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Hello, geeks!

This week’s Geekout intro is a little different.

That may be good or bad news, depending on how you feel about my regular opening ADHD social brain dumps each week! 😁

But before we get into it…

How much do social media managers REALLY earn in 2024? 💰🤔 

Do you need to negotiate a pay rise? 😮

» Check here « (+ get top tips for salary negotiation!)

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As I mentioned, this week’s intro is a little different because as you read this, I will be sitting anxiously in a hospital waiting room. 🏥

My son is having a three-hour operation. Nothing too serious, thankfully.

But it does mean I have had to delegate finalising this week’s Geekout into the safe hands of Geekout editor (Martin SFP Bryant). ❤️

So, I thought I would take this opportunity to say a big thanks to you. Yes, you!

Geekout Newsletter is my most favourite thing I work on. But it wouldn’t be possible to keep doing it if it wasn’t for you lovely lot reading it, sharing it, and clicking on the links every single week. 📧

More than 33,000 of you open my newsletter every week. And because you do, i am able to carry on geeking out about social media (and pay my bills!) 💵

I don’t take this for granted. I’m sure you probably get a bunch of different newsletters every week. I’m just thankful my Geekout Newsletter is one of them. 🙏

So… Sincerely, thanks for being here. I hope my geeky sense of humour, healthy dose of sarcasm, and social media obsession continues to educate entertain you in 2024, and beyond. 😁 👊

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

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

2. Trump says 'I'm for TikTok' as potential US ban looms [FLIPPING]

3. Elon Musk vows to move X headquarters out of California [MOVING]

4. TikTok Loses First Court Challenge to EU’s Big Tech Crackdown [LOSING]

5. Privacy concerns mean Meta won't bring future multimodal AI models to EU, but the UK will get them [WITHHOLDING]

Support Geekout. Become a Social VIP ❤️

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

Trump’s near-death experience helps shape the social media battleground

The news cycle being what it is, the shock of last weekend’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump already feels like a distant memory.

But it’s certainly had an impact, and signalled how social media activity might unfold as US election season kicks into full gear.

The first thing to pay attention to is how platforms seem less keen to tightly moderate information this time. Conspiracy theories ran wild on platforms like X and Threads in the hours after the shooting.

In the olden days of 2016 and 2020, Twitter would at least have had professional journalists running explainers against search terms. X has Community Notes, but that’s about delegating moderation to users, rather than top-down conversation-shaping.

You can argue about whether or not that’s a good thing, but it’s a notable shift.

This being 2024, AI image generation had a role to play, as it likely will in the coming months. This will not necessarily be to mislead, but to create grassroots campaign material. Truth Social exploded with AI images of Jesus protecting Trump from his assassination attempt, for example.

And some things never change; of course 4chan got involved with spreading falsehoods.

Meanwhile, Meta quietly lifted all restrictions on Trump’s accounts. And Elon Musk outright endorsed Trump. X even seemed to go full MAGA, although it’s unclear whether this is something the Trump campaign paid for or something Musk offered as in-kind support.

The days of Trump being persona non grata after January 6th 2021 are long gone. Trump himself now outright backs TikTok, in part due to his hatred of Mark Zuckerberg, and no doubt because pro-Trump content does well there.

And as a number of influencers came out as pro-Trump (let’s face it, they’re mostly the ones you’d expect to!), it’s clear influencers will have a strong role to play this time around.

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

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

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😆 LOL

Social media managers know best…

As someone who deleted his dating apps this week (🙌), this made me laugh a bitter laugh of relief:

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🪧 BRANDS

Arsenal fans might not be happy that the club’s new away kit looks like a can of every British teenage boy’s favourite deodorant, but Lynx jumped on the official announcement of the kit this week.

They shared this fun ‘accidental collaboration’ on Instagram. This brilliant piece of reactive marketing was flagged to me by Beth Thomas over on Geekout Pro.

lynx

View more on Instagram

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📈 MEMES

While others at his rally weren’t so lucky, Donald Trump escaped the shooting at the weekend with just a bandaged ear. And so the memes ran free…

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🌡️ GONE VIRAL

Masterstroke or cringe?

Joe Biden’s campaign team quickly followed up on news of the US President catching Covid, with this one-two punch:

Some brands quickly latched onto the idea…

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👀 MY FAV READS

This is a good look at an important factor in how misinformation spreads online…

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⏰ CHANGING TIMES

Not so long ago, it was all the rage for tech companies to change the gun emoji into a water pistol. It’s far less violent in the context of most conversations that platforms would like to encourage.

But Elon Musk’s X is all about the American style of ‘freedom’, which means guns. And so it’s changed back to a real gun on the web, with apps set to follow…

The times they are a-changing.

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🤦 FAIL

Yikes. Elon Musk’s Grok AI posted incorrect information, amplified unverified claims and failed to identify sarcasm as details of Trump shooting unfolded…

One headline wrongly said Vice President Kamala Harris was shot.

Another Grok headline read: “Actor ‘Home Alone 2’ Shot at Trump Rally?” I mean, it was true, but…. 🙄

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Social media jobs available now:

• TikTok wants to find a B2B Social Media & Content Manager for TikTok Shop. [London, UK]

• The NFL is looking for a Social Media and Influencer Associate. [Contractor role; Inglewood, California, USA]

• Paramount needs a Supervising Producer, Social for Entertainment Tonight. [Los Angeles, California, USA]

• The Economist is looking for a Social Media Marketing Manager. [Hybrid; London, UK]

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🪦 RIP

Social media features heading for the graveyard:

Google has been trying to make Search a little more social lately. Looks like it might not have worked out….

