I haven’t posted actively on social media since September. That’s when I came back from art residency.
For an artist in the 21st century, that statement usually comes with a heavy dose of professional guilt. We are told that visibility is currency. We are told that if we are not on the feed, we do not exist. We are told that the “algorithm” is a hungry god that requires daily sacrifices of reels, stories, and carousel posts, and that missing a day is a sin, but missing a quarter is professional suicide.
But here is the strange thing: I am still here. My studio is still here. The paintings are still drying on the wall.
This year, 2025, has been a strange year for the digital artist. I noticed it most during my residency in San Angelo. That was the last time I was truly “active” on the platform. I was painting eight hours a day, surrounded by the heat and the dust and the focus, and sharing that process felt natural. It felt like a conversation. But even then, amidst the productivity, I felt a growing distance. I was posting, but the signal felt weak. The engagement and that dopamine hit we all pretend we don’t care about but secretly track, was inconsistent.
Then, when life took over, the driving, the teaching, the “survival mode” of the mid-career artist, I stopped posting. And the silence from the app was deafening.
I know I am not alone in this. Talking to my peers, to the artists, and to the collectors who have become friends, there is a universal sentiment hanging in the air: We are all tired.
We are tired of performing. We are tired of the constant pivots from photo to video to carousel to whatever new format Zuckerberg decides is the future this week. And it seems that the platforms themselves have realized this.
As we move into 2026, Meta (Instagram and Facebook) is rolling out the most significant changes to its infrastructure in a decade. They are pivoting away from the “infinite scroll” of viral garbage and attempting to engineer something that feels like “community” again.
But let’s not be naive. They aren’t doing this for our mental health. They are doing it because their data shows that we are leaving.
This article is an attempt to unpack what happened to our reach in 2025, what the specific technical updates for 2026 actually mean for artists, and how we can navigate this new landscape without losing our minds (or our studio time).
Part I: The Death of the “Follower”
The first hard truth we have to swallow this year is that the “Follower Count” is now a vanity metric with zero functional value.
For a decade, we operated on a simple contract: I build an audience, they follow me, and when I post, they see my art. That contract has been torn up.
In 2025, I looked at my analytics. I have thousands of followers, people who explicitly clicked a button saying, “I want to see what Bartosz creates.” Yet, when I post a painting, perhaps 2% to 5% of them see it. Why?
Because Instagram stopped being a “Subscription Feed” and became a “Recommendation Engine.”
It stopped showing your work to the people who follow you and started showing your work to strangers who might like it, based on what they watched for 3 seconds yesterday. This shift turned every artist into a contestant on a daily game show, fighting for the attention of an audience that doesn’t know them, rather than nurturing the audience that does.
This is why you felt that “distance.” You weren’t speaking to your community; you were shouting into a stadium of strangers, hoping someone would look up from their phone.
The Exhaustion of the User Base
It is important to acknowledge the human element here. The algorithm isn’t just code; it reacts to human behavior. And human behavior in 2025 shifted toward Digital Fatigue.
Users are scrolling faster. They are double-tapping less. The “Like” button, which used to be a signal of appreciation (“Good job, Bartosz”), has become a muscle reflex with no meaning. Or worse, people see the art, enjoy the art, but are too exhausted to interact with it.
We are consuming content like we consume fast food, mindlessly, quickly, and with a vague sense of regret afterward. Meta knows this. They know that if Instagram becomes nothing but a stream of ads and viral brain-rot, users will eventually just put the phone down.
So, for 2026, they are changing the rules.
Part II: The 2026 Algorithmic Updates (The Black Box Opens)
Based on developer updates, beta tests, and the behavior of the platform over the last quarter, we have a clear picture of what Instagram and Facebook are prioritizing for the coming year.
There are three major technical shifts that every artist needs to understand.
1. The “Fresh Start” (The Reset Button)
This is the most terrifying and liberating update. Instagram is rolling out a feature that allows users to “Reset Suggested Content“.
With one click, a user can wipe their algorithmic history. All the data Instagram has on them—that they like oil painting, or cat videos, or political rants—is deleted. The feed resets to a blank slate.
What this means for you:
If you relied on “past credit” with the algorithm, it’s gone. If a collector resets their feed, you have to win them over again. You cannot coast on the fact that they liked your work in 2023. You have to be relevant today.
2. The Bifurcation of Facebook (Friends vs. For You)
Facebook is admitting defeat on the “mix everything together” strategy. They are aggressively splitting the feed into two distinct tabs:
- The “Friends” Tab: This will show only content from friends and groups. No algorithms. No random viral videos. Just the people you actually know.
- The “For You” Tab: This is pure TikTok-style entertainment.
The Artist’s Trap:
If you are posting on a “Facebook Business Page,” you are banished to the “For You” tab, fighting against influencers and memes. If you post on your “Personal Profile,” you land in the “Friends” tab.
This suggests that in 2026, the “Personal Profile” might actually be a stronger business tool for artists than the “Business Page”. The intimacy of the “Friend” connection is valued higher than the “Brand” broadcast.
