Instagram finally shipped it!

INSIDE: 1 super-useful video editing tool. 1 must-read creator report. Plus the rest of this week’s news for social media teams.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Read online Facebook is giving everyone a verified badge. But there’s a catch. And Meta’s cleaning up creeps in smart glasses on Instagram Best Geekout Experience Geekout looks better in your browser. Open in Browser → Advertise in Geekout Get in front of 30K social media pros 60%+ Open Rate | 2-4% Ad CTR Previous sponsors: VEED, Sprout Social, TikTok Check Availability → Hello, geeks! BREAKING NEWS: Just as I was about to hit send on today’s Geekout… Facebook announced it’s going to give everyone a verified badge — But there’s a catch. Read more about it here and here. ____________ Summertime is often the hardest time to write Geekout. The platforms ease off the updates, half the industry's out of office, and there's a whole lot of nothing to talk about. Unless Zuckerberg poaches an rival AI team for the GDP of a small country. Or if Elon posts something on X that wipes a few billion off a share price before lunch. But the well didn't run dry this week… Instagram finally shipped one of creators' most-begged-for features: Replace Audio: - - Finally, you can swap the music on a published post or carousel without deleting it and torching all its likes, comments and reach. The good bit? it works on old posts too, even silent ones you never added a track to. That evergreen carousel with a now-cringe song, or a promo whose audio got pulled? Open, Edit, new track, done, as often as you like. One reality check: Instagram says it won't boost your reach, so this is creative control, not a growth hack. Instagram overlord Adam Mosseri slid into my comments to apologise for the delay. Why now? "Finally got round to it."  - - Encouragingly, there's a whole list of "finally" features in the works, so yours could be next (don't hold your breath). On a related note… If your boss asks what creators actually drove? Most of it never shows in your numbers… This report reveals what you're missing* (and I’m featured in it) And while you're refreshing old Instagram posts I stumbled on a super-useful video editing tool… The FINAL_FINAL_V3.mp4 era is over. Your whole team edits and reviews video in one tab, comments landing right on the clip. This tool saved me hours this week! Try it free*. — Matt P.S… Geekout is taking its annual summer holiday next week. There will be no Geekout Newsletter in your inbox next Friday (31 July). Geekout returns on Friday 7 August. __________ 2 cool things… 🧠 The wild AI tool behind McDonald's, John Lewis and Three's collabs → see which hooks work in your niche, free → [grab free reports]* - 😵 Still running creators through a spreadsheet + a dozen email threads? This one tool replaces the lot → [see what replaces it]* *sponsored - tools i actually use and love. I think you will too. SPONSORED ▶︎ FREE INDUSTRY REPORT Steal What Works From 1M+ Real Brand Collabs. Free Report - Two-thirds of brand collabs get less than 3 seconds before the swipe. All that budget, gone in a blink. Nutcake's AI fixes that. It lets you talk to over 1 million live brand collabs and pull out exactly what's working right now, then hands you a report on it. Grab a free report for your niche: [Sport & Fitness], [Streaming Services], [Food Delivery], [Telcos], and more on request. Or build your own: 💨 Free industry reports, no faff, pick your niche and go 🕵 Spy on competitors and see exactly what's landing for them 🧠 Steal the hooks behind collabs that actually stop the scroll ⏰ Data refreshed every 60 seconds, so it's what works now, not last quarter It’s the AI tool powering creator campaigns at McDonald's, John Lewis, Three and TikTok. Free Report → Your industry → Takes 2 minutes → Check out Nutcake. 🐿️ Build my free report → France becomes first EU country to ban social media access for under-15s Parliament votes to stop children using apps such as TikTok in policy championed by Emmanuel Macron the Guardian • AFP Instagram bans pickup artists and pranksters who use Meta glasses [BANNING] Facebook to test TikTok-style video-first interface [COPYING] Meta on trial in Tennessee over Instagram’s alleged addictive design [ALLEGING] Reddit considers dropping its big Google deal as traffic from AI falls [DROPPING] SPONSORED ▶︎ TOP SOCIAL TOOL Social Media Managers — Your creator program shouldn't run through a spreadsheet + a dozen email threads! - Most teams manage creators through a spreadsheet for outreach, a Notion board for status, and an inbox of unconfirmed threads. That holds at a handful of creators — it breaks past that. If your creator program still lives in 3 different tools, Insense replaces the patchwork with one system: 100,000+ vetted creators — sourced from one dashboard, not a spreadsheet you built Sourcing, briefing, chat, and payments in one place — not tools stitched together A direct Shopify integration — for shipping product straight to creators Content in 14 days — tracked in the same system you sourced it from See how it replaces the spreadsheet before your next brief goes out! → See how it works goPure ran 160+ collaborations in 2 months through Insense — Results? 