the end of the GIF?

No way. Not happening. Not on my watch.

Author

Matt Navarra
September 23, 2022

Hello, geeks

Welcome to this week’s ‘exploding at the seams’ edition of Geekout.

If you’re reading this, it means I didn’t totally screw up moving things to Beehiiv, the new newsletter platform I’m now using to publish Geekout. You can find all the previous issues on our new profile page.

You shouldn’t notice many changes, but I have taken the opportunity to give Geekout a bit of a polish - just a few tweaks to make it quicker to skim through, and even more enjoyable.

Over the coming weeks you may spot even more improvements as I get to grips with Beehiiv’s other advanced features to help ME optimise Geekout… for YOU.

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Right then... Let’s kick things off…

And…

  • ‘Man vs. Squirrel 🐿 (read to the end to find the link)

Ok, let's jump into this week’s Geekout properly! 

First up: This week’s hottest developments in social: 

🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

  1. YouTube Unveils Revenue Share Deal For Shorts Creators [MO’ MONEY] 

  2. TikTok’s Preferential Content Rules For VIP Creators Exposed [MO’ PROBLEMS]

  3. BeReal Exploring Paid Premium Features To Avoid Ads [GETTING REAL] 

  4. YouTube Trumps TikTok With Creator Music Marketplace [VOLUME UP] 

  5. Meta Told Regulators ‘We’re Not So Big Now’ + Stock’s Tanking [OH REALLY?]

You know the drill. I tweeted out a lot of news this week (some things never change). Here are the things most worthy of your attention: 

Facebook launched new features for Pages to help creators… Facebook switched on a Reels API, enabling Reels sharing in third-party tools… Also, Facebook added a new ‘Mute Stories’ feature…Instagram may soon let you add buttons to your posts.

🎙 TOP EVENT | CALLING ALL SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERS…

  • Don’t miss the Emplifi Summit '22!

  • Top speakers from TikTok, NFL, Virgin, and more

  • Learn: How top brands are leveraging social to build captivating experiences for their audiences in 2022

  • The event is for social media pros just like you (and it’s free!)

TikTok owner Bytedance launched its new Pico VR headset to take on Meta’s Quest device… TikTok’s BeReal clone app TikTok Now is shooting up the app store charts (Watch me trying out TikTok Now for the first time)...  TikTok in-app search is getting bigger and smarter… TikTok Live now lets you add up to 5 guests… And this is a biggie… TikTok video descriptions limit has increased to 2,200 characters!

Twitch is cutting its top streamers' revenue share…Twitter’s Alt Text reminder option is now available for all… And Twitter is working on a hashtag picker tool for the tweet composer.

YouTube’s new video page design is rolling out (and a new ‘ambient mode’ feature)...... YouTube’s ‘Dislike’ button apparently does jack shit in terms of future content recommendations its algorithm serves you… And on a brighter note, a list of 90’s music video hits with 1+ billion views on Youtube. 🎶

WORTH A LOOK 👀

💥 GEEKOUT VIP: Join 29,000+ SMMs in the Private Geekout Group on FB [JOIN US]

🛠 TOOLS: The Best Instagram Video Download Tools + Apps [CHECK]

🌟 TALENT: A Quick Q&A with Head of Social for Hollister (A&F) [READ]

💀 MEMES: The Most Viral Queen Lying-In-State Queue Memes [ENJOY] 

🔢  ALGORITHMS I: How to Get Reach From Meta’s ‘Recommended Content’ Algorithm [NEW TACTICS]

🔢  ALGORITHMS II: How Twitter’s ‘Recommended Tweets’ Algorithm Actually Works [NEW INSIGHTS]

(In my best Ace Ventura voice...) Alrighty then! ... 

Let’s jump into the big stories us social media geeks are talking about the most this week. 

Analysis of the top stories coming up next. 👇

– Matt

P.S. No Geekout Twitter Space this week, but we'll be back soon!

🚨 Everyone's talking about...

There was big news this week for YouTubers, but perhaps there's not quite as much to celebrate as it first appears...

YouTube is expanding its hugely popular revenue share deal to Shorts:

Shorts creators can qualify for the Partner Program, which allows creators to earn ad revenue from YouTube. The existing Partner Program requires YouTubers to have over 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the last year. Now, Shorts creators can join the Partner Program if they have at least 10 million views on the platform over the last 90 days. As members of the Partner Program, these creators will earn 45% of ad revenue from their videos.

– Amanda Silberling, TechCrunch

But as VidCon co-founder Hank Green explained in a useful Twitter thread, it's not quite as simple as that. Rather than creators getting 45% of all Shorts revenue, they're getting 45% of "the overall amount allocated to creators" after record labels have taken their cut of any music revenue - and there's no transparency about what that cut is.

There was some good news on the music front though. Creator Music is YouTube's new store, allowing creators to easily license music for their videos. In addition to letting you buy rights to use a song, some music is available on a revenue share basis. It's live in beta now, and helps YouTube take take on the ease with which you can add music to TikTok or Reels videos.

While YouTubers might have mixed feelings about this week's news about their platform of choice, Twitch streamers were clearly unhappy with the news that its own revenue split is being dropped to 50/50. While most creators already got this, the platform's bigger stars previously received a much more generous 70/30 split in their favour.

The reason for the change is what stings the most - Twitch's Amazon Web Services cloud bills are too high to justify the old split. That might sound fair enough... until you remember that Twitch is owned by Amazon and AWS is hugely profitable. One part of Amazon letting down the creators it relies on, just to keep another part of Amazon happy is a reminder of where the power really lies.

Mark Zuckerberg has a lot to be miserable about right now. Meta has has lost 61% of its market value in the past 12 months, TikTok is on the rise, and recessions loom around the world, which is generally bad for businesses that sell ads.

The company continues to downsize, too. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Meta had "begun quietly nudging out a significant number of staffers by reorganizing departments and giving affected employees a limited window to apply for other roles within the company". 

Oh and Zuck's own net worth has fallen by $71 billion this year. The mega-wealthy really don't like that kind of thing.

But on the bright side for the company, all these woes play nicely into Meta's argument that it's not the big bad wolf many people say:

During a hearing Monday on the future of a lawsuit brought against Meta by a group of states, Aaron Panner, the attorney representing Facebook, noted the exploding popularity of TikTok and other social media platforms and said, per Reuters: "Sometimes facts that are good for an antitrust defense are bad for business."

– Ashley Gold, Axios

Whether that argument will be much use on the legal battlefield with the FTC and other regulators remains to be seen, but it's a silver lining of sorts for embattled Meta.

Another ray of light for Zuckerberg? He's going to be a dad for the third time.

Forthcoming, much-hyped news site Semafor posted a small scoop to its temporary Medium account yesterday: some clarity from Meta's Nick Clegg over Donald Trump's future on social media.

You might remember that Trump is banned from Meta's platforms until 2023. Now Clegg has explained the company will take expert input on whether it will be wise to reinstate the former president or not from as soon as the start of next year.

There's a delicate balancing act to be played out by the company here: what might be best for society as a whole might not be best for Meta and its shareholders. On one hand, Trump could use these platforms to spread more misinformation, and even stir up violence. His apparent closer embracing of the QAnon movement recently is a concern, given the FBI declared it a domestic terrorism threat in 2019, and the January 6th 2021 insurgency was a pro-Trump event.

On the other hand, continuing to ban him could lead to legal challenges, especially if he decides to run for President again. And his very angry supporters could target Meta in all sorts of ways. 

But whatever Meta decides, Trump's future on the company's platforms could be out of its hands. A proposed law in Texas prohibiting political 'censorship' on social platforms looks set to be taken all the way to a decidedly right-leaning US Supreme Court. The future of moderation on social media could be very different to what we know today - at least in the USA.

🤔 Matt's musings

💡 New feature spotlight

This is a big opportunity for creators, and shows how neglected the description text field has been from a product point of view at TikTok to date...

There are some really interesting possibilities here, especially when it comes to TikTok's ambitions to grab a bigger slice of the search market. And there's more on that below...

📈 Going viral

Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine sliding into a woman's DMs was all over Twitter this week. Like it blows my mind how bad his flirting was.

And speaking of which...

