twitter’s nightmare before christmas

Hello, geeks!

Welcome to the final edition of Geekout for 2022. It’s been a wild year!

And it’s fitting we end the year with (another) week where Twitter is in chaos. Elmo is being an asshole in his Hellscape™. Again.

Did you see... Elon stood next to me and gave me the side-eye 😯

Before we dive into all that, I wanted to take a moment to thank YOU. My Geekout friends. 

Writing this newsletter is my favourite bit of the week. I feel honoured that you permit me to slide into your email inbox every Friday. 

You make it possible for me to ‘screw around on Twitter’ (as my mum describes my work), and somehow earn enough £’s to pay my bills. I appreciate you. ❤️

BTW…Sending big love out to all social media managers facing this xmas nightmare. You got this! 👊

DON’T MISS…

• 1,367 social media managers love this new service 

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Ok folks… Let’s do this. Here are the hottest headlines in social this week:

🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

1. Elon Musk Blocks Journalists After Reinstating Nazis & Trolls [ANGRY ELMO]

2. Twitter Hastily Updates Privacy Policy to Justify @ElonJet Ban [OH ELMO]

3. US Senator Proposes Bill to Ban TikTok In The US [TICKED OFF]

4. Instagram Launched Notes + BeReal Ripoff ‘Candid’ [FOR REAL]

5. Twitter Blue Relaunched With New Verification Badges + $11 Price Tag [SUCK IT, TIM]

What else is new and noteworthy this week? Quite a lot, actually. Here’s a round-up of everything else you’ll want to know about:

Meta is expanding live chat support to 30+ countries in 2023 (you spoil us, Zuck)... Instagram is testing new suspicious account warnings when dodgy accounts follow or message you… Your Instagram avatar will now dance in your stories (nobody asked for this)... WhatsApp picture-in-picture mode for video calls coming in 2023… And Whatsapp is working on a ‘View once’ option for chat messages.

TikTok may be working on an OnlyFans style monetisation feature for creators… TikTok has fixed two frustrating issues with its app (I like this a lot)... TikTok is going all-in with its BeReal clone TikTok Now (already hate this)... And YouTube added new features to tackle comment spam.

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Twitter is working on 4,000 character tweets.. Twitter confirmed it will remove all legacy verified account’s blue ticks unless they pony up for Twitter Blue… And good news… Twitter plans to free up millions of dormant @-names.

And finally… Someone challenged ChatGPT to write a load of social media posts. Verdict? Social media manager’s jobs are safe for now. 😆 

DID YOU SEE…  👀

• ⚡️EXCLUSIVE: Get Social Media News Alerts via WhatsApp [REQUEST ACCESS]

• 🕺🏻 TIKTOK: Top 20 Most Followed TikTok Accounts in 2022 [VIEW LIST]

• 🔥 VIRAL: The Hottest Viral Internet Culture News in 2022 [TAKE A LOOK]

• 📆 GET READY:3 Key Steps to Boost Your Social Strategy in 2023 [LEARN STEPS] 

• ⭐️ TWITTER: Top 50 Most Influential People on Twitter 2022 [CHECK IT OUT]

• ✨ PRO-TIPS: 15 Tips for Better Instagram Engagement Rates [REVEAL TIPS]

2022 has been one helluva year, huh? 

So… For the last time this year, it’s time to go deeper on the hottest headlines in social this week. Analysis of the stories we’re all talking about coming up next. 👇

– Matt

P.S. ELON KILLED OUR TWITTER SPACE PLANS: We wanted to bring you an end-of-year Geekout Space today, but Elon Musk has ripped Spaces out of Twitter to fix a bug that really bugged him. 

More detail on that below, and we'll be back with the regular Spaces in 2023, Musk willing.

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🚨 Everyone's talking about...

Elon Musk bans several journalists from Twitter after reinstating literal Nazis

Elon Musk has generated plenty of drama since he took over Twitter mere weeks ago. But last night felt like a real turning point - the moment where it became crystal clear that the billionaire views Twitter as his toy, and you're just lucky to be allowed to play with it.

High-profile journalists were suspended (seemingly for a week) for linking to details of his private jet's location. It's not clear all of them actually linked to it, but he certainly has a bee in his bonnet over people's ability to see where his jet has been going. 

Later, on a Twitter Space, Musk was grilled by journalists over the move, which is a major disruption in journalists' ability to do their job via the platform. He struggled to give a clear answer on the subject, and eventually just dropped off the call. Within hours, the entire Spaces feature was shut down. This was seemingly because a Spaces bug means suspended accounts can join Spaces to complain about being suspended. Musk suggested it would be back by Saturday.

Oh, and if you were going to share your Mastodon account before decamping over there, don't bother: ALL Mastodon links have been blocked on Twitter. And what looks like a botched attempt to block popular flight tracking site Flightradar24, Twitter has blocked a non-existent site instead.

The move shows that the only free speech truly allowed on Twitter is the speech Musk allows. Banning journalists is not proving as popular as he might hope, either, if his polls on the matter are anything to go by. The episode has already attracted attention of the EU.

But let's take a step back. This all began after Twitter banned @ElonJet, the account that posted movements of his jet, after Musk previously said it wouldn't be banned because of his commitment to free speech. Twitter even banned the account's creator and blocked links to his accounts on other platforms. All other similar flight tracking accounts were banned as well.

Following this, Twitter swiftly introduced new rules limiting the sharing of people's locations. What appears to have prompted this is an alleged stalking incident affecting Musk's young child, X. Musk posted video of an alleged perpetrator (seemingly going against the spirit of his own new rules) and promised legal action agains the creator of @ElonJet, despite no evidence the account had anything to do with the stalking.

Whether or not you think the movements of jets belonging to some of the world's most powerful people should be publicly tracked, worries about how the new rules could be used for political censorship are worth considering. The release of old internal communications at Twitter (AKA 'the Twitter files') have certainly politicised the company in ways Musk claims he was trying to expose. 

Also this week:

• Musk made unsavoury insinuations about former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth. This reportedly forced Roth to leave his home for his own safety. Roth recently gave an interview and had a piece published in the New York Times sharing his views on Musk's Twitter. Do you forfeit the right to safety on Twitter if its owner wants revenge on you?

• Musk also took a shot at Anthony Fauci drawing the ire of the White House 

• Musk misrepresented child safety done work under the previous management

• He even tweeted a pro-QAnon message 😬

Twitter appears to have adopted a 'move fast and break things' approach to safety and security. Case in point: a crackdown on bots this week was so botched it blocked traffic from 30 mobile carriers, around the world.

Even a bid to stop leaks went wrong. A threat to sue staff who speak to the media went out over the weekend, meaning some staff missed the email and they got fired for not responding.

No wonder three members of Twitter's Trust & Safety Council resigned a week ago. But they could have saved themselves the effort: Twitter disbanded it by email hours before a virtual meeting earlier this week.

It's wild to think that some of this happened BEFORE Musk was booed when he appeared onstage at a Dave Chapelle show earlier this week. How loud would the boos be now?

Honestly, I could summarise this week in Twitter's Musk meltdown for far longer. There's LOADS more. Check the Twitter news roundup near the end of this email for the rest.

Twitter Blue relaunches, now costs $11 per month if you subscribe from an iPhone

In better news for Elon Musk, Twitter Blue relaunched this week in far better shape than its rushed release a few weeks back, despite a higher price tag if you subscribe via an iOS device.

A key factor this time around is phone number verification as a security check when you sign up ,and human checks before you get a checkmark, which can take up to seven days. Gold checkmarks also started to roll out as the beginnings of a 'Blue for Business' offering, with grey checks for governmental accounts set to follow.

The current offering cuts the number of ads seen by 50%, but Musk says a no ads tier will be added in the future.

