✨TIP: For the BEST Geekout experience
👇 Tap this button 👇 | |
|
|
🚨 GET 50% OFF GEEKOUT ADS 🚨
Reach 30,000+ Social Media Marketers
Last Few Discounted Ad Slots for Nov / Dec
Tell Me More |
|
|
|
|
Hello, geeks! | This week's Geekout is brought to you by a man running on three hours' sleep due to airport delay hell. | Sorry for any typos as I struggle to keep my eyes open! 🥱 🛫 | Before we get started… | This 2.5 hours AI course for social media marketers is seriously good. 🔥 | The practical tips, tricks, and tools are already saving me hours every week. | __________ | | "I Can't Get No Sleep… 🎶🎶 " | Hope your week's been less manic (and exhausting) than mine! | I was in Frankfurt, Germany, to speak at a corporate event for a major pharmaceutical company, covering content strategies and future social trends. | Big shoutout to my new German social media friends—amazing hosts and super talented! | My flight from Bristol, scheduled for 1:30pm to Amsterdam for a 4pm connection to Frankfurt, was a rollercoaster of delays: first 2 hours, then 5, then 7, nearly missing the last AMS > FRA flight. | Picture me sprinting through the airport —a sweaty mess—but I made it! | I finally got to my hotel in Frankfurt at midnight. Spoke at the Pharma company event the following day (Thursday)… | …Then headed back to the airport last to do it all again. I got to bed at 3am last night (after needing to stay up to write this week's Geekout). | Next week: London > Istanbul > Macedonia > Kosovo > Frankfurt > London. | Five countries in 48 hours. Pray for me again! 🙏 | __________ | DON'T MISS THIS… | 700+ people have now signed up for the 'What's Next in Global Social Media 2025' event on November 13. | There are only a limited number of spaces left. Grab your FREE pass ASAP! 🔥👇 |
|
|
2025 Social Media Trends You Can't Afford to Miss — LIVE Expert Panel Predictions! 🔮 | | I've teamed up with VeraContent to host 'What's Next in Global Social Media' LIVE event to reveal expert predictions you'll want to know about for 2025. | This FREE live webinar will feature 3 top industry experts dishing out seriously valuable predictions and strategies for the year ahead! | Why You'll ❤️ Love This Webinar: | 🗣️ Insider Knowledge: Find out how algorithms and AI will change the social media game in 2025 ✨ Actionable Insights: Walk away with fresh tactics you can use immediately in your own strategy. 📈 Data-Driven Trends: Real-world examples and the latest industry stats from Sprout Social that'll help you look like a genius in front of your boss. 🔴 Live Q&A: Get your questions answered by the experts. Pick our brains on anything social!
| Featuring: | Matt Navarra: OG social geek (my skin is not the smooth in real-life 😆) Cat Anderson: Director of International Marketing at Sprout Social Shaheen Samavati: CEO of global content marketing agency VeraContent
| 🎟️ Grab your ticket for this ASAP… 700+ people already registered. Limited spaces. | |
|
|
|
🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5 | Geekout's pick of the hottest headlines in social this week: |  | Facebook Took More Than $1 Million For Ads Sowing Election Lies | The ads, live as of today, falsely claimed that Democrats plan to postpone the election and insinuated that Vice President Kamala Harris might drop out of the race. |
|
|
| Instagram suffers creator backlash after admitting lowering video quality of less popular videos [DEGRADING] Threads hits 275 million users and on track to overtake X by June 2025 [SURGING] Meta is developing an AI search engine to lessen reliance on Google, Microsoft [SAFE-GUARDING] Apple told TikTok it's unfit for children and young teens, lawsuit says [CONDEMNING]
|
|
|