👉 On-point meme

❓ Question of the week

Come and join the social media managers venting in the replies here! 👇

😮 WTF?!

We're all clearly in the wrong line of work...

📊 Stat of the week

Closed captions aren't just an accessibility thing:

  • Also: TikTok's rise should trouble its rivals even more when they see how it's affecting brand loyalty trends.

👀 Read of the week

TikTok is coming for Google search...

Tech investor Connie Chan has some really useful insights into TikTok's rise as a search destination. The article is well worth a read, but you can want to quickly understand how ByteDance is poised to take on Google, have a tap through to her thread...

🔨 Tool of the week

This is one of my go-to Twitter power tools with a comprehensive suite of publishing, insights, and analytics features. It comes with a free trial. Well worth a look.

💬 You can quote me on that

Why does everyone want a blue tick? I spoke to the BBC's Business Daily podcast about verification and my inbox always being full of requests for help getting verified (No! I can't help you 😆). 👇

Business Daily - Why everyone wants a ‘blue tick’ on social media - BBC Sounds

We investigate how accounts get verification - and what it's worth.

💡 New feature spotlight

This won't be a big deal for everyone, but it will be incredibly useful to some Instagram users...

📄 Report of the week

Pew's new report looking at the relationship between social media and the news is well worth a read. Take a look at this chart below, for example. 

U.S. adults increasingly rely on social media platforms for news content, with TikTok seeing the sharpest rise in users getting news from its platform

📈 Charts of the week

Yowza. This striking graph is from a Financial Times report looking at BeReal's plans to monetise through premium feature add-ons rather than advertising.

It's always fun to see this updated every year...

😆 LOL tweets

Meta News

  • Meta has been experimenting with letting users help write rules around what kinds of speech are allowed on Facebook. [The Verge]

  • A few details have emerged of the contents of a third-party app audit Mark Zuckerberg pledged to conduct four years ago... but has never been published. [TechCrunch]

  • Iran has shut off access to Instagram and WhatsApp amid widespread anti-government protests. [The Guardian]

  • Meta has been sued for injecting tracking code into its in-app browsers. [Bloomberg $$$]

  • Meta must pay Voxer $175 million for violating live-streaming patents. [The Verge]

  • Meta's CrowdTangle tool can no longer access most video on Instagram, as everything under 15 minutes long is now counted as Reels. [@MattNavarra]

  • Meta has been at the UN General Assembly in New York City, talking counterterrorism and more. [Meta Newsroom]

  • Meta's Nick Clegg has pushed back against the idea that 'data is the new oil', in a typically lengthy blog post. [Medium]

  • Zuck's going to be a dad again. He and Prinscilla Chan are expecting their third child. [Insider]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

  • Want to understand Meta's new recommended content algorithm? The company has some pointers for you. [Social Media Today]

  • How to download Instagram videos: The best apps and tools ranked. [Hootsuite blog]

  • Should influencers charge more for Instagram’s ‘Invite collaborator’ feature? The industry hasn’t exactly decided yet. [Marketing Brew]

  • Instagram has published three new guides to help brands make the most of their Christmas marketing campaigns. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

  • Facebook’s new live-streaming platform ‘Super’ is rolling out to more creators. [@MattNavarra]

  • New story-muting options for Facebook have been spotted in the wild. [@techjalal]

  • Facebook is working on adding discovery and promotion tools for creators who use Pages, including 'Rising Creator' labels. [@MetaforCreators]

  • Facebook is also working on a 'Top Fans' content gating feature for creators. [@MetaforCreators]

  • Facebook's iOS beta app has a new ➕ button for starting a new post, story, Reel or live broadcast. [@MattNavarra]

Instagram:

  • Instagram is developing a 'nudity protection' feature for chats. [@alex193a]

  • Instagram is rolling out its longer stories feature. Videos will no longer be split into separate story segments if under 60 seconds long. [@MattNavarra]

  • Instagram could soon let you add a button to posts. [@alex193a]

  • Instagram is still working on an events feature. [@alex193a]

  • Instagram is working on the ability to replace the audio in a Reel when the the original track is no longer available. [@alex193a]

  • Instagram is developing the ability to change where to deliver message requests from verified accounts. [@alex193a]

