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Hello, geeks! | Welcome to this week's edition of Geekout. | Grab a drink. Get comfy. I'm going to get you up to speed on EVERYTHING new in social media land this week. | But first… This is so WILD! šš® | You can now listen to Geekout Newsletter as a speedy 6-minute podcast… | …But it's generated and hosted ENTIRELY by two AI presenters. | LISTEN HERE! š¤Æ š | I created it using Google's new NotebookLM AI tool that went viral this week. | __________ | QUICK THING… Unlock Access to Geekout PRO for Free for 1 Year | Introducing the Geekout Newsletter Referral Program! | Earn FREE access to Geekout PRO for a whole year! (usually $6 p.m / $60 annually). | Geekout PRO is my WhatsApp community for social media manager VIPs. | Think of it as your exclusive backstage pass to the social media world. | Geekout PRO membership perks | Breaking social media news alerts straight to your WhatsApp! šØ VIP chat channels: Chat with top social pros working for your fav brands š¬ Early access to hot new apps: Get invite codes to top new TestFlight betas š️ Insider Info: Exclusive access to insider info that lands in my inbox, shared exclusively with Geekout PRO members š¤
| Here's the deal | Just refer your friends, followers and work colleagues to Geekout Newsletter using your unique referral link, and rack up FREE access to Geekout PRO: | 1 referral = 1 week FREE š 5 referrals = 1 month FREE š 15 referrals = 3 months FREEš¤š» 25 referrals = 6 months FREE š® 50 referrals = 1 year FREE š
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40+ Killer Social Content Ideas for Top Business Niches (Try for FREE for your niche!) | | Hitting a wall with your social media content ideas? Let's fix that! | Semrush Social Content AI is like having a personal social content brainstorming buddy who's available 24/7. | And you can get 40+ personalized social media content ideas for your niche, for FREE! | What you'll love ❤️… | Tailored content: Just input your website or a brief description šÆ Ready-made content pillars: No need to stress over strategic planning š§© Unique posts & designs: Stand out with content made for you by A.I ✨ Multi-platform magic: Posts optimized for every social platform ✅ Easy customization: Make it match your unique voice and style simple adjustments š️
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š„ GEEKOUT HOT 5 | Geekout's pick of the hottest headlines in social this week: | /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25137774/STK115_Reddit_04.jpg) | Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible | It's going to be a lot harder to pull off massive protests. |
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| Meta faces data limits on its EU ad business after top EU court ruling [RESTRICTING] Meta finally admits it may train its AI on any image you ask Ray-Ban Meta AI to analyse [AI-SPYING] EU regulator requests info from YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok on content algorithms [AI-PROBING] Snap employees were aware of app's child safety issues, lawsuit alleges [ENDANGERING]
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šØ EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT… | Reddit's days of mod power are gone | | Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible |
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| If you're old (let's say experienced!) enough to remember what social media was like 15 years ago, you'll know how idealistic a lot of it was. | Social media would level the playing field for speech and give silenced communities a voice! Yes, we'd have to deal with some ads, but the power of community would more than make up for that! | Of course, it didn't turn out like that for lots of reasons. In many cases, it was to be expected. Meta, for example, was always a business that would cram as many ads into its users would tolerate to keep the shareholders happy. | But one platform where the ideals of the past have faded away more starkly–and quickly–than the rest is Reddit. | Reddit held onto its principles of moderator power for far longer than most other companies would. So you could forgive mods on the platform (all unpaid volunteers) for thinking it would always be that way. | The clash last year where moderators protested agains management's moves to ramp up API prices, killing third-party Reddit clients and forcing users into its own app, where it could control advertising. | Twitter did a similar thing years ago, but it never pretended the users were in control of the platform. But the shift at Reddit was jarring because the users really did feel like the platform was theirs. | Reddit's move this week to force mods to ask permission to take their subreddits private is pretty much essential from a business point of view. Its big deal with Google, and its recently ramped-up ad initiatives, mean it needs as much publicly available content as possible. If popular content is suddenly hidden, that hurts the company's bottom line… and its share price. | But for users, its just another slice of those early social media ideals that have faded away for good. |
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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY | Everything else you need to know from the past seven days… |
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Meta / Facebook š„ |
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Instagram ✨ |
 | Screenshot: Instagram's new Halloween-themed text style for Stories (coming soon?) |
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WhatsApp š© |
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Threads š§µ |
 | Screenshot: Thread's new 'Loops feature |
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YouTube šŗ |
 | Screenshot: YouTube's redesigned Shorts video player |
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TikTok š± |
 | Screenshot: Coldplay's exclusive 'Moon Music' in-app experience |
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LinkedIn / Snapchat / Discord |
 | Screenshot: Snapchat's new 'Footsteps' location history tracking feature |
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š„ Want to see more hot NEW features spotted in the wild this week?
