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Hello, geeks!

Welcome to a spooky edition of Geekout. 🎃👻

Lame attempt at Halloween theming: DONE ✅ 

Before we get into it…

This free 2025 Global Social Media Predictions event is filling up… Fast! 🔥

Register for your invite ASAP. [Limited spaces]

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This week might kill me…

Ever wondered what a typical week looks like for a social media consultant with ADHD?

Well, forget "typical," November's bringing me an INSANE week. 👇

I'm jetting off to Pristina, Kosovo to speak at GrowthZilla's GrowthTank event (check out the trailer - I clean up alright! 😉).

My schedule was already jam-packed, so this trip is a whirlwind 48-hour adventure.

Thursday 7th November

• 5:00 AM - Dragged out of bed for a drive from Cardiff to Heathrow. 😴

• 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM 9-hours of flights to Macedonia, via Istanbul!

• 8:00 PM - Mad-dash 1.5-hour drive across the border to Kosovo.

• 10:00 - Midnight - Drinks with GrowthTank crew before crashing for a few hours

Friday 8th November

• 7:00 AM - Rise and shine! (Or try to...)

• 11:00 AM - Time to look professional for the crowd at GrowthTank! 🎤

• 12:30 PM - Back in the car for another border-hop drive to Macedonia.

• 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM: 7 hours of flights back to London, via Frankfurt

• 9:00 PM - Touchdown in London! But the journey's not over yet...

• 0:00 AM- 3-hour drive back to Cardiff to get home around midnight. 🤯

Oh, and somewhere in between all that, I need to write Geekout Newsletter! 😅 

Send coffee and prayers. 🙏

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DON’T MISS THIS…

Hate it when your boss asks you to create end of month social media report? This is FREE eBook is for YOU!

The social media data experts at Measure Studio reveal the key ingredients for creating slick social reports in minutes that will get your work noticed! 👇

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You're not alone!

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• Actionable recommendations to elevate your social media strategy and drive real results 💪

Don't let your social media reports get lost in the shuffle! 

Download your FREE copy today and finally get the recognition (and budget!) you deserve. [AD]

.

🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

Geekout’s pick of the hottest headlines in social this week:

2. LinkedIn confirms the 'follower purge' was just a bug that's now resolved [BUGGING]

3. TikTok owner sacks intern for allegedly sabotaging AI project [COMPROMISING]

4. Meta is testing facial recognition for spotting ‘celeb-bait’ ads scams and easier account recovery [AUTHENTICATING]

5. Norway plans to ban social media for kids under 15, but it could backfire [MISJUDGING]

🚨 The Future of Social Media Revealed: LIVE Expert Panel!

Social media moves FAST, and 2025 is going to be wilder than ever with AI in the mix.

So… 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

🎟️ Limited spaces available… Register NOW to secure your FREE event pass.

.

🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

Meta’s moderation leaves a lot to be desired

Remember when Elon Musk banned social media accounts tracking the movements of private jets, including his, from X?

There was real outcry over what looked like yet another sign that Musk was making bad product decisions, plus laughter over Musk calling @ElonJet “assassination coordinates” and how the move didn’t square with his professed love of free speech.

But now Meta has done the same thing, and the outcry isn’t anywhere near as strong.

So what’s the difference? Surely partly it’s because Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t taken to Threads to publicly complain about the accounts. It looks a lot less like a billionaire strop.

Meta says it’s simply complying with an Oversight Board recommendation about handling personal information. We don’t all have private jets, but someone might be able to look up your address on a legal public database - it doesn’t mean Meta has to let someone post it to Threads.

But Meta took a while to explain itself after the accounts disappeared. And that’s where the company has a problem. Particularly on Threads, it keeps making puzzling moderation mistakes and not explaining itself.

A couple of weeks ago, my account had amplification removed by mistake. This week, the company has been busy locking the accounts of people stating that liking Hitler is bad (fact check: liking him is very bad). Oh, and blocking Instagram searches for ‘Adam Driver Megalopolis’ because of CSAM?!

A quick scan of my Threads feed every day turns up at least one fresh case of someone complaining that someone’s account has been locked for seemingly no good reason.

Moderation at Meta scale is hard. Human moderators are prone to make mistakes, and using automation to help is prone to bugs screwing things up.

What’s more, the company just looks incompetent and callous when it makes a silly error. High-profile examples might get an apology from an exec, but many of these decisions fly under the radar and take longer to resolve, if at all.

It’s difficult for Meta to win, but swift corrections and clear communication should be as important a part of moderation as acting on rule-breaking in the first place.

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

Everything else you need to know from the past seven days…

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🤖 SOCIAL A.I.

Even more social media A.I. features spotted this week…

• Instagram is promoting AI chatbots in the feed

• Meta has released slimmed-down Llama models for low-powered devices

• Meta has released an AI model that can check other AI models' work

• Meta has quietly added an 'automatic adjustments' setting to ad accounts

• X has updated ad platform with AI features to optimise performance for SMBs

• LinkedIn has launched an AI Resources Hub

• CapCut now offers AI voices with emotions

• Canva has a shiny new text-to-image generator

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🎃 SPOOKY SOCIAL

All the Halloween themed app updates and new features coming your way:

Instagram has brought some Halloween-themed features to chat and Stories:

Also:

• Snapchat has added new Halloween-themed icons for Plus subscribers

• CapCut has added exclusive Halloween templates and halloween-themed captions

• X is adding three new Halloween-themed icons for Premium subscribers

• TikTok has added a Halloween text feature

• Twitch Fright Fest is coming

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😆 LOL

This is too close to the bone:

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🌡️ VIRAL

Donald Trump’s publicity stunt ‘working’ at a closed McDonald’s restaurant last weekend was an obvious target for👌 memes:

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🪧 BRAND SOCIAL

Here’s how Sour Patch Kids, Nutter Butter, and Crocs are targeting Gen Alpha just right…

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📲 HOT NEW APPS

Daze is a messaging app aimed at Gen Z, designed to look free-flowing with lots of different fonts, colours, graphics, movement, stickers, drawings, and more.

It’s gone viral on TikTok this week…

Also look out for:

• Random video chat app Azar could be the next Chatroulette — for better or for worse

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👀 MY FAV READS

“When couples who make their living online split up, assessing the accounts’ future value and divvying them up fairly is a drag…”

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👌 PRO TIPS

This is handy guide to top social media marketing newsletters, podcasts, and educational courses from Buffer.

And you already know at least one of the top newsletters Buffer recommends… 😉

• Meta has launched a Threads educational insights hub with pro-tips from popular creators

• LinkedIn has revealed more details about how the LinkedIn Feed algorithm actually works

• Reddit: 9 tips for Reddit marketing (that Redditors won't hate)

• Threads: 9 tactics to help you grow on Threads, from a Threads product manager

• Meta has shared ad creation tips for restaurants

.

😮 WTF?!

Did your LinkedIn follower count drop off a cliff this week? 📉

Don’t worry - it was just a bug… (apparently)

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week:

• ESPN is hiring a Social Media Specialist II [Los Angeles, CA, USA]

• Rivian wants a Social Content Creator [Palo Alto, CA, USA]

• The British Red Cross is looking for a Digital Engagement Platform Manager [Remote, UK]

• The Born Free Foundation needs a part-time Social Media Officer [Horsham, UK]

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

$3 MILLION

– The amount Elon Musk’s PAC has spent on Facebook ads over the past three months, in a bid to help get Donald Trump elected

• TikTok: 15,300 anti-Trump videos have appeared on TikTok in the past 2 months, and the clips received 2.6 billion views, versus 12,500 videos criticising Harris appeared on TikTok receiving 1 billion views

• Bluesky has hit 13 million users

• X: Based on internal documents, X is currently, on track to bring in around $2.9 billion in total revenue for 2024, meaning it will post a significant loss

• X's India revenue has fallen 90%

• Meta glasses are the top-selling product in 60% of Ray-Ban stores

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📈 CHARTED

Data From 4.2 million Instagram Posts revealed Reels are best for reach — but NOT engagement 🔥❤️

Check out this report from Buffer to learn more…

• U.S. election: Despite having 5 MILLION followers, compared with Trump’s 12 MILLION, Harris’s KamalaHQ account has attracted 1.5 BILLION views, compared with the Republican candidate’s 1 BILLION.