  • Instagram could soon launch a 'Popular Business on Instagram' badge. [@alex193a]

  • Instagram for Business now has a chatbot on its account. [@WFBrother]

WhatsApp:

  • WhatsApp has announced integration with the Salesforce platform for businesses. [WhatsApp Business]

  • WhatsApp is working on an avatar editor. [WABetaInfo]

  • WhatsApp could soon launch voice status updates. [WABetaInfo]

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

  • Meta has released a Reels API for posting from third-party apps. Jellysmack, Sprout Social, and Wix are the first to support it. [Social Media Today]

  • Meta is rolling out ads that allow ads for local businesses and consumer packaged goods brands that include integration with local delivery services. [Meta Business]

  • Horizon Worlds is adding private homes so you can hang out with friends behind closed VR doors. [Road to VR]

  • The Meta Quest platform has been updated with image stabilisation, 1080p recording, and more. [The Verge]

  • Meta has launched a 'Safety Hub' on its Meta For Creators website. [@MetaforCreators]

  • Meta's SparkAR team has launched a new podcast about augmented reality. [SparkAR]

  • Meta's Business Suite app has a new icon. [@ahmedghanem]

Twitter News

"As of late September, the company saw a net loss of more than 700 full-time workers globally"

  • Elon Musk can use the $7.8m payout to Mudge in his counterclaims in the Twitter lawsuit, the judge has ruled. [Bloomberg $$$]

  • Jack Dorsey was quizzed by lawyers for Twitter and Elon Musk in a private session this week. [CNN]

  • ...and Twitter's lawyers will question Elon Musk next week. [The Guardian]

  • Twitter has opened up its platform to more external researchers. [TechCrunch]

  • Twitter has logged some users out of after a bug kept them logged in following a voluntary password reset. [Twitter Privacy]

  • Some of Elon Musk's friends tried to warn him off buying Twitter. [Axios]

  • A Dutch town is suing Twitter over a conspiracy theory relating to unfounded claims of alleged satanic cult. [The Guardian]

New features and tests:

  • Twitter is working on a 'hashtag picker' in the compose window, letting you choose a hashtag from a list. [@chrismessina]

  • Twitter is globally rolling out the ability to get reminders to add alt text to your images. [The Verge]

  • Twitter is testing new ways to control the suggested tweets you see. [Twitter blog]

TikTok News

TikTok has a two-tiered moderation system that gives preferential treatment to influencers, celebrities and other VIPs. Content from accounts with more than 5 million followers gets routed through a designated, “more lenient” content moderation system.

  • TikTok is set to ban political accounts from monetisation, including fundraising activities. [The Verge]

  • TikTok has removed posts promoting weight loss aids to children. [The Guardian]

  • Kia and Hyundai have been sued after a viral TikTok challenge led to a rise in car thefts. [TechCrunch]

  • ...but no, NyQuil chicken is not actually a TikTok trend. [TechCrunch]

  • ByteDance's Pico 4 VR headset will cost €429 and ship to 15 countries at launch mid-October. [The Verge]

  • ...but Pico has a long way to go to be a serious Meta rival. [The Information $$$]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

  • A Top Gun movie exec has revealed how they unleashed the power of TikTok to reach Gen Z. [Variety]

New features and tests:

  • TikTok's BeReal clone, TikTok Now is now available as a standalone app in some markets outside the US. [TechCrunch]

  • TikTok has increased its video description character limit to 2,200 characters, up from just 300, and previously 150. [@MattNavarra]

  • TikTok is making its Search box more prominent when scrolling your FYP. [@MattNavarra]

  • TikTok has made it easier to find good quality information about monkeypox. [@TikTokComms]

  • TikTok now lets you add up to five guests to a TikTok Live. [@MattNavarra]

  • TikTok now auto-adds a video's related search keywords when scrolling your FYP. [@MattNavarra]

  • TikTok now offers homescreen widgets on iOS 16. [@jonah_manzano]

  • TikTok on iOS has added the ability to save your login credentials in iCloud. [@jonah_manzano]

  • TikTok is beefing up its shopping ads with A.I. and automation. [Insider $$$]

  • TikTok is expanding its #BookTok community with new book links in the US and UK, letting you add direct links to Penguin Random House titles. [Mashable]

💥 More social media news and updates

YouTube’s 'dislike' and 'not interested' buttons have little effect on what content you barely work, study finds Researchers measured the effectiveness of user feed tools www.theverge.com

  • YouTube still has a long way to go to overcome misogyny and harassment, according to some creators. [Washington Post $$$]

  • 'Algospeak' is growing on social media as a way to avoid automated moderation tools. [Forbes $$$]

  • The UK's Online Safety Bill faces further changes, this time to limit its impact on freedom of speech. [TechCrunch]

  • YouTube now offers a public application form to apply for a Multi-Channel Network. [@MattNavarra]

  • Snap's friction with Zenly, the social app subsidiary it is closing, have been detailed further. [Rest of World]

  • The inquest into the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell has begun. Her father hopes it's a turning point and others hopes Meta starts to face 'accountability. [BBC News]

  • ...at the inquest, Pinterest admitted its platform was not safe at the time of Russell's death. [Financial Times $$$]

  • Florida has appealed to the Supreme Court over its planned law banning social platforms from banning news reports. [Axios]

  • Lawsuits against social media companies relating to young people's mental health are on the rise. [Bloomberg $$$]

  • Parler has pivoted away from social media, launching 'uncancelable' cloud infrastructure. [The Verge]

  • Twitch is cracking down on unlicensed gambling content. [The Guardian]

  • Twitch is being used by child predators to track kids live-streaming. [Bloomberg $$$]

  • Influencers who came to prominence boosting Donald Trump's 'big lie' are now helping to stoke other social divisions. [Washington Post $$$]

  • The Pentagon is reviewing its overseas social media campaigns after it emerged platforms had removed pro-American covert operations that have been linked to the US government. [New York Times $$$]

  • Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has launched a nonprofit aiming for healthier social media. [CNBC]

  • The UK government turned to social media to help control demand to see the Queen lying in state last week. [The Verge]

  • BeReal won't explain why it was down for several hours this week. [TechCrunch]

  • Apple is working on a fix for camera problems with apps like TikTok and Snapchat on the iPhone 14 Pro. [9to5Mac]

  • Laid-off Snap employees are in demand from Netflix, Meta, TikTok and more. [Insider $$$]

  • Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has attacked social media firms for inaction, after the jailing of his stalker. [The Guardian]

  • The emoticon is 40 years old :-) [Gizmodo]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

  • How Vice News is making great use of Twitch and TikTok. [Digiday]

  • Can you (and should you) use AI-generated art in your social media marketing and content efforts? [Social Media Today]

  • How to create the perfect social media style guide for your brand in 2022. [Hootsuite blog]

New features and tests:

  • YouTube is testing new ways for creators to customise and personalise channel page content. [Social Media Today]

  • YouTube has begun to test Super Thanks for Shorts. [Social Media Today]

  • YouTube is rolling out tweaks to its video page to coincide with a more immersive option called Ambient Mode. [9to5Google]

  • Google now lets you block unwanted YouTubers from the Discover feed. [Android Police]

  • LinkedIn has added a ‘Focused Inbox’ feature and new sales analytics tools. [Social Media Today]

  • Snapchat could soon give paying subscribers a choice of notification sound. [@alex193a]

  • LinkedIn is rolling out a new dashboard for Sales Navigator. [AdWeek $$$]

  • Telegram has boosted its number of reaction emojis. Premium subscribers can now add up to three emojis. [@telegram]

  • Nintendo will no longer support Facebook and Twitter logins from 25 October. [The Verge]

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📖 Weekend reading

😳 And finally...

📅 Back next week...

…And that’s a wrap, folks! 

You made it to the bit before the very end. Nice. 👍

Before you go… 

Collaborate with Geekout and Matt Navarra!

I’d love to work with you… Get in touch if you’d like to discuss:

  • Private consultancy

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Interested? ➜ Yes please! 

Right, I’m heading off to get my weekend started. 

Don’t forget to watch ‘Man vs. Squirrel’. 🐿

Goodbye geeks!

– Matt

_______

This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant

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