This Week in Social Media (TWISM)
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😅 FB lets creators erase 1st policy violation... and 47 other stories!

😅 FB lets creators erase 1st policy violation... and 47 other stories!

TWISM (This Week in Social Media) shares the biggest stories in Social Media Marketing every week.

December 12, 2024

This week in Social Media Marketing:

Top News of the Week
Tutorials of the Week
Listicles of the Week
Holiday Insights of the Week
Meme of the Week
Tools of the Week
Case Studies of the Week
Video of the Week
Quote of the Week

Top News of the Week

Facebook

Meta lets creators erase 1st policy violation with education program. The new approach helps teach users about the rules instead of just punishing them.

Facebook enables “auto-clipping” feature for landscape vids. Grow your reach by turning longer videos into reels automatically.

Mark Zuckerberg wants active role in Trump’s tech policies. Meta also admits to being too heavy-handed with content moderation in the past.

Facebook, Instagram, and Threads went down on Wednesday. 100k+ users had trouble loading new content and saw old posts instead. 2nd major outage this year!

Instagram

Instagram testing new DM scheduling feature. Schedule DMs down to the exact minute of your recipient’s local time zone.

Instagram adds replies and prompts to broadcast channels. Followers can reply to messages and participate in discussions initiated by creators.

Instagram’s new “Trial Reels” let you test reels with non-followers. You can try more risky content ideas without your main audience seeing.

Meta tests hiding Like count on Reels. The goal is to reduce social pressure by allowing users to focus more on content rather than popularity metrics.

You can now get early access to new Instagram features. Join the beta program in your settings.

Threads

Threads API updated to help find, share and analyze content. This will help developers create more robust third-party apps for Threads.

New Threads creator hub gives tips to grow audience. A quick guide covering profile setup, how to engage with followers, and features like topic tags.

Helpful for beginners! ~TWISM

Threads testing more in-depth post analytics. Sort posts by engagement, track engagement by followers vs. non-followers, and more!

Threads now lets you follow users across fediverse servers. This is the first step in Threads' plan to connect with the wider fediverse (the fediverse is the interconnection of other social platforms).

Threads soon to add search filters for profiles and dates. This makes finding posts easier.

TikTok

TikTok reveals top trends and creators of 2024. This report highlights viral trends like "very demure" and "brat summer," as well as popular creators such as Jools Lebron.

TikTok testing DM ads. Users can talk directly to advertisers in the app. This should decrease friction for buyers.

TikTok offers new ways for users to earn money. They’re offering users hundreds of dollars in TikTok Shop credits for scrolling TikTok Shop and inviting first-time users.

US court upholds TikTok ban after losing appeal. Next step is to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Will Trump save TikTok as promised? ~TWISM

TikTok launches donation tools for creators. Users can promote fundraisers for charities with custom titles, descriptions, and shareable stickers.

YouTube

YouTube’s 2024 takeaways on top trends and creators. The report highlights cultural sensations like Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song (used in 900k Shorts)!

YouTube adds auto dubbing for translating languages. This lets users watch and listen to videos in languages they don’t know.

YouTube testing multiplayer games for users. The initial test includes 2 games that work on mobile and desktop.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn rolling out “rotating slideshow” cover image. This gives Premium Business users another way to stand out and showcase their work.

LinkedIn is removing more fake accounts than ever. 99.7% of fake accounts were removed before users could report them in the first half of 2024.

AI commenters next, please… ~TWISM

Bluesky

Bluesky plans to launch paid subscription, “Bluesky+”. They’re considering offering badges, custom profiles, and more for $8/month.

Bluesky has financial obstacles to overcome. The company needs to find ways to make money without relying on ads, which could be difficult with limited funding.

Bluesky introduces controversial “hot replies” setting. This means more popular and recent replies appear first.

Could this attract too much attention-seeking behavior? ~TWISM

X/Twitter

X mandates labels to identify parody and fan accounts. These accounts must use a jester's hat icon as a label to distinguish them from official profiles.

It’s about time… ~TWISM

X makes Grok AI chatbot available to all users. Free users are limited to 10 messages every 2 hours. The move makes Grok more competitive with other AI chatbots like ChatGPT.

X’s new tool compares follower vs non-follower engagement. Initial results show only ~2% of engaged users are followers, which shows X posts reach a wide audience.

X changes creator payouts to depend on engagement, not ads. You now need 2k verified followers and at least 5M impressions in the last 3 months to qualify.

Et cetera

OpenAI’s Sora gives millions of users access to AI video creation. Currently, only select testers can create videos featuring people to prevent deepfakes.

Reddit launches AI tool to answer questions. The tool summarizes answers and links to relevant discussions on the platform.

Pinterest predicts 20 bold trends for 2025. The report highlights a shift towards self-expression and maximalism, with emerging trends like "Seeing Double" (matching outfits) and more interest in sustainable living.

Tutorials of the Week

How to write a LinkedIn post: 12 expert tips. Tip #1 shows you how to stop scrollers in their tracks with a great hook.

These tips will work on Facebook and other networks too! ~TWISM

How to find the best time to post on TikTok. This guide gives good general stats based on 3 studies… but look at your analytics to find the best time for your audience.

How to tell great stories. Jay Acunzo explains how great storytellers find meaning in everyday moments by sharing personal experiences and emotions to connect with their audience.

Listicles of the Week

19 best Instagram tools to grow a loyal following. Thousands of social media marketers use these tools to save $$$ and time.

40 social media post ideas when you’re fresh out of inspiration. UGC is hot and trending... 86% of consumers are more likely to trust a brand that shares UGC.

26 predictions for social media marketing in 2025. Keep up with the speed of change with these AI, VR, and AR developments.

Holiday Insights of the Week

TikTok Shop sales hit $100M this Black Friday. A TikTok Shop creator did $102k in 10 hours on his first livestream ever, and Nicki Minaj broke the record for most views on a TikTok Shop Live with 172M.

Walmart’s 2024 holiday shopping trends. This guide reveals that nearly half of customers begin holiday shopping in October, with a 25% year-over-year increase in online sales.

Meme of the Week

What would your “marketing wrapped” be?

Tools of the Week

Archive Buttons. Removes paywalls from articles for free.

Capsule. Lets you edit videos like a Google Doc and enhance audio with AI. The free plan is very generous.

Case Studies of the Week

American Girl connects with fans on TikTok with trends. American Girl has embraced TikTok trends and memes to engage a wider audience, including adults who grew up with the brand.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr? They used AI to bring back 2 legends for their new “Still G.I.N.” ad.

Video of the Week

How to generate viral clips from your podcast. Stephen G Pope shows his process for turning a podcast into short clips with AI tools and a touch of technical know-how (he makes it easy to follow along).

Quote of the Week

"Stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in."

~ Craig Davis

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. Now…

Go BIG or go home!

~ Josh from “This Week in Social Media”