The year 2026 promises to be a watershed moment for Instagram. According to an unprecedented analysis by mLabs, mLabs, a social media management platform, the network will experience a strategic duality: while Artificial Intelligence (AI) will take full control behind the scenes (advertising and data), the public will demand the return of humanity and imperfection on the front of the screens.
The report lists eight trends set to redefine sales and influence, highlighting that success will depend on managers' ability to reconcile robotic efficiency with emotional connection.
The end of the “button-pusher” traffic manager”
The most drastic change will occur in advertising. Meta plans to completely automate the creation and placement of ads by the end of 2026. The goal is to democratize access for small businesses, removing the operational burden of campaign setup.
“In this new context, the marketing professional ceases to be an executor and becomes a strategic supervisor. Their value will lie in providing clear briefs, ensuring brand consistency, and adjusting the creativity generated by AI,” explains Rafael Kiso, CMO and founder of mLabs.
To fuel this autonomous machine, First-Party Data first-party data (data collected directly by the company with consent) becomes the most valuable currency in the market, replacing extinct third-party cookies and enabling hyper-personalization in compliance with the LGPD.
“Unshittification”: The return of real content
In response to the saturation of AI-generated images and text, the trend of “Unshittification” (or “de-shittification,” in a free translation) emerges. The term defines the demand for “lo-fi” (low fidelity) content, real and imperfect stories.
The algorithm will begin to value authenticity as a competitive differentiator. In practice, Instagram will start to penalize republished content (reposts) and generic memes, favoring original productions. Brands that do not create their own narrative will drastically lose reach.
New formats: Giant Carousel and Retention Reels
The battle for attention also changes the structure of posts:
- Expanded Carousel: With a limit of up to 20 media items, the format becomes a tool for storytelling, deep storytelling and product showcase, competing directly with TikTok.
- Long-Short Reels: Videos up to 90 seconds focused on micro-storytelling and retention remain the algorithm's priority.
“This functionality offers the opportunity to create content synergy: a viral Reel can serve as the ‘bait,’ directing the audience to a carousel in the feed that deepens the topic and, finally, to a sale,” details the executive.
Social SEO and the new Influence Marketing
Another structural change is the consolidation of Instagram as a search engine. Random virality loses strength to Social SEO: being found by those searching for the topic becomes more valuable than reaching disinterested masses. Optimizing bios, captions, and hashtags with keywords will be mandatory.
In the field of influence, the market is shifting to Influence Marketing 2.0. The focus moves away from mega-influencers and falls on micro and nano-creators, seen as more trustworthy. The compensation model also evolves, integrating these creators into trackable affiliate programs, combining branding authenticity and performance.
Finally, the report highlights that, despite the end of the Live Shopping, Like button, social commerce grows through “shoppable” ads and direct checkout on the platform, eliminating friction in the purchase journey.