525 applications, $200K+ in revenue, 204x ROI, from one dashboard instead of a spreadsheet and an inbox. ⤷ BONUS: Book a free strategy call by August 7 and get $200 towards your first campaign. Launch Insense → Meta tries to drop the creepy vibes Instagram will now ban creeps in Meta glasses Business Insider A couple of weeks ago, I asked “why can’t Meta stop being so creepy?” I won’t take credit for it, but the company certainly is starting to take steps to be less creepy since that newsletter came out. First, the Instagram feature that let you create AI versions of other users was dropped. And now, an acknowledgement that Meta smart glasses can be used for decidedly unsavoury reasons. As Business Insider explains, Instagram is cracking down on problematic videos shot with Meta glasses. These include things like harassment of strangers in public: In an Instagram story, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that such video content would now be banned on the platform. "If you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we've heard of and seen, then we're going to take the content down," Mosseri said in response to a question on his Instagram stories last week. "We don't want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform. So we're trying to fight that every way we can." This is obviously a good thing, but the fact they’re having to act now when it was OBVIOUS this was going to happen from the moment they started selling glasses with a camera on them is, sadly, typical Meta. It’s also typical Silicon Valley. Companies like Meta tend to think more about “what can go right?” rather than “what can go wrong?” This optimistic approach helps US tech companies build world-changing products. All the mistakes and misfires along the way don’t matter if you have a few massive successes. But that culture is so embedded at companies like Meta that it creates blind spots so big that astronauts can probably see them from space. The opportunity to dominate a whole new product category is just too tempting, so the ‘move fast and break things’ mantra kicks in. Mark Zuckerberg replaced that motto with the far less snappy ‘move fast with stable infrastructure’ in 2014 (does anyone ever say that at Meta in 2026?!), but the mindset is still there at times… …it’s just that the things Meta breaks when it makes mistakes aren’t its technology, it’s society. Instagram’s move to ban certain kinds of content shot on its parent company’s glasses is a positive step, but Meta is going to have to do a lot more to shake off the ‘pervert glasses’ reputation it’s quickly developing. Meta   /  Facebook  Meta StoryKit [Credit: Apple App Store] Meta is testing StoryKit, a new AI storybook app for kids Meta has launched Seller, a new app for people who sell on Facebook Marketplace, giving them dedicated tools in one place. It’s US-only for now Meta is accused of firing two child-safety whistleblowers Meta has been accused by US senator Josh Hawley of using lawfare against whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams Meta gave the winning Spanish team at the World Cup custom Oakley smart glasses made exclusively for them Meta has avoided another major social media addiction trial after the 15-year-old plaintiff dropped his case days before trial Meta could be forced to sell Manus for the same $2bn it paid (but what Zuck and co learned about the product is worth way more) Meta has bundled a starter edition of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass with its Horizon+ games subscription Meta has announced a free global creator marketing festival Meta is in talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a potential $10 billion deal __________ WhatsApp  /  Threads  /  Instagram [Credit: Meta / WhatsApp] WhatsApp has added replies and more via CarPlay and Android Auto, native PDF annotation, and more WhatsApp is testing custom emoji reactions WhatsApp has launched a new design for message bubbles on iOS WhatsApp is rolling out Liquid Glass design to its Mac app WhatsApp could upgrade two-step verification with a password WhatsApp rolled out World Cup features to Status as the tournament approached its end Threads is adding parental controls Threads promoted Spain’s victory in the World Cup with a flag animation above the post composer Instagram Instants now supports video Instagram is rolling out more controls for Notes, letting you toggle comments on or off Instagram has been spotted renaming ‘Hidden Requests’ to ‘Spam’ __________ X / Twitter  [X for Android. Credit: X] X has relaunched its Android app after nearly a year of development X phishing emails are getting dangerously convincing (X says real emails only come from @X.com or @e.X.com) X and music publishers have quietly ended their copyright fight X added on a new Collage feature for photo uploads on iOS __________ TikTok   /  YouTube  [TikTok’s LimeShorts. Credit: Business Insider] TikTok is quietly testing a $20-a-week micro-drama app in the US called LimeShorts TikTok has been un-banned on US