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Hello, geeks!

Welcome to your (almost) 100% human-written edition of Geekout.

Unlike most LinkedIn posts!. More on that in a moment.

Before we get into it…

This 2025 Social Media Trends report is solid and worth downloading now.

Side note: Check out the end of this week’s Geekout… I need your urgent advice on something 😱

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LinkedIn’s AI Slopfest 🤖

According to a new report, nearly half of viral LinkedIn posts are probably AI-generated.

Social media managers surprised: 0

Sure, fully AI-generated posts are still pretty easy to spot (and, let’s face it, pure slop). But what really grinds my gears? The flood of cringe-worthy, robotic AI comments on my posts. They’re not just pointless—they’re painful.

And yet, LinkedIn’s algorithm—or its users—seem to love them, encouraging so-called “LinkedIn thought leaders” to churn out even more of this nonsense.

So, what did I do? I embraced the chaos. This week, I posted my own “deep, insightful” thought-leadership gems—crafted entirely by AI. 😁

Even though I clearly disclosed the posts were AI-generated, many people didn’t bother reading fully, used their own AI / automation tools to comment… or took the posts way too seriously. (Check out the comments on both posts here and here.) 😆

The result? LinkedIn’s algorithm boosted my post even further.

It’s a stark reminder of what’s coming in 2025: even more AI-generated junk cluttering our LinkedIn feeds. Buckle up. 😒

P.S. Gen-AI was used to tidy up this intro today (i think i’m addicted to using it now).

10 Must-Know Social Media Trends for 2025 — Free Report!

Feeling overwhelmed by the ever-changing social media landscape? 

You're not alone. 😵‍💫 Even I struggle to keep up!

Don't stress, Sked Social's 2025 Trends Report has you covered. 

This FREE report reveals the 10 biggest trends that will redefine social media in 2025,

Sneak peek:

🌈 The Rise of Hopecore: Optimistic, feel-good content is winning hearts
👑 Micro-Influencers Dominate: They drive 60% higher engagement than big names
🤝 Authenticity Rules: 70% of consumers prefer natural brand interactions
🧑‍💼 Real Content Wins: 82% of audiences trust content featuring real people

You’ll learn:

🔑 The top 10 trends shaping social media in 2025
💬 How to master authentic brand engagement
📈 ROI-boosting strategies for next year
🌍 Emerging shifts in platform algorithm priorities

No fluff. Just actionable insights. And 100% free. Download the report now! 👌 [AD]

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

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

2. TikTok will block beauty filters for teens over mental health concerns [RESTRICTING]

3. Reddit overtakes X and LinkedIn in UK’s most popular social platforms report [ATTENTION-GRABBING]

4. Mark Zuckerberg had dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago [INFLUENCING]

5. Elon Musk admits X is throttling posts with links on the platform [CONTROLLING]

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

Is Australia’s teen social ban the start of a trend?

So it’s officially happening. Australia is banning under-16s from social media.

The law requires platforms to take “reasonable steps” to verify the age of users and prohibit those under 16 from opening accounts.

But that’s not quite as draconian as it might sound. Messaging apps, gaming platforms, and services that provide educational content (including YouTube) are exempt. Also, kids aged 15 and under will still be able to access content on platforms such as Reddit and TikTok that is available without creating an account.

As you might expect, the social media platforms are NOT happy at losing a lucrative and impressionable audience to show ads to.

Meta has accused the Australian government of failing to consider young people’s voices, while TikTok said the legislation was “rushed” and “unworkable,” and riddled with “unanswered questions and unresolved concerns.”

A big question mark hangs over how the law will be enforced. Google and Meta have argued that enforcement should be delayed until a trial of age-check tech is completed. But the law isn’t going to come into force any time soon, anyway. It’s expected to take at least a year to implement

While this law certainly is tougher than other countries, the wind might be blowing in Australia’s direction.

France already has a minimum age of 15 for social media use and is pushing for EU-wide takeup of the law.

And while TikTok is opposed to the Australian law, it plans to block teenagers from beauty filters and tightens up systems to block under-13s from the platform as teen safety on social media becomes an ever more salient issue.

In the long run, younger teens being able to use whatever social media they like might be a thing of the past in countries around the world.

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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:

YouTube is upgrading its Inspiration Tab with AI-powered features ✨🪄

Also spotted this week:

• X added citations to Grok so you can see where information has come from

• Messenger now features Meta AI for messaging your friends

• Cameo has added AI search to help you find the right celebrity for your message

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💬 YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT

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

I spoke to The Times about why social media users are flocking to Bluesky over Threads

Also from me this week:

• I gave my thoughts to The Telegraph about X’s drop in popularity in the UK

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😆 LOL

Filed under #relatable. Thanks Josh!

