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| | | | Hello, geeks! | This week's edition of Geekout is brought to you by 'Matt Navarra Support Services' | More on that in a moment. 🙄 | But first… | I love this free daily newsletter for marketers. ❤️ | It's a quick 7-minute read and is sent to 63,000 smart marketers like you every week. | __________ | Will the real Matt Navarra please stand up… | | Over on X, a hot new social media support service has launched. 'Matt Navarra Support Services'. But not by me. | My Google Alert setup to spot any mentions of my name or social handles alerted me to this shady looking account earlier this week. | Reading the accounts tweets, you might think i'm about to launch my own cryptocurrency or NFT. Also, #recoversnapchatmemories is a super-niche hashtag 😆 | | Maybe I should be flattered? But mostly these impersonation accounts are a real pain in the ass. | I already get between 10-20 emails or messages per week from complete strangers asking me to help recover their suspended Instagram or Facebook account. | I also get people slamming me in my DMs for [insert Meta platform feature] not working properly, telling me "you should fix this!", as they, for some unknown reason, believe I work for Meta or have some sort of hotline to Zuckerberg. ☎️ | This is just one of the dozens of DMs i had this week alone: | | Anyway…. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but despite what this account suggests, I do not have these social media super-powers. | I urge you to report such accounts as fake, to help save me from a new tsunami of desperate Meta platform refugees seeking my assistance. 🙏 | __________ | P.S. DON'T MISS THIS…
| Trust me… You'll want to check out this FREE 2025 Social Media Benchmark report from the social media scientists at Dash Hudson. | ICYMI… It's stuffed full of smart tips, actionable insights, and more. It's worth unlocking the full report. Check it out 👇🔥 |
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| 2025 Social Media Benchmarks Unveiled…
Are You Keeping Pace with the Competition? 😲 ⤵️ | | Social Media Managers, prepare yourselves…
The 2025 landscape is shifting FASTER than we expected! 🚀 | 🔥 3 MUST-KNOW INSIGHTS Before You Finalize Your 2025 Strategy: | TikTok: Engagement has SOARED to 4.5%—top brands are posting 6x/week. Instagram: Carousels & images are BEATING Reels. YouTube: Shorts views up 153%, while long-form is DOWN by 15%.
| …but there's MORE 👇 | ✨ This FREE, data-backed report REVEALS: | Which brands in YOUR sector are LEADING on TikTok How your brand's engagement STACKS UP against the competition Industry engagement benchmarks for TikTok, Instagram & YouTube across 13 industries
| Get AHEAD of the game… | Download the 2025 Social Media Benchmarks Report (It's free!) 📊 [AD] | |
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| | 🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5 | Geekout's pick of the hottest headlines in social this week: |  | TikTok executives know about app's effect on teens, lawsuit documents allege | In communications newly revealed, TikTok executives discuss being aware of the harms caused by their app. TikTok officials were warned of the app's dangers to minors. |
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| X dodges EU regulation as bloc decides platform isn't important enough [SICK-BURN-ING] Instagram boss Adam Mosseri acknowledged 'mistakes' in Threads' broken moderation [FIRE-FIGHTING] Elon Musk's other companies could be on the hook for X fines in Europe [RETARGETING] Social media faces big fines under incoming online safety rules, Ofcom warns [THREATENING]
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| | 63k of the World's Smartest Marketers Swear By This FREE Daily Newsletter | | Stacked Marketer curates the most useful and important digital and social media marketing news, trends and insights… | …Boiled down to a quick 7-minute read. ⏱️ | Every weekday, you'll get the must-know… | Breaking news 🚨 Marketing insights ✨ Advertising hacks 🔥
| …Plus the latest tips and tactics for all your digital marketing channels: Facebook, Google SEO, Snapchat, TikTok, email, and countless others. | If you're a social media marketer looking to up your game, this is one free resource you need to be taking advantage of. | It's one of my top news sources. Subscribe to Stacked Marketer for FREE. | |
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| | 🚨 EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT… | Hooked in 35 minutes? |  | ByteDance knew kids could get addicted to TikTok in 35 mins |
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| You know the story - we've seen it all before: politicians complain that social media is harmful to kids, and social media companies respond with denials or a few kid-friendly features to keep the regulators at bay. | But an allegation that emerged over the past week goes further. Poorly redacted court documents revealed that an investigation into TikTok by 14 US attorneys generals suing the company found evidence that TikTok knew it was addictive to kids. | As NPR reports, TikTok's own data says watching just 260 videos can get you addicted to the platform. That means someone could become addicted in just 35 minutes, investigators argued. | TikTok determined the precise amount of viewing it takes for someone to form a habit: 260 videos. After that, according to state investigators, a user "is likely to become addicted to the platform." In the previously redacted portion of the suit, Kentucky authorities say: "While this may seem substantial, TikTok videos can be as short as 8 seconds and are played for viewers in rapid-fire succession, automatically," the investigators wrote. "Thus, in under 35 minutes, an average user is likely to become addicted to the platform." |
