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Hello, geeks!

Well, what a week for me to take a holiday! 🤯

In the space of seven days, X got banned in Brazil, Telegram’s CEO got arrested, and a gazillion new features got launched.

We’ll get into all that and more in a moment.

But first…

Have you filled out The 2024 Social Media Salary Survey yet? 💵

It should only take 5-10 minutes, is completely anonymous, and will help Rachel Karten’s Link in Bio create a salary benchmark for all social media roles.

1,400+ people have already filled it out!

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So… I’m back from my mini digital detox with a bumper edition of Geekout.

We have lots to dig into from two weeks worth of social media news, new platform feature launches.

And plenty of weird s**t I’ve spotted on my web travels since I’ve been away.

Before we dive in… 

Here’s a few quick bits and pieces worth checking out:

• This EPIC 231-slide deck covering the state of social in 2024 is a must-read 🔥

• How Demure is your LinkedIn profile? This FREE tool will reveal your Demure score. Mine was brutal! 💅

Also worth a look: 👀

• LinkedIn users found my secret profile Easter Egg 😆
  

• Social media managers revealed the CRAZIEST things a client has asked them to do. The comments are gold! 💀

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DON’T MISS THIS…

If you haven’t checked out Measure Studio yet, trust me, you should!

It’s one of my fav social media reporting tools which is used by brands including Pepsi, Mattel, and the BBC.

Geekout readers can try it for FREE for 14 days, risk-free. Take a look 👀👇

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Already DREADING those end of quarter social reports? 😭

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• READY-MADE TEMPLATES: Tons of beautiful report templates you can edit and save to give you a head start next time 🎨
  
  And more…

Measure Studio is used and trusted by brands including Pepsi, Mattel, and BBC, to streamline their social reporting.

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

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

2. Social networks can’t be forced to filter content for kids, a US judge ruled [POLARISING]

3. TikTok possible ban is losing American support, new poll shows [WANING]

4. Telegram will start moderating private chats following CEO’s arrest

   [BACKTRACKING]

5. A quarter of X advertisers plan to cut spending next year [X-ITING]

🔥 DON’T MISS: The UK’s Must-Attend Event for Social Media Marketers

The most useful social media conference in the UK is back for 2024, and you won’t want to miss it.

It’s going to be jam-packed with keynotes, panels and fireside chats with top speakers including TikTok, Guinness World Records, Six Nations Rugby, Girl Power Marketing, WWF, and me, Matt Navarra! (don’t let that put you off!)

There’ll be panels with top influencers, creators and industry experts. With sessions on everything from accessible content to building a kick-ass social strategy on a budget to leveraging AI to gain social media super-powers, and more. 

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

Should we have some sympathy for Elon in Brazil?

If you’re a regular Geekout reader, you’ll be used to Elon Musk being painted as a bad guy. Either he’s messing up Twitter X or he’s posting something stupid. Usually both.

But this time, while Musk is no hero, he’s not necesarily the only bad guy here…

Like many countries, Brazil has a problem with political disinformation on social media, so it brought in some pretty heavy powers to deal with the problem.

A quick catchup courtesy of the BBC article linked above:

So who is the bad guy here? Musk for not complying with the law? Or Brazil for cracking down heavily on what many would describe as free speech? The answer is probably ‘a bit of both’.

However, while Brazilians might rightfully have concerns about a government having powers to shut down social platforms, Brazil was only engaging in the kind of free speech policing Elon himself says is fine.

Musk has previously said was acceptable to him. He has previously said X would support free speech within the bounds of the law, and would comply with laws made by democratically elected governments. That’s exactly what happened here; an elected government enacted the law… but X broke it.

So why is Musk going so heavily against the Brazilian authorities? “Alexandre de Moraes is an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” he claimed recently.

Strong words, but while around 29% of smartphone users in Brazil had X installed and as of the first quarter of 2024, and the platform had about 20 million active users in the country, it wasn’t that important to Brazilians; Instagram and WhatsApp are bigger, and X seemingly didn’t make much money in the country anyway. So why kick up such a fuss?

