Weekly social roundup

What a day. What a week.

I’ll be honest, this was a hard week to hunt down information. The social media companies seem to be working hard behind the scenes but giving us nothing (go on, girl, give us nothing!!).

But here we are, and I found some good stuff. And some stuff that I find interesting and wanted to share. It’s my newsletter after all!

Something exciting happening behind the scenes from me? Social Sound Report is back this week! And it is FULL of trends that are tailored to any brand, niche, creator, etc. I have been working hard on building it out even better, and I can’t wait to show you.

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Is it finally happening?!

TikTok deal to be finalized this week 👀

The White House claims that the TikTok sale will officially be signed, sealed, and delivered this week. 

Apparently. 

I feel like every single week, there is something new going on with this sale. President Trump claims that there is a deal on the table, but China claims there isn’t. 

According to the US Treasury Secretary, the TikTok deal is all good to go, and US ownership will be confirmed before the December 16th deadline. 

Again, this could change this week, but if the Treasury Secretary is correct, the sell-off will be made official today (Tuesday, October 28), and the US will be completely separate from the rest of the world when it comes to TikTok.

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Top Meta news from the week

• Meta has laid off up to 600 people who worked in their AI department. Is this the AI bubble popping?

• Or… are they just replacing them with AI?

• Meta is working on a way to notify users if a message they receive on Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp is a scam.

• Facebook is giving users new opportunities to monetize their content with the “Ride the Trend Now” feature. The feature showcases trending hashtags, content and encourages creators to make original content. 

• Tired of seeing “People You May Know” on Facebook? You can finally turn the suggestions off.

• Facebook Pages are being divided into two new categories: Business or Creator pages.

• Instagram is testing adding more than 20 images to a carousel post.

• Not sure why this is a thing, but you can draw on Instagram DM chats.

• Instagram users can use Meta AI to edit their Instagram Stories directly in Stories.

• You can now view your watch history for Reels on Instagram.

• WhatsApp is working on a way to stop spam messages by limiting the number of times someone can message you without a response. 

• A new update to WhatsApp is coming soon, and you’ll need a username for it.

• You can now mention all members in a group chat in WhatsApp. This is about to get super annoying!

• Chronological feed is no longer an option on Threads, as it appears it is leaning into an algorithm-based feed.

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Top TikTok news from the week

• TikTok removed the policy, which notified users before sharing their data with governments. Yikes.

• Creators can now post subscriber-only photos on the platform.

• Movie studios are hiring TikTokers who create fan edits to help with their marketing campaigns.

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Top YouTube news from the week

• YouTube has officially launched voice replies, threaded comments, tagging products, and so much more.

• Scrolling too much on Shorts? You can set a timer on YouTube to stop your scrolling.

• YouTube announced a new integration to make shopping on the platform easier. 

• If you’ve been banned from YouTube, you can reapply for a “second chance” if you haven’t been banned due to copyright or severe misconduct. 

• Finally! YouTube launched a feature that detects deepfakes on the platform.

• You can create your own music on YouTube Shorts.

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Top other social media news from the week

• X is getting further and further with its in-app browser feature, where users can open a link without leaving the app.

• A new pricing tier to gain access to X’s API has launched, and it seems to be very customizable.

• Tired of people downloading your videos on X? You can officially turn that option off.

• Snap OS (Snapchat’s spectacles) added a whole bunch of new features, including in-app payments. We are living in 3008. 

• LinkedIn is compensating users to help train its AI.

• Reddit is suing Perplexity for scraping its users’ data. Whoops.

• OpenAI has given estates and representatives for public figures an option to opt out of being able to create Sora videos of their likeness.

• OpenAI is working on a generative music tool. Great, more AI music!!

Trend of the week

Stop Talking Dirty to Me

Trend Overview:
From Taylor Swift’s newest album, this sound is catching fire because people are using it to highlight the things that get them excited.

How to recreate:
Start with a statement on screen that seems innocent or even boring at first, like “Do you want to talk analytics?” or “Let’s spend the afternoon deep-cleaning the house.” Cut to yourself blushing or smiling with the line “stop talking dirty to me.”

Best for:

• Content creators

• Bookstores, coffee shops, nerdy niches

• Social media managers and techies

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A curated list of fun things to read

My favorite read of the week

If the internet is full of fake videos, what’s the point of social media? It’s a question I have been asking myself for the past few months, and even more so now that Sora has officially been unleashed on the world. 

Will the lack of trust people will start having if videos are real or AI be the thing that brings humans back together? This piece from Time certainly thinks that, and it’s a good question. Will we all start fearing everything online and start turning our backs on the online world?

I don’t think anything that extreme will happen, but I do think content created by real humans (photography, graphic design, videography, etc) will be shared more, liked more, and engaged with more, over any AI slop we end up seeing online. 

From what I’ve seen in the comments section of brands using AI, and even Ms. Taylor Swift, who used AI in marketing recently, people are against AI when it comes to brands, and even go so far as to block, unfollow, and stop buying from those who use AI in their marketing. 

While I don’t think AI will be the downfall of social media, I do think it’ll create even more of a divide and create further distrust in users across the internet.

Other great reads on the internet this week:

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