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Hello, geeks!

Welcome OG Geekout readers, and the 3,000+ new subscribers who joined us in September.

Before we dive in…

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A quick PSA this week… 🚨

My ego is being crushed on a weekly basis right now.

I keep getting very legit-looking emails and LinkedIn messages from ‘talent managers’, heads of recruitment at WhatsApp, Instagram, Amazon, Deloitte, and other top companies, encouraging me to become their new director of social media or head of content.

Sadly, like thousands of others who have had these invitations, I quickly discovered it’s just another phishing scam. Booooooo!

So, be warned. If a job offer looks to good to be true… Sadly, right now, it probably is. Stay alert, folks. 👀

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Best social media conference in the UK… (Last few tickets!) 🎟️

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It’s jam-packed with top speakers including TikTok, Guinness World Records, Six Nations Rugby, Girl Power Marketing, WWF… And me (but don’t let that put you off!)

Check out the agenda and grab your ticket ASAP.

If you’re coming along… Come find me on the day to say hello! 👋

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

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

2. 42 US state AGs endorsed plan to add warning labels on social media [FEAR-MONGERING]

3. Telegram will start moderating private chats after CEO’s arrest [DAMAGE-CONTROLLING]

4. Transcript of secret briefing revealed new notes on TikTok’s US Security Risk [REDACTING]

5. Meta scraped all public Facebook and Instagram posts since 2007 [DATA-HOARDING]

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT…

How DO you keep kids safe on social media?

Nothing stirs the emotions of policymakers more than protecting kids. And so doing something about all that dang time kids are spending on their dang phones has been a priority with certain politicians for years now.

The latest proposal to hit the headlines is an Australian idea to ban children from social media. Under the still quite vague plans, children wouldn’t be allowed to use social media apps until they were somewhere between 14 and 16 (exact age TBD).

Age verification tech would be used to police their access, but exactly what that tech will be remains to be seen.

I’m getting flashbacks to the plans to age-limit access to adult sites in the UK. That ended up being a privacy nightmare and had to be scrapped.

Plans to restrict kids’ access to social media are really hard to get right. In Utah, a judge this week temporarily blocked a similar law over concerns it broke the US First Amendment right to the government not restricting speech.

The US idea for cigarette-style warning labels on social media apps could help protect teens, but they could equally be completely ignored by savvy kids keen for some TikTok time.

Until we have any kind of definitive, highly credible research demonstrating real harms to young people from social media, it’s going to be very hard to get anything to stick.

In the meantime, good parenting, along with a responsible attitude from social platforms, might be the only things that can really make sure kids can really stay safe.

However, relying on parents might be a stretch. As Meta’s Nick Clegg said this week, ‘Oh, we’ve given parents choices to restrict the amount of time kids are [online]’ – parents don’t use it.” 🤷‍♂️

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

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

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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 Press Association about how the Princess of Wales is using video to take control of the narrative around her health.

• I also spoke to The Drum about the new proposal from 42 US attorneys general to require warning labels – à la tobacco product health messages – on social media.

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😆 LOL

Also very funny this week…

• Armando Iannucci is doing incredible work at owning Elon Musk

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📈 MEMES

This weeks presidential candidates’ debate provided plenty of meme fodder, not least Donald Trump amplification of a baseless story about immigrants eating pets.

Watch this! 👇 (h/t Vicki Jakes via the Geekout Pro VIP chat channel)

yakidamingo

View more on Instagram

Check out more of the best Trump vs. Harris debate reactions and memes 

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📈 TRENDING

‘Cool Britannia’ is back. Kinda…

Also:

• TikTok's latest Trending Report gives sneak peak into autumn's biggest trends

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🌡️ VIRAL

🤯 “The popular mukbang YouTuber told NBC News he hid his 250-plus pound weight loss from millions of subscribers by uploading recorded content for two years.”

