Brandwatch Bulletin #146: 2023's Top Resolutions

Will promises made be promises kept?

6 January 2023

Another year is here and full of possibilities. For many it’s a time to reassess where they are in life, including their existing habits and potential hobbies. From giving up smoking to taking up water polo, the new year is all about a “new me”.

With this in mind, today we’re looking at the resolutions people have been posting about most, and how they compare to previous years’.

Let’s get to it.

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This year will be different

To start things off, how many people even post their resolutions online?

Using Consumer Research, we created a query to pick up these very posts. Here’s how the data looks going back to 2017.

The volume has risen for the second year in a row and now levels are higher than they were in 2019. It’s an incredible recovery after 2021 when post numbers were low, with many far more concerned with the struggles of the pandemic than making resolutions.

2023’s higher numbers suggest people are more willing to be forward-thinking again, which in turn either suggests we’re getting more optimistic or we’re finally facing up to the bad habits we’ve picked up in recent years.

If a 2020 survey is to be believed, 35% of people actually keep their resolutions. If true, and with resolutions up, 2023 is set to be a successful year for many.

Have our resolutions changed?

Next let’s turn to types of resolutions. We collated a list of 12 popular resolutions to see which ones are the most commonly made online.

After the pandemic shot seeing friends and family up the list, we’ve seen that resolution drop since. This makes sense as we’re now much freer to see our loved ones whenever we like, meaning it’s not as necessary to make a specific effort to seek them out.

Meanwhile learning something tops the list for the second time in a row, while reading more has crept into second place. That suggests that education could be a big theme in 2023.

The only other change this year is losing weight and reducing drinking swapping places, with the latter moving up. After a year where non-alcoholic drinks shot up in popularity, this is a good sign for companies putting out alcohol-free drinks in 2023.

All in all, compared to the post-pandemic shift in resolutions back in 2021, the ranking has remained relatively stable, although it still significantly differs from the pre-pandemic list.

Considering the world will never go back to how it was before Covid, maybe there’s a new resolution normal forming here.

To finish, good luck to all of our readers making resolutions. We know you can do it (or at least 35% of you can).

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See you next time,

The Brandwatch Bulletin team