Twitter needs Blue to work, as it continues to suffer a perilous long-term financial position. While some advertisers have returned recently, the never-ending culture war Musk seems determined to wage on his platform must surely be a turnoff.

To deal with the money problems, Twitter is reportedly exploring a move to force users to opt into personal data tracking (so they're worth more to advertisers) or lose access to the service entirely. The only way around this would be to pay for Blue. It's a typically 'hardcore' idea, but the EU might not be happy about it.

Meanwhile, in a bid to cut costs, Twitter has reportedly gone as far as no longer paying rent, considering whether to not pay severance to departing employees, and even rejecting expense claims from employees.

Elon meanwhile sold another $3.58 billion in Tesla shares this week. Could he planning to buy some of Twitter's own debt himself?

Oh and just to confirm, old checkmarks are still going to be removed in the future. In the meantime, 'legacy blue checks' get dissed with a "may or may not be notable" description. How very rude!

At least display names have been unlocked again for verified users, so people who have been stuck with a Halloween joke name for weeks can switch to something more festive or just, you know, their real name.

New plan to ban TikTok in the US

Remember when Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok outright? That idea is back with a vengeance.

As the Verge reports, a proposal from Senator Marco Rubio "would require President Joe Biden to block all US transactions with TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. It directs Biden to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to restrict access to the service, alleging that ByteDance’s collection of American user data and its vulnerability to Chinese government pressure pose a security threat."

It comes at a time when the security deal TikTok has been discussing with the US government is looking shaky, and a growing number of US states are cracking down on government use of the app.

ByteDance has always tried to present TikTok as an international app, with only light ties to China. With a CEO based outside China and senior management in the US, it's structured in a way that made a lot of sense not so long ago.

But now TikTok finds itself at the sharp end of a wider shift from globalisation to polarisation. Where once global free trade was celebrated and encouraged, regions of the world are starting to eye each other a little more suspiciously, especially when it comes to China.

So will TikTok be banned outright? I doubt it, even if this new bill passes. Trump's attempts hit legal roadblocks and so will this one. And do any politicians really want to ban an app so popular with voters? Get Reel.

📈 Going viral

Instagram started rolling out Notes this week. Think of it as a way to share tweet-like updates with your close friends.

It doesn't look like it's clicking with with users though... Check out the comments 💀

If you can't see the point of it, why not use Notes just to troll your friends?

👉 On-point meme

🗣️ Industry chatter

What's going on here then? A bug? An algorithm change? Whatever it is, TikTok creators are pissed about it...

🚨 Hot new features

If you've been following TikTok's gradual shift into the search space, you'll know how much of a big move this could be...

Also: TikTok wants you to spend some quality time with horizontal video in its app.

👀 Sneak peek

Did you know Twitter has an app specially for its VITs (Very Important Tweeters)? I shared some details about it this week, as I wondered whether Elon Musk might lean into it as a way to get celebrities tweeting more:

Don't miss: After I tweeted about it, one of the team who built it shared some memories and thoughts about the app, which was only ever released on iOS via Apple's TestFlight beta testing platform.

🛠️ Free tools

If you're sticking with Twitter amid all the drama over there at the moment, check this out: 

Also:

• Futurepedia - "The Largest A.I. Tools Directory"

• Lexica Aperture can generate 'realistic' looking photographs from your text prompts

📄 Report of the week

If you want to learn how journalists are using TikTok as a reporting and storytelling tool, this thread is a great place to start 👇

Meanwhile, Meta has shared some interesting info about the current state of 'inauthentic behaviour' on its platforms:

🪦 RIP

RIP Revue, the platform this newsletter ran on for its first couple of years. We'd heard Twitter was planning to close it, and now it's official. If you run a newsletter on there you've only got until 18 January to download your data and move somewhere else.

Also: 

• Meta is shutting down its Cameo clone app Super. [@JoshConstine]

🎧 Worth a listen

This is a really good interview with Matt Mullenweg, the WordPress boss who bought Tumblr and has lots of insights into the challenges of running a social platform.

