Reddit goes to war against its power users

Hello, geeks

Before we get started… Some breaking news:

LinkedIn is killing its carousel posts feature 😯 (Plus TWO other creator features).

I’ve had another manically busy (but fun) week. I was invited to speak at Andrew and Pete’s Atomicon event in Newcastle with these great people. I had a blast. Although the 6.5 hr train journey sucked!

I finally met the super talented Sophie Millar (PLM). And I bumped into a long list of people I’ve followed on social for years, but never met IRL (Spot my selfie with the two Laura’s!)

…I also had a disturbing gift left on my pillow in my hotel room. 😆

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🚩 A quick bit of Geekout Newsletter housekeeping…

I’m going to take a few days off over the coming weeks. I need a digital detox! So… I’m headed to Glastonbury Festival. ⛺️🎶

Geekout Newsletter will be left in the capable (geeky) hands of Martin SFP Bryant (Geekout co-editor).

He will track everything new in social, and pull it all together for the next TWO editions of Geekout (23rd + 30th June).

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Ok, let’s get into it. These were the biggest stories in social media land this week:

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

Here’s everything else new and noteworthy this week. Some very interesting new features spotted… 😯👇

Meta / Facebook

Meta introduced new tools to help creators get discovered and earn money on Facebook … Meta Verified gained new early access to beta features perk … This is the new most annoying Facebook notification … Facebook wants you to create a second profile (desperate growth hacking) … Facebook added a ‘Creator support’ tab (minus any actual support) … Facebook is testing a ‘Highlight’ content feature to boost your top posts.

Instagram / WhatsApp

You can now add music to your Instagram Notes (MSN Messenger vibes… teens love IG Notes, apparently) … Instagram rolled out its broadcast Channels feature globally … And WhatsApp is working on multi-account support and a video messaging feature.

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Twitter

Twitter will soon start sharing revenue with creators for ads in tweet replies (don’t bank on it being much + it’s going to incentivise bad behaviour) … Twitter is reportedly moving fast to reboot Periscope (eyeroll) … Twitter plans to charge you to DM people who don’t follow you AND limit the number of DMs you can send per day … Twitter is working on a LinkedIn-style jobs feature … Twitter updated Twemoji with 31 new emojis … And there’s this random Twitter emoji confetti tweet.

TikTok / YouTube / LinkedIn

TikTok has a new dual camera mode for TikTok Live … TikTok tried to dispel myths over how it tracks users (but it failed) … TikTok on desktop now lets you add sounds to your videos … YouTube added a shortcut to edit longer videos into 15 or 60 sec Shorts … LinkedIn added Twitter-like notification filters.

Twitch / Tumblr

Twitch finally agreed to pay more to smaller streamers with a new Partner Plus monetisation tier… And Tumblr wants to become more like Twitter?! 😆 And this!

DID YOU SEE… 👀

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Time to jump into analysis of this week’s top stories. Reddit’s CEO has had one helluva week! 👇🔥

– Matt

🚨 Everyone's talking about...

The Reddit API pricing drama has now stretched into its third week, and CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down. If anything, it feels more like he’s at war with a group of the site’s power users.

A disastrous AMA last Friday set the tone for the week. Before long, what was planned as a temporary protest that saw thousands of top subreddits switch to private mode, had turned into an indefinite blackout for some.

Despite Huffman’s insistence that it was nbd, the impact on Reddit’s traffic must have been noticeable. It certainly had an effect on Google search results and became a problem for advertisers. Indeed, some are holding their campaigns.

By the end of the week, many top subreddits were still dark. but Reddit said 80% of top forums were back online.

Still, Huffman seems insistent that it Reddit will win this dispute. The company is threatening to remove moderators from subreddits that don’t back down, and in an interview with the Verge, Huffman was talking tough, describing popular third-party Reddit app Apollo (set to shut down in two weeks as a result of the API pricing changes) as a competitor:

“Apollo… uses our logo, or something like it, takes our data — for free — and resells it to users making a 100 percent margin. And instead of using our app, they use that app. Is that not competitive?”

He might have a point from the perspective of Reddit’s bottom line, but Apollo is used by a big chunk of the site’s power users. Huffman is playing a dangerous game continuing to annoy this crowd. They could easily pick up their toys and go home. Or at least move to a platform like Discord.

Reddit requires its power users to maintain its place as a vital source of online information and debate. However this dispute ends, it will be a case study in social media platform community management.

Social media platforms’ attitude to paying creators ebbs and flows. One month they’re paying out millions in incentives, the next they’re reining it all in.

But there are signs platforms do want to build ways of paying creators (it’s a great way of hanging onto them), if only they can make them sustainable.

And so this week we’ve seen news from YouTube, Meta, and Twitter on this front.

Firstly, YouTube has opened its Partner Program to far more creators in the US, UK, Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Whereas you previously needed at least 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 watch hours in the past year or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days, the bar has now been substantially lowered.

Now you need just 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours in the past year or 3 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Meanwhile, as part of a wider expansion of its creator tools, Facebook is lowering the Stars monetisation eligibility barrier. Creators must have 500 followers (down from 1,000) over the past 30 days (down from 60)–and testing monetising Reels that include music.

And of course Twitter has been busy promoting its Subscriptions product and now seems almost ready to start sharing revenue for ads shown in replies. You’ll need to be a verified subscriber and only impressions served to other verified users count.

I’m not sure this one sounds like much fun. Revenue paid out to users is likely to small, and it will encourage Blue users to post engagement bait targeting other Blue subscribers. Eww.

Still, try hard and they might make back their $8 per moth sub subscription fee.

While the exact risks and benefits of social media on young people still aren’t fully understood, that hasn’t stopped some US states from cracking down.

Up there with the most extreme is Texas, where from September 2024, anyone under 18 will need parental consent to use social media.

Those kids who are still allowed to use it might well have a different experience, as platforms will be banned from showing them content on topics like eating disorders, substance abuse, or “grooming”.

Meanwhile, as the Verge explained, Texas is far from alone:

Just this week, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece arguing that 16 should be the minimum age to use social media, so the drumbeat for a more substantial crackdown continues.

We can’t be exactly sure what health and social impact bans like this might have on teens, but they’re certainly going to impact a lot of brands’ marketing strategies, and they could be a serious problem for a whole host of creators.

One to watch.

😆 LOL tweets

I think this idea would be surprisingly popular!

Also:

📈 Going viral

MrBeast might struggle with his philanthropy, but his content is still clocking up the wins…

🪧 Brand social

This post from Heineken was a very clever way of jumping on the Apple Vision Pro hype. 👏

👀 Must-read

“Jimmy Donaldson, a.k.a. MrBeast, has become a viral sensation for his absurd acts of altruism. Why do so many people think he’s evil?”":

😮 What did you say?!

I mean, no disagreement here, Jack. But it’s interesting to hear you say it after you backed him just recently…

Wait… what? 👇

❓ Question of the week

Inspired by an excellent piece by Rachel Karten, I took to LinkedIn to ask:

Tap through to get involved and read some really insightful replies.

😮 WTF?!

This is a great way to make sure people don’t turn up at your actual funeral.

I mean seriously, what is wrong with some influencers..?

🛠️ Free tools

Need a bigger image than your client can provide? Uncrop can “uncrop your photos to any image format”, using A.I. to add additional background. Really useful!

And don’t miss:

🪦 RIP

Features being sent to the graveyard:

Thankfully the carousels mentioned here are image carousels, not the popular PDF carousel format. Phew!

🤖 A.I.-mazing

All the ways A.I. is transforming social media:

“Meta's MusicGen can generate short new pieces of music based on text prompts, which can optionally be aligned to an existing melody.”

Also:

💡 New feature spotlight

TikTok continues to build out on its shopping ambitions with a (potentially) better way to find what you want:

🔍 New research

The Reuters Institute’s annual Digital News Report is essential reading as usual. Here are some key insights:

More insights:

📊 Social stats

Yowza:

Also:

📈 Charted

Also:

New features and tests:

Facebook:

Instagram:

Messenger:

WhatsApp:

The rest: Creator Studio/adtech/Quest and more:

New features and tests:

Insights to give you an edge at work:

New features and tests:

💥 More social media news and updates

New features and tests:

😳 And finally...

Just when you thought dating apps couldn’t get any worse…

📅 Back next week...

…You’ve reached the end of this week’s Geekout. ✅

I wish I had a joke, a fun fact, or a whimsical tale to reward you. Sorry! 😬

I’m heading off to binge watch the new season of Black Mirror. 📺

See you all in a few weeks time… If I make it out of Glastonbury alive! ⛺️😱

Goodbye, geeks.

– Matt

💲 Advertise in Geekout

You should advertise in Geekout! Get in touch: matt@mattnavarra.com

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This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant