People are still scrolling. Still watching. Still discovering brands, products and ideas through their feeds every day. But they are not always liking, commenting, sharing or posting in the way they once did, and for brands still measuring success primarily through visible engagement, that shift has real consequences.
According to Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report, social media use in the UK remains almost universal, with 89% of adult internet users active on at least one platform. Among 16 to 34-year-olds, that figure rises to 97%. The story is not that people have left social media – it’s that their behaviour has changed.
The same Ofcom research found that around half of adult social media users now actively post, share or comment, down from 61% the previous year. More people are using social media, but fewer are visibly participating. This is the rise of the passive audience.
What passive actually means
Passive doesn’t mean uninterested or unreachable. It means audiences are watching more quietly, engaging more selectively and thinking more carefully about what they choose to put their name to online.
There are a few reasons for this. Digital fatigue is one. People are surrounded by content all day, and that constant flow makes them more selective. A like has become a choice, a comment has become a statement, and a share has become a recommendation with their name attached to it.
There is also a growing concern about the permanence of online activity. Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report found that 49% of adults are concerned about their online posts causing problems for them in the future, up from 43% the year before.
The broader picture is sobering too. The same report found that only 36% of social media users now believe social media platforms are good for their mental health, down from 42% the previous year. Audiences are not walking away, but they are becoming more cautious about how they engage.
Passive audiences are still paying attention
This is where brands need to be careful about what they conclude from the numbers. A passive audience may not like, comment, save or share, but that doesn’t mean the content had no impact.
Someone might watch a Reel without reacting. They might read a caption and move on, then check the comments to see what other people think. They might visit the profile, search the brand later, or remember it when they see the product in a different context. The point is the customer journey on social media is rarely linear.
Passive behaviour is harder to measure than a like, but it isn’t invisible. It asks marketers to look beyond obvious engagement signals and think about the wider role social plays in building awareness, familiarity and trust over time.
Why social proof still moves people
There is also a social dimension to passive behaviour worth understanding. People don’t always want to be the first to engage. A post with no likes or comments creates a different atmosphere to one with an active, visible response. It’s not necessarily that the content is better in one case, it’s that the audience has been given a cue.
A strong comment section can encourage more comments. A post with a high save count signals value. A TikTok where people are tagging their friends can quickly move from content into conversation. Visible engagement creates confidence for the people who are still deciding whether to join in. For passive audiences, that social proof can be the difference between watching quietly and choosing to participate.
Why comments, saves and shares carry more weight now
If audiences are becoming more selective, every meaningful action they do take becomes more significant. A like is quick and instinctive. A comment, a save or a share requires something more.
A comment shows the content sparked a response. A save suggests it was useful enough to return to. A share means someone thought it was worth passing on. These are the signals that tell brands content has moved beyond a passive scroll, and they matter algorithmically too.
TikTok’s own guidance states that recommendations are influenced by interactions including likes, shares, comments, completion rates and skips. Instagram has confirmed that actions such as saves, shares and comments help its systems understand what content people find valuable.
The comment section in particular has become a meaningful destination in its own right. On a strong post, the comment section acts as a micro-community, sparking questions, providing answers and wider brand context. Saves, while less visible, often signal genuine usefulness. For brands, these metrics aren’t just reporting figures, they are evidence that content has earned attention, trust or cultural relevance.
Building trust with an audience that is watching before it acts
When audiences are quieter, trust becomes more important. Feeds are saturated, AI-generated content is increasingly common, and people are more likely to question what feels genuine and what is worth engaging with. Brands build trust by showing up consistently, creating content that is genuinely useful, responding to comments, and keeping a recognisably human tone. They build it through repetition: a single post rarely moves someone to act, but a steady pattern of relevant content and genuine community management can make a brand far more memorable over time. For passive audiences especially, that consistency matters. They may be watching for weeks before they decide to engage.
Five content types that earn responses from passive audiences
The strongest content gives people a natural reason to act, without asking for it directly. These five formats tend to perform well with more passive audiences.
- Practical tips and how-to content are among the most consistently saved formats. Step-by-step advice, quick fixes and useful explainers give people something concrete to return to.
- Relatable content travels well through direct messages. A post that captures a shared habit, industry truth or everyday frustration gives people a reason to send it to someone else.
- Opinion-led content can spark conversation when it articulates something an audience has been thinking but has not yet said. The goal is not controversy for its own sake, but a perspective people can respond to.
- Timely content earns engagement when it connects a cultural moment or platform trend to a brand-specific point of view, rather than simply following what everyone else is doing.
- Community-led content closes the loop. Responding to comments, turning audience questions into posts and building content around recurring themes signals that engagement is noticed and valued. People are more likely to join a conversation when it is clear someone is listening.
The question worth asking
Passive audiences aren’t a sign that engagement no longer matters. They’re a sign that it has to be earned. Reach, likes and impressions are still useful data points, but they paint an incomplete picture. The more useful questions are whether people are watching until the end, saving the content, asking questions in the comments, returning to the profile or sharing it privately with someone they think would care.
The brands that navigate this shift well will be the ones that look beyond surface-level reactions and pay attention to the signals that show genuine interest, trust and intent. Passive audiences are not disengaged. They’re just harder to read, and in a more selective social media culture, earning their response will matter more than ever.
Want to build a social strategy that reaches audiences where they actually are?
Brandnation’s social team works with brands to develop content strategies built around genuine engagement, not just visibility. Get in touch.
About the author
Niamh Conneely | Junior Account Manager
With experience across beauty, lifestyle, and tech, working with both B2B and B2C brands, Niamh is passionate about all things social and loves turning strategy into engaging campaigns.
