survive - we thrive.

So how does this indicate a trend in the year 2026?

As the world innovated, we found novel ways to build solutions to our needs and then our wants. We figured out how to work remotely, live without borders. We’ve automated our interactions and recently, even outsourced our conversations.

Sociable app founder, Jason van Dyk, shares their mission and impact at StartUp Club ZA Cape Town Showcase 2024. Image supplied

Brands began to shy away from lasting relationships and trust, instead choosing to focus on margins and reach. We became an audience to our own existence.

But, if you’ve ever heard the sentence “Don’t worry, I know my car” as the petrol light flickers - you will understand that ignoring truths is a poor strategy to reach any destination.

So despite all the VC-backed promises of a “connected world online”, we are finally waking up to the cheapness of the illusion, left wondering why the rain on our legs has suddenly become warm.

What we see now is that there is a new demand, we want connections that we can control.

Image supplied

With that, we have seen a massive resurgence in “community” with everything. Marketing meetings no longer revolve around views, they want to know about conversations. Nike spends just as much on Super Bowl commercials as they do on run clubs. People speak about micro-influencers, but we see community-leaders.

And we are building Sociable to be the market leader in the intention-economy that prioritises community over attention.

Whenever we share the ROI that Sociable achieves on our “marketing” campaigns, it always gets the same bewildered look. Our team is admittedly good at what they do, but in all honesty, the work was already done for us.

Image supplied

People already knew what they wanted, they just didn't have anyone offering that alternative.

For a discussion about trends you may have noticed that up until now, you haven't spotted the infamous abbreviation “AI”.

That’s for good reason, and not because I’m a heretic. But rather AI is the catalyst for two current market shifts.

Those that make the human more artificial and those that make the artificial more human. The former, I am sure, you could recite in sign-language at this point, but the latter is the major trend bubbling, just stage left of the spotlight.

This is why over the next cycles you will start to see more and more companies building technology that isn't seen as a replacement for our lives but rather a supplement.

Because as the conventional market squares become flooded with more artificial content, we are turning back to what we trust.

So you’re either providing people with expedient access, such as shopping through your favourite LLM (Large Language Model) or intentionality, where they value control in decision making (i.e. joining a hiking community).

Put simply, the future trends in business and in culture can be summarised into two themes: Automation and Authenticity.

If, like many of us, you have been experiencing a disconnect recently and haven’t quite figured out the root cause, it may be time to start looking at how you, and we, all address community.

In both business and life, the greatest competitive advantage is now intentionality.

We implore you to get out there; chase a passion, try something new, and invite the beautiful uncertainty of life.

Bond with a community; because at the end of the day, this is who we are.