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Hello, geeks!

First off this week… The most perfect (and pointless!) secret santa gift for a social media manager 🎅🏻

🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

1. Twitter revealed its live shopping platform [LINK] 

2. Meta’s controversial e2e encryption plans delayed [LINK] 

3. Spotify is working on its own TikTok-style feed [LINK] 

4. ‘Sing Your Dialect’ gave Twitter Spaces its first viral moment [LINK] 

5. Instagram extended its test of longer stories [LINK] 

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It’s been a relatively quiet week for social media news and updates (the Thanksgiving holiday effect), but here are a few other things that got my attention…

Apple may reveal its much-hyped AR headset in late 2022… Instagram wants to turn ALL your videos into Reels… Twitter’s test of a downvote button for tweet replies might soon roll out to all users… Did Meta strike a deal to secure the @meta handle from its owner on Instagram?... WhatsApp quietly launched a custom sticker creation tool… Lush said it's quitting social media (again)...sort of... Twitter topics had a cats and dogs problem… and Kim Kardashian ran an old-school tacky Insta giveaway.

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So…How many hashtags should you use on Instagram? 

It’s a question that’s created much debate on social media – especially following Instagram's recent advice to only use 3-5 hashtags. But should you only choose a few niche hashtags, or opt for the allotted 30? And how does the number of hashtags impact reach and engagement rates on average? Later analysed over ✨18 million Instagram feed posts✨ to find out. Answers here. [ad]

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WORTH A LOOK…

📈 TREND: The Urban Dictionary name meanings viral trend [LINK] 

🔡 WORD UP: The Collins Dictionary's Words of the Year list is filled with Gen-Z gems [LINK] 

😱 WTF: This guy took extreme measures to quit Facebook [LINK] 

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Okay... that was your starter. Time for the main course, with some analysis of this week’s top stories 👇

— Matt

P.S. Join me later for your weekly Geekout Debrief on Twitter Spaces at 4PM (UK) today (Fri 26th Nov)

We will discuss all the week’s BIG social media hot topics, breaking news, new features, and more. [Get a Reminder / Listen to replay]

🚨 Everyone's talking about...

Meta delays encrypted messages on Facebook and Instagram to 2023 — www.theguardian.com

It feels like we've been waiting forever for Meta to encrypt all messages on Messenger and Instagram. And it looks like we'll be waiting a lot longer. The company has delayed the move until 2023.

In a Telegraph article, Meta's head of safety Antigone Davis explained the move:

The move to encrypt all messages was announced almost two years ago, in January 2019. If the 2023 date proves accurate, it will have been at least four years between announcement and delivery of a feature that helps keep users protected from snooping, allowing them to speak more freely. This is especially important as governments increasingly turn to social media to keep tabs on their populations and authoritarian regimes are on the rise.

But Meta has faced a barrage of complications. These are technical (unifying the messaging tech its different apps use), business-related (how do you keep tracking users' interests for advertising if you increasingly can't track what they're talking about?), political (many politicians and law enforcers hate the idea of encrypted messages restricting surveillance opportunities and have called on Meta to cancel the move), and safety-related (being able to keep an eye on what's going on inside online chats helps keep kids safe).

This interesting Twitter thread expands on the difficulties Meta faces in moving to encrypted messaging. Given the challenges of trading one set of safety concerns against another, I'd suggest it's nowhere near a certainty that the move will ever actually go ahead.

What is Sing Your Dialect? Why a viral karaoke party became a global Twitter hit — inews.co.uk

The rise of social audio has been one of the big themes of this newsletter all year, but save for a couple of headline-making Clubhouse rooms early on, this new medium hasn't cut through into the mainstream yet.

That changed this week when an 18-year-old from Manchester decided to launch his own karaoke room on Twitter Spaces, challenging participants to sing a song in their own regional dialect.

It quickly took off, attracting a reported 150,000 total listeners. Twitter says it was one of a number of recent rooms that have reached 70,000 concurrent listeners. In this case, that included Barack Obama at one point. UK celebrities including rappers KSI and Lethal Bizzle, footballer Declan Rice, and TV presenter Rylan Clark-Neal took part, 'singing their dialect' and helping to boost the audience.

Many brands and agencies may have been holding off on diving into social audio until the mainstream potential was proven. It's certainly proven now. You just need to have the right idea at the right time.

That's not to say social audio is fully matured yet. Deep, native measurement tools to record the success of a session haven't arrived yet on any platform, and the copyright implications of karaoke rooms raise as-yet unanswered questions.

Still, Twitter's heavy investment in Spaces this year certainly seems to have been a good move.

Walmart will be the first retailer to test Twitter’s new livestream shopping platform — techcrunch.com

Another big theme of the year has been social shopping, and live video shopping sessions are something many of the big platforms are keen to make a success. Following in the footsteps of Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, Twitter announced its own plans this week.

Walmart is an early mover to test Twitter's offering. As TechCrunch reported, the US retail giant has already seen success with the emerging medium, which has already proved a big hit in China:

As with social audio, live social shopping has been awaiting a breakthrough moment where it suddenly captures the mainstream Western public's imagination. All the signs are there that this could well happen in the coming weeks, or into 2022. If it doesn't, we could quickly see investment from the platforms fall away.

❓ Question of the week

Time to think about turning over a new leaf. What will you be doing differently next year?

🔵 Meta news

All the latest from Meta brands: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp:

The head of Instagram agrees to testify as Congress probes the app’s effects on young people. — www.nytimes.com

Adam Mosseri will testify under oath in two weeks' time.

• The Facebook Papers could be made public. Gizmodo is working with experts to "responsibly" publish the original documents leaked by Frances Haugen. [Gizmodo]

• WhatsApp has updated its privacy policy in Europe following its €225m EU fine earlier this year. [Sky News]

• Meta is already preparing businesses for the metaverse. [Adweek $$$]

• A former Facebook employee has launched an investment community to support Meta staff who want to launch their own startups. [Bloomberg $$$]

• Meta appears to have cut a deal to get the @Meta handle on Instagram. [@MattNavarra]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook Group admins can now give people a reason for declining their request to join. [@MattNavarra]

• Facebook's Group Experts feature is rolling out to more Groups. [@MattNavarra]

• Facebook has added a Stories shortcut button on iOS. [@MattNavarra]

• Facebook could soon add text-to-speech in Stories. [@alex193a]

• Facebook now lets some users use their avatar to tell people how they’re feeling. [@MattNavarra]

• Facebook is working on a 'saved phone number' feature to help you verify and access your account without an SMS code. [@alex193a]

• Facebook has been spotted testing a special '+' button just for Groups. [@TechnicalMJTV]

Instagram:

• Instagram has been spotted testing publishing all types of videos to Reels, regardless of length and aspect ratio. [@hammodoh1]

• Instagram is testing the ability to add music to feed posts. [@eskoosme]

• Instagram is rolling out its longer stories feature. Videos of up to 60 seconds will no longer be broken up into segments. [Social Media Today]

• Instagram is still working on a notifications filter. [@hammodoh1]

• Instagram has updated the 'not interested' option. [@WFBrother]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp has launched a sticker creation tool. [Android Authority]

• WhatsApp is testing an in-app alert when an unknown Business account sends users a message. [9to5Mac]

• WhatsApp could expand playback speed controls to forwarded voice notes. [Android Police]

🐣 Twitter news

TOP STORY: Twitter's Best Strategy to Combat Hate Speech Is Politely Asking People to Knock It Off, Study Finds — gizmodo.com

Forget cutting-edge technical solutions, the best way to combat hate speech on Twitter is a polite request, a study has found.

