In a twist that a lot of people didn’t see happening, Meta lost its day in court and has to pay quite a bit of money over child safety failures. This is a pretty monumental shift in the way social media could now be classified and something that we should all keep an eye on. Why? Well, I’ll do a deep dive below!

Outside of Meta losing big time, there were quite a few updates, quite a few new tests (IG is testing a BIG ONE!), and even more countries wanting to ban social media for teens.

Womp womp.

Let’s get into it. 

People don’t engage with your content just because the copy was clever or the graphics were on-brand.

Feelings precede clicks. 3,600 top-performing social media posts across platforms back this up.

The challenge (and opportunity) for marketers? To double-tap those deeper impulses. Learn how:

Meta has started testing a new Meta Verified subscription called Instagram Plus. The new subscription will give users access to a whole host of features, specifically Story features. 

The features include:

While this is just currently being beta tested, I know in my bones this is going to roll out worldwide quickly, and it’ll start getting messy as more and more people start posting in real time to see who is viewing their Stories (it’s me – I am people).

As someone who has been in the social media marketing space for over 10 years (hot dang, I am getting old!), I’ve been around the block with apps throughout the years. There are so many tools out there that say they are the most effective, but these two honestly are (for me!). 

If you’ve been here for a while, you know my love for Veed. It is my absolute favorite video editing app (yes, even more than CapCut). It’s perfect for quick edits, finding viral moments from longer videos, adding engaging captions (something that is so important in social media!), and so much more. 

I use Veed almost every single day, and I don’t see myself stopping any time soon. 

This is perfect for helping engage your audience in an automated way. I am sure you’ve seen the captions that say something along the lines of, “If you want this link sent to you, type LINK in the comments!”

This is part of Manychat. You can set up an automation where new followers get sent an automated message from you welcoming them to your community. You can set up an automation where, when people comment on a word, they get sent a link. There are tons of automations you can put in place to engage your audience to do what you want. 

If you didn’t hear, Meta and Google have lost their day in court. The case was centered around whether or not the companies designed their platforms to be addictive and harmful to teens and young adults.

The jury found the two parties liable, and now the platforms have to cough up $6 million ($4.2 for Meta and $1.8 for Google). Chump change for them.

However, with this verdict, it opens up the floodgates for other similar cases to move forward. With the US law protecting these companies from liability for what’s ON their platforms, the case went after the design of the platform.

Clever, clever. 

And if you think Meta and Google are going to roll over on this one, you’ve got another thing coming. The two companies have already hit back and said they will appeal, but with criticism increasing around social media and governments putting bans in place, it seems Meta and Google should have been like TikTok and Snapchat and settled out of court at this point. 

This court case is a big deal when it comes to where the future of social media might go. A lot of people want full-out bans for teens and young adults, which means more third-party age verifications (which adds a whole other level of privacy and data protections that aren’t happening). Plus, there still isn’t enough data backing up the claims that social media is bad for mental health in teens. 

It’s going to be an interesting few months ahead, as this case definitely isn’t over. 

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or feedback, just reply to this email. I’m always checking and love chatting to you all!

Thanks for all the support, and I’ll see you all next week!

Mackenzie