Just head to the 'More news' section below! |
| š¤ SOCIAL A.I. | The newest social media A.I. features spotted this week: |  | Screenshot: TikTok's new AI Drawing and AI Portrait feature |
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š¬ YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT | When I'm quoted in the news, you'll find it here: | I spoke to Business Insider about Meta's AI strategy and the risk it's taking dropping AI slop into your feed: |  | Meta is ready to inject AI images of you into your Instagram and Facebook feeds |
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š LOL |  | Credit: @digital_chadvertising |
| | | |  | | digital_chadvertising | | Add a comment... |  |
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| …and here's a perfect summary of Elon Musk's battle with the Brazilian courts by Ryan Broderick: | |
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š”️ VIRAL | This SHOCKING conversation between two AI-generated voices went viral this week… |  | Olivia Moore @omooretweets |  |
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The NotebookLM hosts realizing they are AI and spiraling out is a twist I did not see coming | |  | | | 4:46 AM • Sep 29, 2024 | | | | | | 5.31K Likes 862 Retweets | 173 Replies |
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| BUT… it was all faked using a feature Google recently added to its Notebook LM app, as I mentioned at this start of the newsletter. | I've yet to see a 'shock-horror, AI becomes self-aware and goes crazy' example that's real. Be careful out there! |
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š WHAT DID YOU SAY?! | Okay Linda, whatever you say… |  | Linda Yaccarino @lindayaX | |
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If not for X, there would be darkness. | | | 3:27 PM • Oct 2, 2024 | | | | | | 36.1K Likes 3.87K Retweets | 4.02K Replies |
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| Also: | Instagram chief Adam Mosseri says a 'Following' feed option won't work Telegram CEO Pavel Durov insists not much is changing after his stay in a French jail. "In reality, little has changed". Meta CTO Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth has publicly apologised to Palmer Luckey over comments he made earlier this year about his firing.
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š£ PSA | Instagram boss Adam Mosseri confirmed that using third-party publishing editing tools will NOT impact reach, but watermarks DO. So, now you know… | |  | | mosseri | | Add a comment... | |
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š MY FAV READS | A good dive into how the Democrats finally made memes work for them… |  | How Harris' Campaign Finally Made Biden's Meme Strategy Work |
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š PRO TIPS | Up your Instagram game with Meta's new official Education Hub for creators… |  | Introducing Best Practices, an Education Hub for Creators on Instagram |
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š ️ TOP TOOLS | As former Twitter users spread out to different platforms, reaching them all can be a pain, but Croissant is here to help. | You can post to Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon all from one place: |  | Croissant debuts a cross-posting app for Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon |
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| Also worth checking out: | |
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š® WTF?! | Yikes: "The technology, which marries Meta's smart Ray Ban glasses with the facial recognition service Pimeyes and some other tools, lets someone automatically go from face, to name, to phone number, and home address." | BUT: keep scrolling before you freak out too much… |  | Someone Put Facial Recognition Tech onto Meta's Smart Glasses to Instantly Dox Strangers |
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| Meta's Andy Stone wants to make sure you don't blame the glasses: | | Also WTF: | |
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š¤¦ FAIL | Social media managers… The fear is real. | We've all been there… | | Also: | |
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š” NEW FEATURE SPOTLIGHT | TikTok's NEW 'Flip Stories' add a fun new dimension to Stories on the platform. | "Flip Stories allow users to post pictures to their stories with a twist. | "People who view their stories will be able to press and hold the picture to reveal hidden content underneath." | "The person who posted the TikTok flip story will be able to see who viewed the hidden content." |  | Add surprise to your stories on TikTok with Flip Stories |
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š YOU'RE HIRED! | Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week: | | |
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š SOCIAL STATS | $9.4 BILLION | – The current estimated value of Elon Musk's X, which you'll remember he bought for $44 billion. Ouch! | |
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 | MORE META NEWS |
| /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25532395/STK204_JD_VANCE_B.jpg) | Meta blocks links to the hacked JD Vance dossier on Threads, Instagram, and Facebook | The company says it |
