Thursday, October 23rd

📊 Did you know?

YouTube sponsorships are up 54% year-over-year — fueled by Shorts and long-form creator trust.

(Gospel Stats, 2025) - see full recap here

👀 Genius ad from Skims

Excellent street marketing concept from Skims - generating free UGC on top 👇️ 

🔔 Top Creator Stories

📚 Instagram Just Changed (Again)

Did you also get the new navigation bar?

Instagram quietly rolled out a redesigned UI

👉️ with new tabs, a reordered nav bar (Home → Reels → DMs → Search → Profile), and a heavier push on Reels and DMs.

And that’s not all ❌ 

Instagram is also testing a new Reels algorithm control, letting users customize what kind of videos they want to see more or less of.
That means your Reels performance will depend even more on relevance — not just reach.

According to early data from the Metricool x HypeAuditor benchmark (70M+ posts analyzed), the way creators and brands grow on Instagram is changing fast.

Here’s what to focus on 👇

1️⃣ Prioritize DMs

DMs are becoming the new feed. Instagram’s design makes it clear → messaging is now central to the platform.
💡 If you don’t have a Broadcast Channel yet, start one. It’s the fastest path to reach your top fans directly.

2️⃣ Keep posting Carousels + Stories

Carousels are quietly outperforming Reels as accounts grow (especially past 50K followers).
💡 Carousels = depth. They drive retention, story-based engagement, and repeat visibility.
As Adam Mosseri said last year: multiple slides mean more interactions, and the algorithm gives Carousels a “second life” by resurfacing them later.

3️⃣ Use Reels for Reach

RReels still dominate discovery for smaller accounts (< 50K followers).
💡 Think of every Reel as your first handshake with a new follower.
With the new algorithm control, users can fine-tune their feeds — so brands must focus on clear topics, consistent aesthetics, and strong hooks to stay visible.

✨ Takeaway:
In 2025, your content mix should look like this:
📩 Broadcasts → loyalty
🖼️ Carousels → connection
🎥 Reels → reach

Social changes every quarter. The creators and brands who win don’t complain — they adapt faster than the platform.

🛍️ Walmart partners with OpenAI for ChatGPT shopping

💬 Threads adds group chats & expands DMs to Europe

🎥 YouTube shares details on reinstating banned channels

🎙️ YouTube expands Voice Replies on Shorts comments

🤖 YouTube adds AI Q&A stickers & Shorts time limits

📲 Instagram tests new UI rollout

🎄 Meta shares holiday marketing tips for brands

🏆 TikTok introduces creator awards for the UK & Ireland

🧠 OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser