✨ Refreshing your future

It's our last newsletter of 2025! Our year was pretty good. How was yours? Whether you achieved all your dreams in the past 12 months, didn't quite reach them, or are just plain starting over, 2026 will be your year. We just know it. This week's newsletter is about looking toward the future, building your happy place, and why blogs still matter after all this time. Let's go!

In this week's issue 📨

• Trends changing the newsletter industry
• Digital world-building 101
• Blogs aren't going anywhere

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Go the distance

Newsletters are still one of the most powerful tools for connecting with your audience, but is that still true going into a 2026 world full of AI, TikTok, and the rise of the Dumbphone? Well, yes! Email is still king for consuming newsletter content, but scoping out next year's emerging trends, so you can adapt and continue thriving, is always a wise move.

Ramona Sukhraj, writer at HubSpot, breaks down the future of newsletters in 2026 so you can stay trendy and keep on trucking.

Platforms

• Most subscribers still read their favorite newsletters in their inboxes, but publishing platforms like Ghost offer something Gmail can't: discoverability. Publishing your newsletter online allows your work to be crawled by search engines and easily shared on social media, increasing engagement.
• If you haven't utilized a newsletter platform yet, now is the time! Creating your own online publication and optimizing your email content for the web broadens your reach and lets you utilize additional marketing channels, experiment with content types, and connect with niche audiences.

Personality

• Most newsletter subscribers prefer content that reads like it's from a person rather than a brand. Even if you're running a business and your newsletter is about that business, ensure that you're sending it from you and inject your personality. Everything you create should feel human.
• If you have a team, choose someone with a consistent presence and personality who your followers can easily connect with. This gives your work a particular point of view and distinct voice that your subscribers can relate to. Tell a story and make it captivating.

Personalization

• Now that the internet is filled with AI-generated content, it's easy for content creation to seem a bit cookie-cutter and robotic. This is why your subscribers expect every newsletter you send to be crafted just for them. Personalization will be everything in 2026, so we can start to feel feelings again.
• Start by getting to know your audience on a more personal level and tailoring your content to who they are and where they live. Send surveys to learn more about them and base the heart of your content on what excites them. And most importantly, be funny and likable!

AI strategy

• According to The Hustle, 64% of marketers believe that most newsletters will be AI-generated by 2030. This may sound bleak, but this gives you and your publication an opportunity to do what ChatGPT can't. AI is trained on what's already out there, so speak from your own experiences to stand out.
• If you plan to use AI-generated content in 2026, humanize it so it doesn't read like AI. Now that most web surfers are familiar with ChatGPT-style writing, your readers will be able to tell if it's AI or not. Instead, use AI as a time-saving tool rather than letting it create for you.

Interesting stories & ideas 📚

• Predictions for journalism in 2026 – NiemanLab
• I went viral on Instagram – Jodie Cook
• Lessons from years of daily journaling – Dickie's Digest
• 2026 reading rules – Ryan Holiday
• Stop teaching and start diagnosing – Erica Schneider

A real world

As the world around us turns to AI more and more, what does that mean for the digital world you've worked so hard to build? It's easy to get lost in the ChatGPT sauce, so take a breath and remind yourself that your creativity is the real deal. No matter how "real" artificial intelligence gets, it will always be grounded in what already exists. In 2026, it's up to you to create a world that AI can't.

Artist, writer, and teacher Kening Zhu shares their personal philosophy for digital world-building and why it's so crucial for authenticity.

#1 Your digital world should nourish your soul and boost your sense of purpose. If you're publishing to seek validation, it'll start to feel like a chore. Create content that makes you happy, so it makes your subscribers happy too.

#2 The world you want to create should feel alive to your followers. To do this, focus on the process rather than the end result. How are you involving your subscribers in your work? The journey is everything.

#3 Your digital space should shatter the mold and make room for experimentation. You should know how others have achieved success, then break those rules and make new ones based on your beliefs, desires, and values.

#4 The work you publish should be an irreplaceable reflection of yourself and your audience. The website you design, and the words you write, should all carry that special essence that nobody else has. Self-expression is key.

#5 It's ok if your digital world isn't for everyone. Focusing on a niche audience can cultivate immense loyalty by being unapologetically specific. You may not catch as many fish with a small net, but the ones caught will stick around.

#6 AI still has trouble generating dimension, depth, and complexity that only a human with lived experiences can create. It's fine if your work is complicated and confusing at times. That just means it's real. Don't be afraid to get messy.

Matter of fact

If your 2025 wasn't as successful as you thought it would be, you may be wondering whether blogging is still viable and if newsletters are still worth investing in. We think so! Blogging has changed every which way since its Y2K days, with lots of ups and downs in between, but thanks to Gen Z, the 2000s are back, baby. And if LiveJournal can survive after all this time, so can you.

Freelance copywriter, Ali King, explains why blogs still matter and how they can be a valuable marketing tool in 2026.

‣ As ChatGPT and TikTok grow in popularity for search use, Google still leads the pack with 8.5 billion searches a day. Most still use Google to ask questions, and you know who can help answer them? You. Trusted content that solves problems is still very much needed, and you can be that blogger.

‣ If society eventually starts using AI platforms more than Google, those LLMs will still send folks to your publication if they ask the right questions. Remember that ChatGPT runs off real, human-generated content, which doesn't compare to your well-written, original work. Your creativity can't be duplicated.

‣ Blogs still play a key role in SEO by giving search engines fresh, indexable content, which is why they're still one of the top 5 most popular content formats used by marketers. Short-form video content is now top dog, so add it to your publishing arsenal in 2026 if you haven't already.

‣ Unlike short-lived social media posts that can be forgotten about in less than 24 hours, blog posts tend to grow over time. Combine this with a consistent, weekly or bi-weekly newsletter, and you've got gold. This also creates a deep well of content that you can repurpose into short-form videos, webinars, and pitch decks.

‣ Even with today's shrinking attention spans, long-form blog content is still being used for extensive research. 96% of people still do their own online research, and your content is what they use to find answers and make decisions. As long as you're optimized for SEO, the public will find your work and may even pay for it.

‣ As the medium continues to evolve, blogging is still very much alive. If you want your publication to stay relevant in 2026, don't rely solely on AI, mix up short-form and long-form posts, experiment with different media types, focus on quality over quantity, and most importantly, keep a human-first approach.

Curator's pick ✍️

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