3. The “Meta AI” Factor
This is the invisible hand. Meta is integrating its AI chatbot into the search and discovery process.
In 2026, the algorithm will use Intent Signals from the chatbot.
Example: If a user asks Meta AI, “How do I start collecting abstract art?”, the AI will immediately re-weight that user’s Instagram feed to show them abstract painters.
- The Implication: Your captions and keywords matter more than your hashtags. If you post a painting with the caption “Untitled, 2025,” the AI doesn’t know what it is. If you write, “Abstract figurative oil painting exploring memory and texture,” the AI can categorize you and serve you to the user who just asked about that topic.
Part III: The Strategy for 2026 (What Actually Matters)
We can complain about these changes, or we can adapt to them. As artists, we are used to constraints. The canvas has edges. The paint dries fast. The algorithm is just another material we have to work with.
Based on the current data, here is the hierarchy of content value for the coming year.
Priority Table: Where to Put Your Energy in 2026
| Content Type | Priority Level | The Strategy | Why It Works Now |
| The “DM Share” | CRITICAL | Create content people want to send privately to a friend (e.g., “This reminds me of you” or “Look at this technique”). | The algorithm now tracks “Shares” as the highest form of engagement. A private share is worth 100 public likes. |
| Original Reels | High | Focus on retention (videos that hold attention for 45s+) rather than short loops. No more reposting viral audio without adding value. | Meta is penalizing “Aggregators” (repost accounts) and boosting “Originals.” Your voice, your studio, your process. |
| Carousel Posts | Medium-High | Use these for storytelling or education. “10 details from my new painting” or “How I stretch a canvas.” | Carousels force the user to stop scrolling and swipe left. This “dwell time” signals to the AI that the content is valuable. |
| SEO Keywords | High | Stop stuffing 30 generic hashtags (#art #love #happy). Write descriptive, natural captions containing specific keywords. | Search is replacing discovery. Users are searching for specific things. Help the AI find you. |
| Community | High | On Facebook, focus on Groups and personal profile discussions. | To survive the “Friends Tab” split, you need to be a “Friend,” not a “Brand.” |
| Public Likes | Low | Ignore this metric. It is a vanity number. | A Like is a reflex. It does not correlate to sales or reach anymore. |
Part IV: The Philosophy of the “Quiet Artist”
Knowing all of this, the mechanics, the data, the manipulation and how do we exist in this space without losing our souls?
I struggled with this for months. When I wasn’t posting, I felt like I was failing. But looking back, that silence was necessary. It allowed me to detach my self-worth from the notification badge.
The “Distance” I felt, and perhaps you feel, is actually a healthy boundary.
Social media wants us to be Content Creators. But we are Creators. There is a difference.
- A Content Creator makes things to feed the algorithm.
- A Creator makes things to feed the human spirit, and uses the algorithm to distribute it.
The danger arises when we confuse the two. When we paint for the Reel. When we choose a color because it “pops” on a small screen. When we rush a series because the feed demands “Newness.”
The “One Signal” Approach
My strategy for 2026 is simple, and it flies in the face of the “daily post” advice.
I will post less, but I will signal stronger.
If the algorithm punishes “mid” content (boring, repetitive posts), then the solution is not to post more mid content. The solution is to post nothing until you have something undeniable.
When I share a painting in 2026, it will not be a “WIP” (Work In Progress) shot taken in bad lighting just to prove I am alive. It will be a high-resolution, thoughtful presentation of a finished idea. It will be a story.
By reducing the frequency, we increase the potency.
The Return to the Private Channel
The most subversive thing an artist can do in 2026 is to take the conversation offline.
Because the platforms are unreliable, and because they are actively trying to monetize our connection to our own audience, we must own the data.
I am shifting my focus from “Followers” to “Subscribers.” One email to a collector list is worth 50 Instagram posts. An email lands in an inbox (a quiet, private place). An Instagram post lands in a feed (a loud, chaotic public square).
If you want to sell art, you need quiet. You need attention. You need the intimacy that the “Friends Tab” promises but rarely delivers.
Conclusion: Don’t Let the Machine Eat You
If you, like me, spent the last few months of 2025 in silence, do not apologize for it. You were not “inactive.” You were working.
The algorithm updates for 2026 are designed to make us jump. They want us to reset, to re-engage, to panic about our reach so we pay for “Boosted Posts.” They are engineered to make us feel exactly what I felt: that if we stop, we disappear.
But that is a lie.
The art you made during the silence is real. The skills you built while you weren’t posting are real. The collectors who own your work still own it.
So, use the tools. Optimize your keywords. Focus on “Originality” and “Shares.” Understand the table I provided above. But do not let the metric of “Reach” become the metric of your “Worth.”
We are entering a new year. The black box has changed shape again. But the job of the artist remains exactly the same: To see the world clearly, and to show it to others.
Even if the algorithm doesn’t like it.
Bartosz Beda is an artist and the founder of Execute Magazine. He holds an MA from Manchester School of Art and has been featured in the Catlin Art Guide and The Saatchi Gallery. He lives and works in Dallas, TX.
