Key takeaways
- Snack conversations on social media are largely male-dominated. Men drive the majority of posts across nearly every snack category — pretzels, crackers, chips, jerky — often accounting for 60% or more of the discussion. The one notable exception is rice crackers, where women make up 57% of the conversation.
- Snack sentiment gets more negative with age. The 18–24 cohort posts the most, and the most positively — they’re the ones driving trends, trying new flavors, and sharing content. From 35 onward, the tone shifts toward inflation concerns, ingredient skepticism, and commentary on the societal costs of unhealthy eating.
- “Healthy” is becoming a trust issue. Rice crackers and jerky are the two fastest-growing snack conversations, both fueled by health-conscious appeal — but consumer scrutiny of ingredients and labels is at an all-time high. Brands that overstate their health credentials are increasingly likely to face backlash.
Snack consumers are more opinionated than ever, and they are not shy about sharing their unfiltered takes on social media. In a CPG category that is driven by impulse, novelty and culture, social listening offers an unfiltered, real-time view of snacker sentiment.
In our latest consumer intelligence report, What Snackers Want, we used Talkwalker’s deep listening tools to dive into the past two years of snack chatter on social media. In this post, we break down the signals and emerging themes that surfaced in a twelve-month window between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, including a year-over-year comparison.
For the full analysis — including the trends that took off in Q1 2026 — download the report.
Or, keep reading to see what we saw: viral recipes on TikTok, gripes on X, taste tests and snack hacks on YouTube, and indulgent occasions on Instagram. Our analysis uncovers not just the what, but the why.
Who’s talking about snacks, and what are they saying?
Demographics are a key factor in who’s saying what about snacks on social, and in what tone.
Men are more likely to post about most snacks than women
In posts where a user’s gender is identifiable, men’s favorite snacks to name drop are pretzels (63% posts are by men), crackers (63%), dried meats (62%) and chips (61%).
Source: Talkwalker
One key driver here is that snack-related conversations are concentrated on platforms with higher male user bases (e.g., Reddit, X, YouTube), which impacts the gender balance in snack discussions. Platforms with more balanced or female-skewed audiences, like Instagram and Pinterest, contribute less to the overall volume of snack-related posts. Content like taste tests and tier lists encourage ranking and debating, which appeals to male audiences.
Source: Talkwalker
Source: YouTube
Rice crackers are the only snack where women seriously dominate the conversation
Women are responsible for 56.9% of posts about rice crackers. Women also post slightly more than men about spicy snacks (52.7%) and organic or healthy snacks (52.8%). Every other snack subcategory we looked at was dominated by men.
Women tend to post about these snacks in the context of health-conscious eating and self-care. Rice crackers appeal as low-calorie, whole-grain options for weight loss, but healthy snacks in general support nourishment and strength-building for all genders.
Women are slightly more snack-positive than men
Only 27.7% of men’s posts scan positive, according to Talkwalker, which has a 90% accuracy rate when it comes to identifying sentiment. Men are most likely to post something neutral/informational (44.3% of posts) or outright negative (28.1%).
Women are more likely to take a brighter tone, with 29.5% of their posts reading positive, and only 27.1% negative. Still, the bulk of their posts are neutral as well (43.5%).
This small but consistent gap might come down to users’ individual propensity to use social platforms for connection, uplift, and affirmation versus debates, humor or critical reviews.
Source: YouTube
When it comes to posting about snacks, both volume and sentiment decline with age
There is a significant downward trend as snackers age.
The youngest cohort we looked at — people age 18-24 — makes up 35% of the population posting about snacks on social, and they are also the most positive, with 29% of posts striking a positive tone. This group is more likely to create content and share publicly, and they may also be more open to brand and influencer messaging, social media challenges and product launches such as new flavors and creative packaging.
Source: YouTube
The largest cohort is people aged 25-34, who make up 48% of the sample and create 27.5% positive posts.
But from age 35 onwards, shifting lifestyle priorities show that every successive age group gets smaller and more negative, as conversations about the societal costs of unhealthy eating, economic concerns like SNAP restrictions, and rising inflation get more prevalent.
Takeaways
- Women are more likely to post positively, and about healthy options. They may resonate with content showcasing creative pairings, health benefits, and personal transformation stories.
- Men post in greater numbers, and are more likely to post negatively, including criticism or debate, so leveraging humor, rankings, and sports/gaming tie-ins may be effective.
- Age has a direct correlation to sentiment and volume: energetic, trend-driven campaigns on TikTok, YouTube and Reddit will maximize reach and engagement with younger audiences while older cohorts will post less, but may still engage with nostalgia, health benefits and family-oriented messaging.
Year over year, share of voice held fairly steady for the biggest subcategories, with some notable upstarts.
Potato chips defended their crown as the heavyweight champion of the global snack conversation, dominating nearly half (45%) of mentions, up 7% YoY to 13.9M.
Popcorn held its runner-up slot at 21% share of voice — still 6.4M mentions over 12 months — despite a -5% year-over-year decline.
Crackers and tortilla chips are competing neck and neck for bronze at 10% share of voice each, but tortilla chips saw a -10% decline year over year, whereas crackers held steadier at -2%.
