can this AI bot tweet better than you?

…good luck, social media manager

Author

Matt Navarra
December 09, 2022

Hello, geeks!

First off this week, I just got roasted by an AI chatbot. Sick burn. 🤨

Then Twitter’s verification delivered a crushing low-blow. (fair 😆)

You might be happy to know there is 50% less Elon news than in recent weeks. He’s still whipping the media up into a storm, as usual. However, much of it is… well… hot air.

The main character on Twitter this week is not human… Hello ChatGPT! 🤖

People are having their minds blown by what OpenAI’s Chat bot can do. But mostly, people having been screwing around to see if they can radicalise the bot and turn it into a Nazi-loving, homophobic asshole. (much like the suspended Twitter users Elon is bringing back).

...but can you tell a REAL tweet from one written by an AI chatbot? Take the test! ✅

Before we dive in…I built something just for you 👇

NEW! Geekout News Alerts on WhatsApp

Alrighty… Let’s get into it.

First… The biggest social media news headlines this week:

🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

  1. Elon Musk Turns Twitter HQ Into Hotel For ‘Hardcore’ Staff [MOTEL ELON]

  2. Meta Brainstormed Wild Ideas For a Rival Twitter App [TWEETGRAM]

  3. Elon Musk Released Over-Hyped Snoozefest ‘Twitter Files’ [CASE CLOSED]

  4. Meta Threatened to Remove News From Facebook in U.S [NEWSBREAK]

  5. The Oversight Board Criticised Meta’s VIP Protection Program [SPECIAL TREATMENT]

    In the past 7 days, I tweeted 284 times, sharing 200+ new features and platform updates.

    To save you time, here’s the most noteworthy news from all of those tweets:

    Instagram will now tell people if they are shadow banned (and why)... Instagram has cut incentives and bonus payments for Reels creators…Instagram is testing a handy new DM message labels feature… Instagram is also still working on new BeReal-esqe features called ‘Roll Call’ and ‘Glimpse’.

    Instagram has published a guide to content its new content algorithm *won’t* recommend (worth noting)... Meta has launched new creator monetisation options and extended access to live chat support for creators.

    Twitter Blue is rumoured to be relaunching today (Fri 9 Dec)... And it will cost you more if you subscribe via iPhone ($11 pm on iPhone / $7 via website)... Twitter users are increasingly experiencing bugs and other issues on the platform.

    Twitter’s new checkmarks have started to pop-up. (🟨 Yellow tick: Brands, ⬜️ Grey tick: Government Orgs)... Twitter will also soon tell you if your account is shadow banned… Twitter is going to give advertisers new controls to stop their ads appearing above/below tweets with specific keywords.

    💥 FREE STUFF | 4 KEY SOCIAL MEDIA PREDICTIONS FOR 2023 🔮 

    • Will TikTok win the short-form video wars?

    • Will influencers and creators make big money?

    • Which social platforms will brands spend most on in the year ahead?

    • Check out Emplifi’s 4 key social media predictions for 2023

    YouTube announced a new monetisation policy and mobile app analytics features… TikTok has given its BeReal clone ‘TikTok Now’ a dedicated camera mode in its main app… Snapchat launched new monetisation tools for AR lens creators… LinkedIn has rolled out noteworthy improvements to Carousel posts… LinkedIn has also added SEO features for LinkedIn Newsletters and Articles… And LinkedIn added useful new analytics features for creators.

    Amazon launched a new TikTok-style shopping feed called Inspire (looks good, but probably will flop)... Twitch gave its streamer analytics features a big revamp… Metaverse lost out to ‘Goblin mode’ for word of the year 2022 (well that’s a bit embarrassing, Zuck)...

    And finally… Twitter may soon let you use GIFs for your profile avatar again… just as GIFs go out of fashion. 🤦🏻‍♂️

    DID YOU SEE… 👀

    • ⚡️ INVITE-ONLY: Join the Private Geekout Group On FB [JOIN 31K SOCIAL GEEKS]

    • ⭐️ PRO TIPS: 11 Twitter Advanced Search Tips Worth Knowing [SHOW ME]

    • 🧪 EXPERIMENT: Do LinkedIn Pods Work (Or Are They Just Spammy) [TELL ME]

    • 🕺🏻 TIKTOK REWIND: The Official Tiktok Year In Review 2022 [REMIND ME]

    • 📺 YOUTUBE REWIND: The Official YouTube Year in Review 2022 [WATCH]

    • 👽 REDDIT REWIND: The Official Reddit Year in Review for 2022 [OPEN]

    What a year it's been for social, huh?

