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Hello, geeks!

Taking a lead from Elon Musk, I’m going to sue anyone who doesn’t read my newsletter. 🤥

Before I get into that…

✨ The world’s best social media manager you can never hire. ✨

P.S. He thinks you’re beautiful.

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This week’s social media news has been dominated by one man. Elon. Again.

I know that a good number of you are sick of hearing about the guy, but frustratingly his (and X’s) latest BS antics are noteworthy I’m afraid.

We will discuss all the craziness in more detail in a moment. But in summary this week, Elon…

… posted on X stating ‘Civil war is inevitable’ in the UK in response to the on-going UK riots. 🔥

… compared the UK to the Soviet Union in regards to the UK’s attempts to tackling the incitement of violence online 🙄

… shared a fake news article claiming the UK government would send UK rioters to ‘detainment camps’, which was viewed by 2 million X users 🤯

I could list more.

And then there was THAT frankly embarrassing / bizarre / hideous hostage vibes video posted by X CEO Linda Yaccarino declaring war on brands refusing to advertise on X:

I made my feelings known when i was asked to give my thoughts on the drama to the Press Association earlier this week:

I didn’t hold back:

Sadly, the UK’s incoming Online Safety Act won’t take effect until next year. And even if it was being enforced today, it has no power to punish X for these recent incidents anyway. 🙄

Rant over, for now. Let’s dive in to everything else that went down this week in social media land. 👇

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

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

2. UK Prime Minister slams Elon Musk for saying far-right riots ‘inevitable’ [CONDEMNING]

3. Instagram makes views its primary metric [VIEWING]

4. US sues TikTok over 'massive-scale' privacy violations of kids under 13 [EXPLOITING]

5. Meta and Google struck secret ads deal to target teenagers [MANIPULATING]

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

Elon’s dumb declaration of war against advertisers could backfire

There was a time, not so long ago, when every week Geekout would pick apart the latest antics from Elon Musk. Over time, it all just became dull, boring noise. But he really has outdone himself this week.

Take this ridiculous lawsuit, for example. After two years of “peace”, Musk reasoned, it was time to go to “war” against advertisers who boycott X.

Yes, he really was suing people for choosing not to advertise on his platform.

Seasoned ad exec turned X “CEO”, Linda Yaccarino almost looked like she was being held at gunpoint as she announced the move, which was quickly branded a “hideous joke” by a former FTC official.

But Musk’s lawsuits don’t always make sense. They’re not necessarily intended to win in court. If Musk, with almost limitless resources, can make life difficult and expensive for his opponents, that’s good enough.

And the strategy seems to have worked, up to a point. The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) announced yesterday that it is discontinuing operations following Musk’s lawsuit.

But has the ruse backfired? The tiny group that promoted the boycott might be gone, but the body behind it, The World Federation of Advertisers, intends to fight on in court.

And as one adtech watchdog told Mashable, the move might just lead more advertisers to keep as far away as possible from X, lest they get sued in the future.

Advertisers are X’s main customers. Continuing to scare them off is just so stupid it barely needs pointing out. But clearly, to someone with the ego and skewed worldview of Musk, it clearly does.

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Elon could break X by trying to tip the political scales

When he wasn’t pissing off advertisers, Musk was annoying seemingly everyone in the whole of the United Kingdom.

While most of his dumb opinions are safely ignored, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was compelled to speak out after Musk claimed recent riots in the country meant civil war was “inevitable”.

Almost everyone in the UK would laugh at Musk hard in the face in response to that statement. Civil war is most definitely not inevitable, or even slightly likely.

His opinions on US politics are at least based on his own experiences, but when he speaks out about things happening far from home, he’s dabbling in politics he doesn’t really understand. He even shared (and later deleted) fake news about UK ‘detainment camps’ for protestors, shared by a far-right agitator.

Beyond Musk’s own lame takes, X turned a blind eye to things like English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson inciting on-street violence. This led to a widespread conversation around how social platforms should act in such situations.

Platforms must take action on agitators, the UK Home Secretary argued, and regulator Ofcom warned social media platforms over the risks of inciting violence. It’s led for calls to apply the Online Safety Act sooner than next year, when it’s scheduled to fully kick in. The Act is going to be reviewed following this week’s events.