• YouTube: A new study revealed the top facial expressions used in YouTube thumbnails in 2024

• TikTok revealed it has 150 million EU users, and shared its content moderator headcount around the world

• U.S. marketers prioritise reach and engagement to measure influencer campaign success, according to eMarketer

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• A child-safety case against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg has been dismissed. [The Guardian]

• Meta is losing developers to Snap amid their AR rivalry. [Bloomberg $$$]

• Meta must face a Massachusetts social media addiction lawsuit. [Reuters $$$]

• Instagram has poached a YouTube exec for its top global marketing role. [AdWeek $$$]

• Meta’s opportunity score feature has vanished from Ads Manager. [Jon Loomer]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook now prompts users to rotate the screen for a better video experience. [@oncescuradu]

• Facebook is now suggesting certain (trending) songs in the note composer. [@oncescuradu]

• Facebook has quietly adjusted page links, and usernames now start with @ in the link without any explanation for the change. [@theahmedghanem]

Instagram:

• Instagram is now displaying coloured social sharing icons in the post share sheet. [@oncescuradu]

• Instagram has renamed “Quiet Mode” to “Sleep Mode” and moved it under Time Management. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram has added a new chat theme for private conversations. [@oncescuradu]

• Instagram has added a message indicator for your linked Facebook account in the account switching menu. [@theahmedghanem]

Threads:

• Threads is testing a simplified creation sheet. [@theahmedghanem]

• Threads has added an overflow menu to its composer. [@chris]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp is testing a new privacy setting to block friends using ‘camera effects’ in calls [@oncescuradu]

.

• TikTok planned to influence Senator Mitch McConnell using content from its own platform. [Business Insider]

• TikTok has been accused of approving election misinformation ads despite its own ban. [Fast Company]

• TikTok is planning changes to its service fee from Tuesday next week. [@jonahmanzano]

• TikTok has added a new ‘Unlimited sounds library’ on desktop for 1+ minute videos. [@oncescuradu]

• UnitedMasters and TikTok are entering into a new direct partnership for the benefit of independent artists. [TikTok Newsroom]

• TikTok is present to promote LIVE at MCM x EGX in London this weekend. [TikTok Newsroom]

New features and tests:

• TikTok is testing a less cluttered web interface. [@oncescuradu]

• TikTok now has improved in-app photo editing. [@jonahmanzano]

• TikTok now lets you add a custom thumbnail to your videos (again). [@oncescuradu]

• Keyboard shortcuts are now available for TikTok on desktop. [@_lindseygamble]

• TikTok has updated its privacy settings for blocking comments. [@theahmedghanem]

• TikTok has introduced a new hub summarising benefits for new creators, including verification. [@jonahmanzano]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• Google, Meta and TikTok have removed the social media accounts of an industrial plant in Russia that tried to recruit young foreign women to make drones for the war in Ukraine. [Fast Company]

• YouTube has brought its affiliate program to India and partnered with Flipkart. [TechCrunch]

• Belgium has joined France’s probe into alleged wrongdoing at Telegram. [Politico]

• Meta, Google, and TikTok must face school districts’ lawsuits over addiction claims, a California judge has ruled. [Bloomberg $$$]

• A US House Republican has threatened to subpoena the Biden administration over alleged social media censorship. [NBC News]

• Pinterest faces an EU privacy complaint over tracking ads. [TechCrunch]

• Ireland has adopted an Online Safety Code for video-sharing platforms including TikTok. [TechCrunch]

• DoubleVerify has expanded verification of LinkedIn ad performance. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

• YouTube’s new miniplayer is now widely available. [Android Police]

• The Democratic National Committee has launched a Taylor Swift Snapchat filter to target young voters. [Gizmodo]

• Snapchat has shown off new Spectacles AR experiences. [Social Media Today]

• Signal is testing a new ‘call link’ feature. [@oncescuradu]

• Clubhouse has launched an improved hand raising feature. [Clubhouse]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

Geekout’s pick of the best longer reads to sink into over the weekend:

“As many as “75% of popular songs on TikTok started with a creator marketing campaign,” guesses one major label marketer. Is that a problem?”

Also:

• They’re huge on TikTok. Is that enough to make it as a DJ?

.

😳 AND FINALLY…

This proved VERY popular when I shared it on Threads this week. 🔥

Saturday Night Live goes full TikTok! 💀

.

📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

… And that’s your social media news debriefing for this week. Done. ✅

Before you go…

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Alrighty… I’m heading off to buy a last minute costume for a Halloween party.

I guess i will be wearing the tried and tested (zero effort) black t-shirt and Scream movie halloween mask combo (again) 😱

Goodbye, geeks!

p.s. This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant