In The 2021 Topics and Trends Report From Facebook IQ, we analyze four regions—Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America—and eight countries within them, delving into conversation topics that gained momentum on Facebook and Instagram and assessing the habits and interests these reflect.

This year's report explores how the major changes of the last year have affected individuals and communities and how they have led people to embrace authentic connections, find creative solutions to everyday challenges and build skills to last a lifetime.

We hope marketers will use these insights to understand the people they serve and to connect meaningfully in the future.

Discover some of the trends below and dive into the full report for more topics and context.

• Education and Action
• Lifestyle
• Technology
• Leisure

1. Education and Action

UNITED STATES: Awareness Becomes Action

Racial inequality in the United States has been top of mind, and many Americans are leveraging their voices, votes and wallets to support the Black Lives Matter movement in their local communities.

Protests demanding racial equity have grown in over 2,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, and on social media, people are sharing social justice slideshows to educate their followers on systemic racism and allyship. Shared instructions for calling elected officials underscore a renewed investment in local government, and people are advocating for policies that will benefit their cities, towns and neighborhoods.

People are shifting their time and money toward advocacy; many are taking care to support Black-owned businesses with their orders of books and other materials, and people are also donating to racial justice causes, raising nearly $50M on Facebook and Instagram between late May and July 2020. The year also saw an unprecedented embrace of Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the liberation of the last enslaved Americans.

In the face of adversity, action is on the rise.

AUSTRALIA: The Joy of Reading

Almost three-quarters (72%) of all Australians read for pleasure in 2019. While sheltering in place, people are finding even more time and appreciation for all kinds of books.

Literature is providing a sense of escape through vivid landscapes, company in the form of fictional characters and community through book groups online, which are growing as people seek out places to share ideas and interests. Australians are also learning about the world around them through nonfiction. Readers had already demonstrated an appetite for history, identity and social issues—titles by female and First Nations authors, for example, were topping the country’s charts in 2018. In 2020, people are more interested than ever in books on race and representation as a global dialog opens up around racial inequity.

Beyond the books themselves, small bookstores are reinforcing their presence in local communities, offering online lectures, discussion groups and kids’ story times. Libraries have also taken an active community role, delivering books and calling to check on elderly people. As books become wider windows into the world, literary tradition is going from hobby to habit.

BRAZIL: Beyond the Textbook

In recent years, awareness has been rising around the benefits of distance learning as a way to bring the classroom to students living in Brazil’s remote areas. With in-person education interrupted, major institutions are supporting the effort to bring more education online, and teachers are looking beyond the textbook to find new ways to focus students’ full attention through remote learning.

E-books, streaming videos, chat rooms and other multimedia resources are fueling distance learning, and some educators are even podcasting to distribute the Q&A sections of their lectures.

Meanwhile, microlearning—the use of small bites of digital content—is taking off with corporate educators looking to connect with Gen Z workers used to short-form media. As educators refine methods to keep students engaged from afar, they’re fundamentally changing the shape of learning.

2. Lifestyle

UNITED KINGDOM Grow Your Own

Encouraging residents to “Dig for Victory” during World War II, the British government set aside 1.7 million Victory Garden allotments to help boost morale and self-sufficiency. Now, with many people spending more time at home, an estimated 42% of Britons have taken up gardening to blow off steam and enjoy the literal fruits of their labor.

New to even kitchen gardening, many are consulting how-to books and online resources for their first season in the soil; searches for “how to grow an avocado,” for instance, increased by 100 times between mid-April 2019 and 2020. As people compete for allotments to grow herbs and vegetables, seeds are in such high demand that they’re selling out at retailers; to make up the difference, home gardeners are trading and sharing their own.

With this new fervor for agriculture, Britons are building a green-thumbed foundation for sustainable living.

UNITED STATES: Casual Culture

For ages, people have worked to present polished versions of themselves, putting on an outfit and a smile to head into the office, an appointment and even the store. With in-person meetings largely on hold and the video screen providing a virtual window into peoples’ home lives, Americans are prioritizing authenticity over appearance, even if that means being vulnerable.

Instead of venturing out for hair care and manicure appointments, people are learning to do their own upkeep (46% of US consumers say they have done some sort of at-home grooming) or forego it, growing out beards and gray hair. Cycling shorts, renowned for their comfort and versatility, have become the uniform of the year.

This more authentic presentation extends to communication: With people around the world facing challenges and changes at the same time, many are letting co-workers into their lives through the video chat screen and opening up about their needs and challenges.

These small shifts are instilling self-compassion as well as empathy for others, clearing the way to forge more authentic connections over time.

CANADA Hardworking Homes

Home renovations have been on the rise in recent years as people seek to emulate the projects they see on Canada’s many home improvement shows. As Canadians incorporate work, school and vacations into their living spaces, they’re increasingly undertaking DIY fix-ups to help their homes double as offices, classrooms, gyms and playgrounds. In July 2020, household item spending was up by 20% year-over-year, with spend increasing sharply at do-it-yourself construction stores.

In backyards and on balconies, people are installing raised beds for gardening and adding lawn furniture. The indoors is just as busy as workers graduate from improvising desk space to building out ergonomic home office setups and cordoning off areas for exercise.

As people increasingly work and play in their own spaces, they’ll be asking more of their homes—and going to greater lengths to tailor them to their needs.

3. Technology

INDIA: Expanding Connection

After 30 million rural residents gained internet access in 2020, connectivity in India hit an all-time high. However, almost half the country’s population is still offline, and many of those people are looking to get online. Stay-at-home orders have intensified the need for broadband access—and for stronger bandwidth among those who are already connected.

At home, those with an internet connection are replacing in-person shopping with e-commerce, and they’re streaming more movies and digital television. They’re also using web conferencing at unprecedented levels to work and attend school remotely. A survey conducted in August 2020 reported that more than two-thirds (68%) of connected consumers had worked from home in the past four weeks, and the traffic driven by work and educational technology was putting a strain on the available bandwidth. One student made headlines for studying on her roof to attain a strong connection.

Given how much is moving online, the country is facing an urgent need to increase access to connectivity to help all residents access remote education and employment.

MEXICO: Neo Banking

Cash has long been the payment method of choice in Mexico, but digital banking is picking up steam. After the country passed its first law to regulate financial technology in 2018, the number of Mexican fintech companies expanded by 14% in just a year, enabling more of Mexico’s estimated 42 million unbanked residents to adopt mobile wallets, credit cards and other quick and secure digital banking programs.

Many are enrolling with neo banks—digital banks that have no physical branches— which allow people to use digital currency for everyday activities like shopping and streaming. Since money management is new to so many, these digital banks are also providing education tools to help people build financial literacy around saving, budgeting and credit.

Customers are also seeking out safer digital-first shopping options, and many businesses are adopting cashless payments. This may lead to lasting changes in how people bank and purchase: One study predicts two-thirds of Mexicans will reduce their cash use in the future.

AUSTRALIA: Hybrid Shopping

Compared with other countries, Australia has been slow to embrace online shopping, since the country’s geographic spread makes deliveries hard to fulfill efficiently. But since Amazon entered the market in 2017, interest in e-commerce has grown significantly.37 That interest is intensifying as shoppers discover the convenience of deferred payment plans and rapid delivery where they can find it.

Between March and April 2020, e-commerce spending increased 29% month over month as people sought out necessities online,38 and nearly half of Australian online shoppers reported using at least one new digital shopping platform for the first time between July and August 2020.39

Among new shopping trends taking off are subscription boxes, which supply people with new selections of drinks and snacks, beauty products and vitamins each month.40 In a time when people’s schedules and surroundings are otherwise predictable, unboxing these deliveries provides some much-needed serendipity.

Australians are taking care to select online retailers who are able to serve their regions efficiently, and many prefer click-and-collect programs, which enable shoppers to pre-order and pick up their purchases at a local store.41 Out of necessity, Australians are quickly forging a hybrid shopping experience that fits their needs online and offline.

4. Leisure

BRAZIL: Digital Art for All

Even before the pandemic, digital art was taking off in Brazil. In 2019, the first state museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary and digital art opened in São Paulo to incubate Brazilian talent, and artists were attending school to channel their creativity into skills like digital illustration to apply for corporate jobs.

As museums and other organizations embrace new mediums for connecting with people, interest in digital art is accelerating. Digital works and QR codes are powering the screens at a drive-through museum in São Paulo, and digital galleries are helping artists show their work while gallery spaces are closed. One Brazilian artist was selected to show her work in Washington, DC, and was able to transmit her digital paintings without shipping or travel.

The result is a democratization of production and consumption, which is broadening art access across the country—a trend that should increase as nascent technologies develop even further.

UNITED KINGDOM: Personalizing Fashion

With fewer reasons to dress up and more time spent in old favorites, people are distancing themselves from trend cycles, opting instead for fun items that they can play a hand in crafting themselves. 

Projects like tie-dye and handmade jewelry have been exploding in popularity as people look to get their creative juices flowing at home. Nearly a quarter (24%) of UK consumers have completed a craft or DIY project. Even high-fashion outlets are publishing tie-dye tutorials to help people jump into the trend. 

Not only does this kind of boho chic crafting help people forge more personal connections to the things they wear, but it also improves their relationship with the Earth. Keeping garments for the long term is the best way to practice sustainable fashion, and crafting provides an opportunity for people to upcycle materials they already have. This more personalized, Earth-friendly dynamic could disrupt cycles of consumption for the long term.

GERMANY: Old Wheels, New Tricks

The role of transportation is shifting as people prioritize physical distancing, and Germans are finding new utility in their vehicles.

Bicycle shops are seeing unprecedented levels of demand as people trade public transit for cycling in new pop-up bike lanes, and e-bike shares are filling the roads further. Meanwhile, cars are becoming entertainment venues as movie theaters and nightclubs are replaced with drive-in films and raves; even activities as wild as zoo safaris are accessible by car.

With people hesitant to travel by air, vacationers are embracing domestic travel by automobile to locations such as the North and Baltic Seas and Alpine Foothills. In a 2020 study, 34% of German consumers said they planned to travel domestically, and 68% of those travelers expected to drive. Accordingly, car rentals for day trips are on the rise, and some venturing further afield are hitting the road in camper vans.

Germans are loving the adventure and autonomy they’re finding on wheels, suggesting that hitting the road may be here to stay.

Source: Facebook