Meanwhile, British MPs want to haul Elon Musk before parliament over the riots, but he’s so powerful as an individual that he’s essentially accountable to no-one. And while my Threads feed has been packed this week with Brits who have had enough of X, Musk’s platform is still, at least for now, a key tool for political communication that the government needs.

In the US, Musk’s misleading election claims have accrued 1.2 billion views on X, while chatbot Grok is spreading election misinformation. Musk’s warped perspectives show no sign of stabilising. It’s like his own platform is radicalising him.

But for all the focus on X, it’s worth noting that Telegram was at the centre of organising the UK riots. And on the positive side, TikTok is a great source of evidence and a way to scare potential rioters.

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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 called Elon’s antics out in an Interview with the Press Association. 😀.

I don’t think I will be on Musk’s Christmas card list this year. 🤬

Also worth a look:

• I shared my Geekout community building tips with Social Insider

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😆 LOL

Elon’s dumb ad lawsuit got ripped apart brutally (and comically) this week:

📈 MEMES

With a global audience and almost endless moments of high drama, the Olympics are a prime source of memes. 🥇💀

Here are some of the best…

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🌡️ VIRAL

The “Just give me my money” trend has taken over everyone’s TikTok FYP this week. 🔥

Check out this explainer on the trend’s weird origins… 👇

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🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

“An epic corporate laughingstock and vaguely depressing lackey”

– Journalist Kara Swisher brutal takedown of X CEO Linda Yaccarino

• Mark Zuckerberg says smartphone screens are “antisocial”, despite having become a billionaire putting social apps on them

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👀 MY FAV READS

This is a good look at how Donald Trump has changed his tune about TikTok now that he needs it…

I also really enjoyed reading:

• Mark Zuckerberg is laughing at Zuck memes, too

• Twitter’s future is a return to Elon Musk’s past

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😮 WTF?!

It’s no secret that generative AI does some weird things. 😱

ChatGPT used to say that Geekout co-editor Martin SFP Bryant died of a heart attack in 2016 😳.

This example is a particularly alarming one….

Also worth checking out:

• Instagram has accidentally, permanently deleted some users’ photos 🗑️

• Where Facebook's AI slop comes from 💩 

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🤦 #FAIL

The internet builds them up… the internet knocks them down. 📉

Is MrBeast’s YouTube star-power falling? Some industry experts think so…

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🪦 RIP

Social media features heading for the graveyard:

Worth noting if you run ads via Meta. Detailed targeting exclusions are on the way out.

Why? “Ad campaigns perform better without exclusions, internal research shows.“

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week:

• CBS Sports needs a Senior Editor, Digital Content [Remote, USA]

• Virgin Money is looking for a Social Media & Content Manager [Glasgow, UK]

• BBC Maestro is on the hunt for a Senior Marketing Manager [London, UK]

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👌 PRO TIPS

Feeling lost or just getting started with Facebook analytics? 📊

Check out Buffers helpful new beginner’s guide to analysing Facebook performance.

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🤖 SOCIAL AI

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

• Meta is exploring celebrity-voiced AI chatbots

• Instagram added an ‘AI Character’ new post format option

• Meta has announced Llama Impact Grants to fund projects using the open-source tech

• TikTok Live can now create AI wallpaper just by using keywords

• Reddit will test AI-powered search result pages

• WhatsApp is working on settings for the Meta AI voice in the app

• ByteDance has launched an AI video app in China that can convert text prompts into videos in seconds

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

1 TRILLION

– The number of YouTube Shorts views Indian creators are generating as they dominate the fast-growing TikTok challenger

• Facebook: In an average month, up to 1.2 billion online shoppers worldwide make a purchase from Facebook Marketplace.

• Facebook's US Gen Z users are projected to increase from 49.0% (33.9M) in 2024 to 56.9% (40.5M) by 2028.

• Elon Musk’s X helped far-right agitator Tommy Robinson rack up 434 million views during the recent UK riots

• TikTok: Watching less than 10 minutes of TikTok content can negatively impact a woman’s body image, study finds

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📈 CHARTED

The latest social media insights charted around the web this week:

Social platforms with paying subscribers: LinkedIn Premium vs the rest

• Growth of the US social media ad market since 2007

• The far-right outnumbers the anti-racist movement when it comes to social media posts and engagement

• How Elon Musk amplifies engagement with right-wing posts on X

• The fastest-growing news publishers on TikTok since start of 2023

• How use of Telegram surged after last week’s multiple stabbings in the UK

• All the countries where TikTok is banned / partially banned in 2024

• Reddit added 8.5 million users, taking it to 91.2 million daily users In Q2 2024

