Welcome to the State of Social Intelligence 2026 report
The most comprehensive report of the state of the social intelligence industry is now available.
This year we surveyed 330 professionals from around the globe to explore industry trends in social intelligence. We wanted to learn how their work has evolved over the last 12 months, what challenges they face and the opportunities they’re excited about. And, once again, we’ve delved into how genAI is shaping the industry, while also sharing our perspective on what needs to change.
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Key take aways from the State of Social Intelligence 2026
This year’s report has revealed that social intelligence and social data analytics are changing in surprising ways and at unprecedented speed.
You will have noticed the name change: no longer social listening but social intelligence. This reflects the role of the industry today. We no longer merely observe and record online conversations but are taking root in online communities, widening and deepening our remit, and extracting more meaning and actionable insight from the data.
We dug deep into the sector with this survey, questioning 330 SI professionals, more than ever before. All the evidence suggests positive growth and increased maturity as the industry evolves. This report takes you through the results and shares the insights we’ve discovered.
These include...
• 87% of practitioners expect social intelligence to expand or deepen over the next two years, while only 7% believe the role will remain unchanged. This signals strong confidence that social intelligence is becoming more strategically important within organisations.
• 80% of respondents say they are involved in interpreting patterns, narratives or meaning from social and internet data often or all the time, highlighting the industry's shift from simple monitoring toward deeper insight generation and strategic interpretation.
• 94% feel confident defending their analysis to senior stakeholders, and more than half report being very confident in analysing cultural or behavioural meaning from online conversations. This suggests growing maturity and credibility for social intelligence functions.
• There is a gap between perceived value and actual use of social intelligence. Only 12% say social intelligence is most frequently used for strategic planning, even though respondents consistently rate this as one of the areas where social intelligence creates the greatest value. Most activity remains focused on ongoing monitoring and reporting.
• Technology remains the biggest operational constraint. 64% of respondents identified tool limitations or integration issues as the factor most limiting the impact of social intelligence, despite more than half saying technology significantly expands their analytical capability.