💡 New feature spotlight

Instagram announced a bunch of new private sharing features in Instagram this week, including Notes (mentioned above). I break them all down in this thread 👇

📸 Snap THAT

Here are Snapchat's top lenses, songs, and trends 2022 👇

👀 Read of the week

This is a great recap of the fuel Elon Musk has poured on his Twitter fire (so far)...

Elon Musk’s Twitter Is a Shakespearean Psychodrama Set in Silicon Valley

And don't miss:

• We’re witnessing the brain death of Twitter

💬 You can quote me on that

I spoke to Dazed about BeReal's battle with the copycats at Instagram and TikTok

Also: 

• I gave Chris Stokel-Walker my thoughts on the ChatGPT craze blowing people's minds, for the DailyDot.

❓ Question of the week

What title would REALLY best describe your job? My followers have been sharing their ideas, both serious and... not so serious. Get involved 👇

🤦 Fail of the week

This looks like one of those things that slip through the cracks when you don't have as many staff as you used to. Nigeria is definitely not Norway. Oops. Elon personally apologised. Read more here.

Also:

• An Instagram skater shows off their skills on the streets of London — until a car door gets in the way

📈 Charts of the week

Also:

• Visits to Twitter's ad manager are through the floor

• The crazy viral spread of ChatGPT across the web

• TikTok outperforms Instagram for engagement

• CapCut is on the rise as one of the most downloaded apps in the world

• Twitch users watched 21 billion hours of content and sent 48 billion messages in 2022

📊 Stat of the week

Outside the US, BeReal is almost entirely a thing for women:

Also:

• The number of YouTube videos posted with “#Shorts” in the last 90 days up 51% compared vs. the previous 90-day period

Facebook knew Instagram was pushing girls to dangerous content, according to internal documents from last year. 

• Meta plans to expand access to live chat support to 30+ countries in 2023. [Meta Newsroom]

• Meta has open-sourced its Hasher-Matcher-Actioner content moderation tool to tie in with the company taking the chair role at counter-terrorism body GIFCT. [Meta Newsroom]

• Facebook's Jobs feature will shut down on February 23, everywhere except North America. [AdWeek $$$]

• The US, Ukraine, and UK were the most-targeted countries by inauthentic behaviour this year, according to Meta. [@MattNavarra]

• Meta's bug bounty programme has paid out $2m this year. [Meta Newsroom]

• ...and it will pay out up to $45,000 for Quest Pro bugs. [Road to VR]

• Meta has halted construction of two data centres in Denmark. It plans to move to a new type of data centre using more A.I. [Reuters $$$]

• Meta has closed its Connectivity division after nearly a decade. [The Verge]

• Meta has ended a $200-per-month Lyft rides perk for employees. [Insider $$$]

• ...and cut the value of a health and wellness benefit. [Insider $$$]

• Meta has been sued with an allegation that Facebook's algorithm helped fuel viral spread of hate and violence during Ethiopia's civil war. [BBC News]

• Meta's Oversight Board said 27% of its recommendations were fully or partially implemented during the Q3 2022, compared with 21% in Q2. [Reuters $$$]

• Shaquille O’Neal and Meta will host a New Year's Eve party in VR. [Variety]

• Harry and Meghan say they first met thanks to Instagram. [People]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• 15 tips for a better Instagram engagement rate. [Hootsuite blog]

• Want to get more from your Facebook and Instagram video ads? Meta has shared data that could help. [Social Media Today]

• Facebook and Instagram accounted for 65% of all UK ecommerce adspend in 2022. [Campaign]

• Meta has shared how it thinks the metaverse will change the workplace in 2023. [Tech at Meta]

New features and tests:

Facebook:

• Facebook has added a 'Crisis Response' resource. [@oncescuradu]

• Facebook now shows the category of a profile or page in search results. [@oncescuradu]

• Facebook has been spotted offering an 'Invite Collaborator' option for Reels. [@TechnicalGulab]

