It is absolutely WILD to me how quickly TikTok went from bad to worse, in the span of just a few days. TikTok’s terms of service got even creepier, citing their right to use information such as your mental health or your physical location. Additionally, reports of censorship of political content were already mounting within 48 hours of Larry Ellison’s takeover, with new posts from left-leaning creators being held in moderation or rejected.

That’s been the final straw for a lot of users (myself included): uninstalls of the app had spiked 150% just a few days after the takeover.

It’s BAD, folks. Between recent TikTok developments, and the ongoing shenanigans at Meta, now feels like a good time to ask (again): what alternatives are out there? 

Let’s talk about a few of the photo/video-centric options–some you may know about, and some you might not.

Upscrolled wants to prioritize freedom of expression

Upscrolled bills itself as “the social platform where every voice gets equal power,” and that makes sense when you learn its story. Founder Issam Hijazi, who has Palestinian roots, reportedly created the app partly in response to the censorship of stories about Gaza that he saw taking place on other social apps. 

From a user standpoint, Upscrolled may be the most Instagram/TikTok-like of the bunch; it offers a media grid and is image- and video-friendly. It also accepts text-only posts, however, which could be appealing to creators who don’t always want to create an image or video to go with everything they want to share.

Upscrolled has also seen a bump in new subscribers over the past week-or-so since the U.S. TikTok deal took effect: they crossed the 1 million users mark just last week, and have been hustling to add the infrastructure to support all of their new users. 

When I downloaded the app a few months ago, the content in my Discover tab was pretty heavily weighted towards news about Gaza, and creators in and around that region, so I’ll be interested to see how it evolves as new users come into the space.

Flashes offers an Instagram-like makeover for BlueSky users

Flashes is pretty much what it says on the tin: a photo and video app for Bluesky. It even offers Instagram-like features like photo filters. You do need to create a BlueSky account in order to use it, but once you do, your postings go out into their network of 40+ million subscribers.

There are a couple of limitations to be aware of before you dive in: videos are limited to 1 minute in length, versus 3 minutes on Instagram, or up to 60 (?!) minutes on TikTok. Additionally, Flashes allows posting of only 4 images at a time. When you compare that to Instagram’s upper limit of 20 images per post–or 10 per post, if you’re using a 3rd-party scheduling tool–it can feel pretty constrictive.

It does make up for those constraints with noticeably fewer constraints in how users see your content, though: because it’s built on BlueSky’s framework, users can browse content with custom-built, algorithm-driven, or even (gasp!) chronological feeds. It also offers customizable profile tabs and a portfolio mode, so you can tailor your profile to better fit the types of content you’re sharing.

Is it time to make a change in your social media, but you feel paralyzed by the options? I don’t do social media management like the other guys: my team runs your feeds with a zero-jargon, AI-free, tailored-to-you approach. Learn more here.

YouTube is a natural next step for video creators

When news of the potential TikTok ban broke early last year, TikTok creators started looking towards YouTube, and it makes sense: YouTube is the OG of video-centric platforms, and it actually boasts more active users than TikTok. 

With the addition of YouTube Shorts in 2021, it offered short-form video structure that competes directly with TikToks and Instagram Reels. The view rates from YouTube Shorts reportedly lag behind Instagram and TikTok, but this could easily change as more creators, and users in general, peel off from TikTok.

Also worth considering: as I noted recently, Creator Spotlight’s recent overview of content usage rights concluded that YouTube’s terms of use were the most creator-friendly of the big three video-centric platforms.

Suffice it to say, we’re in the midst of some “interesting times” in the social media space. It’s worth considering what pivots might be in your future, and what feels aligned with the values you want to lead with in your business.

You almost certainly did NOT hear it here first. A lot of the marketing bros and self-proclaimed thought leaders are acting like this is a big revelation or a masterful prediction, too. 

However, any marketer who’s being remotely honest with you knows: of course storytelling will be vital in marketing in 2026… because every year is the year of the storyteller.

AI-generated content has become predictably predictable

As the buzz around LLMs and AI-generated content grew louder, a lot of us in creative industries predicted that AI-generated content wouldn’t measure up in terms of quality. Visual artists, in particular, say that a machine simply can’t bring the human element into the work it produces. It creates without soul.

Even the more practical-minded of us–designers, copywriters, people who create to solve specific problems–warned that AI-generated content wouldn’t bring anything new to the party. 