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| Becoming addicted in 35 minutes certainly feels like it could be true (and if anyone has the data, it would be TikTok). But is a habit of watching short videos every day as harmful as smoking or abusing prescription drugs? That's far more difficult to be sure about. | Still, whether this is a real health crisis or just a moral panic about how young people spend their time (have you heard about that new rock 'n' roll/punk/heavy metal/rave music sweeping the nation? 😱), these are serious charges that TikTok will have to answer in court. | Legal experts say the action from multiple attorneys general at once is similar to lawsuits against Big Tobacco and Big Pharma, where the opponents are "overwhelmed" with fronts on which to fight. | Meanwhile, a new UK bill could force social media firms to make content less addictive for under 16s. | Whether social media is truly harmful or not, the powers that be certainly want kids doing less of it. If it means they do their homework on time, maybe that's not a bad thing… |
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| ✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY | Everything else you need to know from the past seven days… |
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| Meta / Facebook 👥 | | | Instagram ✨ |  | Screenshot: Instagram's new, sharable Profile Card |
| | Threads 🧵 / WhatsApp 💬 |  | Screenshot: Threads new 'Activity Status' feature |
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 | Screenshot: X notification regarding changes to blocking on the platform |
| | YouTube 📺 |  | Screenshot: YouTube TV's redesigned Shorts player |
| YouTube is rolling out a significant redesign, with changes to web, mobile, and TV UIs 🎨 YouTube is rolling out new miniplayer, fine-tunable playback speed, sleep timer, and more YouTube is also adding badges that celebrate milestones like being one of the first set of paid members of a creator's channel, or correctly completing quizzes YouTube is rolling out a new "captured with a camera" label, as increasing amounts of AI content fills the platform YouTube Premium Lite, a reduced-price version, is being tested once again in select countries YouTube now allows users to initiate a search straight from the "Comments" section of a long-form or short video YouTube clarified all videos up to 3 minutes long will now be classified as Shorts on the platform… But this won't be applied to any videos uploaded before Oct 15
| TikTok 📱 | | | CapCut / LinkedIn / Snapchat / More… 🛠️ |  | Screenshot: CapCut's new animated lyrics feature |
| | 🔥 Want to see more hot NEW features spotted in the wild this week?
Just head to the 'More news' section below! | | 🤖 SOCIAL AI | The newest social media A.I. features spotted this week: |  | Screenshot: TikTok's new create an AI image from selfie feature |
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| | 💬 YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT | When I'm quoted in the news, you'll find it here: | Some creators are making thousands of dollars a month through Meta's bonus programme. | I spoke to Engadget about some of the challenges creators face using Threads | |
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| | 😆 LOL | Influencers might be pretty powerful in tight niches these days, but The Hollywood Reporter went further and unveiled what it called 'Hollywood's new A-list' this week. |  | The Hollywood Reporter @THR |  |
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Hollywood, meet your new A-List. From staggeringly talented TikTokers to the Instagram stars we can't look away from, these are the names who will (and should) be dominating the business of new and old media: thr.cm/bll0Q5o | |  | | | 2:48 PM • Oct 10, 2024 | | | | | | 4.7K Likes 269 Retweets | 8.05K Replies |
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| …but are you really in the A-list if hardly anyone has heard of you? | | | | | Also LOL week: 💀 | | | |
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| | 📈 MEMES | Temu appears to have spent a LOT of its ad budget on X recently asking people to buy a horrific pig shirt. | But hey, at least the memes were good… |  | The Vimto Kid @AlexWatt187 | |
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Scrolling through Twitter this weekend | |  | | | 9:22 PM • Oct 12, 2024 | | | | | | 33.2K Likes 2.61K Retweets | 73 Replies |
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|  | No Context Brits @NoContextBrits | |
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| |  | | | 8:25 PM • Oct 13, 2024 | | | | | | 12.4K Likes 296 Retweets | 36 Replies |
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|  | Sophia @0ldoini | |
