Episode 133

Yup, Meta has stolen your data 🤡

Uh, oh! It's a big week in social media—more bans are on their way (yikes!), Meta has admitted something we all kinda knew (but didn't want to be true), Instagram is going all in on messaging, and so very much more.

Grab your drink, set your away message, and let's get into this week in social!

Meta has trained its AI on your data 🙃

I mean, this really isn’t a shock to any of us, now is it? But Meta has admitted that it has used all Facebook and Instagram public posts since 2007 to train its AI.

Woof.

Currently, Meta is under investigation in Australia because of its privacy practices, and during the investigation Meta admitted it has been scraping posts, photos, and comments from Instagram and Facebook for 17 years.

Why does this seem a bit shocking for some?

Only a handful of months ago, Meta explained it had only planned on using public users’ data to train its AI — in the future.

In the UK and EU, Meta had to give users the option to opt out of having their data used, while no other country had this option.

And now Meta is all “actually we’ve been scraping your data since 2007 lolz.”

While the whole thing feels icky, it’s sadly not surprising.

I guess the Instagram Stories asking Meta not to steal your data really didn’t do anything at all. 🤪

You get an ad! You get an ad! New ad placements are here for Meta on Threads, Stickers, Channels, and Facebook Notifications.
It’s going down in the DMs—Instagram has officially launched new tools for your DMs.
TikTok is making it easier to collaborate! Invite someone as a collaborator on your TikTok post and it’ll share to both your pages and followers.
Talk to the hand because the DMs aren’t listening. You’ll soon be able to block people from DMing you on X without blocking them from your account.
YouTube is entering its stealing ideas era! “Add Yours” stickers are officially launched on Shorts.
Is the threat of the TikTok ban in the USA over?
Yeesh! Spotify is going all in on being a social media app and asking creators to add shows to its platform.
Ads are showing up in even more places on Reddit.
Psst: Think the cover of your Reel matters that much? Adam Mosseri says think again.
Do you feel most like yourself online rather than IRL? Over 40% of Gen Z and Millennials feel the same.
Want to use Broadcast Channels but not sure WTF to do? Instagram is sharing its top tips.
Calling all advertisers: Meta is adding strict restrictions to ads to protect users’ data.
Not so sure about this one, Instagram! IG is testing displaying Notes in two lines in your DMs.

The Power of Customer Personas in Marketing

With Mackenzie and Ben Leavitt

Listen to the episode

These trends will help you go viral 👀

Do you want to hop on a current trend but are not sure how to make it fit within your brand niche? 👀

We have just the thing for you!

Iris will find the best emerging and current trends and help you to perfectly tailor the trend to your exact business!

✨Log in to your Flick account
✨Click “Scheduling”
✨Select “Viral Trends”
✨Discover all the latest trends on social media right now

✨ Iris will suggest ideas on how you can re-create the trend

Find the perfect viral trend for your account right now for FREE!

Go Viral Today

It’s going down in the Instagram DMs 💌

Instagram has said the most engagement happens in the DMs, so it seems it’s going all in on messaging.

Last week, Instagram released quite a few new features inside the inbox to get people to spend just a bit more time there.

You can now:

🎉 Create your own stickers: Use the “Cutouts” option inside DMs to cutout an object from a photo you love to create your own sticker!

🎉 Edit your photos: Previously, you couldn’t edit any photos inside DMs and that’s all changed! Select a photo, add some stickers, text, or draw on the photo before sending to your friends.

🎉 Add your birthday to Notes: While this doesn’t seem necessary, Facebook has done so well through the years because people have their birthdays added. Now, Instagram looks to be doing the same.

Although most of these features are quite small, the fact they are being created is significant as it shows how important Instagram believes DMs are.

The top trending sounds and songs you need to use to go viral this week.

💰 Where Did All My Money Go?: This is a great trend for all businesses and brands to hop on! It uses humor and a touch of self-awareness to showcase purchases, often impulsive or luxurious.

👀 Just So You Know Mom: This trend uses humor to connect with audiences, particularly those familiar with the struggles and joys of running a small business or pursuing a passion project.

📣 You Better Be Joking: This trend uses humor and a bit of shock value to address common misconceptions or "bad takes" within a specific niche.

💭 I Started To Wonder: This trend uses humor and self-awareness to connect with viewers who overthink or experience creative ruts.

Want more trends? Get daily notifications on trending audios with our AI Assistant, Iris. Start a free trial today!

Get Viral Trends Today

So long social media in Australia 👋

It looks like Australia is the next country to start putting plans in place to put age restrictions on social media.

The prime minister has said the government will block kids from using social media until they are at least 16 years old.

However there are a lot of questions currently being raised:

How exactly will age verification will happen? Because at the moment all platforms use slightly different verification programs.

Will the social media platforms comply to Australia’s demands or will the platforms pull away from being in Australia?

Are there privacy concerns gathering users’ data for the age verification checks?

While more and more countries and states in the USA look to add age restrictions to social media, many are looking to Australia to see what happens next and if it’ll even work.