LLMs are trained on content that already exists–often without express permission from the original creators. It then churns out it content based on that learning… which essentially means that nothing it creates is entirely new.  

Now, at the end of 2025, the AI boosters in marketing are finally noticing: as more AI-generated content enters the online space, everything has started to sound the same. This brings us back to the same, unavoidable question that businesses and marketers have been asking for ages: how the heck do we stand out from the other guys in our field?

Storytelling in marketing never actually left

We’ve seen this before: storytelling is the hot strategy, the key tactic, the thing you must implement, unless you want to get left behind. Storytelling is far from new, though–it’s older than the internet, and older than a lot of the guys who think that AI can somehow replicate or replace it. 

How old? Well, a colleague of mine left her big agency job, armed with her knowledge of marketing, and determined to bring storytelling to small business.

That was well over a decade ago… and at the time, the big agency she left was over 50 years old. Do that math.

And yet, capitalists, and optimization wonks, and AI fanboys, and, frankly, all of us who feel too frazzled by the act of trying to survive to even think about marketing, desperately want there to be a shortcut. And, there are folks in tech spaces looking to “optimize” or build shortcuts for us to collectively latch onto.

In the end, though, this keeps happening: launching a website doesn’t make your business boom? Try storytelling! Viral social media posts don’t solve your problems? You need storytelling! AI-generated content doesn’t move the needle? STORYTELLING! 

It always comes back around to this, because storytelling has always been the fuel that powers ANY good online marketing effort. No matter what tactics you’re using, you have to share a message that your audience cares about. If the story isn’t there, your audience isn’t motivated to listen.

Fundamentals, fundamentals, victory

Back in the day, the captain of my roller derby team loved using catch phrases to remind us why we worked so hard. We’d drill out something mind-numbingly basic, because you’re never too good for the basics.

Then, when the fancy strategies didn’t gel, and the game was spiraling out of our control, my captain would say, “fundamentals, fundamentals, victory!” We’d remember what we practiced, and those basics would get us the win.

The thing is, the same thing that applies to sports also applies to, well, just about everything we strive to do in life: we have to get the fundamentals on lock before we can start winning.

That means we can’t keep grabbing at shiny objects and shortcuts, while we ignore the things that really matter.

No LLM will be able to do our storytelling for us.

No number of Likes or Shares on a social media post will bump your revenue if it doesn’t earn you any clickthroughs.

No website is going to serve your business’ growth if it doesn’t get your ideal audience to actually book you.

So, yes, 2026 will, indeed, be the year of the storyteller… and 2027 will be, too. It’s high time for us all to leave behind the shortcuts, and start actually telling our story.

“But really, how DO I stand out?”

Whether you need a whole new website, or just someone to hold your hand while you draft your next marketing email, I’m here to help you answer that question.

Originally published on The Radical Marketer, our weekly newsletter about dealing with online marketing when you’re a bleeding heart with a business. Subscribe here to receive every issue, straight to your inbox.

Our businesses give us a platform to seed and amplify radical ideas on social media. That can be pretty exciting, but it can also feel scary to put yourself out there in that way. 

We’ve searched our feelings and analyzed our bounty of client data, and compiled some engaging content prompts with a social justice bent to seed your thinking:

1) A bold statement that advocates for change within your industry or community: a lot of us started our own businesses after working in corporate, and experiencing firsthand exactly how much the cultures of patriarchy, racism, and ableism hurt all of us. Say it out loud, and spark that conversation.

2) Cultural observances that matter to you: dates like Juneteenth, Pride Month, Trans Day of Visibility, Women’s History Month, Black History Month, Latinx Heritage Month, and AANHPI month give us great opportunities to uplift strategically undervalued populations, and talk about creating a more just world.

3) Book or media recommendations: share your values by telling your audience about books, articles, and even podcasts that explore important societal issues.

4) Businesses that share your values: this could mean talking about a business you partner with, but it can very easily be simply highlighting local businesses you love, especially if they’re Black-, Indigenous-, POC- and/or Queer-owned.

Content like this has consistently felt genuine and rewarding to share, both for us and our clients. They’ve also delivered measurable results, time and again!

Want to learn about other ethical ways to market your business? Join us each week for The Radical Marketer. Or if, after this year’s events, you’re looking to give your online marketing a complete overhaul, check out The Social Shift.