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• Meta is in talks with Indian tech giant Jio over a possible licensing deal for Horizon OS. [Social Media Today]

• Meta has added $10.5 billion to its cash pile as it spends big on AI. [Quartz]

• Meta has apologised for removing the Malaysian PM’s social media posts. [Bloomberg $$$]

• Beware of AI tools being advertised on Facebook. They could be malware in disguise. [Mashable]

• The Turkish government has met Instagram officials after the app was blocked in the country last week. [Reuters $$$]

• Meta is closing beloved first-party Quest studio Ready at Dawn Studios. [Android Central]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook has updated its page notification filters. [@theahmedghanem]

• Facebook is working on Translations and audio dubbing for Reels in a range of languages. [@oncescuradu]

• Facebook now lets you share stories to Instagram. [@jonahmanzano]

• Facebook now lets you add two action buttons at the top of the page, instead of just one. [@jonahmanzano]

Instagram:

• Instagram has added an option to allow public photos and videos to appear in search engine results. [@jonahmanzano]

• Instagram is testing a new ‘Prompt’ feature that displays your caption and all responses at the top of the comments. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram has been spotted testing a new carousel creation sheet, moving the options to add music and filters to new positions. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram is promoting recent Stories in between posts in the feed, similar to how it does for Reels. [@lindseygamble_]

• Instagram has added a new “brat summer” theme for chats and broadcast channels. [@theahmedghanem]

Threads:

• Threads has been spotted changing the reply icon from a speech bubble to an arrow. [@lux_eter]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp could soon display avatars in the chat info screen. [@WABetaInfo]

• WhatsApp has added a new information section about business accounts you're messaging. [@theahmedghanem]

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• X has been blocked for 10 days in Venezuela amid spat between president Nicolás Maduro and Elon Musk. [The Guardian]

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• TikTok has asked a US appeals court to reject the Justice Department's bid to file part of its legal case in secret. [Reuters $$$]

• TikTok parent ByteDance looks to be pushing towards more ecommerce in the EU by re-applying for a payments licence. [The Information $$$]

• TikTok is increasing its Shop commission fee in the UK and co-funding free shipping with sellers. [@MattNavarra]

• TikTok will launch a ”Game on LIVE" in-app campaign with creators, exclusive video content, and more, as part of its partnership with Gamescom 2024. [TikTok Newsroom]

New features and tests:

• TikTok now displays comments on clips. [@oncescuradu]

• TikTok is now showing creator rankings in TikTok Studio. [@jonahmanzano]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• A mass outage of YouTube was reported in Russia amid escalating official criticism. [Reuters $$$]

• Snap has launched a ‘Council for Digital Well-Being’ as a pilot programme in the US. [Snap]

• Apple is pressuring ByteDance and Tencent over app fee loopholes in China. [Macrumors]

• UK data protection regulator the ICO says more than 10 social platforms might be failing to comply with its code for children’s privacy. [Forbes $$$]

• An influencer has responded to a lawsuit claiming she copied another creator’s ‘aesthetic'. [NBC News]

New features and tests:

• LinkedIn has introduced a new UI for the “Job Collections” feature. [@oncescuradu]

• Snapchat now lets you view the status of reports you’ve submitted. [@jonahmanzano]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

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

• YouTube is underrated — a huge part of the future of television

• How campaigns can kill political memes

• Even Taylor Swift isn’t immune to the dark side of social media

• Why YouTube should bring back the dislikes count

• Why are so many car YouTubers quitting?

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😳 AND FINALLY…

Yikes. Serious Black Mirror vibes with this one. 😱

Check out this new Netflix show:

“‘The Influencer’ pits TikTokers against YouTube stars in a popularity contest; their follower counts are displayed on electronic collars as they dole out likes and dislikes to their fellow contestants.”

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

… And on that very dystopian endnote, you have reached the end of this week’s Geekout.

Your social media influencer score just jumped +3pts ⬆️

Time for me declare “We didn’t start the fire” and see if I spot an Uptown Girl.

I’m taking my mum to see Billy Joel in concert in Cardiff tonight. She’s been wanting to see him sing for the longest time… Sorry. I’ll get my coat.

Goodbye, geeks!

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

id: 2024-08-12-15:39:01:233t