Salesforce has always had something of a cult following. Ask almost any Salesforce professional why they love the ecosystem so much, and they’ll likely point to the community aspect. It has always been driven by people who openly share ideas, help others learn, and make an effort to keep everyone involved. That culture has been built through Trailblazer community groups, conferences, LinkedIn, online spaces like X, Slack, and more – alongside Salesforce MVPs, who are recognized for their ongoing contributions to the community.
And in 2026, Salesforce communities may be more important now than ever. They’ve become more than just places to share knowledge and are arguably more like support systems for people navigating an increasingly complex industry. Admin workloads are growing, the job market is tightening, and AI is making many pros feel either anxious or excited (depending on who you ask). It is not an easy space to work in right now, and Salesforce’s community backbone is often what helps people through it.
But as the admin role, specifically, arguably becomes more demanding than ever, there are signs that community involvement may be shifting alongside it. Statistics from our recent SF Ben Admin Survey show that 39.4% respondents describe themselves as only “slightly active” in the community, while 19.6% say they are “not active at all”. Just 15.1% consider themselves “very active”, and 22.7% say they are less inclined to participate than they were the previous year.
That is not to say that community engagement among admins is completely collapsing. However, it does suggest that participation is changing, with many admins potentially becoming more passive than before. But why? Are admins simply becoming too overwhelmed to stay involved? We spoke to the Salesforce community to find out.
Are SF Admins Too Overwhelmed to Engage?
As mentioned, if you asked most Salesforce Admins how they feel about their job right now, many would say they’ve never felt more stretched or overloaded. It’s become a kind of “survival of the fittest”, with growing expectations for admins to evolve in multiple directions just to keep pace with Salesforce’s rapidly changing AI landscape.
And our data backs this up. According to our survey, 58.6% of respondents believe Salesforce is becoming increasingly complex, while 53.1% say too much is currently expected of Salesforce Admins.
Unsurprisingly, technical debt remains a major sticking point, with 56.3% indentfiying it as one of their biggest challenges.
When you combine these pressures, it’s perhaps no surprise that 60% of respondents have either considered or are actively considering moving away from the admin role within two years, whether that means moving up or leaving the role entirely.
It is evident that admins have a lot on their plates when it comes to their work. On top of that, they also have to face a community that is both louder and arguably more negative than it perhaps used to be. Community members like Salesforce MVP Stephanie Herrera have told SF Ben in the past that the community feels a lot more selfish now compared to even a few years ago, when a strong sense of unification spanned the entire community.
“Our community went from a ‘we’ community to a ‘me’ community,” she said.
So when admins are now expected to juggle architecture, governance, AI, and everything in between, does community participation start to feel like extra work rather than a priority amidst the pressure?
“It’s All About Numbers and Profit – the Community Show Is Over”
As we covered, only 15.1% of the Salesforce community consider themselves “very active”, and 22.7% say they are less inclined to participate compared to the year before. For some, this reflects a shift they believe has been unfolding in the underbelly of the ecosystem for quite some time and has finally begun to surface.
“[Salesforce] has finally shown its colors,” Juan Fach, a Solution Architect, told SF Ben. “It’s all about numbers and profit – the community show is over.”
Jessie Grenfell, a Salesforce Co-Founder and Principal Architect, said she believed that community members are now becoming “disillusioned”.
“They’re realizing that [Salesforce’s] support of the ecosystem was cynical and profit-based,” she said. “But for most, the attraction to the ecosystem was never about the SWAG or certs, but the people in the community. It’s good to differentiate between the two.”
Others, however, like Salesforce Director Vuk Stajić, believe this is just a natural evolution, and the fact that the ecosystem is more vocal is a direct reflection of how much people have come to care.
“I think things are changing, but it still has more life and spirit and character and great personalities than any other ecosystem,” he told SF Ben. “That very fact is why when things feel like they are proceeding into the negative direction, we recoil from it, and it impacts us.”
Whatever your opinion of the current state of the Salesforce community may be, there are still plenty of benefits associated with getting involved. Anh Phuong Ta, a Salesforce Solution Architect and notable community voice, told SF Ben that she believes being more active in the community than ever before has been overwhelmingly positive for her, even “preventing burnout”.
“Since 2024, I have traded 80-hour workweeks for a deep commitment to the Salesforce community,” she said. “My engagement spans speaking on panels, volunteering for non-profits, and attending events like TDX 2026. I believe in the power of ‘learning by teaching,’ and I strive to be a consistent, welcoming face for others in the DFW and virtual spaces.”
Interestingly, the trend does not appear to be consistent across the wider Salesforce ecosystem. According to SF Ben’s Developer Survey from last year, 63.7% of developers have attended an in-person Salesforce event, with community groups ranking as the most valuable type of event.
This would strengthen the argument that declining engagement is being driven primarily by the growing pressures placed on Salesforce Admins, rather than indicating a broader problem across the Salesforce community.
Is AI Changing the Role of the SF Admin Community?
Growing pressure on the admin role is one thing, but another important angle to this conversation is how AI is beginning to automate parts of the Salesforce experience and perhaps even the broader human experience, too.
Where admins may have once turned to other people in the ecosystem for help, many are now potentially looking to AI tools for quick answers instead. There’s arguably less incentive to visit forums, attend local community groups, or ask questions publicly when tools like ChatGPT or Claude can return solutions in seconds.
Of course, there are clear risks that come with this, but it’s easy to understand why adoption is increasing and how that could inadvertently impact community engagement.
Our survey data says that around 44% of admins say they use AI daily or regularly, while 74.6% report using ChatGPT specifically. Alongside that, 71% say AI has made them more productive, and 52.3% believe the biggest benefit of AI is the ability to learn faster.
Rodrigo Rosas Zamudio, a Salesforce Admin, told SF Ben that he believes the actual scenario is not as simple to dissect as just looking at data.
“I believe it depends on the region,” he said. “Right now, with the efforts on AI, the whole IT is shifting and evolving; we can tell a lot when it comes to the United States, but for other countries, the community is still growing and thriving with Salesforce.”
This leads to a hard-hitting and uncomfortable question. Are some admins beginning to replace community interaction with AI tools? If (fairly) reliable answers can be sourced quickly. Are we starting to see a decline in the collaborative, interactive behaviors that once defined the Salesforce ecosystem?
How Can the Community Get Involved in 2026?
If you’re a Salesforce professional reading this and are unsure about how to get started with community engagement, Anh has the perfect advice.
“Just show up as you are,” she explained. “Whether you’re joining virtually or in person, the community offers a variety of structures to meet you where you’re at. Most of us are genuinely welcoming and value authentic connection over forced networking.”
“If the right event doesn’t exist yet, start it! You can launch an official group through Salesforce, MuleSoft, or Slack, or keep it informal via platforms like Evite or Meetup.”
Final Thoughts
The Salesforce community remains a force to be reckoned with in terms of size, but the level of engagement within the community is clearly evolving. There are also signs pointing to the fact that engagement may actually be eroding due to a number of factors, including increased workloads, company culture, and fears around AI.
For the modern Salesforce Admin, they are undoubtedly up against a market and ecosystem that is much more complex than that of their predecessors. They’re expected to do more, wear more hats, and still make time to utilize their networks to the fullest – is it all becoming too much?
The AI era will continue to challenge admins and other Salesforce professionals as it develops, and the community will feel this. This will be something that both the community and Salesforce will need to heavily consider going forward, especially as engagement will be more important than ever in human-in-the-loop discussions.