|
Supercharge Your Social Media Marketing with AI to Boost Engagement… [+ FREE AI Conference Ticket 🔥] | | Social media marketers… Feeling overwhelmed by AI? This course is for YOU! | I just finished Section's AI for Marketers course. Trust me… It's awesome! | In just 2.5 hours, I learned how to integrate AI into my marketing workflows and save hours each week. | The course is packed with practical tips and strategies that you can use right away. | Plus, it's taught by top industry experts who really know their stuff. If you're looking to level-up your social media marketing game, I highly recommend this course | 🔥 EXCLUSIVE Geekout discount | Use code MATT25 for 25% off AI for Marketers. | Psst...! I just tested it, and it works on AI Academy and the Unlimited Membership too—great for leveling up your AI game. | | 🎟️ BONUS: Get your FREE AI Conference Ticket | Section is also hosting a free, virtual AI:ROI Conference on November 14. | Scott Galloway is headlining. He'll be sharing his predictions on AI in 2025. RSVP for free. [AD] |
|
|
|
🚨 EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT… | Gearing up for a dramatic ele-X-ion |  | Election officials are outmatched by Elon Musk's misinformation machine |
|
|
| You can't have missed how Elon Musk has turned X into a pro-Trump echo chamber. Even if you have no interest in Donald Trump or Musk himself, users frequently complain about seeing their posts, and posts about them, shoved into their feeds. | It's easy to think of X as Musk's own political weapon. The impact he can make was seen in the UK this year when Musk himself, coupled with the platform's, er, lightweight moderation, helped fuel riots on the streets. | And now it's gearing up to have a similar impact just days before the US election. X keeps pushing election misinformation to users, and Community Notes is failing to publish fact checks. The X algorithm feeds users political content, whether they want it or not, while X has almost halved its content moderation head count in the past year. | And it's not just an X problem. Facebook took more than $1 million for ads sowing election lies, and it's auto-generating militia group pages for extremists who might seek to cause trouble in the coming weeks. | Meanwhile, YouTube has been accused of 'looking the other way' over election lies. | It's all a far cry from the election integrity 'war rooms' and trust and safety action teams we saw in 2020. Since then, Trump's allies have successfully positioned that kind of activity as 'censorship', while seemingly being okay with Elon Musk being clearly biased to a specific candidate - theirs. | Whatever the result on Tuesday, the platforms are all set up for helping chaos reign right up until inauguration day. And in X's case, that might even be the deliberate plan. |
|
|
✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY | Everything else you need to know from the past seven days… |
|
|
Quarterly results 📈
A round-up of the major social media companies Q3 business performance results: |
 | Meta Posts Strong Revenue Result in Q3 | The latest performance update from Zuckerberg's social media behemoth. |
|
|
|
|
Meta 👥 |
 | Meta's new, enhanced Avatar creator tool for Facebook and Instagram |
|
|
Instagram ✨ |
 | Instagram's new 'AI Image Expander' tool for Stories |
|
|
WhatsApp 💬 / Threads 🧵 |
 | WhatsApp's new 'custom' lists' feature |
|
|
|
 | X's new 'Lightning Notes' feature |
|
|
YouTube 📺 |
 | YouTube's new 'Trends' feed for Shorts |
|
|
TikTok 📱 |
|
|
LinkedIn / Pinterest / Netflix More… ⚡️ |
 | Netflix's new 'Moments' social clip sharing feature |
|
|
🔥 Want to see more hot NEW features spotted in the wild this week?
