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Top News of the Week
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Instagram Reels is now a $50B ad business. Reels now drives roughly $50 billion in annual ad revenue for Meta, with Sensor Tower reporting users spend 27 minutes per day on Reels versus 44 on TikTok. The format that started as a TikTok clone has become Meta's growth engine, and advertisers are shifting budgets accordingly.
Short-form is no longer optional. If you ignored Reels last year, catch up now. 🔥 ~TWISM
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Mosseri: fingerprint real media, not fake. Instagram's head says AI will dominate feeds and suggests cryptographically signing photos at capture; creators can post "unflattering" images to prove authenticity. Brands should prepare for verification as a trust signal.
If phone makers start signing photos, "real" content could become a paid premium. 🤯 ~TWISM
Instagram tests AI photo transitions. Instagram is prototyping AI transitions that smoothly morph photos into animated Story segments. Can boost engagement on multi-photo Stories; appears limited to early tests.
Instagram adds competitive insights to Meta Verified. Subscribers can compare follower growth, posting cadence and other metrics across accounts. Useful for benchmarking competitors and optimizing posting cadence, but it's locked behind the paid Verified plan.
Instagram adds the crown badge to channels. A square badge with a white crown now marks Broadcast Channels and some creators globally, hinting at paid subscriptions.
Instagram tests TV app for Reels. Meta's app on Amazon Fire TV turns vertical Reels into a living-room experience with account linking, searchable channels and curated categories, giving creators new reach and advertisers a lean-back placement.
Facebook & Meta
Facebook adds Edits shortcut. A new Edits shortcut in the main menu gives quick access to edits and edit history, so creators and community managers can fix posts and review changes faster.
Small but helpful, expect fewer typo blindspots. ✨ ~TWISM
Meta buys AI chatbot startup Manus. Meta will integrate Manus' autonomous agents into Meta AI and keep selling Manus tools to businesses, a shortcut to automation (market research, coding, data analysis) but a data-privacy red flag for marketers.
Threads
Threads adds scheduled Live Chat for Communities. You can set a start time and an end time, control who can message, and add a name and profile photo, useful for timed AMAs, events, and member-only conversations.
This'll make community events feel more lively and organized. 🎤 ~TWISM
Threads adds a basketball mini-game in chats. Meta is testing a basketball mini-game inside Threads chats to boost engagement and retention; it could give creators and brands a quick, interactive spark.
Threads tests Tangle attachments. Threads shows a new post attachment called Tangle; details are scarce. If it's for bundling media or files, marketers could add richer CTAs and resources.
New attachment types usually mean new creative options to test. 🤔 ~TWISM
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Youtube
YouTube tests photo carousels in Shorts. Photos-only carousels now surface in the Shorts feed, letting creators show multiple images to vertical viewers, a quick way to repurpose image posts for Shorts reach.
1 in 5 YouTube Shorts is AI slop. Kapwing found 21% low-effort AI Shorts and 33% "brainrot"; a new account saw AI slop after 16 videos. That means YouTube rewards cheap, scalable loops, so optimize watch-time hooks or prioritize clear branding to avoid getting lost.
Welcome to the era of algorithmic junk food. 🤢 ~TWISM
TikTok
TikTok launches GamePlan for sports. GamePlan adds in-app hubs linking videos to team pages so fans can see schedules, buy tickets, add games to calendars, and creators get analytics and promo tools to drive action.
This gives sports marketers direct ticket and UGC funnels. ⚽️ ~TWISM
TikTok adds a custom background for TikTok Thoughts. Brands can apply the new 2026 background to TikTok Thoughts text posts to keep updates on-theme, a quick way to make announcements feel seasonal and on-brand.
Creator Search Insights is now in Creation & Business Tools. Creator Search Insights is now easier to access under Creation & Business Tools, letting marketers find and evaluate creators' metrics and audience data faster when planning influencer campaigns.
TikTok Recap 2025: get rewarded. TikTok offers an exclusive profile frame for participating in its 2025 recap, likely earned by sharing or engaging with recap content. Good for driving UGC and boosting profile visibility.
Unilever doubles down on creators after Vaseline TikTok surge. Unilever amplifies viral Vaseline life-hack videos by funding creator tests and using social listening, and it plans to shift about half its ad budget to social content. That signals more brand briefs and scaled creator partnerships.
LinkedIn shows AI summary titles to logged-out viewers. AI generates a title from your post for non-logged-in users, which can change first impressions and clicks, so review and tweak your opening line.
Fun time-saver, but don't let it erase your voice. 🤖 ~TWISM
X/Twitter
Musk says X will pay creators more than YouTube. Musk tells X product head to raise payouts and curb fraud with a new detection method; higher pay aims to lure video creators from YouTube AdSense and keep original human-made content on X.
If X actually pays better and stops bots, expect more native video and news hooks. 🔥 ~TWISM
X expands AI Community Notes. X is rolling out AI-powered Community Notes from "experimental AI contributors" to add context and faster fact checks; marketers should watch note visibility and test the impact on reach and credibility.
Grok posts sexualized AI images of children. xAI says "lapses in safeguards" caused AI-generated sexualized images of minors and is urgently tightening guardrails. Marketers must vet third-party AI tools and have rapid takedown and safety protocols to protect brand safety.
Et cetera
Lightspeed VC: AI video could kill the creator era. Lightspeed partner Michael Mignano warns OpenAI's Sora and lifelike AI video let platforms generate tailored content cheaply, lowering demand for human-made posts; creators must protect their image, likeness, and unique creativity to stay valuable.
Short-term chaos, long-term premium on authenticity. Double down on IP and direct fan relationships. 😬 ~TWISM
OpenAI bets on audio-first experiences. OpenAI reorganizes to build overlapping-speech audio models for companion devices by 2027, accelerating voice-first interfaces. Marketers must craft concise, usable audio touchpoints and a clear sonic identity.
Top US cities for creators. Study ranks metros by top-10% Instagram creators: Miami tops by concentration; LA and NYC lead by headcount. Brands can recruit outside LA for local authenticity and lower production costs.
Telegram rolls out daily AI summaries. Telegram's first AI feature uses Cocoon's decentralized network to generate Daily AI-summaries of chats and channels, giving marketers quick briefs for monitoring and content ideas. Watch for accuracy and privacy settings.
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading. Now…
Go BIG or go home!
~ Josh from “This Week in Social Media”
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