Austrian Airlines nailed its exit from Elon Musk's X!

We all know someone who does this…

Also:

• Bluesky knows the score on Threads

• LinkedIn high school leaderboard 💀🏆

• WTF did you just say Adam Mosseri! Parody account… but still! 💀

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📈 MEMES

This Chill Guy has been making (extremely chill) waves on TikTok and beyond. 🔥

Check out the backstory to how Chill Guy went viral here.

Also worth checking out:

• Rachel Karten (link-in-bio newsletter) has a great interview with the original creator of Chill Guy

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🌡️ VIRAL

‘LOLCow’ is a word making the rounds on TikTok right now, but is it modern bullying or just harmless fun?

Also:

• ‘PDF to Brainrot’ study tools are a strange iteration on a TikTok trend

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🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

“LinkedIn simply does not have content interesting and appealing to minors”

– LinkedIn claimed it’s too boring for kids to be included in Australia’s teen social media ban. It might be right TBF.

• MrBeast said allegations about is Amazon game show have been “blown out of proportion”

• Adam Mosseri admitted Threads is moving product ideas forward in response to Bluesky’s increased popularity

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🛠️ NEW TOOLS

If you used to love Nuzzel to help you find the best links being shared in your Twitter network, Sill is for you. 💯

It does the exact same thing… But for Bluesky and Mastodon. I love it already 👌

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👀 MY FAV READS

There’s been a lot of talk about this influencer marketing lawsuit this week: ⚖️👩🏻‍⚖️

“One Amazon influencer makes a living posting content from her beige home. But after she noticed another account hawking the same minimal aesthetic, a rivalry spiraled into a first-of-its-kind lawsuit.

“Can the legal system protect the vibe of a creator? And what if that vibe is basic?”

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👌 PRO TIPS

LinkedIn has revealed the secrets to writing an engaging (non-AI generated!) post on the platform 🔥

Even more pro-tips spotted this week:

• LinkedIn also shared research into the impact of B2B influencers

• Link posts on social platforms: Where each of the big social platforms stands on throttling posts with links

• TikTok execs revealed 10 tips for creating thurmb-stopping long-form videos

• TikTok also shared top holiday marketing and AI tool tips

• YouTube revealed tips on how creators can align with connected TV viewing

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🪦 RIP

Social media features heading for the graveyard:

It’s time to say goodbye to Foursquare…

But social location sharing app Swarm is not dead yet. 📍

Also heading to the social media graveyard shortly:

• TikTok is killing its AI-mojis feature, but you can create a new AI avatar for your profile

• The Instagram for Business website is being merged into the Meta for Business website

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🤦 FAIL

It seems Meta Ai isn’t any more reliable than Apple Intelligence when it comes to accurately summarising news:

Also this week…

• A weird WhatsApp bug is making messages go 'Oh' 

• Bluesky: Chinese State Media is annoyed that it spent a long time building an influence network in the West on X, but Bluesky is a lot more difficult to game

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😮 WTF?!

X is trying to stop The Onion from buying Alex Jones' social media accounts….

Also:

• Influencers are using AI 'women' to lead people to OnlyFans and Fanvue — where more AI awaits

• Someone has already scraped Bluesky to make a dataset of users’ posts to train AI on, even though Bluesky itself say it would never do this

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week:

• Meta needs a Social Lead, Metaverse & Wearables [Los Angeles, CA, USA]

• Bluesky is looking for a Community Marketing Manager [Remote]

• Marie Curie is hiring a Social Media Manager [Remote, UK]

• Channel 4 is on the hunt for a Social Media Manager [London, UK]

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

175 MILLION+

– The number of people use TikTok every month in Europe, based on TikTok’s latest disclosure report sent to the EU Commision

• Reddit overtook X in UK users in May this year. Reddit had 22.9m adult users in the country, versus 22.9m on X

• Teen cheats: 22% of 8-to-17 year olds lie that they are 18 or over on social media apps

• Threads has added 35 million new signups this month

• More than 50% of Reddit’s user base is outside of the US, but the US still accounts for 83% of Reddit’s total revenue

• Telegram’s revenue leapt by 190% to $525 million in the first half of 2024

• Misinformation: Research shows 6 in 10 social media content creators do not verify accuracy of information before posting it

• 1 in 4 English and Welsh teens who see violence online are being served clips via algorithms

• 59% of creators say it’s hard to make money because it’s hard to produce content consistently

• Bluesky has eight confirmed cases on CSAM on Monday this week, compared to just two in the whole of 2023

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📈 CHARTED

Elon Musk’s increase in Twitter/X activity over the years is insane… 🤯

From Dec 2013 to the middle of 2018, Musk tweeted just over a dozen times a week, on average.

Between then and October 27 2022, when he acquired X, he was posting 50 times a week.

Since the takeover, that has risen to around 220 a week!

• How Elon Musk has increased his Twitter/X posts about about politics

• How Threads has lost ground to Bluesky

• Extremely Online: UK adults now spend 4 hours and 20 minutes online EVERY day

• Ofcom Report: The UK's most popular social media apps in 2024

• UK and US Bluesky signups and X account deletions, charted.

• Twitch still accounts for 82% of streaming hours

• The top 10 live streaming creators in Q2 2024 across all platforms

• TikTok: Media and publishing dominates TikTok engagement rate

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• Meta is refusing to publicly disclose information that could determine whether it is subject to Canada’s Online News Act despite blocking news from its platforms there. [CTV News]

• Meta is ‘reckless’ in ‘need-to-know situations’, Canada has warned Australia as it braces for an early bushfire season. [The Guardian]

• WhatsApp has gone to the top EU court to argue it should be able to challenge a ruling that led to a 225 million euro ($236 million) fine by Ireland's privacy watchdog. [Reuters $$$]

New features and tests:

Instagram:

• Instagram is still testing showing a small preview of the next image in the carousel [@gyuval]

• Instagram is testing a new layout for suggestyed Reels. [@lindseygamble_]

Threads:

• Threads now lets you block Fediverse accounts. [@jonahmanzano]

• Threads is testing a new way to start a thread from your profile, under the profile tabs. [@theahmedghanem]

Messenger:

• Messenger now labels the images sent in HD. [@oncescuradu]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp is rolling out video notes more widely. [@jonahmanzano]

• WhatsApp now lets you discover and follow channels using QR codes. [@falsu_35]

• WhatsApp is testing the ability to open the reaction tray with a double-tap. [@WABetaInfo]

• WhatsApp looks nearly ready to launch an new ‘typing’ indicator on Android. [Android Police]

• WhatsApp Business is getting a dark mode. [@WABetaInfo]

• WhatsApp is testing letting you share sticker packs. [@WABetaInfo]

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• Elon Musk has been setting his followers on specific federal employees 🙄 [Wall Street Journal $$$]

• X has offered ad credit matching to Shopify merchants. [Social Media Today]

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• A US federal appeals court is expected to rule by 6 December whether to uphold a law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok by early next year or face a ban. [Reuters $$$]

• TikTok Shop UK is running its “Biggest Ever Black Friday & Cyber Monday sale”. [TikTok Newsroom]

• TikTok has announced the global winners of its 2024 'Gimme The Mic' talent contest. [TikTok Newsroom]

New features and tests:

• TikTok now lets you add music to Deezer, in addition to Apple Music and Spotify. [TikTok Newsroom]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• Advertisers are stepping back from boycotts and other social media activity in the face of an impending Trump White House. [The Information $$$]

• Australia has dropped a plan to fine social media giants accused of enabling misinformation. [NBC News]

• Brands are being cautious about adopting Bluesky. [Digiday $$$]

• Creators are turning to subscription apps due to increasingly competitive, volatile content economy. [CNBC]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

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

• Enslaved on OnlyFans: Women describe lives of isolation and torture

• How Bluesky rose out of Twitter's ashes to challenge X and Threads

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😳 AND FINALLY…

Need a laugh to end your week? Bluesky is rapidly becoming a new hotspot for jokes. Here are some of the best of the week….

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

… And on that humorous note, you have reached the end of this week’s Geekout. 👊

But before you exit… I urgently need your advice!

Cringe Catwalk Conundrum

i'm speaking at Belgium’s biggest marketing conference next week (Thurs 5th Dec) - BAM Marketing Congress 2024.

But worryingly, this is the key info for speakers the event organisers just sent me: 🫣

So… The question is:

• What should i do for my "great entry" down the catwalk? 💀

Reply to this email with you best (worst) suggestions, or drop them in the replies on this Thread.

Unless someone has a better idea, i’m going with either this: 🕺🏻

Or maybe this to confuse TF out of everyone 😁

My girlfriend Sarah has threatened to whip out her iPhone to capture the moment.

Seriously starting to regret signing up for this… And inviting her. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Goodbye, geeks!

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