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This week's BIGGEST social media news
Instagram's competitor tool, TikTok ban, and more
Mackenzie Taylor
November 04, 2025
Weekly social roundup
What a day. What a week.
Hello! Happy Tuesday! Oh, what’s that? Another week without a TikTok deal, even though President Trump and the Treasury Secretary said there would be one last week?
According to Chinese media, economic and trade consultations need to be resolved before a deal is made, and that seems to be in the distant future.
Womp womp.
Well, until then, I suspect Trump will keep extending the ban as much as he legally can. Right now, the ban has been extended to December in hopes that an agreement is reached.
While we wait to see what happens there, let’s jump into the news from this week! It’s a beefy one.
Dun dun duuuuun
All eyes are on the Australian social media ban
The social media ban in Australia for under-16s is set to take place starting in December. It’s the first country to do a blanket ban on all social media apps for teens, and one that has a lot riding on it.
As of last week, Meta, Snap, and ByteDance all said they are ready to comply with the government’s demands, and they will officially ban under-16s from using the app starting December 10.
The only app that still hasn’t fully given in is YouTube, which rejects the idea that it is a social media app. Instead, it claims it is a video-streaming operator much like Netflix.
The biggest concern, however, is how effective the ban is going to be. Because, let’s just admit it, kids are clever when it comes to the online world, and being able to navigate the restrictions put in place could be a problem for the platforms.
The other key concern for users is privacy (as the Online Safety Act has been a concern in the UK). Users are curious about showing their ID and taking selfies to prove their age. Where does that information get stored? Will it be used for anything else? What happens if it’s leaked?
Again, this is the first country fully committing to a ban, and a lot of people around the world are going to be paying careful attention to see how effective it is.
Will it actually protect kids? Will kids magically go outside and touch grass and restore their brain functions (something it seems governments think they have all lost the ability to do)? Or will it do more harm with kids feeling more disconnected than ever before?
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Top Meta news from the week
This is MEGA! Competitive Insights has been added on Instagram! You can now see how your content and brand stack up against your competition all within Instagram’s own app!
Meta has released a way for you to tailor your algorithm for yourself! You can now pick and choose what kind of content you want to see more of.
Watch History for Reels is live on Instagram! No more losing videos to the feed.
Well, it seems every social media app needs games attached. Instagram is working on adding Games to the platform.
New posts will now get a “New” label on Instagram profiles when Creators post something new.
Users will now be able to see your post’s engagement across Meta apps, so even more people will see the minimal engagement I am getting! Yay!
Instagram DMs are getting upgraded with more Notes, Shots, and Maps. You know, all the things we don’t need.
Instagram will no longer show videos inside the “Reels” tab if it’s part of a carousel post. I didn’t even realize they were doing this…
Picture-in-picture is coming to Reels. You’ll soon be able to scroll your phone while also watching Reels.
Threads has officially launched “ghost posts,” AKA posts that disappear after 24 hours.
Threads is giving you more control over the comments on your posts by giving you the ability to approve or deny comments.
If you’re having a hard time doomscrolling, you can set a sleep timer on Threads.
Oh, perfect! Meta said they might not use the funds they received for its AI products for its AI products at all.
Are your Meta ads not doing very well? You’re not the only one. It seems Meta’s Advantage+ for ads isn’t doing what it promises.
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Top TikTok news from the week
Omg, finally! TikTok now lets you disable HDR on your videos!
TikTok allows users to save their videos directly during the creation process, instead of uploading them first.
You can now mention videos you’ve liked and favorited on TikTok, instead of the ones you’ve personally posted. HUGE!
TikTok creators can now get paid up to 90% (!!) of their subscription revenue.
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Top YouTube news from the week
Our brains are rotting. YouTube Shorts make more money than long-form videos now.
Hate how AI makes your low-res videos into higher quality on YouTube? You can now opt out, if that’s your vibe.
YouTube is using AI to bring still photos to life, if that’s a thing you want to do.
YouTube will soon add QR codes to videos to make shopping on the platform easier.
Extra, extra! Read all about it!
Top other social media news from the week
Goodbye, Twitter.com. The domain will be gone on November 10.
Buddy Pass has launched on Snapchat, where you can give friends a free Snapchat+ membership for 7 days.
It’s official: 44% of Gen Z shoppers make purchases straight from social media.
Bluesky has hit 40 million users. Are you on it? You might want to be.
Trend of the week
Do You Know Something?
Trend Overview:
This audio from Friends is trending as a fun way to tease something that’s coming soon (a product, a collection, a launch, an announcement, whatever).
How to recreate:
Record a video of you (or your team) looking suspicious or like you're hiding something. Mouth to each other, “do you know something?” then flash a quick teaser (blurry product shot, sneak peek of packaging, or just a “👀”).
Who the trend is best for:
E-commerce brands, creators teasing a collab, restaurants with seasonal menus
Want even more trending audios? Subscribe to Social Sound Report to get trending audios sent to your inbox every week!
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A curated list of fun things to read
Concerned about your engagement rate? Read this.
Every single week, I look on Instagram and TikTok and realize the number of likes vs. followers ratio is diabolical. It’s honestly so disheartening as someone who has been a social media manager for almost 10 years that engagement just … isn’t happening anymore.
Well, kinda.
Engagement, when it comes to likes and comments, isn’t happening as much. The way people interact with social media posts has massively changed throughout the years, and we’re in a new era called “The Silent Follower.” AKA: NO ONE IS ENGAGING ON POSTS ANYMORE!
Grace Andrews posted about this exact thing over the weekend, and it’s been stuck in my head on a loop: “I have grid fear.” And I think most people and brands do.
With the amount of content that is flooding all of our grids, we are all tired. We see content on a loop, and adding an extra step to it (liking, commenting, sharing) can be too much for a lot of audiences.
I think we are sometimes asking too much of our audiences by wanting them to constantly like, share, and comment because, and if you really think about it, we’re not doing the same.
The amount that I actually go out of my way and engage with posts these days is slim to none. And I am a social media manager! I know what engagement means to people!
So instead of focusing on engagement rate as a success metric, we need to start training our brains to focus elsewhere. How many saves are you receiving? Shares? How many people are reaching out to you through DM? Buying a product you sell? Clicking the link on your Stories?
We’re in the age of silent followers, so we need to learn to adapt! And not get bent out of shape about our engagement rate.
And that’s all, folks!
Hope you loved it!
Thanks, forever and always, for your support, and I’ll talk to you next week!
Mackenzie
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