Beyond technology changing how brands communicate, it’s fundamentally reshaping how consumers engage, participate and build relationships with brands.
Emerging technologies are enabling unprecedented levels of user participation and community building, while consumers increasingly expect brands to facilitate meaningful connections — not just transactions. This transformation is driving a new era of brand engagement where success depends on creating dynamic, user-driven ecosystems.
Top Current Trends in User Engagement
- AI-powered apps will help users connect with one another and build micro-communities based on shared interests.
- Brands will continue using and improving augmented and virtual reality to provide users with new experiences.
- Data transparency and commitment to sustainable practices will be make or break for users choosing brands.
AI-Powered Apps Are Helping Users Build Community
Artificial intelligence has evolved from a back-end analytical tool to an enabler of dynamic community experiences. AI now powers platforms that connect users with shared interests, facilitate peer-to-peer recommendations and create collaborative spaces around brands.
In 2025, AI will orchestrate these interactions with increased sophistication, learning from collective user behaviors to foster more meaningful connections.
Take Starbucks, for example. Their AI-driven platform suggests drinks based on weather and preferences and connects customers with similar taste profiles, enabling them to share custom drink creations and organize local coffee meetups. The platform analyzes ordering patterns to identify complementary preferences, creating micro-communities of coffee enthusiasts. These communities often evolve into real-world connections, with the app facilitating monthly coffee tastings and barista workshops based on shared interests.
In the music space, Spotify’s Discover Weekly has evolved beyond individual curation to create dynamic listening communities, where AI matches users with similar musical journeys and facilitates shared playlist creation. The platform now identifies taste clusters among listeners, creating virtual music clubs where members can collaboratively curate playlists, share music recommendations and even coordinate virtual listening parties. This community-driven approach has transformed Spotify from a music streaming service into a social music discovery platform.
Companies embracing this shift to AI are empowering users to become active participants in their brand’s evolution.
AR and VR Are Redefining User Engagement
Virtual reality and augmented reality have matured into powerful platforms for collaborative storytelling. By 2025, these technologies will enable users to become co-creators of brand narratives within immersive digital spaces, transforming passive consumption into active participation.
Nike’s NIKELAND platform on Roblox exemplifies this evolution. Users can try on virtual products, create custom training challenges, design collaborative sports experiences and contribute to an ever-evolving brand universe. Roblox Studio allows users to prototype virtual clothing and gear, with the most popular community-created designs sometimes making their way into physical production. This direct line between virtual co-creation and real-world products has created a new model for user-driven product development.
Beyond retail, Disney is pioneering collaborative storytelling in the entertainment space. Their VR experience, “What If…? – An Immersive Story,” will allow fans to step into Marvel storylines and even create and share their own narrative branches, turning passive viewers into active storytellers within the Marvel universe.
Brands Require Data Transparency to Earn User Trust
While technology enables deeper engagement, it also demands transparency. In 2025, successful brands will use technology to make data practices visible and verifiable by their user communities, turning privacy concerns into opportunities for building trust and engagement.
For instance, Patagonia has extended their commitment to transparency by implementing blockchain technology that allows customers to trace product origins and verify sustainability claims through collaborative verification networks. Their platform, the Footprint Chronicles, enables customers to follow products from source to store, with community members adding verified observations and updates along the supply chain. This system has created a network of engaged customers who actively participate in ensuring the brand’s ethical practices.
Brands that embrace this shift are seeing their customers become active advocates for responsible data practices. In fact, 40 percent of people report having switched brands after learning that a business didn’t properly protect customer data.
Success will depend on adopting new technologies and using them to facilitate meaningful connections between users. Brands that master this approach will create self-sustaining ecosystems where customer engagement drives innovation and growth. PR and marketing professionals must harness technology to build platforms where users can connect, create and collaborate.
