Age of Curation: "Community can no longer be an afterthought" says KRPT's Mitun Thaker

The promise of digital culture was access, but what people are increasingly searching for is community and connection, says Mitun Thaker, co‑founder at KRPT.

The evidence is clear from KPRT’s Age of Curation Report 2026. While everyone still uses social media, there is less meaning and more stress.

48% of US teens now say social media has a negative effect on people their age, up from 32% just a few years ago, making it the single biggest negative influence on teen mental health. In response, people are rewiring how they engage with culture.

Participation is replacing passivity. Platforms that prioritise community over broadcast are growing fast. 

Reddit has overtaken TikTok to become the fourth most viewed social platform, and live, shared experiences are resurging. 73% of Gen Z say they plan to attend live events in 2026, compared to just 50% in 2022.

This has profound implications for brands, and community can no longer be an afterthought or a CRM exercise. 

It must be built through collaboration, invitation and shared moments.

The strongest brands understand that culture grows when creative people are given space to connect.

Rather than borrowing credibility, they build environments where new energy can emerge. 

The Instagram talk with Gabriel Moses is a powerful example, offering genuine value to emerging creatives while providing direct access to the thinking of one of the most influential polymaths in contemporary culture. The brand did not put itself at the centre, but instead facilitated exchange. This is the shift from broadcasting culture to shaping it. 

Communities are not audiences to be owned, but ecosystems to be nurtured. 

Brands that empower people to come together, through events, participation and shared rituals, build credibility that no media spend can buy.

In the Age of Curation, belonging is currency. 

Brands that fail to create it will be heard less, felt less, and remembered less.

Check out the other features in the Age of Curation series: Taste and Depth.