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| Meta and Australian authorities are partnering to crack down on 'celeb bait' scams. [Fast Company $$$] Meta has been hit with a new author copyright lawsuit over AI training. [Reuters $$$] WhatsApp and Cloudflare are collaborating to strengthen the security of end-to-end encrypted messages. [WABetaInfo] Meta says it will expand production of mixed reality headsets in Vietnam. [Reuters $$$]
| New features and tests: | Facebook: | Facebook added a new in-app ad goal, "Get more visits" for users with Professional Mode enabled. [@oncescuradu] Facebook Marketplace now lets you promote listings directly from the Quick Actions menu. [@theahmedghanem]
| Instagram: | Instagram is now showing single image posts in the Reels tab. [@oncescuradu] Instagram has added an EA Sports FC 25 chat theme. [@oncescuradu] Instagram has been spotted offering new icons in the Reels editor. [@prettylittlemarketer] Threads views are now showing in Instagram notifications. [@oncescuradu]
| Messenger: | | WhatsApp: | WhatsApp is testing an event feature for community announcement groups. [WABetaInfo] WhatsApp is working on a reminder notification feature for status updates. [WABetaInfo] WhatsApp is testing the ability to present media messages directly in the chat screen. [WABetaInfo] WhatsApp is testing a new privacy option to enable or disable 'Camera Effects' for photos, videos, and video calls. [@varma.adwaith]
| The rest: Creator Studio / Adtech / Quest and more: | Meta Quest's POV video casting feature could get WhatsApp support soon. [Road to VR] New Meta avatars are now available in Horizon Worlds, Home, Workrooms, and SDK. [Upload VR]
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 | MORE X NEWS |
|  | Man falsely accused of murder by Tommy Robinson calls for tighter rules on X | Abdul Hai, acquitted of murder over the death of Richard Everitt in 1994, said social media sites must be held accountable |
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 | MORE TIKTOK NEWS |
|  | TikTok is doubling down on live shopping as it looks to replicate the e-commerce success of its sister app in China | TikTok hosted its first US summit for e-commerce agency partners, where it focused on livestream selling and pulling tips from Asia. |
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| Texas has sued TikTok for allegedly violating children's privacy. [Reuters $$$] TikTok's Search Ads might live, but advertisers aren't ready to reallocate those Google dollars. [DigiDay] TikTok could soon be fined in the EU over data transfers to China. [The Information $$$] Popular TikTok creator Mr Prada has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated criminal damage to property, resisting an officer and unauthorised use of a motor vehicle. [NBC News]
| New features and tests: | |
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š„ EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES |  | Telegram Confirms it Gave U.S. User Data to the Cops | Telegram finally updated its transparency bot to provide data on law enforcement requests. |
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| MrBeast has acquired a startup aiming to be the creator economy's LinkedIn. [Business Insider] YouTube has been sued by Arkansas for allegedly fuelling a mental health crisis. [Fast Company] Social influencers say opaque pay deals create unfair disparity. [Bloomberg $$$] Gen Z is turning to Twitch for political commentary. [Fast Company $$$] New South Wales police in Australia have been banned from using all encrypted messaging apps and social media, due to concerns over record-keeping rules. [The Guardian] Russia-paid influencers and trolls are stepping up efforts to influence the US election. [Washington Post $$$] Russia has fined Discord for failing to restrict access to banned information. [Reuters $$$]
| New features and tests: | |
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š° WEEKEND READS | Geekout's pick of the best longer reads to sink into over the weekend: |  | Dump, post, repeat: how Instagram became a social media junkyard | Our photo dumps used to be an aesthetic disruption. Now we're just bending to the app's will |
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š³ AND FINALLY… | James Blunt is back with some more pure social media perfection… | He asked people on X what he should change his name to. And it went about as well as you'd imagine… | | |
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BACK NEXT WEEK… | …And on that blunt end note. You have completed this week's Geekout. | Given it's length, you can chalk that up as an achievement! ✅ | __________ | Before you go… | Don't forget to share Geekout Newsletter in your work Slack channels, social channels, newsletter, email… to unlock FREE access to Geekout PRO. | Here's your unique referral URL for you to copy / paste. | | __________ | Right… I'm heading off to catch up on the latest episode of Married at First Sight (MAFS). | A guilty pleasure. I'm so addicted to watching the meltdown of other people's relationships. Is that bad? | Goodbye, geeks! | | p.s. This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant |
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