View on YouTube.
Ravi Surampudi, Senior Manager, GTM at Workday, believes the next big shift in social platforms won’t simply be about more automation — it will be about who controls how interactions are discovered, shaped and acted upon. In this conversation, he unpacks why Meta’s latest moves point to something far more strategic than a typical acquisition, describing it as an infrastructure play designed to influence how AI agents discover, respond and coordinate with one another. That framing opens up a much bigger conversation about where social engagement is heading, and why brands should be paying close attention now.
One of the most compelling themes is the growing risk that agent-driven spaces could blur the line between authentic engagement and engineered influence. Ravi highlights impersonation, shallow interactions and “viral engineering” as major concerns, particularly in environments where one company could control the agents, the discovery layer and the rules of engagement at once. The implication is striking: customer journeys on social platforms may no longer be shaped only by people and content, but by invisible systems capable of steering decisions at scale. It’s a sharp warning that turns a headline about AI into a much more urgent discussion about trust, control and customer behavior.
At the same time, the conversation doesn’t frame agents as purely a threat. Ravi explains how engagement metrics themselves may evolve, shifting away from likes, shares and follows toward whether an agent was selected, how it influenced a decision and whether it successfully completed a task. For brands, that means a major mindset change: answer first, then sell. He also points to a future where product agents, support agents and transaction-focused agents become active participants in community conversations, helping users move from question to action faster — especially in ways that could benefit smaller businesses with limited resources.
What makes this discussion especially worth watching is its balance. Rather than predicting the end of human-led communities, Ravi argues the bigger risk is dilution: too many agent-created interactions, too much noise and not enough meaning. He makes the case that brands and community managers will need clear frameworks for agent behavior, stronger rules for when humans stay in the loop and a deliberate approach to preserving authenticity. It’s an insightful look at the opportunities and the dangers of hybrid human-agent communities — and a timely preview of how customer engagement on social platforms could soon be transformed.