As usual, Musk is tipping the scales in his favoured direction. As his own X feed shows, Musk loves spreading right-wing disinformation himself (like the idea that only “high status males” should be able to vote and have power 🙄).

And he always has an eye on his own interests. As Andrew Hutchinson pointed out on Threads this week, the current spat arguably has its roots in a deal to give Tesla access to Brazilian lithium for its batteries, a deal that was cancelled by the current government.

X might still be reinstated, but its suspension has been good news in particular for Bluesky which reported a rush of new users in the country.

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

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

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 👀 ICYMI

A roundup of noteworthy news that hit the headlines when Geekout took a week off:

• Telegram’s CEO was charged in France for ‘allowing criminal activity’ on the messaging app. A sketchy tolerance of CSAM is among the allegations he faces

• …and the EU is investigating whether Telegram has lied about its users numbers to avoid regulation

• Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to be 'neutral' on politics and the government pressured Meta over Covid

• Meta cancelled development of a high-end headset intended as a rival to Apple’s Vision Pro, but it is reportedly working on mixed-reality glasses

• Meta is going to let preteens use Horizon Worlds

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💬 YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT

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

Are we melting our brains by scrolling on endless short videos? 🫠

I gave my thoughts to Sophia Smith Galer about ‘TikTok Brain’, and why the platform is so damn addictive.

Check out the deep dive into the topic with great expert insights:

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😆 LOL

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📈 MEMES

Tickets for the big Oasis reunion tour went on sale last Saturday, which would have been enough of a source for memes, without the ridiculous wait to buy a ticket being coupled with horrific price gouging (AKA dynamic pricing)…

Don’t look back in anger… about not getting a ticket (sorry)…

Check out EVEN MORE viral Oasis ticket fiasco memes here and here.

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🌡️ VIRAL

In case you were wondering, here’s why cucumbers have been big on TikTok recently…

Meanwhile, proof that anyone can go viral. Check out this random sportswear shop in Ireland:

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🪧 BRANDS

UK electrical retail Currys hit different AF with the Gen-Z flavoured ad 👌

It’s a cringe masterpiece… 💀

@currys

The end 🤣🤣 #genz #genzlife #currys #tech #uk #fyp #viral

Other brands got in on the act with their own takes on the idea. Check out…

• Sisters and Seekers

• Edinburgh Zoo

• East Midlands Airport

H/T Sophie Miller (via Geekout Pro) for spotting these

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🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

“My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or to even appear to be playing a role"

– Mark Zuckerberg won’t even donate to election integrity initiatives this election season. He wants to be as non-political as one of the most powerful billionaires in the world can be

• Donald Trump claims Zuckerberg plotted against him during the 2020 election in a soon-to-be released book

• Mark Zuckerberg says the Whitehouse was “wrong” to pressure Facebook on Covid

• Donald Trump needs Elon Musk’s money, but still thinks he’s a “boring” weirdo

• Mark Cuban says Elon Musk's 'biggest power play' on X is letting users think they have free speech

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👀 MY FAV READS

Should you use LinkedIn’s #OpenToWork banner if you’re… open to work?

On one hand, it could land you a job, on the other, it can look a by cringe to some…

Also:

• Social media managers don't need your algorithm hacks

• How Elon Musk got tangled up in Blue

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😮 WTF?!

Canva is hiking its prices by up to 300% price increase. THREE. HUNDRED. WTF!

But Canva says it’s AI features are worth the price.

Sure, if you say so, Canva 🙄 

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🤦 FAIL

No, committing fraud with fake cheques is NOT a ‘glitch’ to get free money… 💴

Also:

• Elon Musk promoted a Tucker Carlson interview with a Hitler apologist…. and then deleted his post

• Facebook's surprise change to its classic icon was just a glitch

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🪦 RIP

Social media features heading for the graveyard:

Sorry AR creators…. Meta doesn’t like you anymore:

Also worth noting…

• WhatsApp will soon discontinue its old Electron app for macOS

• Instagram is making public collections private from 9 October

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week:

• Disney is looking for a Manager, Brand Social (Hulu) [Santa Monica, CA, USA]