Also:

• CapCut will stop offering free cloud storage from August 5

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👌 PRO TIPS

• Meta has published a holiday marketing guide, with a focus on Reels ads and AI

• Want to go viral? Tell your story in 22 parts

• 20 confirmed facts about YouTube's algorithm for 2024

• Reddit is running a webinar series to help with holiday ad planning

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🤖 SOCIAL A.I.

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

• Instagram now lets you search for AIs created by others

• …and WhatsApp is testing a similar ‘AI Studio’ feature

• Meta plans to release its largest Llama 3 model on 23 July

• X has launched ‘Trend Genius’ ads that use AI to boost promotions at conversation peaks

• Pinterest is developing its own AI text-to-image generation process

• Tinder's new AI will pick your most attractive photos for you

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

3.5 billion

– The number of views Euro 2024 teams’ TikTok accounts generated throughout the tournament

• The most watched video from a news publisher on TikTok during the 2024 UK general election was from the Daily Mail, garnering 5.3 million views

• TikTok Shop's annual gross merchandise value (GMV) in Southeast Asia alone reportedly quadrupled from $4.4 billion in 2022 to $16.3 billion in 2023⁠

• Big Pharma’s use of X/Twitter has now dropped to 9% of its potential, representing a steep slide from 32% since 2018.

• The number of 20-plus minute-long videos creators around the world are uploading to YouTube each month has increased from 1.3 million in July 2022 to 8.5 million in June 2024.

• An influencer boxing event set a new Twitch record with 3.85 million concurrent viewers, while the platform reached 6.74 million concurrent viewers sitewide

• MrBeast now has more than 300 million YouTube Subscribers

• The most popular new emoji is the 🙂‍↔️ Head Shaking Horizontally

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📈 CHARTED

YouTube Shorts is creeping up on TikTok as a go-to app for music fans…

• How Gen Z shops on Pinterest

• Disney has a problem: Kids are watching YouTube instead of Disney+

• Streaming jumps to 40% of all TV usage in June, setting a Nielsen record. But YouTube outranked it with 9.9%.

• The most downloaded apps in the world in June 2024

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• The latest Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses have outsold the previous version. [Reuters $$$]

• Facebook ads have been found promoting malware-laden fake Windows themes. [TechTimes]

• Latin America’s lack of robust data protection laws means artists there can’t opt out of Meta’ training its AI on their Instagram posts. [Rest of World]

• Meta has expanded its Verified subscription for businesses to India. [afaqs]

• A Brazilian Instagram influencer has been jailed for trafficking and slavery. [BBC News]

• Meta banning news in Australia would be ‘catastrophic’, publishers have warned. [Press Gazette]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook now lets you pin comments in Reels. [@oncescuradu]

• Facebook now has an advanced Stars challenge. [@jonahmanzano]

• Facebook has updated the look of the Weekly Challenge feature. [@jonahmanzano]

Instagram:

• Instagram can now tell you if your content has been moved lower in your followers feeds. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram is still working on its Group Stories feature. [@AVarma2006]

• Instagram now has an ‘Add to Channel’ option for sharing a Reel. [@jonahmanzano]

• Instagram now lets you crosspost from your broadcast channel to your Facebook broadcast channel. [@theahmedghanem]

• Broadcast channels on Instagram now have their own milestones. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram is working on a custom Note colour to promote Charli XCX’s new album. [@alex193a]

• Instagram has been spotted displaying the DMs button in the middle of the bottom nav bar. [@jasmine_enberg]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp’s upcoming live translation feature might use its own tech, rather than Google’s, as was previously reported. [Android Authority]

• WhatsApp is testing a new look for status updates on Android. [Android Central]

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

• Meta has launched Event Coverage stats for advertisers using the Conversions API. [Search Engine Land]

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• The Teamsters’ X account went rogue in protest at the union’s president speaking at the RNC. [Rolling Stone]

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• A TikTok user’s death has sparked Malaysian clampdown on cyberbullying. [Bloomberg $$$]

• TikTok will fast-track artist account creation for DistroKid members. [TechCrunch]

New features and tests:

• CapCut on Android now lets you paste a TikTok link for audio you may want to use for a video. [@yassermasood]

• TikTok now asks you to use Ads Manager to unlock better results and more features. [@theahmedghanem]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• Snap has announced a content series for its new Sports Network feature. [Snap Newsroom]

New features and tests:

• Google is testing the renaming of ‘Short Videos’ to ‘Quick Takes’ in search results. [SEO Roundtable]

• Snapchat has revamped profile tabs to make it easier to switch between your private and public profiles. [@theahmedghanem]

• Snapchat has added new icons for Plus subscribers. [@theahmedghanem]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

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

• How sports team marketers keep their socials active year-round

• YouTube just took a big victory lap

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😳 AND FINALLY…

Doomscrolling is bad for your health. So why not start the weekend by giving it up, eh?

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

… And that’s EVERYTHING new in social this week. ✅

For those of you who are OG / hardcore Geekout readers that read this bit of the newsletter…

And have read my updates here over the last couple of weeks…

I went out on date night 2. And 3. I think I’ve found my person. ❤️

We are pretty much inseparable right now. I honestly can’t believe my luck.

Sarah is amazing. And for some strange reason, she feels the same about me. 😍

After 2.5 long years of Tinder-ing and Bumble-ing, I have deleted the apps. I think 2024 is going to be a very good year for me.

On that soppy, icky end note…

I’m heading off to make sure my son gets the good pain meds at the hospital. Or steal his stash if they’re the really good ones 💊 🤫

Goodbye, geeks!

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