SOCIAL MEDIA ZEITGEIST

While perennial leaders like Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects continue to dominate total follower counts, the more interesting story lies deeper in the Social Media Zeitgeist table, with the deliberate shifts studios are making away from legacy platforms, and in the measured rise of a new generation of practices succeeding through clarity, consistency, and authentic engagement.

At the top of the rankings, Foster + Partners posted the highest absolute follower growth this quarter, adding over 41,000 followers across platforms, pulling ahead once again of Zaha Hadid Architects, who still registered an impressive 30,000 new followers, whilst remaining on top of the table by a long way. Populous added over 9,600, and Heatherwick nearly 8,000 total followers.

These headline numbers reflect the continued reach of practices that understand how to marry platform presence with a legacy brand identity. But the more compelling changes are happening further down the field.

This quarter saw two significant shifts to the Beedier Zeitgeist methodology that reshaped the rankings. Pinterest follower counts were introduced for the first time – a recognition of the platform’s design relevance, but one that brought a wave of volatility. Some studios surged upward thanks to legacy Pinterest accounts with substantial followings, accumulated over years of passive engagement – for example BetterPAD, a Kensington-based practice with a portfolio of home refurbishment projects – climbed by 8,000 to enter the Top 100.

Several smaller studios leapt dozens, even hundreds, of places based almost entirely on Pinterest data, creating some temporary distortion in the relative growth picture – which will settle down in future listings.

In parallel, Threads follower data continues to consolidate systematically, rewarding those studios that had established accounts early and linked them to their Instagram communities. However, the shine of Threads is already fading, with only 2,000 new followers this past quarter. Initial gains – largely the result of Instagram’s seamless audience migration feature – are beginning to plateau. Follower counts are still rising modestly, but engagement has softened, and very few studios are building meaningful communities there yet.

For those banking on Threads to replace the professional discourse once held on Twitter, the returns so far have been underwhelming. It remains a secondary platform: perhaps helpful for rounding out visibility, but not a primary source of influence or interaction.

What has become crystal clear is that Instagram (330,000 new followers this quarter) and LinkedIn (193,000), and to a lesser extent, Facebook (19,000) remain the platforms of substance – and studios that have invested here continue to see the strongest, most sustainable results. Up and coming studios like Material Cultures, Thiss Studio, Urban Radicals, studio HA, and Studio Naama all posted steady, measurable growth this quarter, primarily through these two channels. These are not spikes fuelled by algorithmic luck or pinned archives, but the result of focused posting strategies, visual consistency, and authentic audience connection. All of these practices are London-based, a reflection, perhaps, of both access to cultural capital and familiarity with design-savvy audiences, but their content strategies are what really set them apart. They are not necessarily louder than others; they are simply more coherent, more intentional, and have a touch of that enigmatic “zeitgeist” that we are looking for.

That said, regional studios are far from static. Outside the capital, several practices showed strong quarter-on-quarter growth. O’DonnellBrown (Glasgow), Rock Architects (Cambridge), Millar Howard Workshop (Gloucestershire), and Hyde + Hyde Architects (Cardiff) all posted over 500 new combined followers across the two platforms, proving that social media reach is not confined to London, but rather follows those who actively tell their story.

The broader platform dynamics reveal a landscape in motion. X continues its decline within the architecture sector, losing total followers for the third quarter in a row. Over 35 studios with previously active accounts and substantial follower counts — including dRMM, CZWG, PRP, Levitt Bernstein, Mae, Mole Architects, Mikhail Riches, DSDHA, and Bell Phillips, have now abandoned the platform entirely having deactivated their accounts.

While the soft decline of X has been gradual, it now feels that there is momentum: is the architecture community moving on? It would be a stretch to claim that, as most of the big studios are still maintaining their presence on the platform.

This shift is more than platform fatigue. It’s a reframing of how architects choose to be seen. What remains is not a vacuum, but a reorganisation – one that privileges image-led storytelling, professional positioning, and long-form design narrative. Rather than simply gathering followers, the studios rising now are cultivating recognisable identities, distinct perspectives, and loyal communities.

The most successful are those who post with rhythm and reason: showing works-in-progress, reflecting on design process, and using visuals that connect rather than perform. There is little room now for passive feeds or generic portfolios. Visibility is no longer about being everywhere, it’s about being meaningful where it matters.

Looking ahead, the architecture world’s digital future will likely continue to fragment and specialise. Threads may find its footing in more text-centric, culturally active circles. Pinterest will remain a useful archive, particularly for product-based or interior-focused studios – and perhaps there is room for X to capitulate and offer more to creative studios once again, if they choose to. Does it want to be a tool for business, or something else entirely?

But the pulse of the profession at the moment – its projects, ideas, personalities and provocations – are currently found on Instagram and LinkedIn. These are the spaces where architects are not only seen, but heard. And in that landscape, follower counts are not the whole story – but they still tell us who’s paying attention.

Subscribers in the UK and Ireland can check their social media growth stats against other architecture studios on the Beedier Social Media Zeitgeist table, which is updated quarterly.