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Hello, geeks!

First: this free guide could help you show off your social media skills to your boss: check it out.

Matt’s busy hanging out with Belgian marketers this week, so today’s Geekout is written by me, Martin SFP Bryant who always works on the newsletter in the background.

Matt was a little worried when he heard his arrival onstage for the BAM Marketing Congress was going to be via a CATWALK from the audience.

Personally I think he carried it off well, although he could have done with a little twirl towards the audience. Maybe an Elon-style star jump? 😀

A few fun things I’ve spotted this week:

• Facebook’s infamous Little Red Book employee handbook from 2012 is now online, if you want to go back to a simpler time in social media history

• Brain rot is the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year. It refers to the decline in your brain’s abilities caused by scrolling online content, but ‘brain rot’ is clearly two words. They must have brain rot.

• Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Social Media 2025 list is out. Congrats to those who made it - just stay out of trouble, eh? 😬

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

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

2. Billionaire lines up non-profit ‘people’s bid’ to buy TikTok ahead of US sale deadline [BIDDING]

3. Meta eases up on issuing ‘first strikes’ for Facebook users and Instagram creators [RELAXING]

4. Telegram has u-turned to joined a child safety scheme it previously ignored [U-TURNING]

5. EU puts TikTok on watch over election security over Romania allegations [WATCHING]

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

AI’s not the election misinfo machine we expected

It’s not surprising that Meta has named Russia as the main culprit of covert influence campaigns that it removed from its platforms this year - let’s face it, Putin and friends have plenty of form.

But the lack of AI as a major source of disinformation in elections this year is VERY different to what many people expected. As AFP reports, Meta’s public policy chief Nick Clegg was very surprised:

Indeed, Meta says AI-generated content made up less than 1% of election misinformation this year.

You could argue no-one needs AI to cause trouble on social media. But surprise over a lack of AI fooling voters certainly adds to the sentiment that generative AI isn’t quite everything it was hyped up to be.

While some find it an invaluable tool, AI’s leaps forward have slowed down, as even Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted this week.

And without major breakthroughs, it’s hard to see how companies selling AI tools will ever make enough money to justify their valuations. Witness OpenAI’s new $200 per month subscription! 😳

Companies like Meta can afford to throw AI into every app and feature they can think of, but away from an obvious moneymaker like Meta’s ad tools, I wouldn’t be surprised to see AI appearing in fewer parts of our social apps in 2025 than in 2024… at least for now.

Be honest, have you actually used a social AI feature more than once or twice?

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

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

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🤖 SOCIAL A.I.

The newest social media A.I. features spotted this week:

• TikTok’s new AI avatar creator is really impressive

• Meta is supercharging its AI-powered ad tools with a next-gen personalised ads retrieval engine

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😆 LOL

For a couple of days this week, it seemed like this joke was EVERYWHERE… Absolutely 👌 post though…

Trauma in a post:

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📈 MEMES

Inspired by Sabrina Carpenter asking “have you ever tried this one?" in a suggestive pose during live shows, TikTok users have been taking the question in some silly festive directions…

@fizzyice5

Someone buy this for me #juno #junopositions #santaclaus #sabrinacarpenter #christmas

@sabrinaelfenter

have you ever tried this one?🎄#elfontheshelf#sabrinacarpenter#juno#nonsensechristmas#junoposition#elf#christmas#elfontheshelfideas @Sabrina Carpenter

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🌡️ VIRAL

Read on to find out what that weird blue Grinch popping up everywhere is all about. He sure loves knee surgery! 👇

Also:

• How TikTok caused a matcha shortage in Japan (supposedly)

• ‘You’re not just there for the food’: Social media is falling in love with Rainforest Cafe all over again

• The gleeful social media response to the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooting reveals deep anger toward for-profit insurance

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🗓️ THIS YEAR / NEXT YEAR

It’s that time of the year when platforms start rounding up what’s happened this year… and what might happen in the next.

Here’s what we’ve had so far in the world of social media:

• TikTok has highlighted key trends of 2024

• Meta highlighted misinformation trends based on 2024 detection

And looking to 2025:

• Pinterest has published trend predictions for 2025

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🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

"Too often, harmless content gets taken down, or restricted, and too many people get penalised unfairly”

– Meta’s Nick Clegg admits the company is mistakenly removing too many posts

• “[We can] no longer ethically participate in a social network that its owner has transformed into a machine of disinformation and propaganda” – The European Federation of Journalists joins the X-odus

• “I don’t think that’s necessarily true” - Bluesky CEO Jay Graber doesn’t think Bluesky will always be an ad-free paradise

• With threats to encryption looming, Signal’s Meredith Whittaker says “We’re not changing”

• Meta’s former cryptocurrency boss says the company's failed crypto project was “100% a political kill” by regulators

• Bluesky COO rejects the idea the upstart social app is “left-leaning”.

