welcome to (twitter) hell

It’s Elon’s world, we just tweet in it

Author

Matt Navarra
October 28, 2022

Hello, geeks

Well… It’s finally done. Elon owns Twitter. 

Oh shit. 🫤

The big question on everyone’s mind is… WTF happens next?

Hopefully not THIS. (pray for me) 

Get comfy… My thoughts on what Elon might do next in a moment.

Mark Zuckerberg has also had a bit of a week. 

Billions wiped off Meta’s share price. But Zuck is doubling down on ‘The Metaverse’. And he doesn’t give AF what you or anyone else thinks about it.

BUT FIRST…

Also… You should check this out. Super-useful! 👇

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  • Check out Taplio. ➜ Try it for FREE for a full week [ad]

Alrighty then… Here are the hottest news headlines in social this week:

🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

  1. Elon Musk Finally Completes $44bn Twitter Takeover [PRAY FOR TWITTER]

  2. Meta Share Price Collapses As Zuck Stands Firm on Metaverse [PRAY FOR META]

  3. Apple Twists Knife Into Meta With App Store Fees Update [ROTTEN APPLES] 

  4. Twitter’s Most Active Tweeters Are Tweeting a Lot Less [GOOD LUCK ELON] 

  5. YouTube’s Rolled Out It’s Latest Redesign Globally [NEWTUBE]

What else is new and worthy of your attention? Here’s my rundown of the most interesting updates spotted in my RSS feeds and Twitter DMs this week:

Mark Zuckerberg laid out Meta’s key areas of focus for the year ahead (destroy Apple, copy TikTok?)... Meta launched new tools to help businesses report fake accounts impersonating their brand… The reviews for Meta’s Quest Pro device are out (good but not great is the consensus)... Facebook has a new tool to A/B test video thumbnails. 

Twitter staffers are still getting work done amongst all the chaos. You can now spotlight (pin) your Twitter Community to your profile (yes, Twitter has a Communities feature)...Did the Twitter app look a bit different this week? Here’s why (hint: new icons)... Twitter is now testing the ability to buy / sell NFTs in tweets (who actually wants or needs this right now?!)... And this Netflix Tweet didn't age well. 

🤑 NEW INSIGHTS | HOW FINANCE INFLUENCERS ARE NAILING IT IN 2022

  • 2022 has been a big year for finance influencers

  • They’re posting 2x more on IG and 5x More on YT vs All other influencers

  • Check out Emplifi's analysis + top tips for creating finance influencer partnerships 

TikTok is likely to launch a new in-app gaming tab… TikTok is also testing a Group Chat messaging feature… YouTube is rolling out dedicated tabs for Shorts, live videos, and regular videos on all channel pages… Snapchat is reducing how much it pays spotlight creators (gotta cut costs somehow).

Linkedin is making it easier to spot fake accounts…And it’s testing a bunch of engagement-baiting prompts on posts… You can now use Face ID to lockdown your LinkedIn app on iOS… LinkedIn has new link stickers for Pages / People… Also, LinkedIn is going to start automatically converting posts with multiple images into carousels… And Finally… President Joe Biden is now using BeReal (hello kidz!)

DID YOU SEE… 👀

  • 🌟 INVITE-ONLY: Join the Official Geekout Group On Facebook[30k+ MEMBERS]

  • 🏆 TWEETS: Are These The Best Tweets Of All Time? [TAKE A LOOK]

  • ✨ TIPS: 15 Social Media CTA Ideas + How To Write The Perfect CTA [LEARN MORE] 

  • 🔡 TIKTOK: TikTok’s Launch Free Marketing Training Platform [TIKTOK ACADEMY]

  • ❤️ TIME OUT: How And Why to Take a Break From Social Media [SELF-HELP]

Okay… It’s time to talk about Elon and that Twitter deal. 

Keep scrolling… My analysis of the biggest story of the week coming up next👇

– Matt

P.S. THE GEEKOUT WEEKLY DEBRIEF is on Twitter Spaces today. We're talking Elon and much more at 4pm UK / 11am ET / 8am PT LISTEN LIVE/PLAY BACK

🚨 Everyone's talking about...

Elon Musk is–as of a few hours ago–"Chief Twit". Let that sink in (Musk certainly did).

His first act was to fire a handful of top execs including CEO Parag Agrawal as he took the company off the stock market. Big paydays mean those fired execs won't be too upset, but for the rest of us, well - who knows what the future holds? 

Employees were filled with dread as the deal raced to the finish line. A report last week that Musk would fire 75% of the workforce led to an internal letter of protest. Meta and Google are reportedly snapping up fleeing tweeps, but Musk said this week he won't actually fire that many staff. You should still expect some major job cuts soon though. 

In the meantime, I wonder how Twitter's software engineers felt as Musk sent in counterparts from Tesla to review their code yesterday? That must have felt like a kick in the teeth as people write totally different kinds of software for a living dug into their work.

Meanwhile, advertisers were also concerned about what a Musk-led 'free speech' push might look like and there were reports some would suspend campaigns. Musk really doesn't want Twitter to make even less revenue, so rushed out a statement to reassure them he won't make Twitter "a free-for-all hellscape".

Some might say it already is that. A leaked internal report this week showed Twitter already losing its most active users, while crypto and NSFW content, including nudity and p*rn, are on the rise. Twitter is increasingly not a very classy joint. Bringing the likes of Donald Trump back (if Musk goes through with that) won't help in that respect.

But even if advertisers and users stick around, Musk has a serious challenge on his hands. The acquisition looks like a bad deal for the banks providing the debt, and then there's the very real question of how he can service the debt unless he can generate a lot of revenue from a company with a smaller headcount. 

The whole this is a real reputational risk for Musk, and there's a chance he could sink Twitter with one of a few bad moves.

Musk may now have taken control, but Twitter's future looks no more certain than it did yesterday.

Things are NOT going well at Meta right now. After a poor set of earnings this week, its stock price is through the floor, it's out of the world's top 20 stocks, and Mark Zuckerberg's net worth has collapsed over the past year.

Add to that the impending layoffs and Apple this week twisting the knife by demanding 30% cut of boosts to posts bought through Meta's iOS apps (Meta slammed back), and it adds to a challenging picture for Zuck.

But at least he's got the metaverse to look forward to, right? ...Right?

The company's poor performance has led to growing calls for Meta to tone down the metaverse stuff, including from one of its most prominent shareholders. Meanwhile, Oculus' original founder (now developing cutting edge military tech) Palmer Luckey says Meta's metaverse is 'terrible', Snap's Evan Spiegel slammed the metaverse, while Apple's Greg Joswiak and Microsoft's Phil Spencer both got digs in at Zuck's vision.

There's a general feeling going around that Zuckerberg will kill Meta with his metaverse push. At the very least, trying such an enormous, speculative pivot at Meta's size and as a publicly traded company is a business case study for the ages. It would be a brave move even for a startup with a few million in VC funding, let alone a behemoth of a business like Meta. 

There was at least some good news: Instagram now has 2 billion users, and Meta now has 3.71 billion monthly users for its family of apps worldwide. Zuck will be also heartened that Facebook and Instagram users are watching 140 billion Reels every day ...50% more than six months ago. Although, they don't really have much choice do they?

The end of a social media era?

This week, with Meta in trouble, YouTube's revenues taking a dip, Amazon and other tech giants publishing poor earnings, and the seismic shift that is Elon Musk acquiring Twitter, it really feels like the end of something.

This has been on the cards for a while. The shift from traditional social media to TikTok-style content feeds that encourage consumption more than participation has been happening for a while - just look at how much Instagram has moved that way.

But it's more than that. As Twitter users shared their favourite ever tweets this week, it really felt like something was dying.

One big shift is that we could be entering a new period where Musk, Ye, and Trump–with Twitter, Parler, and Truth Social–all run social networks as their private fiefdoms. As Charlie Warzel put it:

Soon, we may enter an era where mercurial celebrity landlords dictate the terms of service on their own social networks—ones that are explicitly positioned against content moderation and in favor of a facile understanding of free-speech maximalism.

Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic

But as much as things seem to be changing, I wouldn't worry too much. As the EU pointedly reminded Elon Musk today (in a very EU way) - social platforms operate according to laws around the world. And the restraints over what they can do are set to get tighter very soon thanks to new laws - whether that's to restrict hate speech in Europe, or force platforms to keep more of it in parts of the US.

Business is no longer booming, and social platforms will undoubtedly transform as they cut staff, switch owners, or transform their products. But social media is–and will continue to be–what you make of it.

And hey, as things look down in most other places least things are on the up for Pinterest.

📸 The week in one image

Elon Musk 'let that sink in' as he entered Twitter HQ on the eve of his takeover. People who didn't understand the meme were very confused. 

📲 New app of the week

This new app from Apple–bundled in the latest iOS developer beta–could be really useful for social media managers to plan and do ideation collaboratively.

📈 Going viral

Fake halloween costumes have been all the rage as a meme trendthis week. Who's going out trick or treating as a social media manager?

🗣 Industry chatter

TikTok looks set to get into gaming in a big way:

🐣 Tweet of the week

After Adidas ditched its partnership with Kanye West this week, WeightWatchers made a humorous dig in at the antisemitic rapper here without mentioning his name (163lbs is apparently what he weighs):

❓ Question of the week

Becoming a social media manager for me was more of an accident than a choice. I suspect it was the same for many others, so I asked on Twitter and the response was really enlightening...

📄 Report of the week

This new report from Patreon is packed with interesting insights like this one...

👀 Read of the week

A couple of weeks ago, people's eyes were popping out over the amount of money Twitter ghostwriters can make. Now step forward... the LinkedIn ghostwriter.

  • One LinkedIn ghostwriter offers packages for 12 LinkedIn posts for $2,000 - $3,000

  • Another charges from $800 for 1 month, up to $9,000 for multi-month commitments

🧵 Useful thread

If you use Meta's Ads Manager, its new terms of service have lots of 🚩🚩🚩. Check out this thread for details:

💡 New feature spotlight

Telegram has an interesting new test going on here, but–naughty naughty–it's avoiding giving Apple a 30% cut.

📈 Charts of the week

Which apps do young people REALLY use?

Also: 

📊 Stats of the week

Reels is a huge succes - but Meta did kind of force it on us all, so....

Also: 

💬 You can quote me on that

When I'm mentioned in the news, you'll find it here:

BBC News asked me if the way TikTok's algorithm works is part of the problem... 

TikTok blamed by filmmaker for allowing abusive comments on video

Emmeline Hartley feels its software drives sexist hate towards her film, but TikTok says it bans misogyny.

Also:

😆 LOL tweets

Meta News

The Wire has finally retracted its much-criticised stories about Meta's conduct in India, and its 'TekFog' story from earlier in the year, as it investigates their veracity. It blames the mistakes on 'deception by a member of staff. 

  • Meta faces the threat of Instagram influencers directing their fans to Discord and other similar platforms. [The Information $$$]

  • Meta's move into financial services is being investigated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, alongside similar moves by other big tech companies. [Financial Times $$$]

  • ...and Meta's metaverse can't just be regulated by the company, Ofcom's boss has warned. [CNBC]

  • Instagram staff reportedly wanted to launch in-app community features as early as 2016 but met internal resistance. [The Information $$$]

  • Facebook is still letting ads promoting guns get published. [NBC News]

  • Meta Quest Pro is now available to buy online for $1,499. [Meta Newsroom]

  • ...and reviewers are impressed with it. [Digital Trends]

  • Meta has confirmed that the Quest 3 will arrive next year. [Protocol]

  • Instagram removed a second P*rnhub account after the company tried to dodge its ban. [Variety]

  • Kanye West has returned to Instagram saying he "lost 2 billion dollars in one day'. [CBS News]

  • Meta has been fined $25 million campaign finance violations in Washington state. [Axios]

  • Facebook segments ads by race and age based on photos, a new study claims. [Gizmodo]

  • Meta has published new terms for self-serve Ads Manager accounts. [@CoryDobbin]

  • Meta has threatened to block news content on Facebook in Canada, in a similar dispute to the one in Australia last year. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

  • Meta and L'Oreal have teamed up for a French web3 startup accelerator. [AdWeek $$$]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

  • Meta has shared new insights on how to improve your ad performance amid privacy and system changes. [Social Media Today]

  • Instagram has announced a live events series to help marketers with holiday campaigns. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

  • Facebook is testing an A/B testing feature for video thumbnails. [@MattNavarra]

  • Facebook has been spotted offering a profile QR code shortcut in the search bar. [@TechnicalGulab]

Instagram:

  • Instagram now offers a 'See all remixes' option on Reels. [@WFBrother]

  • Instagram has rolled out its public chat sticker to more users. [@ahmedghanem]

  • Instagram has been spotted offering a new interface when searching for music to add in a Reel. [@oncescuradu]

  • Instagram is still developing a 'Channels' feature. Now the ability to manage them from your profile has been spotted in code. [@alex193a]

  • Instagram is working on a 'transgender' chat theme. [@alex193a]

  • ...and a 'Friendsgiving' chat theme. [@alex193a]

WhatsApp:

  • WhatsApp is getting Facebook’s Bitmoji-style avatars. [The Verge]

  • WhatsApp is testing a blur tool for images on desktop. [WABetaInfo]

  • WhatsApp is working on profile photos within groups. [WABetaInfo]

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

  • Meta has launched a new tool to help businesses report fake accounts impersonating their brand. [Meta Newsroom]

  • Meta now offers 'Advantage+' shopping ad campaigns with automated targeting. [Social Media Today]

  • The Oculus Developer Hub has been renamed Meta Quest Developer Hub alongside the launch of version 3.0. [Meta Quest]

Twitter News

Private jet tracking on Twitter keeps beating attempts by the likes of Elon Musk and Donald Trump to evade it.

  • Twitter has discontinued Ticketed Spaces. [The Information $$$]

  • Google has acquired Twitter-backed A.I. avatar startup Alter for $100 million. [TechCrunch]

  • Twitter has shared some pointers to help people make best use of the app in emergency situations. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

  • Twitter has announced the ability to buy and sell NFTs via special tweet tiles. [Decrypt]

  • Twitter's Campaign Manager tool is now available in 15 more markets and also supports the Video Views objective. [@TwitterBusiness]

  • Twitter Communities now notify members when admins or mods pin a tweet. [@HiCommunities]

  • Twitter's updated API now supports DMs. [AdWeek $$$]

  • Twitter has officially launched its new icons. [@TwitterDesign]

  • Twitter is testing the ability to highlight a community you admin or mod on your profile if you have a Professional account. [@HiCommunities]

  • Twitter's shopping feed is now available to some users. [@_Youssef]

  • Twitter is working on a prototype crypto wallet. [@wongmjane]

  • Twitter could soon be able to send login verification codes via WhatsApp. [@alex193a]

  • Twitter is working on a Spaces section in the sidebar on the web. [@nima_owji]

TikTok News

TikTok moderators really do not have an easy life, a new investigation has revealed.

  • TikTok’s former Chief Security Officer was reportedly investigated multiple times by ByteDance’s Internal Audit team until he left the company in July. [Forbes $$$]

  • TikTok plans to expand into an huge new London office. [Bloomberg $$$]

  • TikTok needs to up its logistics game to succeed at ecommerce, experts say. [Insider $$$]

  • TikTok's direct response capabilities aren't up to scratch for marketers yet. [Digiday $$$]

  • Agencies are increasing their focus on TikTok, away from YouTube and Instagram. [Digiday]

  • 53% of millennials have ordered from a restaurant after seeing it on TikTok, according to a new third-party report. [TubeFilter]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

  • Want to understand the power of livestreaming for brands? TikTok has shared some insights. [Social Media Today]

  • TikTok has launched a 'TikTok Academy' marketing education platform. [Social Media Today]

  • TikTok has published a 17-page holiday guide for marketers. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

  • TikTok is testing a Group chat feature. [@ahmedghanem]

  • TikTok has added a ‘Save login on iCloud' feature for iOS users. [@MattNavarra]

  • TikTok is rolling out its Live Subscriptions monetisation feature to more creators. [@oncescuradu]

  • TikTok looks set to launch a dedicated in-app Gaming tab. [Financial Times $$$]

  • TikTok has a new icon for profile views. [@oncescuradu]

  • TikTok is testing a new UI for writing a video description. [@oncescuradu]

💥 More social media news and updates

"YouTube’s long battle against TikTok has started to take its toll after its parent company, Alphabet, reported a decline in revenue at the video-streaming site."

  • Social platforms aren't well prepared to US election misinformation, experts have warned. [Fast Company]

  • ...and activist groups are demanding action. [Axios]

  • A pro-China social campaign targeted US voters, according to researchers. [NBC News]

  • ...and YouTube says it is removing more than 3,000 channels per month linked to China-based influence campaigns. [Social Media Today]

  • The Democrats are rolling out the red carpet for social media influencers in the US. [Washington Post $$$]

  • Joe Biden took to BeReal to promote vaccine takeup. [Mashable]

  • BeReal is under pressure to offer features for marketers. [Digiday]

  • ...and Shake Shack is one of the brands that has been experimenting on BeReal already. [Digiday $$$]

  • Big media companies have started suing TikTok creators and Instagrammers for IP and copyright infringement. [CNN]

  • India’s homegrown TikTok clones have struggled to replicate Bytedance’s success since TikTok was banned. Instagram and YouTube seem to be filling the void best. [Rest of World]

  • LinkedIn is seeing record engagement and now has 850m members worldwide, the company says. [Social Media Today]

  • LinkedIn has revealed the creators taking part in its second accelerator program. [Insider $$$]

  • LinkedIn ghostwriting is a lucrative business. [Vox]

  • Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has lost 83% of his wealth over the past year. [Insider]

  • Snap is being sued after Snapchat's disappearing messages allegedly helped teenagers obtain the drug fentanyl. [Insider]

  • Snap continues to cut the amount paid to influencers via spotlight. It's down to millions of dollars per year, instead of millions per day two years ago. [Insider $$$]

  • Only one BBC journalist has been disciplined over social media activity in the second year of the corporation's new social media guidelines. [PressGazette]

  • The UK Online Safety Bill is not doomed, the government says. [TechCrunch]

  • Pinterest has launched a video partnership with the Louvre. [Social Media Today]

  • Twitch has published new, simplified community guidelines. [AdWeek $$$]

  • MrBeast wants to raise $150m at a $1.5 billion valuation for a rapid expansion in his merch, food and consumer goods. [Axios]

  • A startup called Jellysmack is looking for Asia's next big influencers as part of a $500m fund. [Bloomberg $$$]

  • OnlyFans creators have earned $10 billion since it was launched in 2016, and there are now more than 2 million creators on the platform. [@MattNavarra]

  • OnlyFans' CEO says it is "truly the safest and most inclusive social media platform" following claims child abuse images originated on the site. [Insider]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

  • 17 call to action examples ( and how to write the perfect social CTA) [Adespresso]

  • Want to understand Halloween engagement on Reddit? The company has shared some insights. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

  • YouTube has rolled out a redesign, built to feel more like TV. [Fast Company]

  • YouTube has launched a video trimming tool that turns your videos into six-second bumper ads. [Search Engine Land]

  • YouTube is letting you vote on feature requests for its TV and games console apps. [9to5Google]

  • YouTube has added a navigation drawer for Explore on Android. [9to5Google]

  • YouTube is rolling out separate tabs for Shorts, Live Streams, and Videos on all channel pages. [@MattNavarra]

  • LinkedIn has added people and page link stickers. [@MattNavarra]

  • LinkedIn is adding a new ‘About this Profile’ feature to help you spot fake or sketchy accounts, among other security features. [Social Media Today]

  • LinkedIn has announced updates to its recruitment tools, with a focus on improving internal mobility. [Social Media Today]

  • LinkedIn now sometimes converts posts with multiple photos into carousels instead of a photo grid. [@MattNavarra]

  • Snapchat has rolled out Director Mode globally on iOS and Android. [The Verge]

  • Snapchat has added new lenses and Bitmoji for Halloween. [Social Media Today]

  • Telegram is to hold username auctions via a blockchain-based service. [TechCrunch]

💲 Advertise in Geekout

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You should advertise in Geekout! Get in touch: [email protected]

📖 Weekend reading

"TikTok’s all-powerful, all-knowing algorithm appears to have decided that I want to see some of the most depressing and disturbing content the platform has to offer. My timeline has become an endless doomscroll. Despite TikTok’s claims that its mission is to 'bring joy,' I am not getting much joy at all."

😳 And finally...

Found: Mark Zuckerberg's legs:

📅 Back next week...

…And that’s pretty much it this week

Geekout. DONE. 👊

I’m heading off to check if my Twitter account has been suspended by Elon yet. 

If you open the Twitter app and the rioting and looting has started… 

…Come find me over on LinkedIn

Goodbye, geeks!

– Matt

_______

This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant

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