Weekly social roundup

Oh, boy! What a week.

A top 3 day on X (Twitter) was had by all! Well, maybe not for Elon or Trump, but for everyone else, entertainment was had. I don’t think I refreshed my feed that much since the finale of Game of Thrones and screaming into the void with strangers. 

ANYWAYS! Social media news was kicking off last week, and there is A LOT. Like, a lot, a lot. And yes, I know I say that every week, but I can’t help it when it’s true!

But before we get into all that, if you haven’t already, subscribe to Social Sound Report! Each week, you’ll get access to 20+ trending sounds across TikTok and Instagram. Each trending audio will tell you exactly what the trend is and how to replicate it for yourself. It’s only $1/month, and when I say it’s detailed, it’s deeeetailed!

Alright, ready to get into it? Here’s this week in social for you: 

P.S.: If you’re struggling with creating engaging videos for social media, VEED is giving readers of TSTM 20% OFF their yearly subscription! That’s huge. I absolutely love VEED and use it daily for clients, so I do highly recommend it!

What in the world was happening online this week?!

A Very Meme-orable Week

Well, if you were living under a rock last week, you might have missed the fact that the richest man in the world (Elon Musk) and the President of the United States (Donald Trump) were fighting. And they were revealing all of their dirty laundry all over social media. 

Trump was truthing. Musk was posting. And everyone around the world was watching in … somewhat stunned silence at it all. 

And, of course, like the internet is known to do. The memes rolled in.

A Martha Stewart summer, here I come

Pinterest Trends are here! 🎉

Pinterest has released its 2025 Summer Trend Report, and if you know anything about me, you know I LOVE Pinterest trend reports.

They always offer such interesting insight into what people are searching, what things are currently (or soon to be!) trending, and how you can figure out ways to add the trends into your marketing strategy.

So what are the top trends of the summer? IMHO, exactly what you’d expect:

• Thrifted: Gen Z is looking to be thrifty, and girl, same. As we are all experiencing a serious cost-of-living crisis, being thrifty is trés chic. 

• Martha Stewart aesthetic: It seems like all of us are in our gardening and cooking era. Harvest recipes, vegetable garden, fresh summer recipes, and more are currently on the rise.

• Book club: We might be reading less as a society, but Gen Z is leaning in hard on #booktok and book clubs. 

• Dill green: Yes, the color. It seems the color of the summer season is all about the pickle green. 

• 2015 style: TBT to 2000s hip-hugger jeans and tankinis. Y2K fashion is coming in hot.

While these things might not make sense to your brand or marketing strategy as a whole, there are various ways you can lean into the trends in a subtle way to stay ahead of the pack. 

Example: A restaurant can create Reels/TikToks on summer dishes; content creators can create a series around Y2K summer styles.

Want to get your biz out there?

Sponsor Talk Social To Me

Interested in an easy way to get your brand or business in front of 80,000+ marketers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs? 

Click here to learn more about sponsoring Talk Social To Me and getting your brand in front of an engaged audience that actually wants to know about your brand!

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Top social media highlights from the week 🗞️

Meta

• WOAH! Your Instagram posts will soon show up in search engine results, AKA: GOOGLE!

• More details have been revealed about Meta’s new Smart Glasses, and, honestly, guys? I’m scared.

• Meta is going all in on AI and even replacing humans with the tech. Sweet. Cool. Amazing.

• New features for Meta ads are here, where you can now explain the outcome your business values the most, like signups, profits, or loyal customers.

• Instagram’s iPad app is almost here!!!

• Threads has moved insights to the left side of the profile page.

• Quicksnap (AKA: BeReal for Instagram) is rolling out beta testing for more and more users. 

• If you have 3K followers on IG, you’ll now be able to create a Broadcast Channel.

• You’ll soon be able to choose a username on WhatsApp instead of sharing your phone number.

• Meta really wants you to share your Reels on both Instagram and Facebook, and will even schedule the Reels for you.

• A brand new Templates and Music icon are at the top of Instagram Stories.

• Instagram is giving access to Meta AI for Reels and posts, AKA: You can have the AI write your captions for you.

• Anyone with over 100K followers on Instagram will be able to filter who can comment more and more.

• Oh, what’s that? More features have been brought to Instagram Edits.

• Threads now lets you sort comments by Top or Recent.

• Although Threads is open to advertising, it looks like brands aren’t completely buying in yet.

• Meta Business Suite has now added the ability to add a link to Stories when you schedule content. Huzzah! Now, I must figure out how to use Meta Business Suite again…

• You’re limited on the number of Trial Reels you can post per day, and Instagram is saying that it’s helping creators grow … significantly. 

• If you’re not posting a link on your Threads, you might just be doing it wrong.

• Meta is about to invest 10 billion in an AI startup.

TikTok

• TikTok has released the top trends happening this summer.

• Voice notes are officially allowed in TikTok DMs!

• TikTok has released a new platform: TikTok for Artists.

• Photo comments will now look a bit different on TikTok, AKA almost exactly like Instagram.

• You’ll soon be able to create on TikTok in seconds with its new “Create” feature. The feature will have templates, photo editing, AI selfies, and auto-cut videos in one place.

• TikTok says, “No more easy organic reach, brands!” And is now pushing brands to buy ads.