    Right… Let’s dive into the news stories EVERYONE’s talking about.

    Analysis of the top stories from the past 7 days coming up next 👇

    – Matt

    P.S. GEEKOUT'S TWITTER SPACE is taking a break this week, but look out for a final wrapup of the year very soon!

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    🚨 Everyone's talking about...

    It seemed unlikely that Meta–having tried and failed to clone Twitter in the past–would try again, but smelling blood, it seems there have at least been internal discussions:

    Among the ideas Meta’s workers talked over was a more extensive rollout of a feature called Instagram Notes, where people can share short messages on the photo-sharing site with their followers and friends, according to posts of the conversation that were viewed by The New York Times. Others said Meta should build a text-focused app using Instagram’s technology or add another feed to Instagram. They floated names for the features such as Realtime, Real Reels and Instant.

    “Twitter is in crisis and Meta needs its mojo back,” one Meta employee wrote in a post. “LET’S GO FOR THEIR BREAD AND BUTTER.”

    Kalley Huang, New York Times

    Let's face it though, putting a Twitter clone inside Instagram would be a really bad idea. MG Siegler (a venture capitalist who, in his previous life as a tech journalist, wrote the very first article about the first version of Instagram) described it as "like stuffing a stuffed pig inside of a stuffed turkey".

    Instagram is already bloated - the last thing it needs is tweets. And once you start including tweets, you become more of a newswire service. Meta has been moving away from news in recent times. Notably, it's been moving towards shutting down (or at least automating) the Facebook News tab .

    A Twitter clone inside Instagram would only push governments around the world to further a 'Meta must pay news publishers (for some reason that never quite makes sense)' agenda lobbied for by the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner. Just this week Meta threatened to remove news from Facebook in the US and New Zealand in the face of such proposals. By the middle of the week, the US bill had been axed.

    Looking at all the headaches Elon Musk is having as he discovers the complexities of running a service like Twitter, Meta is best staying well away.

    Elon Musk might say he's moved Twitter into more of a "chill mode", but The Twitter Files this week have clearly been designed to stir up more controversy.

    If the drama has passed you by, essentially this is it: Elon Musk gave two Substackers–Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss–access to internal Twitter documents, emails, and data, to supposedly expose how the previous Twitter management had an anti-right-wing bias. The resulting findings have been published in two Twitter threads (so far) over the past week.

    The first thread focused on Twitter's handling of discussion around a 2020 New York Post article about Joe Biden's son's laptop. The thread was no bombshell. It showed internal debate and a jittery overreaction based on legitimate concerns about foreign influence campaigns targeting the US presidential election. Twitter shouldn't have blocked links to the article, but it admitted that at the time.

    Taibbi's thread simply added some detail to the story while irresponsibly naming the employees involved. Check out TechDirt's comprehensive debunk for more, including why the fuss around Twitter firing its deputy general counsel is more heat than light.

    The second thread, from Weiss–who reportedly appears to now have the same level of access to Twitter's systems as an employee–has been hailed by some as evidence that the company 'shadowbanned' right-wingers and held 'secret blacklists'.

    But again, it was largely more hand-wavy misrepresentation of normal moderation processes, with no evidence of the ideological bias that it clearly wanted to show. Yes, it showed some right-wing accounts had the reach of their tweets suppressed, but Twitter has said it does this for a long time, and it's a cornerstone of Elon Musk's own approach to moderation, too.

    What it didn't show is what these right-wing accounts did to warrant this action, or which left-wing accounts might have received the same treatment.

    The Twitter Files is Elon Musk trying to position 'Twitter 2.0' as fairer and more balanced, but instead it supports conspiracy theories that have little weight behind them. If there's one good thing to come out of all this, it's news that Twitter will soon tell users when and why their content is being suppressed. Instagram announced the same thing this week.

    Meanwhile in other moderation news, Twitter is leaning more heavily on automation and Musk told French President Macron that its policies would be 'transparent'. But in reality Musk's final word is still law. He glibly said this week that a tweet that made him want to punch Kanye West counted as 'incitement to violence', suggesting he doesn't take the issues as seriously as he should.

    It's a strategy, but probably not a good one if it wants to calm advertisers. Twitter’s US ad revenue was reportedly running at 80% below internal expectations for first week of the World Cup. Twitter's ad sales in EMEA were down more than 50% the week of Nov. 21 from the prior week.

