TikTok Announces ‘TikTok Live Fest’ Event
TikTok announced its first large‑scale Live Fest, scheduled for February 12 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Emmy‑winner Keke Palmer will host a showcase that mixes Hollywood star Demi Lovato with top global TikTok creators and competition winners across multiple creator leagues. The event highlights TikTok LIVE’s talent pipeline and aims to boost the platform’s visibility in the United States after its recent joint‑venture approval. Organizers expect the spectacle to reinforce TikTok’s position as a live‑entertainment and commerce hub.
TikTok Announces Creator Showcase for Black History Month
TikTok announced its 2026 Black History Month showcase, spotlighting a curated roster of #BlackTikTok creators across fashion, entertainment, sports, food and more. The platform highlighted an 11‑fold increase in unique #BlackTikTok posts since 2020 and promised in‑app exposure, branded‑account promotion,...
Meta Announces Discovery Improvements for Creator Marketplace
Meta has upgraded its Creator Marketplace with smarter recommendation engines that surface creators who have previously engaged with a brand, tagged its products, or shown explicit interest. The platform now includes a “Similar Creators” search that mirrors top‑performing past partners...
X Announces Partnership with WBD for Winter Olympics
X has struck a partnership with Warner Brothers Discovery to deliver exclusive Winter Olympics content across Europe and the U.K. The deal merges X’s real‑time sports conversation engine with Eurosport and TNT Sports broadcast feeds, while integrating HBO Max and discovery+ streams. Brands...
LinkedIn Continues to Add Users, Revenue
LinkedIn’s latest quarter posted a record $5 billion in revenue, marking the first time the platform crossed that threshold. Membership climbed to 1.3 billion, with double‑digit growth reported across new regions. Active‑user estimates hover around 450 million, roughly 36 % of the EU base,...
Snapchat Shares Data on How Its Users Seek Info on Financial Products
Snapchat released a study with Ipsos of 1,100 U.S. daily social users who hold or seek financial products. The data shows daily Snapchat users hold more products and are 1.4 times more likely to take a new financial product within...
Social Media Marketing Outlook 2026: What to Expect in the Year Ahead
The 2026 Social Media Marketing Outlook predicts short‑form video will cement its role as the primary brand engagement tool, while platforms like Reddit face growing user resistance to advertising. Algorithmic shifts are expected to heighten tension between creators and networks,...
Canadian Government Looks to Bring News Content Back to Facebook
Two and a half years after Meta blocked Canadian news, the Canadian government is negotiating with Meta to restore news content on Facebook and Instagram as part of revisions to the Online News Act. The original act would have forced...
Google Launches New Google Ads Insights Podcast
Google has introduced the "Ads Decoded" podcast, hosted by Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin, to bridge marketers with the Google Ads product teams. The series will feature interviews covering the latest trends such as AI, SEO, and analytics. The debut...
X Launches ‘Brand Ranx’ to Measure Super Bowl Ad Response
X has launched Brand Ranx, a new mini‑site that tracks Super Bowl ad performance using real‑time discussion on its platform. The tool ranks campaigns in four categories—most loved, most talked about, most shared, and most disruptive outside TV—mirroring Twitter’s former...
Edits Gets Simplified Copy and Paste, Improved Track Linking
Meta’s Edits app introduced a copy‑and‑paste feature for fonts and clips, enabling creators to maintain visual consistency across projects while saving time. A new drop‑down menu centralizes access to guides, frames, and snapping tools, simplifying the mobile editing workflow. The...
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LinkedIn Shares Tips on How to Boost Organic Posts [Infographic]
LinkedIn has published an infographic detailing how marketers can use its paid “Boost” feature to amplify organic posts, mirroring Facebook’s simple boost workflow. The tool now supports boosting content created by other members, extending reach beyond a brand’s own updates....
Are Social Platform Subscriptions Becoming More Accepted?
Elon Musk predicts paid social will dominate, citing X Premium’s modest 1.5 million subscribers as a proof‑of‑concept. Major platforms—Meta, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube—have launched or expanded subscription tiers that offer verification, ad‑free viewing, and exclusive tools. These add‑ons serve dual purposes: new...
The Analytics Blind Spot: Why 70% of Marketers Can’t Prove Social Media ROI (and How to Fix It)
Only 30% of marketers can prove social media’s business impact, leaving 70% stuck with vanity metrics. The root cause is fragmented data and simplistic attribution that obscure ROI. Experts recommend consolidating analytics, tailoring ROI definitions, and building multi‑touch attribution while...
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What Is Human-First Marketing? [Infographic]
Human‑first marketing shifts focus from product features to the personal benefits a brand delivers, emphasizing empathy and storytelling. The article warns that AI‑generated content can dilute authentic connections, making audience‑centric messaging essential for performance. Giraffe Social Media’s infographic offers practical...