X

• XChat has officially rolled out! Encrypted messages, file-sharing, audio/video calls, and bitcoin-style encryption. Still don’t know what that last one is.

• X API is very expensive ($42K per month!!), and now it looks like X is changing its API settings, and people aren’t happy.

• X has changed its agreement with third-party companies, saying that companies can’t train their AI based on the information on X.

Others

• Elon and Trump fought on the internet, and the whole wide world was watching with popcorn.

• Oh boy. Snapchat is now available on Apple Watch.

• Well, well, well!! Reddit is finally giving users the ability to have more control over their profile page. You can now hide posts, comments, and NSFW content.

• New tabs are coming soon to LinkedIn: For you, Following, and News.

• No, Bluesky isn’t on a decline. At least according to its CEO. 

• All the top social media peeps are saying AR glasses are going to be bigger than the smart watches. Eek!

• Posting videos on LinkedIn but not really sure what you’re doing? LinkedIn has dropped its latest tips for video sharing.

• 1/3 of Gen Z says they feel pressure to become social media creators. Oof.

• The social media ban for under-16s in Florida has come to a halt.

• These are the apps that are putting the algorithm into the hands of their users.

• Oh, goodness. Google is launching AI influencers.

Time to get your music to trend

TikTok for Artists has officially arrived 🎧

After what feels like years of talking about it, TikTok for Artists is officially launched! 

The new platform gives artists further insights into how their music is performing and helps them be more successful on and off the app.

According to TikTok:

The new insights platform will help artists optimize their strategies and engage their audience more and more. The new features include:

• Song performance: the number of views, posts, and creator engagements per track

• Post performance: the number of views, likes, comments, shares, and post completion rates

• Follower insights: including self-declared gender, age, and language

• Step-by-step guides to TikTok’s tools and features

• Support and further resources 

The launch also includes the new “Pre-Release tool,” where artists can promote their new album on TikTok by adding the ability to pre-save directly to their Spotify or Apple Music. 

If you are an artist, you’ll now be able to access this new feature if you have a certified TikTok Artist account.

The #1 tool I love this week 📱

As someone who is on the move a lot but also wants to read absolutely everything, Speechify allows me to do just that! 

You can add the Speechify extension to your browser or download the app, and one of its 200+ voices can read anything and everything to you! Plus, you can speed up the text, get instant summaries, and even take a photo of text on your phone that Speechify can read. 

Speechify is giving Talk Social To Me listeners a free trial so you can see exactly why I love it!

^{*affiliate link}

Better hop to it

THE trends shaping social media right now 👀

These are the top 15 social media trends that are shaping 2025, and yes, social media SEO is more important than ever before. 

Why? Well, your Instagram posts are going to start pulling into search engine results, so SEO should be a thing you think about. 😬

The must-have read for AI

The full rundown on all things AI🦾

Learn how to make AI work for you

AI won’t take your job, but a person using AI might. That’s why 1,000,000+ professionals read The Rundown AI – the free newsletter that keeps you updated on the latest AI news and teaches you how to use it in just 5 minutes a day.

Sign up to start learning.

Favorite read of the week

No, you can’t copyright a “vibe.” 😬

It’s official, the “beige Amazon influencer” lawsuit is no longer.

ICYMI: Two influencers went to court over having the same aesthetic.

One of the influencers, Sydney Nicole Sloneker, claimed that another, Alyssa Sheil, copied her look, vibe, and was promoting the same products.

It was the first case of its kind and could have made a serious impact on the world of influencing, but last week, both parties asked the judge to dismiss the case.

While having a similar look and vibe to another influencer isn’t new, it was the first time someone took another to court over it.

While this might not be the case that decides what happens when someone copies your look online, it will be interesting to see what happens in the future, as I know for sure this won’t be the last time someone takes someone to court.

Time to start recording

Trending audio of the week 🕺

lpjovenes

3,969 followers

View more on Instagram

Head empty

This audio is trending for being hilariously relatable. It perfectly captures the brain isn’t here!!!! feeling we all have at the end of a long week (or a random Tuesday). It’s ideal for creators and brands who want to show some real, unfiltered burnout or brain fart moments.

How it works: Use this sound to highlight those totally blank, brain-fried, or over-it moments. You can keep it simple with a text overlay like:

• “Me trying to remember why I walked into the room.”

• “When someone asks what I’ve been working on all week.”

• Add a clip of you staring into the void, blinking slowly, or doing something random

Great for: Freelancers at the end of the week, students during finals, office life, hospitality workers dealing with customers

Want 20+ trends broken down for you every single week? Sign up for Social Sound Report, a weekly newsletter bringing you all the current trending audio and how to tailor it to your brand and niche!

Listen to this

What experts really think about social media and mental health 🎧

I loved the breakdown of this episode about social media and mental health. Is it fully good for us? No. Is it fully bad for us? Also no. Experts weigh in on the effects of social media on our brains and why it isn’t the enemy, like so many people keep yelling about.

Annnnd, that’s it for this week.

Thanks for reading! If you made it to the end, you’re my new favorite.

We’ve recently launched a new TikTok account, so if you want updates over there as well, give us a follow!

@talksocialtome_

Meta can now train its AI with European Users’ data!!! #instagram #instagramnews #ainews #socialmedianews #socialmediamarketing #data

See you next week!

Mackenzie