government devices … and it’s is seeing a flood of Donald Trump’s cabinet members rushing to join… even the FBI now has an account TikTok is adding championship boxing and basketball highlights to its growing sports push TikTok’s US security chief will face the House China committee in September on whether Americans’ data is truly inaccessible by ByteDance TikTok has added Voice Typing for Photo posts TikTok now lets you upload photos on the web YouTube has clarified which “inauthentic content” cannot be monetised through its Partner Program YouTube users say ads are getting much more aggressive, with as many as three ads in a row being spotted, as well as more frequent ad breaks YouTube has agreed to a $7.5m settlement over YouTube TV subscription renewals in California YouTube now lets you upload custom thumbnails for Shorts on desktop __________ Snapchat   /  LinkedIn    /  Pinterest  [LinkedIn’s new game, Wend. Credit: Radu Oncescu] Snap has tentatively settled a lawsuit alleging Snapchat is addictive and harmful to minors Signal is finally testing proper Android multi-device support LinkedIn has rolled out its eighth in-app game, Wend LinkedIn promoted Spain’s victory in the World Cup within its Zip game Twitch now lets parents stop teens going live Pinterest is launching UK festival corner shop pop-ups in Brighton, East London, and Notting Hill Carnival Google has rebuilt its emoji set in 3D, covering 3,977 characters TikTok can now generate a Creator Media Kit for you with the help of AI. - [Credit: Jonah Manzano] __________ Also spotted this week… TikTok is testing AI likeness detection for creators TikTok has been spotted offering AI-powered visual search in the EU LinkedIn is giving Premium members a one-year trial of Loveable, the AI app and website builder xAI has launched a Grok add-in for Microsoft Excel Twitch has introduced a new voice-powered clipping feature Substack has added a tool to help readers identify AI-written content on its platform. Authors can also add a statement on how they make their content Adobe is stuffing more AI into its Project Indigo camera app, testing an AI Playground with object editing, styles, photo guidance and prompt-based controls Canva Code 2.0 is now free for everyone YouTube ad revenue topped $11bn last quarter. YouTube ad revenue beat Wall Street expectations of around $10.8bn for the quarter. Ad sales hit $11.06bn, up 12.6% YoY. Total YouTube revenue, including subscriptions, exceeded $60bn in 2025. …but Google Search still dwarfs YouTube advertising, generating $63.3bn during the quarter. [Image credit: Variety] -__________ __________ Elmo met Tom Cruise at the World Cup and the moment became an instant internet sensation. -__________ Unsurprisingly, many people thought Elmo was about to get recruited into Scientology… -__________ Find more at The Poke. No word on whether Elmo has been spotted with a copy of Dianetics under his arm yet… Jimothy the raccoon is 2026’s latest internet main character. A strangely shaped Seattle raccoon went viral after one Instagram clip went viral. The post has hit nearly 8 million views and 400,000 likes in under a week. He’s since been featured on The Daily Show, while NASA posted Seattle from space declaring “Jimothy runs this city”. The Seattle Mariners joined in too, while 1,000+ Etsy merch listings, murals, tattoos and a $6,500 charity artwork sale followed… __________ - -__________ __________ __________ Who is Jimothy? Seven things you need to know about the internet’s favourite raccoon the Guardian __________ Also viral this week: Wayne Rooney's blunt reaction to World Cup halftime show went viral: “it was crap” 😆 Trump shared a 24-second clip of Spain’s trophy celebration that ended before FIFA chief Gianni Infantino (embarrassingly) moved him aside. The edit also cut footage of Trump lingering on stage as Spain celebrated. It’s not ALL about you, Donald. In 2026, creators became core to World Cup fandom, not just a nice amplification layer. Unilever worked with 50,000 creators across 35+ brands in 120+ markets. Michelob Ultra used just 346 creators across 947 posts, generating $11.5m in earned media value. FIFA gave 30 Creator Correspondents access that looked increasingly like media accreditation. IShowSpeed’s Portugal opener stream reportedly drew 9.2m viewers, beating Fox’s broadcast. Five things the World Cup taught marketers about creators  Digiday • Seb Joseph, Alyssa Mercante PLUS: 5 lessons from the World Cup's best marketing plays—and those that missed the mark AND: How creators outperformed celebrities at the World Cup __________ More brand news and views: Mastercard has launched a debit card for creators New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is making creator collabs part of No 10’s media strategy How TikTok Shop is changing innovation for food and beverage brands like PepsiCo, Mars, and Hershey Deodorant brand Wild says it spends almost £10 million a year on influencers, with that budget potentially set to double. The investment helped it to being acquired by Unilever last year The Mormon Church has an influencer marketing machine "If we can’t laugh about it why should anyone trust us?"   – Ray-Ban president Leonardo Del Vecchio thinks it’s best to laugh through people calling its Meta smart glasses “pervert technology” __________ Also quoted this week: “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer” - Elon Musk continues his hatred of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (has he actually seen it?), and makes another promise he probably can’t keep. I’ll stick with Nolan’s version, thanks. __________ “Call us whatever you want, but we’re betting on people. And we like those odds.” - Meta promotes AI optimism in a new video ad This is a good look at the human impact of Meta’s not-very-good AI automatically deleting accounts that it shouldn’t. Appeals are often handled by AI too, leaving users unable to reach a human. Meta only restored some accounts after journalists intervened, including one with nearly 1 million followers. Meta says the accounts examined in this article were banned by older mod systems, not its latest AI tools. Meta claims newer AI tools make 13% fewer mistakes + find 10% more violations vs humans. …that doesn’t seem like a massive improvement when so much is at stake! What Happened When Meta Used A.I. to Ban Accounts on Facebook and Instagram www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/technology/meta-ai-facebook-instagram-accounts.html Jack’s back… and he’s taking on Slack. Buzz is a new app from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that puts humans and AI agents into the same workplace conversations and workflows. The open-source platform combines Slack-style chat with native AI agents + GitHub project management. Teams can self-host, customise features, build their own workflows using the source code. It’s available now in developer preview. Read more about it at TechCrunch. Buzz — Your people, your agents, your project — all in one place. buzz.xyz Teen boys’ ADHD symptoms have been linked to addictive social media use, in a US study that tracked 11,000+ adolescents over five year. Rising addictive social media use was followed by higher ADHD symptoms one year later. The link was strongest among boys reporting rising problematic use at ages 14 + 15. 15% tried to use social media less but felt unable to stop. The advice for parents: watch for problematic patterns, not just total screen time. Boys' ADHD symptoms linked to addictive social media use in new study www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/boys-adhd-symptoms-linked-to-addictive-social-media-use-in-new-study/ar-AA287LY0 Activists hijacked a Meta smart glasses ad with a surveillance twist! 😆 A Kylie Jenner Meta glasses poster in London was altered with a lenticular overlay to change it to THIS when viewed from certain angles… - - The campaign references 80s movie They Live, in which special sunglasses expose hidden messages and disguised aliens. Activist group Everyone Hates Elon says the stunt targets privacy concerns around Meta’s camera-equipped AI glasses. __________ More WTF this week: Truth Social wants to sell early access to Trump’s posts for $100,000 per month. Critics say rapid access to Trump’s market-moving posts could give traders an unfair edge Dating apps have an AI chatfishing problem. Daters report polished, scripted replies that collapse into awkwardness when the real person appears Scammers are impersonating the FBI on social media Meta’s upbeat new AI ad has an awkward soundtrack… The campaign argues AI will connect people and “the future is for everyone”. …But it uses David Bowie’s ‘Five Years’, a song about Earth nearing its end. Meta says Bowie himself framed the song as ultimately optimistic about the future. The irony adds to a wider trend of tech companies using emotional advertising to soften fears around AI…. - The Miami Heat’s social team may have accidentally spoiled a LeBron James announcement 😬 The team briefly posted a YouTube livestream titled “LeBron James Introductory Press Conference” dated July 27. A spokesperson says social staff were preparing for a possible signing and published it by mistake. The link was quickly deleted, but screenshots spread before it disappeared. The bigger lesson: social teams now sit dangerously close to some of sport’s biggest secrets. Be careful out there! Heat say link for LeBron James presser posted by mistake ESPN.com WordPress VIP is looking for a Senior Social and Community Strategist [Remote, worldwide] __________ More social media jobs: The Sydney Opera House needs a Social Media Manager [Sydney, Australia] Samaritans is hiring a Social Media Manager [Ewell, Surrey, UK] The best time to post on TikTok? Sunday morning, apparently! Buffer analysed 7.1 million TikTok posts to compare median engagement across publishing times. Buffer says the recommended times are designed to work without timezone conversion. But of course, there is no universal best posting time. Audience location, behaviour, and content niche still matter. - __________ Also this week: LinkedIn’s best posting times have shifted later in 2026. Buffer found 3–8pm now drives the strongest engagement YouTube has shared new tips for creators integrating Shorts into their wider content strategy Reddit says brands perform better when they listen, contribute and respect each subreddit’s culture How to build a brand presence on Reddit in 2026 Pinterest has revealed what makes product listings perform better 1.2 TRILLION   – The number of views World Cup content got on TikTok, according to the company __________ More social stats: TOP TUBE: YouTube says 1.7 billion unique viewers watched World Cup content on the platform CHAT HAPPY: WhatsApp hit a record 29 million messages per second during Argentina vs Egypt STICKY CONTENT: TikTok says nearly 95 million fans joined its Panini digital card campaign BLIND SPOT: 93% of social pros say social intelligence matters, but just 36% use it beyond marketing. 33% say poor use of social data caused their company to miss cultural shifts. AI INSIDE: A TikTok/WARC study found 90% of marketers say Gen AI is now key to creative development HOT SHOP: 47% of Gen Z and millennials used TikTok Shop to browse or buy in the past three months FINFLUENCE: 1 in 3 US adults watch finance content on YouTube daily according to a recent study SNAP THAT: Snap says Snapchat’s Snap Map now reaches 450m+ monthly users, with location-sharing friends messaging nearly 1 extra day every 2 weeks The World Cup smashed records across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads: ⚽️ World Cup players gained 213.6 million Instagram followers in one month, up 6.6% collectively. ⚽️ Threads generated 1.5 billion impressions on tournament-tagged posts, reaching around 15 million people daily. ⚽️ Facebook users published 80 million World Cup posts, underlining the tournament’s huge cross-platform footprint. ⚽️ Cape Verde keeper Vozinha jumped from 37,000 to 28.8 million Instagram followers, a reported 77,000% surge. ⚽️ Erling Haaland added 23 million followers, while Cristiano Ronaldo gained 10 million to reach 676 million. ⚽️ Cape Verde led team growth with +32.1 million followers, followed by Brazil +26 million and Norway +24.5 million. ⚽️ Mexico grew 78%, adding 20.8 million followers, while Argentina added 18.4 million and Portugal 14.4 million. [Credit: Meta] Manosphere Influencers Andrew Tate & Brother Tristan Arrested In Miami In Connection To Sexual Offense Charges In The UK, Report Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in Miami, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Deadline • Armando Tinoco __________ Also spotted this week… The Online Safety Act cannot block a suicide forum linked to 164 UK deaths, Ofcom has admitted. [TechTimes] The EU's new AI labelling rules take effect from 2 August. [The Register] US lawmakers want Trump to investigate the EU’s tech rules. [Apple Insider] Meta is building an OpenRouter rival called Switchboard to cut coding costs. [The Information] An update: Which countries have banned social media for kids? [Mashable] The EU’s top court says Google may lose liability protection when it reviews creator content commercially. [The Register] The surprisingly undisciplined trick to escaping social media [Vox] Patreon is working with Cloudflare to block AI training bots from accessing creator content. [TechCrunch] YouTube has launched a digital parenting series with Dr. Becky Kennedy, a clinical psychologist and founder of parenting platform Good Inside. [YouTube blog] Tinder has expanded its live events feature to more cities as dating app burnout grips Gen Z. [Fast Company $$$] Yope has raised $12.3 million to build a private social network without algorithms or ads. [TechCrunch] New features and tests: TikTok is turning Steve Lacy’s new album launch into an in-app fan experience. [TikTok Newsroom] TikTok will now notify you when someone joins its Instagram-like Whee app. [@JonahManzano] Can social media platforms survive the flood of AI content? A recent report from Pangram estimated that 41% of posts on LinkedIn show signs of AI generation, highlighting a growing problem across all apps. Social Media Today __________ Also worth a read: TikTok side hustlers beware: AI is coming for your job Meta made its own AI detection system. It should have just used Google’s Stats show LinkedIn’s ‘Open to Work’ badge works. Designers say it could be even better Desperate to get your hands on some fresh emojis? The cracking face emoji is the most anticipated proposed new emoji, but you’ll likely have to wait until early next year to use it… The Most Anticipated Emoji of 2026 is... Emojipedia - The Latest Emoji News And that’s a wrap on everything new in social this week. Reminder. Geekout is taking its summer break next week (Friday 31 July). I will be back in your inbox on Friday 7 August. __________ Right… I need to shoot. I’m heading off to Wembley. I have a date with Bruno Mars, and 80,000 screaming fans. I’m taking my teenage daughter who begged me to get tickets. It better be 24K magic (gold). The ticket prices were! Gif by brunomars on Giphy Goodbye, geeks! P.S. This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant     © 2026 Matt Navarra Media Ltd 7 Rhos Ddu Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan CF64 3HS, Wales Unsubscribe Terms of Service