People are increasingly living in their subjective reality
- Values index 1/25 Psycho-reality: Society is polarizing like never before. Filter bubbles lead to individual realities that not only determine political opinion-forming and voting behavior, but also consumption.
- Freedom, security and success are the most discussed values on social media. The value of security is gaining enormously in importance for people.
- More than 18.5 million items of mail were analyzed with the help of AI for the 1/2025 value index.
- Bonsai Research will show how marketing must react to the new psycho-realities at an online forum for companies and interested media representatives on 07.03.2025.
Under the title "Values Index Update 2025/1 - Psycho-Reality", Bonsai Research is today publishing the new evaluation of the largest long-term social media study on social developments. First results: The trend towards an ever-increasing individualization and fragmentation of our modern society, which was already apparent during and after the pandemic, has reached a new peak in an unprecedented polarization: freedom, security and success - these three values are currently the most important. Not only are they most frequently discussed online, they are also more controversial and extreme than ever before.
Prof. Peter Wippermann, Kim Haußer and Jens Krüger
"The Values Index 1/2025 clearly shows the social changes that the parties are facing in the run-up to the general election," says Jens Krüger, CEO of Bonsai Research: "In a world in which algorithms and personalized content dominate the flow of information, people are increasingly developing subjective realities that influence their preferences, their social interactions and also their voting behaviour." People perceive and accept what they like: Volodymyr Selensky is a dictator, Donald Trump was chosen by God and Adolf Hitler was a leftist: "Well-intentioned and sometimes well-made fact checks - whether on economic indicators, crime or the climate - come to nothing," says Prof. Peter Wippermann, co-editor of the Values Index since 2009: "Facts are either not flushed into your timeline or are ignored, while 'alternative facts' - whether motivated by the right or the left - become the individual truth in psycho-reality."
These personalized worlds of perception have a profound impact on people's everyday lives, on their choices and, above all, on their purchasing behavior: "If you want to establish and manage a brand today, you need clarity about which narratives and subjective realities determine consumption and consumer behavior in which environment and in which target group," explains Kim Haußer, Head of Bonsai Future, Bonsai Research's future and trend research.
How marketing must react to these developments is the topic of an online forum by Bonsai Research on March 7, 2025 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., to which we would like to invite you as media representatives. Link to registration
The most discussed values are: Freedom, security and success
The "psycho-realities" are not only a consequence of technological developments, but also an expression of a profound psychological and social change in values. Freedom, security and success are the values that play the biggest role in the 18,538 287 million posts examined. The value of freedom remains in first place in the value index - it is now primarily discussed in the context of financial freedom and independence, followed by freedom of expression.
The value of security has become significantly more important in social media compared to the previous year. The Middle East conflict and the safety of Jewish communities are particularly present in discussions. The polarization in the USA, particularly as a result of Donald Trump, is also much discussed on social media.
The value of health - the second most popular topic in posts a year ago - has plummeted to 9th place in the values ranking. "In the history of the Values Index since 2009, no topic has ever lost relevance as quickly as health," says Jens Krüger: "The topic has not disappeared - but it has faded into the background in people's echo chambers in the face of multiple crises."
Contact:
Jens Krüger, publisher of the value index and CEO of Bonsai
mailto:jens.krueger@bonsai-research.com
+49 160 8835825
Kim Haußer, Head of Bonsai Future
mailto:kim.hausser@bonsai-research.com
+49 40 60 77 681 23
About the value index
The Values Index, the largest social media study on social change, has been published by Jens Krüger and Prof. Peter Wippermann since 2009 and has been the responsibility of Bonsai Research since 2020. The 1/25 Values Index is based on the current AI-supported analysis of 18,538,287 posts from 2024/2025 (01.01.2024 to 21.01.2025). Sources include social media such as X, Instagram and Facebook as well as websites with a general social and political focus (in each case the sources with the widest reach, such as the top sites from the Alexa ranking and the blog charts). The value index analyzes the content of both texts and images.