While volume isn’t huge, at 658k mentions (2% SOV) and 392k mentions (1% SOV) respectively, the prize for Trendiest Snack goes to Dried Meat/Jerky and Rice Crackers, both of which saw a 25%-26% bump in year-over-year mentions.
Takeaways
- Both dried jerky and rice crackers are receiving positive buzz for their healthiness, but not from the same audiences. Our data shows that these are two very separate trends.
- Crackers lost ground on two fronts: overshadowed by flashier, more event-driven snacks, but also struggling to claim space in the growing conversation about healthy ingredients and functional benefits.
Which snack won the Super Bowl? What about the Oscars? Download the full report to see our Q1 2026 analysis.
What are snack consumers actually complaining about?
The volume of negative posts on social media tends to be volatile, rising during controversies and trending concerns. Taken as a whole, this chatter can flag unmet audience needs, and we noted two major themes.
Ultraprocessed foods, ingredient quality, and misleading labels
Consumer concerns have expanded beyond salt and sugar content, fueled most recently by the US Department of Health’s new dietary guidelines. While some brands are responding with transparency and simpler ingredient lists, like Simply NKD Cheetos and Doritos, the perception of deceptive marketing can still raise tempers.
Jerky and crackers are catching the largest percentage of negative posts (33% and 39%), whereas healthy snacks (rice crackers, organic snacks, trail mix, protein, and fiber snacks) are seeing 2X less negative sentiment than average.
Source: YouTube
Rising prices and shrinkflation
Potato chips, like eggs before them, have become a poster child of rising inflation and decreasing value. 87% of posts about snack prices reference potato chips, versus 8% mentioning crackers and 3% popcorn.
Audiences are as likely to mention shrinking portions as they are dollar amounts, leading to widespread disbelief and outrage, as well as brand-switching.
Source: YouTube
What’s driving the positive conversation?
Novelty and entertainment
Positivity spikes around creative content from snack influencers posting shareable content around snack hacks, taste tests, challenges or recipes. ASMR snack content and mukbangs continue to have global reach and engagement.
Novelty is an ongoing source of interest, whether in the form of bold new flavors from known brands or global discovery (e.g., street foods and international products).
Source: YouTube
Relatable moments
Meanwhile, snacking is so integrated into daily life around the world that regular users post relatable content about humorous or heartwarming moments. These often tie to more general lifestyle themes like family, travel, wellness and social connections. Festive occasions like Super Bowl Sunday and Oscars night produce a special swell of positive sentiment.
Source: YouTube
Any publicity helps
Organic spikes like a Thai elephant breaking into a grocery store to chow down on his favourite snack, or a spotlight brand moment with the popular Prime Minister of Japan aren’t easy to manufacture, but create brief, positive whirlwinds when they occur.
What this means for snack brand marketers
Takeaway #1: Ingredient transparency is now table stakes
Health-conscious marketing that emphasizes natural ingredients, protein content and reduced additives has become essential in the face of shifting policy and rising skepticism. But marketing products as healthy when they aren’t is increasingly likely to spark backlash.
Takeaway #2: Snacks are a cultural phenomenon among younger consumers
Older consumers have critiques and concerns, but the younger the snacker, the more likely they are to joyfully engage with online snack culture, organic or branded. Influencers, challenges, humor, recipes, and hacks are all driving positive sentiment, and this audience embraces new flavors and products by making and consuming content about both.
Takeaway #3: Low affordability leads to behavior change
The snack aisle as a site of discretionary spending is under close scrutiny from snackers, who list behavioral changes they’re making — like choosing store-brand snacks or foregoing snacks altogether — in the face of higher prices and lighter bags. It’s going to be increasingly necessary to balance indulgence and novelty with affordability.
Takeaway #4: Creative and cross-cultural flavors spark positive sentiment
Conversations are surging around spicy, bold, and culturally diverse flavors, from sriracha to Irish Stew. Social campaigns that anchor around new or unique flavors are driving volume and engagement.
Report methodology
How did we pull these numbers?
We used Talkwalker’s suite of deep social listening tools to run a comprehensive analysis of over 60 million social media posts over a twelve month window plus year over year comparison (that is, April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026 versus the year prior.)
We monitored fifteen subcategories of salty packaged snacks, excluding unrelated semantic matches (e.g., chocolate chips):
- Potato chips
- Tortilla chips
- Popcorn
- Crackers
- Pretzels
- Cheese puffs
- Trail mix
- Spiced/mixed nuts
- Rice crackers
- Dried meat/jerky
- Organic/healthy snacks
- Protein snacks
- Fiber snacks
- Spicy snacks
- Sweet and salty snacks
Our sources included: Instagram, Facebook, X, Bluesky, YouTube, Reddit, blogs, forums, news sources, Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity.
The most important metrics we looked at included volume of mentions, share of voice, sentiment analysis (Talkwalker’s AI has a 90% accuracy rate), and demographic analysis, among others.
Free report: Get the trends shaping the future of snacking
Discover what 60 million real-time consumer conversations reveal about shifting tastes, emerging trends, and the cultural moments driving today’s snack purchases.
What you’ll learn
- Which snack categories dominate consumer attention, and which are rapidly gaining ground right now.
- How sentiment, trends, and cultural moments influence what people buy (and why).
- What today’s snackers expect from brands when it comes to health, price, and innovation.
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