Instagram:

• Instagram will display verification badges in more places within the app. [Instagram blog]

• Instagram's 'Candid' BeReal-style feature has been spotted live in India. [@salman_memon_7]

• Instagram has been spotted showing emoji reactions on the story viewers list. [@WFBrother]

• Instagram is testing a 'from ads' inbox for messages. [@ItsSachinShah]

• Instagram has a new 'Track Responsiveness' tool to help businesses measure their performance. [@ahemedghanem]

• Instagram is testing new 'suspicious account' warnings. [Instagram blog]

• Instagram has new World Cup chat themes. [@messenger]

• Instagram is testing a blue Follow button in Reels. [@hammodoh1]

• Instagram has added the ability to switch to dark mode on desktop. [@jonah_manzano]

Messenger:

• Messenger has new World Cup themes. [@messenger]

WhatsApp:

• WhatsApp now supports 32-person video calls. [@WhatsApp]

• WhatsApp is working on view-once text messages. [WABetaInfo]

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

• Meta has added level-building tools to its Fortnite-like VR battle royale game. [The Verge]

Twitter is closing Revue next month, but that doesn't mean Elon Musk wouldn't be willing to look at buying its rival Substack (if it was for sale).

• Twitter is set to soon remove "1.5 billion" inactive accounts to free up usernames. [Insider]

• Twitter doesn't currently have access to some of its GitHub repos, according to one report. [@ZoeSchiffer]

• The FTC wants to know how Twitter will comply with its consent decree following all the recent changes. [Bloomberg $$$]

• ...and 'The Twitter Files' attracted the attention of the Irish data protection regulator. [TechCrunch]

• Jack Dorsey would have preferred for the Twitter Files to be published in a more open, Wikileaks-style way. [Pastebin]

• Twitter's head of trust and safety appeared to be interested in a partnership with a controversial anti-trafficking group. [Motherboard]

• Elton John quit Twitter last weekend. [@eltonofficial]

• Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is happy with Twitter's plan to display view counts next to tweets. [Insider]

• The Saudi spy caught working at Twitter has been jailed for over three years. [The Verge]

• Twitter must tell laid-off employees about a severance lawsuit, a judge has ruled. [Bloomberg $$$]

• Twitter has been sued for allegedly not paying for two private jet flights. [Bloomberg $$$]

• Twitter is auctioning off its unneeded office furniture and other office supplies. [Mashable]

New features and tests:

• Twitter's 4,000-character tweet feature has been spotted in code. [@alex193a]

• ...and a Twitter designer shared concept designs. [@ehikian]

• Twitter has started rolling out Community Notes to be visible around the world. Only US users can contribute for now. [@CommunityNotes]

• ...and Community Notes has launched 'Needs Your Help' alerts. [@CommunityNotes]

• Twitter is working on advanced search tools for mobile. [@ehikian]

• Twitter has been spotted working on 'graduated access', which will unlock features like improved discoverability and the ability to DM people you don't follow, once you prove you're human. [@wongmjane]

• ...and a 'submit your ID' option has been spotted in code. [@alex193a]

• Twitter is working on reducing the space taken up by ads in the feed. [@ZoeSchiffer]

TikTok shows teens harmful content within minutes of joining, a study has found.

• Teen TikTokers are challenging moderators with their sexual content. [Bloomberg $$$]

• A former Apple exec, fired for a TikTok video, has spoken out about his experience. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

• A TikTok video of a man kicking a rock has been viewed 17.9 million times. [Insider]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• How the Wall Street Journal hopes to reach young news consumers on TikTok. [Digiday $$$]

New features and tests:

• TikTok has added location tagging for videos. [@MattNavarra]

• TikTok has confirmed it is testing a new horizontal full-screen mode. [TechCrunch]

• TikTok is testing an option to undo a feed refresh. [@al__hilaal7]

• TikTok is working on a new tool to filter out videos by keywords or hashtags, along with content levels to hide mature content from younger users. [Washington Post $$$]

• TikTok could be working on a way for creators to paywall individual videos or a premium video series. [@MattNavarra]

💥 More social media news and updates

Eight social media influencers used Twitter and Discord to manipulate stocks, according to US markets regulator, the SEC. 

