INKED IN & ICONIC : A weekly what’s up

5 Predictions for 2025: Welcome to the (near) future

This week, something a little different as I’m swapping analysis for a crystal ball.

1. Musk meets the truth (and can’t handle it)

Forget the politics for a moment. The clearest sign yet of our fractured social spaces will be X (fka Twitter) merging with Trump’s Truth Social. Imagine the collision: Musk’s chaos machine meets the ultimate partisan megaphone.

The global town square is already dead. Instead, we’re bunkering down in echo chambers, cozied up with our tribes. Liberal minds seeking clean air are flocking to BlueSky, while conservatives might cheer on Musk’s hypothetical acquisition of CNN or MSNBC, turning them into a state-backed content factory.

Love it or loathe it, this merger will redefine the media landscape, a propaganda symphony conducted by algorithms.

Truth? It’ll depend on where you sit, socially.

2. The year of the Superfan

This time next year, the idea that there will be a disintermediation between you and your favourite sports and music stars will feel antiquated. Logging into a toxic, ad-riddled social space to follow your favorite artist or athlete will feel as archaic as a MySpace login.

Because superfans are taking control.

The era of sprawling, algorithm-driven platforms is over.

Welcome to the rise of intimate, curated ‘fan-first’ spaces, digital safe havens where stars connect with their loyalists sans trolls, noise, or clunky ads. Think gated micro-communities where authenticity reigns supreme. It will mean zero tolerance for toxicity and where algorithms are banned at the door.

Fandom 2.0 is going to change how we define connection.

3. Personal Intelligence > Jarvis on steroids

AI has already stolen our mundane chores, but in 2025, it gets really personal.

Forget the one-size-fits-all chatbot. You’ll have a bespoke fleet of digital helpers: a career coach, a nutritionist, a therapist, even a wingman on a night out.

These aren’t bots; they’re your personal entourage. They’ll know you better than you know yourself, learning your quirks, weaknesses, and aspirations. Forget the Google reflex because your first instinct for every question, decision, or dilemma will be your personal AI hive.

Paradoxically, this tech revolution will make us more human, stripping away distraction and helping us focus on what really matters.

4. LinkedIn will go from CVs to cringe (and collapse?)

Remember when teens fled Facebook because their parents started commenting “Goodnight, sweetheart” on their posts? LinkedIn is headed for a similar existential crisis in 2025 but this time, it’s everyone’s fault.

Once the sleek, humble-brag hub of professional prowess, LinkedIn has become a bloated dopamine factory. Ironic that am telling you this on here.

It's because those motivational hardship tales are everywhere. Zero to hero origin stories are all over your feed. In short, the Steven Bartlettification of LinkedIn is driving us a little bit insane. The backlash is inevitable.

The algorithms can’t keep up with demand, and the humblebrags will hit critical mass.

Expect LinkedIn burnout, think rejection therapy groups, memes mocking its heroes’ journeys, and maybe even a scramble for a new professional platform by year’s end.

This bubble will burst, and we’ll be there to watch it implode.

5. The Sea of Sameness hits high tide

If 2023 was the year of the algorithm, 2025 will be its peak and its downfall. Jaguars got slammed on LinkedIn this year for doing anything outside the norm, proving we’ve become drones to the algorithmic dictatorship.

Spotify Wrapped. TikTok FYP. Amazon’s “You Might Like This.”

Every platform is spoon-feeding us more of the same: the same songs, styles, and creators. Novelty is distant memory. Originality is buried under a deluge of convenience.

But when sameness peaks, weirdness follows.

In 2025, niche subcultures will rise from the algorithm’s ashes. Expect a renaissance of the quirky, the experimental, and the offbeat as we claw our way back to individuality.

The margins will become the new mainstream. Finally, the freaks shall inherit the earth.

So what do you think? Are these predictions plausible or even inevitable? Save this email and come back in 12 months to marvel at how I saw it all coming. Or troll me on LinkedIn if I didn’t.