• Twitter mistakenly verified a fake Norwegian account, after the country's prime minister's office was tricked into endorsing it. [The Verge]

New features and tests:

• Twitter is rolling out tipping to all users on Android, following the iOS launch in September. [TechCrunch]

• Twitter is working on its own audio clipping tool for Spaces. [@alex193a]

• Twitter has a fun Thanksgiving 'like' animation. [@Mike_PiFF03]

• Twitter appears to be set to officially launch comment downvoting. [@wongmjane]

• Twitter's 'no disappearing tweets' update has been expanded to iOS, after launching on the web last week. [The Verge]

• Twitter's Birdwatch tweet annotation project now lets users adopt aliases to protect their Twitter accounts from unwanted attention. [The Verge]

• Words you mute on Twitter will now hide related Spaces from the top of your timeline. [@TwitterSpaces]

• Twitter is working on more video playback speed options. [@wongmjane]

• It's apparently technically possible to play recorded Spaces back at up to 16x speed. [@nima_owji]

🔺 TikTok news

TOP STORY: TikTok is now available on Samsung and LG TVs, Android TV devices — www.theverge.com

TikTok has expanded its availability on TVs, if you fancy some lean-back, big(ger) screen viewing.

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• Looking for inspiration for brand/creator partnerships? TikTok has highlighted some of the best examples on its platform this year. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

• TikTok has quietly launched business registration, letting you display a business category on your TikTok profile. [@MattNavarra]

• TikTok has been spotted testing an icon in video preview thumbnails when sound is no longer available for it. [@marselladondi]

• TikTok and U.N. Women have collaborated to launch an in-app hub focused on gender-based violence. [Mashable]

💥 More social media news and updates

TOP STORY: Reddit winds down Dubsmash, but its video creation tools live on — www.theverge.com

11 months after it bought Dubsmash, Reddit has announced plans to shut it down. The company is adding more TikTok-like video tools to its own app instead.

• Pervasive tracking for ad targeting should be banned, the EU's data protection advisory body has said. [TechCrunch]

• Clubhouse's pinned links feature has driven 5.5m clicks in under a month, the company says. [Axios]

• People-smuggling networks have been caught openly touting their services on Facebook and TikTok. [Sky News]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• Want to engage with Gen-Z on LinkedIn? It's the fastest-growing audience on the platform, and LinkedIn has shared tips for engagement. [Search Engine Journal]

New features and tests:

• YouTube is testing the ability to get a preview of a video's top comments without leaving the feed. [@WFBrother]

• YouTube has added an option to reuse details from previous video uploads, and has added new mobile analytics. [Social Media Today]

• Snapchat is offering branded, AR-powered holiday stores from Amazon Prime Video, Coca-Cola, Hollister, Under Armour, Verizon, and Walmart. [AdAge]

• Snapchat has released a range of Thanksgiving-themed lenses. [@Snapchat]

• LinkedIn now lets you connect your Linkedin Service Page to your Company Page. [@MattNavarra]

• Reddit's overhauled search interface has fully rolled out on desktop. [Adweek $$$]

• YouTube is testing a 'listening controls' feature for music videos. [@WFBrother]

• Discord has introduced custom background support for video calls, and is testing a new account switcher. [XDA Developers]

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🌟 New feature of the week

Twitter is working on its own audio clipping tool for Spaces. (Clubhouse and Facebook have their own already)

If implemented, this could offer a great way to help others discover the best bits of Spaces audio in a shareable bite-size format.

📈 Chart of the week

This chart, from an Insider deep dive [$$$] into Clubhouse's challenges, show just how far the social audio pioneer has fallen from its peak earlier in the year. Meanwhile, rival Twitter Spaces seems to be only just hitting its stride.

🤔 Thought for the week

Twitter makes a fresh case for not having an edit button...

📖 Weekend reading

TikTok aims for brand safety on 'For You' page — adage.com

The race for platforms to prove they're safe for brands continues.

• It’s 2021 and Twitter still can’t tell the difference between cats and dogs

• Teen dramas from the early 2000s help Gen Z imagine a life without social media anxiety

• TikTok users claim a magic song is changing their lives

💀 Meme of the week

📅 Back next week...

...And that’s pretty much everything you need to know this week!

Before you go...

• Don’t forget to join the official Geekout Group on Facebook

• Want to get breaking social media news alerts? Follow me on Twitter

Right… Time for me to go share the Urban Dictionary name meaning for “Matt” with everyone I know :)

Goodbye geeks!

— Matt

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This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant.