(Pulled from our holiday email, here’s our look ahead at our expected PR trends for 2026!)
When we reflect on the twists and turns of 2025, one stands out as more impactful than the others: artificial intelligence. And Time Magazine agrees, naming “The Architects of AI” as the 2025 “Person of the Year.”
At RoseComm, we are ethically and responsibly exploring ways generative AI tools can make us more efficient. We’re also keeping a close eye on how they are changing the way people are accessing information. Did you know that some major news websites are seeing a 30% drop in traffic? Why would you spend time sorting through organic search results, hoping to cobble together an answer to your query when AI does that for you?
That shift in behavior calls for us to rethink our communications strategies. A recent review of more than one million AI citations showed that journalism, press releases and corporate blogs are major drivers of answer engine results, with earned media from high authority sources on the rise. Sites like Wikipedia, Reddit, Quora and Medium are also playing an increasingly important role (for now).
But there’s evidence the bloom may be off the rose.
The generative AI frenzy also gave us Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year. “Slop” is defined as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” Companies are increasingly hungry for real-life, human storytellers. According to The Wall Street Journal, the number of LinkedIn postings that included the word “storyteller” doubled this year. The words “storyteller” and “storytelling” were also mentioned 469 times on earnings calls and during investor days so far in 2025, compared to 359 in 2024.
Next year will be the year that we course-correct on the proliferation of slop, using AI as an editorial assistant or writing partner, not a writer. Content must be human, relatable and authentic, or it will get lost in the good/close-enough sameness.
We’re looking forward to helping brands and organizations regain control of their narratives and rise above the noise, using storytelling skills humans have used for millennia and that we’ve specialized in since our founding in 2003.
If there’s anything we can do to help you, please don’t hesitate to reach out. While most of our clients engage us for ongoing proactive work, we can also lead storytelling and spokesperson training sessions, messaging strategy exercises, storybank creation and more.
In the meantime, we wish you a lovely holiday season with your friends and family – sharing stories and making memories together. And a happy, prosperous 2026!
Warmest regards,
Rosemary