Pinterest Adds Media Planner to Help You Manage Your Ad Campaigns
Pinterest has launched a native Media Planner within its Ads Manager, giving marketers a single dashboard to design, estimate, and model upper‑funnel campaigns. The tool lets advertisers explore high‑value audience segments, forecast impressions, reach, CPM and CPC by country, and...
X Experiments with Paid Promotion Tags In-Stream
X is testing in‑stream paid‑partnership tags that would let creators flag sponsored content directly within the feed. The feature would replace manual #ad disclosures with an automated tag, potentially offering brands performance analytics similar to those on rival platforms. This...
Threads Experiments With Animated Stickers in Posts
Threads is experimenting with animated, GIF‑style stickers that can be embedded directly in user posts, appearing as moving emojis within the main feed. The feature differs from the existing native GIF attachment, which places a separate panel in the composer....
Google Adds Search Data to Demand Gen Campaigns, Improved CTV Conversion
Google’s latest Demand Gen updates could help you drive improved response.
Instagram Tests Changing ‘Following’ Display to ‘Friends’
Instagram is piloting a profile redesign that swaps the traditional “Following” count with a “Friends” metric, showing only users who follow each other. The small‑scale test, confirmed by Instagram to Business Insider, aims to make reciprocal connections more visible. The...
TikTok Adds More Control Options to Smart+ Campaigns
TikTok has upgraded its AI‑driven Smart+ campaigns with new creative‑selection and management tools. The Auto‑select feature scans existing ads and creator content to recommend top‑performing creatives automatically. Advertisers can now preview every possible creative combination in Ads Manager and use...
YouTube’s CEO Outlines Key Areas of Focus for 2026
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan unveiled the platform’s 2026 roadmap, emphasizing AI‑driven creator tools, new Shorts formats, and expanded commerce. Over one million channels already use YouTube’s AI suite daily, and the company will roll out AI‑generated Shorts, text‑prompt games, and...
FTC Announces Appeal in Meta Antitrust Case
The Federal Trade Commission announced it will appeal the November district‑court ruling that rejected its antitrust case against Meta. The lawsuit, filed in 2020, alleges that Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were intended to neutralize competition and should result...
Meta Adds More Languages to AI Translations for Reels
Meta has expanded its AI‑powered translation feature for Instagram Reels, adding Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Kannada to the existing English, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish options. The new languages focus on India, now Meta’s largest single market for Facebook and...
X Publishes AI-Powered Algorithm Code
Elon Musk’s X has finally published the source code for its AI‑driven “For You” feed on GitHub, revealing the new Thunder and Phoenix ranking modules. The algorithm, fully AI‑powered since November, blends posts from followed accounts with machine‑learned recommendations based...
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The Rise of Gen AI Apps [Infographic]
A Visual Capitalist infographic, using Sensor Tower data, shows generative‑AI apps have surged to become among the most downloaded mobile tools, trailing only utilities, banking and social media. Practical guidance tops the usage chart, with search and writing assistance in...
TikTok Adds Teen Safety Measures in EU, Outlines Economic Contribution
TikTok announced a rollout of enhanced age‑verification tools across Europe to block users under 13, adding facial‑age estimation, credit‑card checks and government ID verification. The platform says the new system, built on behavior analysis and specialist moderation, follows a pilot...
Meta Says That the Science Does Not Support Teen Social Media Bans
Meta pushed back against proposals to ban teens from its platforms, arguing that scientific research shows teen mental health is shaped by many factors beyond social media. The company cited the 2024 National Academies report, which acknowledges both risks and...
X Announces $1 Million Prize For Top X Article This Month
X announced a $1 million prize for the most popular long‑form article posted on the platform before Jan 30, targeting U.S. X Premium subscribers. The winning piece must be original, at least 1,000 words, and judged primarily on verified Home Timeline impressions....
TikTok Adds More AI-Powered Tools To Assist TikTok Shop Merchants
TikTok is expanding its Shop platform with a suite of AI‑powered tools aimed at simplifying product promotion. The new AI Fashion Video Maker turns static images into polished videos with voiceovers and music in minutes. AI dubbing generates scripts and...
Pinterest Launches 2026 Planning Guide
Pinterest has released its 2026 Marketing Moments Guide, outlining key calendar, life and big events for brands to align their campaigns. The guide highlights that the platform’s 600 million monthly active users primarily come to shop, and that seasonal searches start...
YouTube Adds More Promote Targeting Options, Image-To-Video AI
YouTube is expanding its Promote in‑stream boosting tool with interest‑based audience targeting, letting creators aim clips at gamers, beauty fans, travelers and more. The new flow, currently desktop‑only, will soon appear on mobile. Simultaneously, YouTube is testing “Ingredients,” an AI‑driven...
Pinterest Highlights Trending Colors for 2026
Pinterest released its 2026 Palette report, highlighting five colors—Cool Blue, Jade, Plum Noir, Wasabi, and Persimmon—that it expects to dominate visual trends. The selections are based on a year‑long analysis of user searches and save activity within the platform. Pinterest...