    That said, Apple has "fully resumed" advertising on Twitter, according to Musk, and Amazon is reportedly planning to resume advertising on Twitter, with a spend of around $100m a year, pending security tweaks to Twitter's ads platform.

    Generous incentives and more control for advertisers around placement must surely be helping woo the ad money back. But concerns remain about where Twitter is heading. Even if you think Twitter had a 'political agenda' in the past, it's pretty clear it does now.

    In related news, more than 12,000 banned accounts have reportedly been restored now, including an infamous Nazi and controversial former Trump team members.

    Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has said Elon Musk is "not a serious person" in a tweet criticising his stewardship of the platform. He also called the situation "heartbreaking".

    The turmoil at Twitter helped Musk lose his status as the world's richest person on Wednesday. But hey, at least Musk's own account engagement is through the roof, eh? Still, he should probably be bothered; his out-there tweets are still worrying Tesla shareholders, which could spell trouble for the billionaire's true cash cow.

    Welcome to Elon Musk's own 'Hotel California'. It emerged this week that Twitter is using empty space in its HQ as bedrooms for hardworking staff forced to be on-site rather than remote.

    I'm getting real Travelodge vibes from the pictures the BBC obtained, but San Francisco authorities aren't worried about the décor, they're more concerned with Twitter illegally including accommodation in an office building. As you might expect, Musk shrugged off the concerns. He's not exactly known for caring what regulators think, is he?

    And the beds might be needed, considering the cost of accommodation in the Bay Area, and the news that Twitter has cut down on employee leave allowance over Christmas and New Year.

    Twitter is still hard at work on its new version of Blue, which is reported to be relaunching as soon as today, priced at $7 per month on the web and $11 on iOS, to absorb the 'Apple tax'.

    Meanwhile, Musk faces more legal action in the fallout from its mass layoffs and firings, including one lawsuit accusing the company of targeting women for layoffs. It looks like even more lawsuits are on the way.

    I just hope all those Twitter employees sleeping where they work are keeping things clean. The HQ's janitors have been on strike this week.

    📈 Going viral

    OpenAI's ChatGPT has been everywhere this week.

    The smart chatbot, which has been trained on a huge chunk of the internet and can deliver impressive answers for all sorts of questions (even if some are wrong), and even come up with creative writing, has got people posting screenshots of their results all over social media.

    🤯 WTF?!

    Some people will do anything for likes...

    TikTok Influencer Is Fined After Hitting a Golf Ball Into the Grand Canyon

    Katie Sigmond, who has nearly seven million followers on TikTok and posts workout and modeling videos, faced legal trouble after the stunt.

    🔥 Hot new features

    TikTok's full-screen mode could be a hint at how the platform develops in 2023...

    Also:

    🚨 New platform alert

    Microsoft wants a slice of Discord and Facebook's pie...

    🔨 Tool of the week

    ChatGPT isn't perfect but it's already very useful. This extension brings it a little bit closer to hand whenever inspiration strikes and you want to put it to the test.

    📄 Report of the week

    In this thread, I pick out some of the most interesting bits of the new Consumer Trends report, which is packed full of useful insights... 👇

    🪦 RIP

    Twitter seems to be killing off a couple of features...

    It'll be sad to see Moments go. They were a good way of exploring stories through tweets, even if Twitter never quite made enough of the feature.

    And it looks like 'Vibes', the feature that let you label tweets with fun 'statuses' like 'Spoiler alert', is also on the way out.

    Vines was only ever officially available in the US, but it could have developed into something really useful given the chance. Imagine being able to set a custom status that you're at a particular conference, for example. Ah well...

    💡 New feature spotlight

    Looks like Instagram's going deeper on messaging features in 2023:

    📆 Trends for 2023

    Want to know what 2023 is going to look like? Check out this report from Instagram...

    2023 Instagram Trend Report - Your First Look At Future Trends as Defined by Gen Z | Instagram Blog

    Explore our 2023 Instagram Trend Report to discover what trends will be on the rise in the next year across the platform.

    ...and this one from Pinterest:

    Pinterest announces its Pinterest Predicts 2023 report to reveal the trends that Pinterest believes will rise next year

    👀 Read of the week

    Is the perfect Twitter replacement actually LinkedIn ? Some people are starting to think so...

    I Found the Perfect Replacement for Twitter. It’s LinkedIn

    In a fragmented online world, the professional social network is finding mass appeal.

