Hello, geeks!

We all survived the great Meta (LinkedIn, YouTube, Discord) outage of 2024. If only it had lasted a little longer! 😏

Before you dive into this week’s Geekout…

Instagram has a secret hidden emoji game. Here’s how to unlock it. 😍 

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I’ve been following posts (with envy) from friends who are attending this year’s SXSW event in Austin this week.

A quick story… When I was head of social for The Next Web (2013-2019), I attended SXSW every year. In 2018, Twitter invited me to their private SXSW ‘#TwitterHouse’ party.

During the event, a random (and fairly drunk) guy nudged me saying “You’re Matt Navarra?… I’ve got something for you”.

Nervously, I asked what he had. He proceeded to share with me never seen before screenshots and details about an ‘Edit tweet’ button he claimed Twitter was secretly working on. (A lot of Twitter users had been begging for an edit tweet button for years at that point in time)

After quickly doing some fact-checking, while holding a cocktail with music blaring, I confirmed they were likely legit. And me being me, while inside Twitter’s private party, I posted it all in a tweet.

Less than five minutes later, my mobile started ringing. Unknown U.S. number calling. Ut-oh…

…I answered it. A voice on the other end said: “Hey Matt. I’m the head of comms for Twitter. Are you at our Twitter party now?” I sheepishly confirmed I was. “Are you tweeting screenshots of an internal edit button test?!”

In my semi-drunken state, I started to grasp the trouble I may have just caused myself.

Twitter’s head of comms then suggested I head over to bar on the other side of the party where she would meet me with her colleagues. I believe my words when I hung up the call were “Oh fuck”. 😳

I will tell you what happened next, in next week’s Geekout…

…Along with the story about the time I went to a Facebook party at SXSW and was cornered by Meta comms execs on. the dance floor, demanding I told them who was leaking new product features to me. 😬

In the meantime, here’s a bunch of photos and videos I posted from inside private parties and VIP events at SXSW over the years, including an insane WestWorld experience, and the time in sat in the Back to the Future Delorean at the Ready Player One premiere.

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

Our pick of the hottest headlines in social this week:

1. U.S Lawmakers Vote 50-1 To Force Sale Of TikTok [BANNING]

2. Facebook, Instagram And Threads Went Down In Global Meta Outage [DOWNDETECTOR-ING]

3. Fired Twitter Execs Sue Elon Musk For Over $128 Million [LAWYERING]

4. Threads API Launches Test With Partners Including Hootsuite + Sprout Social [SCHEDULING]

5. The EU’s New Digital Market Act Kicks In To Regulate Big Tech [REGULATING]

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

Is a TikTok ban really going to happen this time?

Could a US TikTok ban really be imminent?

Talk of banning TikTok has drifted in and out for years now. But it’s an election year, and politicians on both sides of the House want to be seen to be ‘doing something’.

And so now we have some some new proposed legislation that has bipartisan support, that would ban app stores from offering TikTok, as well as, potentially all Chinese apps.

It’s making rapid progress towards an expected full House vote next week. This comes at a time when TikTok parent ByteDance has growing revenues but brand engagement is down on TikTok, and Instagram has overtaken TikTok on downloads.

TikTok is clearly worried about the bill. Taking a leaf out of Uber’s book, it fought back with a splash screen for US users, encouraging them to call their local representative and urge them not to ban the app they love.

Congress was not impressed by the stunt, and it could have done more harm than good. But TikTok does at least have one–highly unexpected–supporter… Donald Trump.

Yes, the former (and potentially future) US President, the man who kicked off serious talk of a TikTok ban in the first place, now seems to see the app as useful competition to Meta, who he hates more:

“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”

I mean, his reasoning is detached from reality, but given his sway over the Republican party, his influence might help save TikTok.

Given the momentum this bill has, we might not have long to wait to find out.

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

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

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💬 YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT

When I’m quoted in the news, you’ll find it here:

I spoke to The Drum about the latest twist in the TikTok ban drama in the US:

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😆 LOL

After the big Meta outage this week….

And about that disastrous viral Willy Wonka experience…

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📈 MEMES

The Great Meta Outage of March 2024 (we’ll be telling our grandkids about it) was a source of fine meme-age:

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🌡️ GOING VIRAL

On TikTok, a weirdly entertaining #foodtok trend is taking over a lot people’s feeds.

Rising cupcakes and other baked goods like this and the one below are clocking up millions of views…

@bakedish

Cupcake wop wop 🤣 #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #fypシ #wopchallenge #cupcake #dance #foodie #baked_ish

[H/T Geekout Pro members Adam Flowers + Ellie Wood]

Also:

• The 'Meth Lab Oompa Loompa Lady' is selling greetings on Cameo for $25. All I can really say is ‘good for her’.