• PGA Tour needs a Content Manager Social Media [St Augustine, FL, USA]

• The Royal Shakespeare Company wants a Social Media Officer [Stratford-upon-Avon, UK]

• Citizens UK is looking for a Digital Engagement Manager [London, UK]

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👌 PRO TIPS

Here’s a useful round-up of new tips, guides, and insights from industry pros to level up your social strategy in Q4 2024 👌

• Instagram’s boss shared tips on how to improve content performance for Reels and collab posts

• …and Meta shared a Reels Performance Playbook

• Social media compliance in regulated industries: a 2024 Guide

• How publishers are experimenting with Reddit — even without a formal publisher program

• YouTube’s creator liaison has shared tips for pleasing the YouTube algorithm

• The best times to post on TikTok in 2024

• Social media crisis management in 9 steps

• A handy overview of TikTok’s advanced ad performance tracking tools

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🔥 HOT NEW TOOL

Spotter’s new AI tools help YouTubers brainstorm video ideas, thumbnails and more…

It can analyse billions of publicly available YouTube videos in order to draw inspiration from similar creators.

Spotter Studio is available now in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia and costs $49 per month.

The company is currently offering a limited-time discount of $299 per year, and there’s also a free 30-day trial.

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🤖 SOCIAL A.I.

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

• CapCut has a new AI Expand feature for images and video

• CapCut now lets you turn yourself into an AI character

• WhatsApp is working on a voice chat feature for communicating with Meta AI

• YouTube has expanded AI comment summaries to more languages

• X now lets you talk to Grok AI using your voice

• TikTok now lets users to create their own AI voiceover voice

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

40 BILLION

– Minutes of Olympics 2024 content YouTube viewers watched over the course of the event this year

• 62% of adult content creators now use AI in their work

• VPN usage soared 1,600% in Brazil since X was banned

• TikTok users are more than 44% more likely than non-users to go to the movies at least once per month

• YouTube has become the first streaming service to command more than 10% of all TV use in US

• 58% of US teens say they are Facebook users versus 55% for Instagram

• X says the back-to-school conversation in the app increased by 3% last year, versus 2022

• More than half (53.3%) of US Gen Zers use social media for messaging

• Telegram Group booked $342.5 million of revenue last year on a hefty operating loss of $108 million

• Pinterest surpasses X when it comes to brands' usage

• X claims it saw a 49% increase in “last minute holiday shopping” mentions in 2023 vs. 2022

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📈 CHARTED

Snap hasn’t grown in North America in years... 🇺🇸 📉

…Which is a concern as the average revenue per user in the US was $7.67 in the latest quarter

That’s more than 7x the $1.02 generated by users in its “Rest of World” region.

• Elon Musk’s Twitter investors have lost billions in value

• Reddit is outpacing social media rivals TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram when it comes to engagement

• Social media users will surpass linear TV viewers next year

• Reddit is at the top of Google Search results and growing ad revenues

• A Facebook adtech partner’s pitch deck bragging about allegedly listening to your phone’s microphone to serve ads for stuff you mention (there’s still no concrete evidence this is a real thing). [Futurism]

• Meta now lets users post calls for violence against Venezuelan ‘colectivos’, following an Oversight Board review. [The Verge]

• Instagram has launched a ‘Creator Lab’ in India to support aspiring creators. [Meta Newsroom]

• Meta will inform Brazilians how it uses their personal data to train AI. [Reuters $$$]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook Live now allows you to share to your broadcast channel. [@jonahmanzano]

• You can now upload to Facebook Stories from Meta’s Ray-Ban smartglasses. [Android Authority]

• Facebook now lets you create custom friends lists from the desktop. [@theahmedghanem]

Instagram:

• Instagram is testing a bunch of different Notes prompts to tempt you to post. [@MattNavarra]

• Instagram could soon let you crop voice messages before sending them in chats. [@nicksweet857]

• Instagram is testing a welcome message for business accounts. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram now displays the number of followers for linked Facebook pages in bio links. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram has added an option to display broadcast channels in the Primary inbox or keep them in the Channels tab. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram now lets you set any song as your profile song directly from the song page. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram is still working on scheduled messages. [@alex193a]