    💬 You can quote me on that

    When I'm mentioned in the news, you'll find it here...

    LinkedIn invited me to make a predication about social media for its 'Big Ideas 2023' feature. Find out what it is here 👇

    Big Ideas 2023: 20 bold predictions for the year ahead

    2022 was not a year for the faint of heart. We welcomed an easing of pandemic restrictions in many parts, but were quickly hit by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, soaring inflation and reminders that the consequences of climate change aren't coming, they're already here.

    Also:

    ❓ Question of the week

    It's easy to hate on Twitter these days, but it can still be immensely useful. That's what inspired this week's question.

    Tap through to discover some great follows, and add your own suggestions 👇

    🗺️ Top infographic

    Want to make sense of LinkedIn's algorithm? Check this out:

    Also:

    📈 Charts of the week

    The Reuters Institute has a really interesting new TikTok report out now. Check out more of my picks from it in this thread.

    Also:

    📊 Stats of the week

    Social media has plenty of room to grow...

    Also:

    💡 New feature spotlight

    This will be a boon for TikTok pros...

    🔭 New insights

    Numbers worth knowing...

    Meta News

    EU says Meta shouldn't force users to accept targeted ads to use Facebook and Instagram.

    WSJ News Exclusive | Meta’s Targeted Ad Model Faces Restrictions in Europe

    European Union privacy regulators say Facebook and Instagram shouldn’t use their terms of service to require users to accept ads based on their digital activity.

    • Meta's Oversight Board has criticised a special programme that protects VIP users. [Financial Times $$$]

    • Meta is lobbying for hands-off regulation of the metaverse (unsurprisingly). [Bloomberg $$$]

    • ...and that includes NFTs (despite all the fraud). [Motherboard]

    • Potentially fraudulent ads have been spotted on Instagram in significant numbers. [Sky News]

    • Instagram has further cut its financial incentives for some influencers, it's been reported. [The Information $$$]

    • Meta appears to be gearing up to let more staff go as it doubles the number of people managers should rank lowest in performance reviews. [Insider $$$]

    • The Indian government wants Meta to handle content takedown orders within one hour. [Money Control]

    • Facebook is lowering the threshold for US-based creators to get paid, from $100 to $25. [Search Engine Journal]

    • Meta's VR headsets are back on sale in Germany after a two year ban. They're allowed back after Meta removed the requirement for a Facebook account. [Bloomberg $$$]

    • Meta was in court this week to defend its acquisition of Supernatural, which has raised antitrust concerns in the US. [Bloomberg $$$]

    • Elections in India have been described as a "WhatsApp spam war". [Rest of World]

    • Meta won’t let staff discuss topics like abortion, gun control and vaccines at work. [TechCrunch]

    • WhatsApp has lost its attempt to annul a $267m GDPR fine. [TechCrunch]

    • Meta is offering seasonal promotions for Stars and virtual gifts. [@MetaForCreators]

    • Meta came out on top of a new ranking of the fastest growing brands. [AdAge $$$]

    Insights to give you an edge at work:

    • Meta has published a guide to the key factors influencing consumer decisions. [Social Media Today]

    New features and tests:

    Facebook:

    • Facebook has added a new Avatar post generator feature. [@MattNavarra]

    • Facebook now offers a link sticker in the Stories menu. [@oncescuradu]

    • ...and Facebook Stories also has a new 'Enhance' feature. [@MattNavarra]

    • Facebook Groups has a new 'Hide comments from repeat offenders' feature for admins. [@oncescuradu]

    • Facebook Dating is testing new age verification tools. [Axios]

    • Facebook has been spotted offering 'Admin Assist' to help Group admins post content more regularly. [@MattNavarra]

    • Facebook is offering some users a 'Fan Engagement Tools' feature. [@TechnicalGulab]

    Instagram:

    • Instagram scheduling is rolling out in the app. It supports scheduling Reels, photos, and carousel posts up to 75 days in advance. [Instagram Business]

    • Instagram is expanding Account Status so professional accounts can understand if their content may be eligible to be recommended to non-followers. [@mosseri]

    • Instagram will now tell creators when and why their posts are ‘shadowbanned’. [Engadget]

    • Instagram is testing the ability to create a Reel from a carousel post. [@ahmedghanem]

    • Instagram now shows you if you are chatting with a business account, or with other account types. [@ahmedghanem]

    • Instagram has been spotted showing newly released music in the notifications tab. [@jonah_manazno]