• YouTube Shorts is on the rise and publishers are preparing strategies to take advantage of it. [Digiday $$$]

• Some YouTube stars are cashing in the rights to their back catalogues for millions of dollars. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

• Twitter rival Post News is reportedly seeking a $250m valuation in its new funding round. [Axios]

• TikTok and Instagram are benefitting from increased ad spend this holiday season. [Digiday $$$]

• BeReal's userbase is 98%+ female in some countries, and mostly under 25. [@MattNavarra]

• Tumblr wants to make a comeback, but maintaining its quirkiness could be a challenge. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

• Twitch has removed controversial nonprofit groups LGB Alliance and United Daughters of the Confederacy from its list of approved charities. [Insider]

• Social data company Social Blade has suffered a data breach. [@MattNavarra]

• The UK's Online Safety Bill could force social media companies to give users the option to not see 'legal but harmful' content. [The Register]

• Social media groups for mothers are a source of stress for their members, a new study has found. [Wall Street Journal $$$]

• Indonesia has banned insulting president on social media. [Rest of World]

• Australian media companies may not be liable for Facebook comments in future, under proposed reforms to the law. [The Guardian]

• Donald Trump appears to be planning to use social media 'censorship' as a major talking point of his presidential campaign. [Bloomberg $$$]

Insights to give you an edge at work:

• How social media jobs are evolving (& how to advance them). [Sprout Social]

• Reddit has launched a new 'Reddit for Business' website to help marketers. [Social Media Today]

• 10 Marketers who nailed their LinkedIn profile in 2022... according to LinkedIn. [LinkedIn Ads Blog]

New features and tests:

• YouTube has introduced new tools to fight comment and chat spam. [TechCrunch]

• YouTube is rolling out its new homescreen widgets on Android. [Android Police]

• YouTube Studio is adding more insights panels for Data Stories. [Social Media Today]

• YouTube is adding the ability to choose any frame of a Short as its thumbnail. [@nealmohan]

• YouTube will now show how long it will take to process your video uploads. [9to5Google]

• YouTube has started testing emoji reactions in livestreams. [Social Media Today]

• YouTube is testing video queue feature on Android and iOS. [9to5Google]

• YouTube has been spotted offering a 'manage comments' option in its mobile app. [@jonah_manano]

• YouTube's Studio app has added a 'Research' feature. [@TechnicalGulab]

• Snapchat+ now has a new Post View Emoji feature. [@ahmedghanem]

• Snapchat has launched a Shortcuts feature to help you navigate the app. [@ahemedghanem]

• Snapchat will roll out its 2022 Year End Story to users on 19 December. [Fast Company]

• Reddit has introduced new home feed sort controls. [AdWeek $$$]

• Discord users will soon be able to verify their identities with linked accounts. [Engagdet]

• Flipboard has launched a 'notes' feature in an attempt to draw some link sharing and discussion. away from Twitter. [TechCrunch]

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📖 Weekend reading

• How children are drawn into a world of extreme exercise on TikTok

• Hate Elon Musk all you want, but he's got one management trick that every boss should emulate

• The uncanny valley of Twitter's 2022 trends

😳 And finally...

This... rocks:

📅 Back in the new year...

… And that’s a wrap on Geekout for 2022! ✅

It’s been… emotional. 🙃

Geekout is taking a much-needed break for the holidays. 🥳

The 1st edition of Geekout in 2023 will land in your inbox on Friday 6 January.

Wherever you will be, whatever you are doing this Christmas… Stay safe. Have fun… And switch on ‘Do not disturb’ mode!

Merry Christmas, everyone. 🎄Goodbye geeks!

– Matt

_______

This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant