Hello, geeks!

Welcome to the penultimate edition of Geekout in 2023. Fully stuffed with EVERYTHING new in social this week.

Before we dive in… McDonald’s social media manager knew EXACTLY what they were doing with this Facebook post. 😲 >> X-Rated << 💀 

This week has been all about Threads. It’s finally available for social media users in Europe. With nearly half a billion citizens in the E.U, the platform is about to get a lot busier. And perhaps hammer another nail in X’s coffin. 🤞

Threads is also testing its first integration with the fediverse. And Instagram boss Adam Mosseri is already one of the most followed people on Mastodon. More on Threads big week in a moment.🪡

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

Geekout with our hottest picks of the week:

1. Threads Finally Launched in the E.U [GLOBALISING]

2. Meta Starts Testing Threads Integration With The Fediverse [DEVELOPING]

3. Support For A TikTok Ban in The U.S Has Crumbled [SHRINKING]

4. Elon Musk Reinstated Hate Speech Moron Alex Jones’ Account [ENRAGING]

5. UK Government Considering Limiting Social Media Access For Teens [RESTRICTING]

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

Threads joins the EU…

While Threads has been picking up traction over the past few months, with a burst of new attention every time Elon Musk does something stupid, it had one major weakness - it wasn’t available in the EU.

Whether it would ever arrive was uncertain. Would new EU regulations keep it from launching the text-based spin-off of Instagram based on the same account data?

It turns out that, no, Meta has found a way and Threads opened up to nearly half a billion more users yesterday.

As the Wall Street Journal previously reported, there is an option to create a read-only account as a concession to EU rules, but if you want to get stuck in to the full experience, you absolutely can.

The question is, will EU users bite? The tech geek contingent was straight onboard based on my experience yesterday, but will mainstream European users follow?

…and heads into the fediverse 🚀

And that wasn’t all this week. Given Meta’s general reputation over the past few years, it would be easy to assume that its promises to launch Threads into the ‘fediverse’, so users of services like Mastodon could get Threads posts in their apps, and even post from Mastodon to Threads, would be empty.

Meta’s grand-sounding plans, like the recently cancelled ability to send messages between their apps, don’t always play out, and opening up Threads so it’s not in a tightly-controlled silo is the opposite direction from the way social media has been going in the past 10 years.

But this week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads is indeed testing a fediverse integration. Only be a small number of accounts will be included in at first, with the experiment being conducted in collaboration with Mastodon.

Mastodon users will be able to follow people like Instagram and Threads boss Adam Mosseri’s Threads posts, but won’t be able to post to Threads from their Mastodon accounts yet. Mosseri is apparently already the third most-followed account in the whole fediverse.

The fediverse seems to be taking off and Meta clearly sees the way the wind might be blowing. Tumblr is plugging on with its fediverse integration, and WordPress is already integrated, for example.

The fediverse is potentially a huge boon for creators looking to reach more people without investing heavily in multiple platforms.

The big question is how will Meta make money from all of this? The simplest answer is by encouraging Threads users to follow other fediverse accounts from the Threads app, and then showing ads against their posts.

But with high-quality Mastodon apps like iOS-only Ivory already available, users will have ad-free alternatives.

Mastodon’s founder is enthusiastic about Meta’s integration, which brings more mainstream visibility and accessibility to the fediverse. Look out for some trouble ahead, though.

Many vocal Mastodon users are incredibly anti big-tech. Zuck suddenly appearing on their lawn won’t necessarily be welcome news to everyone.

I’d expect some Mastodon server operators to block Threads on principle, but if Threads boosts adoption of the fediverse, they might be fighting a rising tide.

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

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

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😆 LOL

Threads arriving in the EU spurred social media managers to fire up the jokes.

Bayern Munich was keen to get stuck in… or was it?

Plus:

• TechCrunch pulled out a classic meme for the occasion

Meanwhile 😆👇

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🪧 BRANDS

As I mentioned up top, this McDonalds ad on Facebook (currently) has 77,000 likes, 39,000 shares, and 31,000 comments.

To quote one of the comments: "The PR and marketing team either had no idea what they were doing, or very very very clearly DID... there is no middle ground."

Also, a shout out to FabFitFun, which recently had to apologise after it took inspiration from Elon Musk for a foul-mouthed promo code 😳

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📈 GOING VIRAL

“Basically, it’s just a group of people who go into a shop like Zara or KFC, crawl around in a big group à la Human Centipede, and just pure creep all the staff members out. Like, you can barely explain it beyond that.”

…it’s the bizarre TikTok ‘crawling in shops’ trend. People are weird.

Meanwhile, TikTok creators are having a lot of fun with the new A.I. Image Expand filter…

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💬 YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT

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

Have we reached peak TikTok? Several end-of-year reports show that interest in TikTok may be plateauing.

I gave my thoughts on TikTok’s levelling off to NBC News.

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👀 MY FAV READS

This week the Verge published this great collection of articles about the death of Twitter. They’re not just great reads, they look gorgeous too.

In particular, don’t miss Nilay Patel on how Twitter broke the news.

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🤔 DID YOU KNOW…?

Threads was famously called ‘Barcelona’ during its development, but its official name was nearly very different from what we have today…

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📊 INFOTAINMENT

These are always interesting… what happens on the internet every minute (2023 edition)

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🗓️ TOP TRENDS OF 2023

The ‘year in review’ posts keep on rolling, and there’s plenty to catch up on…

• Snapchat is rolling out users’ own year-in-review

• Twitch turned its year-in-review recap into a game

• Here’s every new emoji we got this year

• Google launched its 2023 search trends site

• …but who is the person with the most trending searches in 2023?

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⏭️ SOCIAL IN 2024

I liked this on LinkedIn from Rachel Karten…

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🛠️ NEW TOOLS

YouTube legend MrBeast is one of the founders of this new tool to help YouTube creators chart their growth.

With that pedigree, you know it’s worth a look…

Also:

• Put Facebook on a diet: This Chrome extension strips out Reels, Shorts, suggestions, birthday reminders and more of the fluff cluttering up Facebook when you just want to see what your family’s up to.

• Instagram has made it easier to livestream via third-party tools

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📲 NEW APP

New social app Amo wants to make photo sharing as simple as taking a photo

“When you take a photo, nothing happens. There’s no preview screen, no action buttons, nothing… Consumption takes a back seat, you don’t land into a feed. It’s a creation-first app, and that’s really what it’s all about”

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🤯 WTF?!

A random Catholic blog became the most interacted-with site on Facebook this week…and it appears to be entirely run by a retiree based in Pennsylvania, who is in his late-70s.

Also:

• X is now running ads for… stealing semen?!

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🤦 FAIL

Today in ‘oh Elon’, his fancy new A.I. has been accused of ripping off ChatGPT.

Also:

• Threads users have found a way to (kinda) rickroll people with topic tags. Show more

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🗳️ ELECTIONEERING

Will President Biden join TikTok for the 2024 US Election? There’s no official POTUS, White House or Biden-Harris 2024 account.

Only 7% of the 533 senators and representatives have verified accounts on TikTok

Biden’s campaign team said that it did not need its own TikTok accounts to reach voters:

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📄 NEW REPORT

Should social media be banned for young people? A major new report doesn’t say so.

Amid rising concern about youth mental health, experts say more research is needed. The new report found potential harm, but not enough data to blame social media for broader changes in the mental health of young people.

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🪦 RIP

Social media features heading for the graveyard:

According to code dug out by the ever-reliable Alessandro Paluzzi, Instagram's group profiles will be going away on January 12, 2024.

Also:

• Today is the day Instagram removes its Guides feature

• Facebook is deprecating a number of Page Insights API metrics

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🤖 SOCIAL A.I.

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

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses are getting A.I.-powered visual search features:"

• Instagram has added a generative A.I. background editing tool in the US

• Instagram is still working on A.I.-powered suggested replies

• Snapchat+ subscribers can now create and send A.I.-generated images

• Meta has launched a live test of its new ‘Audiobox’ A.I. audio generation tools

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

$2.5 Billion

– X’s projected ad sales for 2023, a huge slump compared with more than $4 billion in 2022

• 1 in 5 US teens say they are almost constantly online

• 51 of the top 100 U.S. advertisers on X from October last year have ‘paused’ ad spend on the platform now, with some shifting spend to Instagram or Snapchat

• Snapchat+ subscribers have hit 7 million, up by 2 million since September

• The most-downloaded free iPhone apps in the U.S. 2023

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📈 CHARTED

• Support for a TikTok ban in the U.S has crumbled, even among Republicans

• YouTube is still the top social media platform among US teens in 2023

• TikTok has become the first non-game app to reach $10 billion in consumer spending

• Top Threads topic tags

• Snapchat+ keeps growing as net revenue tops $20 million for the first time

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• Meta is accused of using copyrighted books for AI training despite its own lawyers' warnings. [Reuters $$$]

• Meta has teamed up with Google and Qualcomm to push for open digital systems. [Reuters $$$]

• Facebook Page takeover scams can cost real money. [Engadget]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• A Buffer employee subscribed to Meta Verified on Instagram — here are their results. [Buffer blog]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook has been spotted with a new post creation UI. [@jonahmanzano]

• Facebook has added a "Tip" button in the page post creation interface to help you post more successfully. [@theahmedghanem]

• Facebook now shows Page stories within the Page feed. [@theahmedghanem]

• Facebook is prompting users to "Add your Threads link to your Facebook profile". [@MattNavarra]

• Facebook is deprecating a number of Page Insights API metrics [Meta]

Instagram:

• Instagram is working on new ways to access your chat history when end-to-end encryption rolls out. [@alex193a]

• Instagram is still working on a Wall feature, adding the ability to attach photo, music or GIFs to your note. [@alex193a]

• Instagram now lets you filter DMs by subscribers, creators, and businesses. [@jonahmanzano]

• Instagram Reels has new sound filters called Accelerate, Slow Down, and Radio. [@dijitalaglar]

• Instagram now lets you like Notes. [@theahmedghanem]

• Instagram will show a confetti animation when you write Notes containing ‘Happy New Year’. [@alex193a]

Threads:

• Threads has added a fixed "Follow" button that appears over any profile you browse. [@theahmedghanem]

• Threads has added a hand emoji shortcut on desktop. [@tb_99999]

• Threads has added a light/dark mode toggle in its desktop version. [Social Media Today]

Messenger:

• Messenger now lets you edit messages. [@messenger]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp is testing an Instagram-style reply bar for status updates. [Android Police]

• WhatsApp is testing the ability to copy only the link within a message, without copying the entire text. [@theahmedghanem]

• WhatsApp’s Windows beta app has a toggle to disable the text-to-emoji feature. [XDA Developers]

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

• Meta Business Suite has added new editing tools for applying filters to images and adding alt text directly from the desktop. [@theahmedghanem]

• Horizon Worlds has added a new follow gesture and a drone camera mode. [Meta Quest blog]

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• X has had preliminary talks with Amazon about selling ads through its platform. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

• Elon Musk must testify as part of the SEC’s probe into his purchase of Twitter, a judge has signalled. [Bloomberg $$$]

• X faces a privacy complaint in the EU over takes ads allegedly targeted on sensitive data. [TechCrunch]

• US Democrats are spending big on political ads on X. [Washington Post $$$]

• Elon Musk biographer Walter Isaacson thinks it was ‘idiotic’ to buy Twitter. [Variety]

New features and tests:

• X is working on searchable bookmarks. [Social Media Today]

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• TikTok has reopened its Shop in Indonesia after a big money deal with a local tech company. [Asia Tech Review]

• TikTok is playing hardball to lure sellers and employees from Amazon to its Shop. [Bloomberg $$$]

• TikTok Shop’s Black Friday event was a boost for small businesses, but big brands mostly didn’t take part. [Business Insider $$$]

• Politicians in Mexico are hiring TikTokers to advise them on their social media strategy. [Rest of World]

• ByteDance has axed its next headset as it pulls back from a battle against Meta in the VR space. [The Information $$$]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• 15 tricks to help get your video on millions of people’s FYP on TikTok. [Hootsuite blog]

New features and tests:

• TikTok has expanded its ‘Add to Music App’ feature to 19 new markets. [Variety]

• TikTok has added a themed 'Holiday Share' button. [@JonahManzano]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• YouTube has announced third-party verification partnerships for Shorts ad placements. [Social Media Today]

• Linktree has acquired link-in-bio platform Koji in its second investment of the year. [TechCrunch]

• Rumble has sued two people connected to Media Matters on the heels of X’s lawsuit. [ReadWrite]

• Pinterest is having a renewed boost of interest, thanks to Gen-Z. [Wired $$$]

• Star BBC presenter Gary Lineker broke the corporation’s new social media rules, its new chairman says. [Deadline]

• The moderators of two legal subreddits told the Supreme Court they deal with lots of death threats agains the court’s justices. [HuffPost]

• Bluesky’s CEO says don’t think of it as a mere Twitter clone [FastCompany]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• The 2024 guide to social media strategy for executives. [Hootsuite blog]

New features and tests:

• YouTube will let channels give away 10 free subscriptions per month. [Social Media Today]

• YouTube has added more formats for video reach campaigns. [Search Engine Land]

• Snapchat now lets you highlight broadcast messages as a "Paid Partnership" in Broadcast Channels. [@theahmedghanem]

• Snapchat has added Christmas-themed icons for paying subscribers. [@theahmedghanem]

• Snapchat now lets you share Story replies to your public Story. [@theahmedghanem]

• Google Classroom users can now "turn any YouTube video into an interactive lesson". [TubeFilter]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

• How Instagram cat influencers are helping break news in Gaza

• TikTok isn’t creating false support for Palestine. It’s just reflecting what’s already there

• TikTok car confessionals are the new YouTube bedroom vlogs

• How Meta’s new face camera heralds a new age of surveillance

• Gen Z has discovered a whole new source for news

• Why is Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot so unfunny?

• How TikTok is making this once ‘dangerous’ country a tourist hotspot

• How a toilet-themed YouTube series became the biggest thing online

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😳 AND FINALLY…

Mark Zuckerberg is building a sprawling, $100 million compound in Hawaii—complete with plans for a huge underground bunker.

The property, will, according to planning documents, include a 5,000-square-foot underground shelter, have its own energy and food supplies, and, when coupled with land purchase prices, will cost in excess of $270 million.

Is Zuck planning for the apocalypse? 💥💀

📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

…And that’s everything you need to know about this week!

Penultimate Geekout Newsletter for 2023. Done. ✅

Reminder: Geekout will be taking its annual Christmas break shortly. 🎄🎅🏻

The final Christmas edition of Geekout Newsletter will land in your inbox on Friday 22nd December 2023. 🎉

I will return with the first edition of Geekout in 2024 on Friday 12th January. 🚀

Right… I’m heading off to panic buy the last few Xmas gifts on my list...

…Everybody loves a gift voucher, right? 💵 😬

Goodbye geeks!

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