    • Instagram has made 'Add Yours' more prominent in the Reels interface. [@jonah_manzano]

    • Instagram now lets you tap the category tag on a profile to explore related businesses. [@MartijnCales]

    • Instagram has been spotted testing a 'React' button for Reels. [@techjalal]

    • Instagram is working on a 'Messaging highlights' feature. [@alex193a]

    • Instagram is adding labels to chats. [@ItsSachinShah]

    • Instagram is still working on its BeReal-style 'Glimpse Stories' feature. [@alex193a]

    • More details have emerged of Instagram's in-development Roll Call feature. [@alex193a]

    • Instagram is still developing its Profile AMA feature. [@alex193a]

    • Instagram has tweaked how it displays details of songs in Reels. [@oncescuradu]

    WhatsApp:

    • WhatsApp is working on support for the new Unicode 15 emoji. [WABetaInfo]

    The rest: Creator Studio/adtech/Quest and more:

    • Meta has added new creator monetisation options and opened live chat support to creators with more than 10,000 followers. [Social Media Today]

    • It’s finally possible to target Instagram followers with Facebook Ads. [Jon Loomer]

    • Facebook Ad Lead Forms have had a big update. [Jon Loomer]

    • Meta Quest Pro can now record what it sees. [The Verge]

    • The Quest smartphone app has received a redesign. [UploadVR]

    • Quest's home environment now shows your avatar's arms rather than the previous ghost-like hands. [UploadVR]

    Twitter News

    Twitter keeps experiencing glitches as the company's reduced team struggles to keep it running smoothly.

    Twitter Notifications Breaking in Wake of Elon Musk's Mass Layoffs

    Twitter co-founder Biz Stone joked about the glitches on Monday.

    • ...and the glitches also impact privacy settings 😬. [TechCrunch]

    • Elon Musk has urged employees to submit ideas for the platform, saying that some suggestions have already been implemented in "less than 5 minutes". [Insider]

    • Elon Musk's banks are reportedly considering restructuring the debt used to finance the Twitter acquisition. [Bloomberg $$$]

    • [Gizmodo]

    • Twitter's credit rating was withdrawn by S&P due to lack of information. [Bloomberg $$$]

    • 70,000 websites use Twitter's tracking pixel, which could expose them to security risks. [Wired]

    • The author of the book behind The Social Network movie is working on a book about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

    Insights to give you an edge at work:

    New features and tests:

    • Twitter has changed the text describing OG verified accounts' checkmarks, with some amusing results. [Insider]

    • Twitter is working on a 'human' test to unlock certain features on Twitter. [@alex193a]

    • Gold checkmarks badges have been spotted rolling out for businesses. [@wongmjane]

    • ...as has the grey checkmark badge for government accounts. [@wongmjane]

    • Tweet view counts have now been spotted in code for the web version. [@wongmjane]

    • Twitter appears to be bringing back the ability to set GIFs as profile pictures. [@wongmjane]

    • Twitter is working on letting people choose how often they wish to be notified when a Community Note needs ratings. [@wongmjane]

    TikTok News

    TikTok's US userbase is falling. Its monthly active user count reportedly dropped from 113m in January to 110m in October.

    TikTok Pushes Social Features as Growth Cools

    For the past year or so, Meta Platforms has been fiddling with its Instagram app to make it look more like TikTok, the short-video juggernaut that has been siphoning away its audience. Lately, though, TikTok has started borrowing a few social media tricks from the likes of Meta’s Instagram and ...

    • TikTok's security agreement with the United States continues to be delayed over a range of security concerns. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

    • Brands are being warned to obtain a license to use music in their TikTok posts. [Bloomberg Law]

    • TikTok has been sued by the state of Indiana, accused of targeting young teens with adult content. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

    • TikTok has reshuffled its trust and safety team. [AdWeek $$$]

    • TikTok wants the TV industry to use its platform as a 'discovery engine'. [Variety]

    • A TikTok influencer was fined after hitting a golf ball into the Grand Canyon. [New York Times $$$]

    • What is "Pilk" and why has this strange beverage gone viral on TikTok? [Insider]

    Insights to give you an edge at work:

    New features and tests:

    • TikTok now has a full screen mode. [@MattNavarra]

    • TikTok has launched 'Posted Drafts', automatically creating a copy of your most recently posted video you can use to tweak or fix mistakes. [@MattNavarra]

    • TikTok is adding a “TikTok Now” Button to “Camera Mode”. [@oncescuaradu]

    💥 More social media news and updates

    'Magic avatar' A.I. app Lensa is worrying artists as it goes viral.

    Lensa AI, the app making 'magic avatars,' raises red flags for artists

    Photo editing app Lensa AI went viral this week for making AI-generated stylized avatars. Its popularity raises alarm with artists.

    • ...and it's easy to trick Lensa into making NSFW images. [TechCrunch]

    • ...but Lensa maker Prisma Labs is working to prevent accidental generation of nude images. [TechCrunch]

    • Triller has removed major label music from its app. It says it is 'reassessing' its deals. [Rolling Stone]

    • ...but Triller reportedly plans an IPO in a few weeks. [Insider $$$]

    • Meta and Twitter can’t be held liable for Covid vaccine misinformation posted by users, a judge has ruled in the US. [Bloomberg $$$]

    • The UK's Online Safety Bill returned to Parliament this week, after a five-month delay. [The Guardian]

    • LinkedIn has added new creator analytics, including new follow growth and top performing posts. [AdWeek $$$]

    • LinkedIn has improved its carousels feature, with clickable links, templates, and more. [@MattNavarra]

    • LinkedIn now offers SEO features for articles and newsletters. [Kevin D. Turner]

    • YouTube has updated its monetisation guidelines. [Social Media Today]

    • YouTube has been busy removing clips of Kanye West's Infowars appearance. [NBC News]

    • YouTube has shone a light on how it develops its community guidelines. [TubeFilter]

    • Snap now has more than 300,000 developers developing AR products on its platform. The Verge]

    • Snap will close Zenly on 3 February 2023. [TechCrunch]

    • Snap could benefit from an exodus of advertisers from Twitter. [Bloomberg $$$]

    • World Cup protesters are using Snapchat AR filters to display the pride flag in Qatar. [Mashable]

    • The main Kanye West subreddit became a Holocaust memorial in rejection of his pro-Nazi comments. [Bloomberg $$$]

    • Reddit has shared its 2022 recap video. [AdAge $$$]

    • ...and r/AmITheAsshole was the most popular subreddit of the year. [Engadget]

    • Telegram says its Premium premium offering has 1 million paying subscribers less than one month after launching. [TechCrunch]

    • Telegram is auctioning phone numbers to let users sign up to the service without any SIM. [TechCrunch]

    • Pinterest users have revealed how much the company was paying them as part of its now axed creator incentive programme. [Insider $$$]

    • Families should get easier access to deceased children’s social media history, a UK group says. [The Guardian]

    • Fortnite appears to be gearing up for a MrBeast collaboration. [@thegameawards]

    Insights to give you an edge at work:

    • Here are the top ads on YouTube in 2022. [YouTube]

    • Check out Logitech's holiday campaign on BeReal. [AdAge $$$]

    • What B2B marketing trends will shape 2023? LinkedIn thinks it knows. [AdWeek $$$]

    • Do LinkedIn Pods work? Or are they mostly embarrassing? [Hootsuite blog]

    New features and tests:

    • YouTube has added custom thumbnail selection for Shorts on Android. [@MattNavarra]

    • LinkedIn has updated its ad targeting options for B2B brands. [Social Media Today]

    • Snap is working on a 'Story Boost' feature for Snapchat+ subscribers, to give you more views. [@alex193a]

    • Snapchat is testing Lenses with power-ups and upgrades that you can buy. [TechCrunch]

    • Snapchat’s latest Bitmoji Drop features exclusive Adidas merch, but there’s a price tag. [TechCrunch]

    • Twitch has overhauled its analytics. [AdWeek $$$]

    • Cameo has launched an offering for kids, with personalised messages avaialble from popular characters. [TechCrunch]

    • Amazon has launched a TikTok-like shopping feed. [TechCrunch]

    • Giphy is adding alt text to make GIFs more accessible. [Engadget]

    • Microsoft Teams is targeting Facebook Groups and Discord with a new ‘Communities’ feature. [The Verge]

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    📖 Weekend reading

    😳 And finally...

    People are STRANGE...

    📅 Back next week...

    …Well, it’s time to make like a (Christmas) tree, and leave. 🎄

    You’ve reached the end of this week’s Geekout. 👍

    We have ONE more edition of Geekout in 2022, before we go offline for the holiday season.

    Time for me to risk electrocution as I put up the xmas lights around my house! Wish me luck folks. ⚡️🤞

    Goodbye geeks!

    – Matt

    _______

    This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant

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