• The Brazilian Supreme Court judge who won international fame by forcing Elon Musk into a rare retreat has said that democracy is at risk amid a slide into “fascist speech” unless social media platforms are regulated.

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👀 MY FAV READS

“The genius business tactic that companies like Starbucks, Tinder, and Duolingo have learned from Spotify's viral data gathering ruse.”

Also:

• Labour’s social media strategy is a flop. Here’s how to fix it

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😮 WTF?!

“Costs have gone up — so creators are finding new ways to tackle medical debt.”

Also:

• Meta reportedly uses OpenAI’s tech as well as its own for its own AI tool for employees, as Llama isn’t entirely up to the job

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🛠️ NEW TOOL

Looking to track your account’s progress on Bluesky? This new app could be just what you’re looking for…

Also:

• Sky Follower Bridge lets you easily follow the same people on Bluesky as you did on X

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🤦‍♂️ FAIL

Hailey “Hawk Tuah” Welch seemed to be doing a pretty good job of milking her five seconds of fame

…but it seems she totally overplayed her hand getting in with the memecoin crowd, and now she faces accusations of deliberately scamming fans.

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🏆 RECORD BREAKER

Kai Cenat broke the record for the highest subscriber count on Twitch during a nonstop live stream for the entire month of November.

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week:

• Airbnb needs a Social Media Manager, Channel Communications [Remote, USA]

• Mastercard wants a Manager, Content and Social Media [Toronto, Canada]

• ITV is looking for a Senior Digital Content Creator [London/hybrid, UK]

• Poundland is hiring a Social Media Manager [Walsall, UK]

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👌 PRO TIPS

Yes, hashtags are still important on LinkedIn:

• Meta is sharing marketing insights in a new ‘Performance Talks’ hub

• Tips for navigating FTC influencer guidelines

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

$2 million

– How much one creator earned during one single Black Friday livestream on TikTok

• During Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend alone, TikTok Shop saw a 165% increase in shoppers year-over-year

• TikTok Shop saw over $100 million in single-day US sales on Black Friday and users viewed over 30,000 livestreams

• 55% of consumers surveyed said they have already discovered holiday gift ideas via TikTok

• As many as 80% of sponsored posts put up on Instagram in November were not labelled as ads, according to a study by new marketing analytics platform Ravineo.

• Most people are still sceptical of social platforms as a source of news: Social media is trusted by 30%, whilst 37% trust video networks, 31% trust messaging apps

• 32,000 posts on TikTok now carry the hashtag “layoffs” amid the trend for layoff videos

• X investor Fidelity has marks up the value of its stake in Elon Musk's X by 32%, but its still worth nearly 72% LESS than the $44 billion purchase price

• Publishers report 3-4x higher engagement and conversions on Bluesky compared to other platforms

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• Meta will invest $10 billion in a new Louisiana data centre for AI. [Reuters $$$]

• Meta faces a UK class action suit over its collection of user data. [TechCrunch]

• Meta plans to move some MR headset design work to third-parties and shift some production from China to Vietnam. [The Information $$$]

• Meta faces a trial in October 2025 over an unfair competition case lodged by Spanish media. [Reuters $$$]

• The Turkish antitrust authority has ended a probe over Threads data-sharing. [Reuters $$$]

• WhatsApp is dropping support for the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus in May 2025. [MacRumors]

.

• Amazon sellers are being attracted to TikTok Shop’s low fees

New features and tests:

• TikTok’s new ‘Reuse of Content’ setting combines permissions for Duets, Stitches, stickers and Story sharing into one. [@jonahmanzano]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• The EU proposal to scan all your private communications to halt the spread of CSAM is back on regulators' agenda – again. [TechRadar]

• Instagram and TikTok are increasingly being used to recruit money mules. [9to5Mac]

• UK child safety experts have criticised Australia’s teen social media ban. [The Guardian]

New features and tests:

• You can now switch layouts on CapCut simply by pressing and holding on templates. [@jonahmanzano]

• Roblox has a new Party feature that means you no longer need Discord too. [Mashable]

• BeReal has launched ads in the UK and EMEA [Campaign]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

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

• Meta’s past experiences cast doubt on Musk’s ‘everything app’ plan

• These reporters wrote a book on Musk’s Twitter takeover. Here’s what they think is next for journalism and X

• Elon Musk should be shouting about the Florida and Texas social media laws (but are you surprised that he’s not?)

• Is Bluesky the new #MarketingTwitter? Marketers weigh in

• As journalists think of leaving X for Bluesky and Threads, media experts see pros and cons

• They supported a TikTok ban, but still used the app to win their elections

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😳 AND FINALLY…

This is either the ultimate bond or the ultimate in creepiness.

Would you share your real-time location with your loved one all the time, if they could see yours too?

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

And that’s your lot!

Matt will be back at home and writing this outro himself this time next week.

But for now you are fully up to date and fully geeked out! ✅

– Martin