Also worth checking out…

• TikTok's hot passport photo trend is causing headaches at airports

• The Reddit mystery of the elusive 'Celebrity Number Six' is finally solved

• TikTok’s ‘Gen Z staff write the ad script’ trend is still rolling

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🪧 BRANDS

“‘Part of the DNA of Stonyfield has always been helping consumers avoid toxins in their day-to-day lives,’ says Kristina Drociak, director of PR at Stonyfield.

“‘We’re always trying to find ways to help consumers detoxify their lives, and this year we landed on a new way we could do that.’”

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🙊 WTF DID YOU JUST SAY?!

“I will give you a child”

– 🤮 Elon Musk’s super-creepy response to Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. The internet concurred that it’s horrifically icky at the very least….

• Telegram CEO Pavel Durov slams France for "misguided" arrest and says app is no 'anarchic paradise

• Donald Trump claims Mark Zuckerberg promised not to vote against him after his shooting

• Mark Zuckerberg says he’s done apologising

• Meta exec Nick Clegg’s assessment of Elon Musk’s X is bang-on: “A sort of one man, sort of hyper-partisan and ideological hobby horse.”

• Meta’s Nick Clegg revealed parents are not using tools to protect their children: “We’ve given parents choices to restrict the amount of time kids are [online]’ – parents don’t use it.”

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👀 MY FAV READS

This is a great read - Katie Notopoulos spent days posting the dumbest questions she could on Threads, and found it was a great way of getting people angry… and farming a huge amount of engagement.

Also a great read this week…

• “Are You Saying No to Elon Musk?”: Scenes from the slash-and-burn buyout of Twitter, which features Elon Musk shouting “F**k Zuck!”… for some reason

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📲 NEW APP ALERT

Verse is a new iOS app that ”allows users to design and publish multimedia content on an interactive canvas with the help of an AI assistant.

“You can create a mini website, called a Verse, for things like moodboards, greeting cards, invitations, storefronts, fan pages, blogs, and more.”

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😮 WTF?!

Yikes! “A bug in how WhatsApp implements its so-called ‘View Once’ feature in its browser-based web app allows any malicious recipient to display and save the picture and video, which should vanish immediately after being viewed.”

And this is worth checking out:

• How 9/11 became one of the internet’s most popular memes. Yep, Gen Z loves a 9/11 meme

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week:

• FIFA is looking for a social media manager for the 2026 World Cup [Miami, FL, USA]

• The Kamala Harris campaign, needs a social media manager for running mate Tim Walz [Wilmington, DE, USA]

• BAFTA wants to find a digital content producer [London, UK]

• John Lewis is looking for a social content strategist [London, UK]

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👌 PRO TIPS

Spending hours each week perfecting Reels thumbnail covers? You might be wasting your time. 🕰️

The covers of your Reels on Instagram have little impact, Adam Mosseri says:

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🤖 SOCIAL A.I.

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

• Instagram is working on a feature to add AIs to group chats

• WhatsApp is working on a feature to choose a Meta AI voice modelled after public figures

• CapCut has added a feature called AI Packaging for adding captions and sound

• Adobe has previewed its upcoming text-to-video generative AI tools

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

$187 BILLION

– Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth after a surge in his wealth this year. It puts him in the running to become the world’s richest person

• TikTok: Just 32% of US adults back a TikTok ban, according to survey data from Pew Research

• TikTok: 8 out of 10 TikTok videos By brands fail to capture attention

• Telegram: Analysis of more than 3.2 million Telegram messages from 16,000 channels found the platform is ‘inundated’ with illegal and extremist activity

• Bluesky: 5 days after Brazil banned X, Bluesky announced it had 2.6 million new users join the platform

• 75% of Gen-Z Americans associated social media usage with negative impacts on their mental health… but 80% associated social media with a positive impact on their mood

• OnlyFans revenue jumped 20% to about $1.31 billion in 2023

• OnlyFans users spent $6.6 billion on creators on the platform in 2023

• YouTube says 19 million channels now have handles that use international characters.

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📈 CHARTED

More Gen. Z and Millennials say they feel most like themselves ‘online’ than ‘offline’:

• APP LOVING: The most loved and hated social media and messaging apps by country

• ELECTION SOCIAL: Twice as many Brits got 2024 election news from TV as social media

• TOXIC TWEETS: A deluge of abuse was sent on X to prominent UK politicians during the 2024 election period

• BREAKING NEWS: The internet has replaced TV as the UK’s most popular news source for first time

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• Meta plans to automatically restrict certain advertising data, including parts of URLs and custom parameters. [Search Engine Land]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• Meta has shared new Reels tips for your Christmas holiday campaigns. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

Instagram:

• Instagram is now sharing tips to help you get the most out of your broadcast channel. [@martijncales]

• Instagram has moved several of Reels settings behind 'more options' for some users. [@cmcalgary]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp is testing a live activity feature for media uploads. [@WABetaInfo]

• WhatsApp is working on a clearer interface for the Communities tab. [WABetaInfo]

• WhatsApp has brought Meta Verified and customised messages to small businesses in India. [TechCrunch]

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

• Meta Quest’s latest update adds mutlitasking, spacial audio for 2D, and more/ [UploadVR]

• Meta’s Marketing API has been updated to ensure that Reminder Ads created in third-party apps have all the same functionality as in Ads Manager. [Social Media Today]

• You can now share your first-person view in Messenger calls on Meta Quest. [UploadVR]

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• X is working with a GOP consulting firm to field enquiries about Elon Musk’s standoff with Brazil. [Wired $$$]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• Leaving X? Here’s how to delete your account and keep your data. [Fast Company]

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

• Some cybercriminals are ditching Telegram following Pavel Durov’s recent arrest. [404 Media]

• A 10-year-old’s 'Blackout Challenge' death has the potential to spell the end of Section 230 in the USA. [Business Insider]

• The EU Commission will check social media platforms’ advertising transparency. [Euronews]

• TikTok and Meta aren’t doing enough to protect kids from fentanyl-laced drugs, experts say. [Fast Company]

• Australia plans fines for Meta, X and others who enable misinformation. [ReadWrite]

• UK ads watchdog the ASA is investigating gambling memes that appeal to kids. [ReadWrite]

• NASA is inviting up to 50 social media content creators on platforms like TikTok and Instagram to attend the media circus surrounding the Europa Clipper mission. [USA Today]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• Reddit has published its 2025 marketing planning guide. [Social Media Today]

New features and tests:

• YouTube Studio has added a new website visits goal for promotions. [Search Engine Land]

• YouTube Studio’s app now allows you to display your channel's Home tab to highlight and showcase content for your audience. [@jonahmanzano]

• Snapchat's function buttons are all now showing on the right side when expanding. [@jonahmanzano]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

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

Is the usefulness of emoji on the wane?

• The desperation of the Instagram photo dump

• How Trump flip-flopped on TikTok

• Why isn't anyone tagging their friends on Instagram anymore?

• How Brazil's suspension of X is hurting 'stan Twitter'

• Twitter logs off of San Francisco: The city gave the company a massive tax break to stay put. What went wrong?

• Not "very demure": Trademark spats are a trend for creators who go viral

• Why the Kremlin loves social media

• How Apple became an enemy to many influencers by taking creator money

• How eating disorder posts proliferate on X

• LinkedIn's chief product officer explains the change in mindset that led to finding success

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😳 AND FINALLY…

Blunt by name, blunt by nature. 👏

King of Twitter take-downs James Blunt spoke for everyone with his reply to Ryanair this week:

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

… And that’s your super-stuffed, geeky social media download… Done! 🤓 ✅

You are an OG Geekout reader if you got this far!

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And if you reply to this email saying “GIMME A DISCOUNT!”, i will send you a VIP code to get a special discount…

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Alrighty… I’m heading off to give my garden a much-needed makeover. It’s days away from being declared an eye-sore or public safety risk.

Two days of pulling weeds, painting fences, and jet-washing paving. 🏡

My life is so rock n roll. 🤘🏻

Goodbye, geeks!

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