Just head to the 'More news' section below! |
|
🤖 SOCIAL A.I. | More of the newest social media A.I. features spotted this week: |  | Meta releases an 'open' version of Google's viral AI podcast generator | Meta has released an 'open' version of Google's NotebookLM podcast generator… but it doesn't sound as good |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
💬 YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT | When I'm quoted in the news, you'll find it here: | Instagram has revealed that it lowers quality of less popular videos. | I spoke to BBC News about why creators are frustrated by this revelation from Instagram's boss: |  | Instagram reveals it lowers quality of less popular videos |
|
|
|
|
|
|
😆 LOL | File this under 'oldie but goodie'. | This influencer's attempt to get a free stay at a Dublin hotel in 2018 has quickly become one of my most commented-on Threads posts ever (1,500+ comments), and has been viewed 550,000 times so far… | Tap through and read on 👇 | | You've got to tap through for this one for the full effect 😀😳😭👇 | | My social media health score would be 'dead': | |
|
|
|
🌡️ VIRAL | Restaurant chain Chili's Triple Dipper appetiser is enjoying viral success… |  | 'Now that's what I call a cheese pull': Chili's sales are surging thanks to TikTok |
|
|
| Also: | |
|
|
|
📈 MEMES | Yesterday was Halloween, so of course Halloween costumes have been all the rage this week… |  | selma😜 @selmacashmoney |  |
| |
the costume vs the inspiration | |   | | | 10:55 PM • Oct 30, 2024 | | | | | | 144K Likes 4.33K Retweets | 276 Replies |
|
| |  | morgan sung @morgan_sung | |
| |
i hate gay halloween what do you mean you're that 2016 tweet of the person who went to a halloween party as the babadook but it was more of a grown ups drinking wine vibe | |   | | | 5:05 PM • Oct 27, 2024 | | | | | | 30.3K Likes 731 Retweets | 11 Replies |
|
|  | dylan guerra @DylanGGuerra | |
| |
I hate gay Halloween, what do you mean you're the female Oompa Loompa from Glasgow's "Willy's Chocolate Experience"?? | |  | | | 11:09 PM • Oct 26, 2024 | | | | | | 140K Likes 5.58K Retweets | 112 Replies |
|
|
|
|
|
🪧 BRAND SOCIAL | When caterpillar cakes meet Grimace… |  | Dunkin's Spider Donut is the internet's newest 'diva' |
|
|
| Also: | |
|
|
|
📲 NEW APP | The fediverse is getting its own TikTok competitor called Loops… which, confusingly, is also the name Threads (which is also on the fediverse) appears to be using for a new feature coming soon… | /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25699945/og.jpg) | A TikTok alternative called Loops is coming for the fediverse |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?! | "I have a lot more anger for the people who lied in a way that ruined my entire life and that saw my own company ripped out from under me that I'd spent my entire adult life building" | – Oculus founder Palmer Luckey still holds a grudge for his ousting from Meta, but not against Zuck | |
|
|
|
👀 MY FAV READS | Forget OpenA,I Meta is well-positioned to the biggest beneficiary of AI and the largest company in the world, Ben Thompson argues. | | Also worth checking out… | |
|
|
|
😮 WTF?! | Lily Allen says her OnlyFans feet pictures make her more money than her Spotify streams. | But also read this useful take from Drowned In Sound about why this isn't the whole picture and it could make perfect sense. |  | Lily Allen Says Her OnlyFans Feet Pictures Make More Money Than Spotify Streams: 'Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game' |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
🪦 RIP | Social media features heading for the graveyard: | Aw, these animations were quite charming… but now they're disappearing from your LinkedIn feed. |  | LinkedIn Retires Celebratory Post Templates |
|
|
|
|
|
|
👌 PRO TIPS | When is the best time to post your content on each platform? Here's Hootsuite with 2024 data: |  | Best time to post on social media: Q3 2024 data | The overall best time to post on social media in 2024 is 8:00 AM on Wednesdays. Dig in for recommendations for specific networks and industries. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
❌ YOUTUBE FAKE NEWS | No, YouTube isn't hiding video view counts or upload date | A homepage layout that hides video view counts and upload dates was doing the rounds this week. Was it a new test? No. YouTube has explained that someone probably just had a browser extension switched on. |  | YouTube debunks viral homepage layout that hides video view counts and upload date |
|
|
|
|
|
|
👔 YOU'RE HIRED! | Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week: | | |
|
|
|
|
|
 | MORE META NEWS |
|  | Stolen credit cards up for grabs on Meta's Threads | The platform 'continues to take action' against illegal posts, we're told |
|
|
| People are putting stolen credit card details up for grabs on Threads. [The Register] Mark Zuckerberg says the next LlamaAI models are being trained on a GPU cluster "bigger than anything" from rival companies. [Wired $$$] Liv, a pioneer in mixed reality capture, has partnered with Meta to become the official capture solution for Meta Quest wireless virtual reality headsets. [VentureBeat] Meta's Llama does not fit OSI's new definition of Open Source AI. [The Verge]
| New features and tests: | Facebook: | | Instagram: | Instagram has been spotted showing Suggested Reels with a new design featuring rounded corners and more space. [@lindseygamble_] Instagram has added a new 'Story replies' message filter in the 'Requests' section [@oncescuradu] Instagram has added some filters for notifications on Android. [@oncescuradu] Meta Pay being centralised in Instagram's Accounts Center. [@chris] Instagram has moved the "Facebook profile" link from the "Links" section to the main profile page. [@oncescuradu] Instagram has added a new "See how far your reach can go" ad tool in the Professional Dashboard. [@oncescuradu]
| WhatsApp: | WhatsApp is testing a Status updates widget on iOS. [@oncescuradu] WhatsApp is testing a menu bar icon on Mac. [@theahmedghanem] WhatsApp is rolling out a new phone call dialer feature on iPad. [@wabetainfo]
|
|
|
|
 | MORE X NEWS |
|  | How X users earn thousands from US election misinformation and AI images | The accounts are part of pro-Trump and pro-Harris networks sharing each other's content multiple times a day. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 | MORE TIKTOK NEWS |
|  | TikTok Shares Update on its Efforts to Separate EU User Data | TikTok's looking to reassure EU officials on data separation. |
|
|
| | New features and tests: | |
|
|
|
💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES |  | Court documents reveal how MrBeast pitches brands on sponsoring his YouTube empire | Business Insider reviewed six MrBeast pitch decks for brands such as GM, Ford, and LG to see how he positions himself for sponsorship deals. |
|
|
| Snapchat is the most-used app for online grooming, says charity the NSPCC [BBC News] 'Sickening' Molly Russell chatbots were found on Character.ai. [BBC News] Election deniers are using Telegram to rally poll watchers in swing states. [Bloomberg $$$] LinkedIn has launched a Gen-Z focused campaign to raise awareness of its TikTok-like video feed. [Mobile Marketing] The name YouTube Shorts isn't a trademark infringement, a UK court has ruled. [Engadget] Snap has expanded developer access to its new Spectacles outside the US for the first time, to Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. [Snap newsroom] Trump's first Snapchat ad shows him giving thumbs-up at the 9/11 memorial. [The Daily Beast] Crypto sleuths allege that MrBeast has a complex web of 50 cryptocurrency wallets and made has $23 million through various shady crypto schemes. [Gizmodo] Google has applied for a patent for a system to enhance the quality of user-generated content. [@mattnavarra]
| Insights to give you an edge at work: | | |
|
|
|
📰 WEEKEND READS | Geekout's pick of the best longer reads to sink into over the weekend: | "Part of Morgan McGuire's calculation as she's deciding where to go to college is what will look good on TikTok. She wants to make sure the campus is pretty and that there are fun events like football games to document in bite-sized videos. | "It's a factor she didn't expect to consider as a high school senior, but now she has 750,000 followers to think about." |  | High School Influencers Are Applying to Colleges Based on How They'll Look on TikTok |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
😳 AND FINALLY… | What Zuck did for Halloween. "When your house full of girls decides to be ballerinas, be John Wick". 🥸 🎃 |  | The Zuckerberg family Halloween costumes this year featured John Wick and a troupe of ballerinas |
|
|
|
|
|
|
📅 BACK NEXT WEEK… | … I'm not got to keep you a moment longer. My eyes are barely opening at this point! | I hope I didn't miss too many typos this week! | Right… I'm heading off to get a spray tan for the first time. Long story. Don't ask. 🫣 |  | Credit: Giphy |
| Goodbye, geeks! | | p.s. This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant | (Trump image in this week's cover image via @esqueer_) |
|
|