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🪧 BRAND SOCIAL

Here’s an interesting little nugget: Ryanair’s former head of social says an edgy tweet about Prince William was taken down after an official complaint.

What would you have done in that situation?

Also:

• Why brands are embracing the ‘graphic design is my passion’ look

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👀 MY FAV READ

There’s a common view that Mark Zuckerberg has a better public image than ever before.

But here’s a good read about why you shouldn’t take cool, relaxed, and accessible ‘McDonalds Zuck’ at face value:

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🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business.”

– Donald Trump adds “Zuckerschmuck” to his list of nicknames for people he doesn’t like

• Forget whatever else might be in his bloodstream, Kara Swisher says: "The drug that's hurting Elon Musk is all his enablers, who suck up to him. And needing to be adored”

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🎧 RECOMMENDED PODCAST

Meta CTO Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth is always worth listening to. His straight-talking style is at odds to the careful corporate speak of most senior big tech leaders.

Here he talks about Facebook’s early years, and much more.

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📙 NEW BOOK

It feels like there’s no shortage of books about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, but this one should definitely be worth a read.

Character Limit, by New York Times tech reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, promises the "definitive account of what really happened when Musk showed up, spoiling for a brawl and intent on revolution, with his merciless, sycophantic cadre of lawyers, investors, and bankers."

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😮 WTF?!

What do you do if you can’t sell enough ads on X? Why, sell some to yourself, of course! Tesla recently started advertising on X.

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🤦 FAIL

“As deepfake nude scandals hit schools around the US, tools that can be used to manipulate girls’ images are being advertised across major social media platforms.” 😳

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👌 PRO TIPS

Social media algorithms don’t stand still, so it’s worth refreshing your knowledge about them regularly.

Hootsuite has created this useful guide to how things stand in March 2024:

Also:

• Every social platform image size requirement (Updated for 2024)

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🪦 RIP

Social media features heading for the graveyard:

Instagram is removing its events feature on 19 March.

Also:

• Meta says it’s deleting all Oculus accounts at the end of the month

• Meta is ending its Meta Spark Certification program by the end of March

• X has dropped support for NFT profile pictures

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🤖 SOCIAL A.I.

All the ways A.I. is transforming social media:

Facebook is using A.I. to boost watch time on Reels:

• Reddit will now use an A.I. model to fight harassment

• LinkedIn has outlined how it assesses the value of its generative A.I. features

• Adobe is making it easier to create social content on mobile with A.I.

• A test by IBM found A..I-generated ad campaigns created using Adobe's Firefly tools produced 26 times higher engagement than its benchmark

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

$4 billion

– Brands spent nearly $4 billion on TikTok ads in 2023

• 35.7% of Gen-Z prefer Instagram as a go-to platform for DMs vs 3.7% for TikTok

• ByteDance revenue increased 43% in the last quarter

• Multiple reports show brands are seeing less engagement on TikTok over time

• Just 10 advertisers represented more than a quarter of Reddit’s ad revenue last year.

• Temu and Shein have places 26,000 different versions of ads on Meta in the past year, according to Meta’s Ad Library.

• TikTok says its revamped creator fund has increased total creator revenue by over 250%

• LinkedIn says premium subscriptions now bring in $1.7 billion

• The most in-demand jobs listed on LinkedIn

📈 CHARTED

Instagram is strengthening its lead over TikTok as TikTok’s growth cools…

Monthly active users in Q4 2023:

• Instagram: 1.47 billion (up 13 million)

• TikTok: 1.12 billion (down 12 million)

• Long videos on TikTok get more views for top media publishers

• Countries with the largest number of TikTok users

• Top 100 most viewed YouTube channels worldwide in February 2024

• Top 100 most viewed US YouTube channels in February 2024

• The most downloaded apps in January 2024

• Social media platforms are collectively America’s least trusted organisations when it comes to looking after data

• A report (unsurprisingly) found that posts that have a more negative than positive tilt generate more engagement online

• Only around half of German adults report using social media

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• Australian news media could seek payment from Meta for content used to train A.i. [The Guardian]

• Meta has vowed to make Quest "more resilient" after its outage this week. [Upload VR]

• Messaging platforms wanting to be available inside WhatsApp will need to use the Signal protocol for encryption. [Meta Engineering]

• WhatsApp’s third-party messaging support might be an EU-only feature. [Android Authority]

• Meta’s AI can create ahistorical images, like Google Gemini. [Axios]

• Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says Mark Zuckerberg uses the 'eye of Sauron' to assess the company's most important tasks. [Business Insider $$$]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook now shows ‘search suggestions’ on Reels. [@oncescuradu]

Instagram:

• Instagram has been spotted offering a ‘promo reel’ option. [@jonahmanzano]

• Instagram now lets you select multiple highlights for deletion. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram is working on the ability to keep the audio when creating a cutout sticker from a video. [@alex193a]

• Instagram could soon let you silently leave groups without notifying other members. [@alex193a]

Threads:

• Threads has been spotted showing “Help set the tone by keeping your reply respectful” messages. [@lukaspuskaric]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp's classic UI on Android is getting a modern update with new icons for the overflow menu options. [Android Police]

• Your WhatsApp calls could soon show up in Google’s Phone app call log on Android. [Android Police]

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

• Meta’s Quest v62 update, launched last month, extended Air Link battery life by more than 50%. [Upload VR]

• Mindfulness app Headspace has launched on Meta Quest. [TechCrunch]

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• Music publishers accusing X of widespread copyright infringement can proceed with parts of their lawsuit, but a federal judge dismissed several key aspects of it. [Axios]

• Elon Musk says X could soon receive payment licenses in New York and California. [Reuters $$$]

• Elon Musk is using X.ai to rejuvenate X. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

New features and tests:

• X is working on its own translator to replace Google Translate. [@owjinima]

• X now lets Premium subscribers hide who they subscribe to. [@theahmedghanem]

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• TikTok is launching a new #WomenOfTikTok creator programme, among other initiatives to mark International Women’s Day. [Social Media Today]

• The National Music Publishers Association does not plan to renew its TikTok license. [Variety]

New features and tests:

• TikTok is testing a new UI for the posting interface, but still has the 4000 characters limit. [@oncescuradu]

• TikTok now offers gaming perks for subscribers. [@jonahmanzano]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• Florida’s governor vetoed social media ban for kids under 16, lawmakers want to compromise. [NBC News]

• Social media companies have rejected ‘shadow banning’ allegations over Palestinian content. [CNBC]

• This week’s social media outages were unlikely to have affected Super Tuesday election results in the US, experts say. [Poynter]

• The boss of Google’s Gemini removed his social media profiles after abuse following its recent product launch. [CNBC]

• Reddit has objected to filmmakers' renewed attempt to obtain user IP addresses. [TorrentFreak]

• LinkedIn has outlined a renewed focus on industry-specific content and knowledge sharing. [Social Media Today]

• Tech industry lobbying groups are backing Snapchat in a battle over Fentanyl overdoses. [MediaPost]

• YouTube and Comscore are expanding the integration of campaign ratings for advertisers. [MediaPost]

• Anonymous social apps face another reckoning as a group of US universities bans Yik Yik, Fizz, Sidechat, and Whisper. [TechCrunch]

• Twitch is focused on mobile and streamer collaboration in 2024. [The Verge]

• Gen Z is growing disinterested in the extravagant brand trips influencers are sent on. [Business Insider]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• How music marketers are shifting TikTok song campaigns in 2024. [Business Insider $$$]

New features and tests:

• YouTube has been spotted offering two new buttons for videos on desktop: Picture-in-Picture and HD. [@oncescuradu]

• Snapchat is making birthdays a more important part of its interface. [@theahmedghanem]

• Reddit keeps testing desktop UI changes. [Android Police]

• Linktree has launched a social commerce partnership with Sephora and a new Stories feature. [The Information $$$]

• Linktree now supports multiple accounts on one login. [@theahmedghanem]

• Linktree now lets you customise your sharing preview. [@theahmedghanem]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

• Inside the deep, dark world of influencer gossip forums

• Why brands are embracing the ‘graphic design is my passion’ look

• Music is TikTok's past. Sounds may be its future

• Are we dating the same guy? Facebook groups offer intel but upend lives

• YouTube influencers want to neg you into taking their lifestyle advice

• Who’s getting hurt in the Universal Music-TikTok standoff? Artists and songwriters

• UK publishers should be ready for Facebook to switch off news altogether

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😳 AND FINALLY…

“Why does Juan Joya Borja (aka El Risitas aka “Spanish Laughing Guy”) always put a smile on our faces?”

One of my most favourite meme templates of all time. This is a good read… 👇

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

… You have reached the end of this week’s Geekout. GAME OVER. 🕹️

If you got this far, you get the ‘New Top Score’ achievement badge. 🏆

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Right then folks… I’m heading off to attend a 20-year work reunion with former colleagues I worked with in my first career job working for a bank back in 2004!

Fuck, I feel so old. 👴🏻

Goodbye, geeks!

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