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| |  | | | 1:22 PM • Oct 13, 2024 | | | | | | 24.2K Likes 963 Retweets | 57 Replies |
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| | 🌡️ VIRAL | Proof that literally anything can go viral… | "The Beverly Hills mansion where Erik and Lyle Menendez blasted their parents to death with shotguns in 1989 has become all the rage on TikTok, with many users going viral for posts that feature the house's exterior or interior." | 😶 |  | TikTok Is Going Crazy for Lyle and Erik Menendez Murder House Videos |
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| | 🪧 BRANDS | "Food influencers are transforming LA's food scene. But their praise can be as much a curse as a blessing…" |  | How TikTok Can Make (or Break) L.A.'s Restaurants |
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| | 🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?! | "We're trying to provide a safer experience, and we need to do better" | – Instagram boss Adam Mosseri responds to the anger about bonkers Threads moderation decisions. Apparently humans were involved, not just AI, but software glitches meant they made bad decisions. | |
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| | 👀 MY FAV READS | The Verge had a '2004 Week' this week, looking back to the tech of 20 years ago (I feel old!). | Its piece about Digg and the birth of the social web is well worth reading - and check out the retro way they've presented it! |  | The internet's homepage | Kevin Rose talks the history, legacy, and maybe future of Digg. |
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| | 👌 PRO TIPS | Meta has shared new advice for Threads creators about how often and when to post content. 😮 | They're not earth-shatteringly insightful, but may help bump up your engagement a notch |  | Threads app chief shares her top advice for creators on how and when to post — as the engagement-bait debate swirls |
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| Even more pro-tips and platform insights spotted this week… | |
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| | 😮 WTF?! | Mark Duckerberg? This week Zuck posted a video of himself riding the wake of a giant rubber duck 🐤 🌊. | It was created with Meta's new Movie Gen AI. | | Also in WTF news this week… | |
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| | 🤦 FAIL | Meta might have impressive AI tools, but promoting them like this was a bad idea…🤦🏻♂️ | /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25673932/462754179_560996103109958_6880455562272353471_n.jpg) | Meta suggests AI Northern Lights pics are as good as the real thing | Meta fails to read the room. |
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| | 👔 YOU'RE HIRED! | Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week: | | |
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| | 📊 SOCIAL STATS | 500,000 | – The number of new users Bluesky says it received in one day, straight after X changed how blocking works | SOCIAL A.I: The median engagement rate for non-AI generated social posts is 4.82%, while AI-assisted posts have a higher rate at 5.87% [Buffer] … The most significant difference was on THREADS with engagement on non-AI posts at 5.56% vs 11.11% for AI-assisted posts TIKTOK: For every $1,000 TikTok makes, creators are estimated to receive just $6.25 LINKEDIN says US C-suite users are up 35% and UK C-suite users are up 30% in past five years LINKEDIN: Live events on LinkedIn are up by 14.4% in the past year INFLUENCER MARKETING: Only 7% of consumers holiday shop based on influencer recommendations
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| | 📈 CHARTED | Instagram and TikTok are the top platforms, for brands and agencies, working with creators in 2024, according to a new report by CreatorIQ… 🏅 | | CREATOR ECONOMY: Investment in creator marketing is increasing with 74% of organizations increasing their creator marketing investment this year GEN-Z spend more than double the amount of time on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat vs. the general population GEN-Z also makes up more than half of Snapchat users
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| |  | MORE META NEWS |
|  | Meta's quest for 'efficiency' sparks new wave of layoffs | For at least the third time this year, Meta laid off several dozen workers. |
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| Meta has been accused of misusing the term 'open source' to describe its Llama AI models. [Financial Times $$$] WhatsApp may expose the OS you use to run it – which could expose you to crooks. [The Register] Meta has teamed up with Blumhouse and filmmakers like Casey Affleck to test its new Movie Gen AI tool. [Variety]
| New features and tests: | Facebook: | | Instagram: | Instagram now lets you attach a song to a note straight from the song's page. [@oncescuradu] Instagram is testing a new crop preview feature for image stickers in stories. [@theahmedghanem] Instagram's 'Memories' feature for Instagram Stories appears to have rolled out more widely. [@oncescuradu] Instagram is testing a new interface for the action buttons available for messages. [@oncescuradu]
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| |  | MORE X NEWS |
|  | Trump campaign worked with Musk's X to keep leaked JD Vance file off platform | Journalist who published vetting document on Republican running mate was kicked off site formerly known as Twitter |
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| An AI-powered bot army on X spread pro-Trump and pro-GOP propaganda, research has found. [NBC News] Westminster's reliance on X is 'totally wrong' a Labour MP in the UK has argued. [The Guardian] X objected to a new request from Turkish authorities to block a news organisation in the region, but will comply with the order while it fights it in court. [Social Media Today] X has claimed victory in an Australian eSafety Commission case. [Social Media Today] X plans to make it clearer to users in the EU that they have the right to appeal decisions under the bloc's Digital Services Act. [TechCrunch]
| New features and tests: | X has added an "Under Review" label to profiles to indicate that they are being reviewed after any changes, such as updating the profile picture. [@theahmedghanem] X now lets you create audio and video Spaces in a community. [@oncescuradu]
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| |  | MORE TIKTOK NEWS |
|  | TikTok Shop Partners with British Beauty Council for British Beauty Week | TikTok Shop has announced a new partnership with the British Beauty Council to help British beauty brands unlock the power of TikTok Shop and the world of social commerce for success. Beauty brands ac |
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| Sony and Disney marketing execs on collaborating with influencers and leaning into TikTok's algorithm. [Variety] TikTok has launched an 'It Starts on TikTok' campaign, celebrating the people thriving on TikTok. [TikTok Newsroom] TikTok Shop and Free Soul have teamed up for a 'Super Brand Day'. [TikTok Newsroom]
| New features and tests: | TikTok has added a new 'Add to Story' button for posts. [@oncescuradu] TikTok's desktop creator tools now include four key features: View Analytics, Promote post, Live Studio and Live Centre. [@jonahmanzano]
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| | 💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES |  | Millions of People Are Using Abusive AI 'Nudify' Bots on Telegram | Bots that "remove clothes" from images have run rampant on the messaging app, allowing people to create nonconsensual deepfake images even as lawmakers and tech companies try to crack down. |
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| The UK Prime Minister is being urged to support a ban on smartphones in schools to stop kids doomscrolling. [Sky News] Australia's planned social media ban has raised fears of teen isolation. [Reuters $$$] Discord is feuding with a video game company that wants to unmask users. [The Verge] Semrush has acquired Search Engine Land. [Search Engine Land] Apple has been accused of illegally restricting employee Slack and social media use. [TechRadar] Twitch introduced new mental health resources on World Mental Health Day. [esports.gg] Twitch will celebrate 'Twitch Fright Fest' later this month, by showcasing horror content all week long. [Twitch blog]
| New features and tests: | CapCut now lets you apply to access beta business features. [@jonahmanzano] BlueSky has added pinned posts, language filtering in search, and more. [@bluesky_social]
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| | 📰 WEEKEND READS | Geekout's pick of the best longer reads to sink into over the weekend: |  | Welcome to America's hottest comedy club: LinkedIn |
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| | 😳 AND FINALLY… | Never let it be said that James Blunt doesn't commit to a bit. | Will his next album really be released under the artist name 'Blunty McBluntface'? |  | Watch now on TikTok | @jamesblunt | Well, your choice is clear – if a little predictable... If the 20th Anniversary Edition of Back to Bedlam is Number 1 next Friday, my new ... See more |
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| | 📅 BACK NEXT WEEK… | … I want James Blunt to be my social media manager. 🙏 | Right folks, that's everything you need to know this week. | __________ | Get FREE Access to Geekout Pro for 1 Year | | You can 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! 🚨 VIP chat channels: Chat with top social pros working for your fav brands 💬 Early access to hot new apps: Get invite codes to top new TestFlight betas 🎟️ Insider Info: Exclusive access to insider info that lands in my inbox, shared exclusively with Geekout PRO members 🤐
| 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 👍 5 referrals = 1 month FREE 👌 15 referrals = 3 months FREE🤘🏻 25 referrals = 6 months FREE 😮 50 referrals = 1 year FREE 😍
| Start sharing your referral link today! 👇 | (The link only shows up in the email version of the newsletter, so switch over to your inbox for this): | | __________ | Time to shoot… I'm heading off to see Becky Hill in concert (again!) in Exeter, UK. | My girlfriend got tickets for it as a gift and has roped me into going with her. | I'm not having a mid-life crisis and trying to get down with the kidz. | Goodbye, geeks! | | p.s. This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant |
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