Threads:

• Threads has added the ability to rearrange columns on desktop. [Social Media Today]

• Threads now displays post engagements for images and videos viewed full screen. [@oncescuradu]

• Threads is testing a new search icon while scrolling. [@ihammod_oh]

Messenger:

• Meta has added new labels to business chats in Messenger. [Social Media Today]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp is building a ‘mark all as read’ option. [Android Police]

• WhatsApp is working on sandboxed contacts for each of your accounts. [Android Police]

• WhatsApp is testing the ability to open status updates from the viewer list. [@WABetaInfo]

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

• Meta now displays the tier you are subscribed to in Meta Verified. [@theahmedghanem]

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• X was caught blocking links to NPR, claiming the news site may be 'unsafe'. [TechCrunch]

• X has won a block on part of California’s content moderation law. [The Verge]

• A US judge says X must face class-action age bias claims over its mass layoff. [Reuters $$$]

• X is now offering a 50% discount on Premium Annual if you don't cancel. [@chris]

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• ByteDance is in talks with banks for a $9.5 billion loan. [Reuters $$$]

• TikTok is encouraging users to create photo posts on health inspiration. [@oncescuradu]

• ByteDance has increased the share price in its latest employee buyback. [The Information $$$]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• New Mexico has sued Snapchat over sexual predation of minors. [Washington Post $$$]

• The US Justice Department has unveiled a social media strategy to combat foreign threats. [Bloomberg $$$]

• Amazon is increasingly using TikTok, Instagram, and other apps. [The Information $$$]

• Discord has lowered its free upload limit to 10MB, down from 25MB. [Dexerto]

• Apple and Meta both lobbied hard to avoid responsibility for verifying users' ages in teen social media bills. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

• MrBeast has hired Elon Musk’s favourite attorney to fight claims he’s a 'sociopath'. [Gizmodo]

New features and tests:

• YouTube’s Android app now has a share sheet timestamp toggle for easier clip sharing. [9to5Google]

• Twitch has made creating and sharing clips for mobile a lot easier. [Twitch blog]

• Twitch ‘Drop Ins’ now start with your camera disabled even if your camera was previously set up, following user pushback. [TubeFilter]

• Twitch has revamped its Ads Manager tool. [Twitch blog]

• Tumblr is switching its backend to WordPress. [TechCrunch]

• Linktree has added the ability to send links directly via automatic Instagram DMs. [@ahmedghanem]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

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

• Mark Zuckerberg will never win: The Meta CEO will never satisfy his critics. He keeps trying anyway

• The hate speech landscape on Facebook is worse than you thought

• From baking to MrBeast: Meet the YouTuber taking on the platform’s biggest creator

• Facebook’s AI-generated spam problem is worse than you realise

• Elon Musk is absolutely not a ‘free speech absolutist’

• Why algorithms show violence to boys

• Telegram: 'The dark web in your pocket'

• How luxury brands should navigate micro-trends on social in 2024

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😳 AND FINALLY…

Who needs Tinder when you’ve got… Google Forms?!

The kidz have it figured out 😆 ❤️

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

… And that’s your bumper edition of Geekout… Done ✅

You are now full debriefed on EVERYTHING new in social from the past two weeks.

Before you go… I’d love you to check this out 👇

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Why Social Media Managers at Netflix and Nike ❤️ Geekout Pro

Geekout Pro is an exclusive community for Social Media VIPs like you.

I think you’ll love it… But don’t take my word for it…

Check out what social media managers at Netflix, Apple, Nike, McDonalds, and Red Bull are saying about it.

500+ social media pros are already benefiting from all the Geekout Pro perks.

✨ Join Geekout Pro today ✨

__________

Alrighty… I’m heading off to buy a new car.

If anyone reading works for Mercedes…

Both myself and Geekout co-editor Martin SFP Bryant are about to buy a new Mercedes EQA…

…Our inboxes are open if you’re interested in a Geekout x Mercedes collab 😁🚗

Goodbye, geeks!

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

Brazil map credit: Ssolbergj / Wikimedia Commons