The Instagram Stories - Social Media News

TikTok's new ownership is now in place in the US! But the platform has had problems over the weekend, and people are looking for alternatives. Additionally, the CEO of YouTube, Neal Mohan, stops by to share his 4 big priorities for the platform in 2026.   Links:   TikTok: Announcement from the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC ( TikTok ) TikTok: CEO Shou Chew ( TikTok ) TikTok: What's new on TikTo...

    In this interview, I chat with Diego Sanchez, a product manager at Buffer. He is a product leader with over a decade of experience launching new products from zero to one. At Buffer, he leads Community, the company’s newest product, focused on building scalable, meaningful social engagement. Diego explains what makes Buffer different from other social media management platforms - the team is d...

TikTok's 2026 trend report is out! Longtime listener Casey Ross stops by to share his insights. The YouTube team has improvements to the content upload system, then actor Chris Gethard shares his thoughts on the creator economy and compares the American Revolutionary War being kicked off by mail delivery to our current system of gatekeepers with Instagram and TikTok. Then I do Wednesday Waffle, pa...

The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, answers questions about posting every day on Instagram, and explains the new Edits linking feature. He also gets into improvements around saves, and explains why there's no dedicated Direct Message app for Instagram.    Links: My Latest Reel - Anna Mongiello's Story ( Instagram ) ( TikTok )   Sign Up for The Weekly Email Roundup: Newsletter Leave a Review: ⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Apple announces a direct competitor to Adobe Creative Cloud - it's cheaper and you can purchase the apps so you don't need to pay monthly. Also, the Head of Instagram busts the myth about needing to edit video in Instagram, and YouTube rolls out protections to keep kids limited in their Shorts watch time. Lastly, I do Wednesday Waffle, talking about a gift that I set up for my wife. NordVPN:   Get...

The Head of Instagram explains how often the Instagram algorithm changes, how to use Trial Reels and make them permanent, along with how to share a Reel to Broadcast Channel. We also talk about music on Reels, and how frustrating it is when Instagram loses music rights to a song and now your Reel has no audio.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about ou...

In this episode, I interview Anna Mangiello, a User-Generated Content (UGC) creator and coach.  Anna is a former high school teacher turned full-time UGC creator and coach who has been creating UGC content since 2021. She has worked with over 800 brands, including Fiverr, Maybelline, L’Oréal, TikTok, Microsoft, Dr. Squatch, and many others. Anna has helped more than 700 creators build profitable o...

The Head of Instagram gave 3 tips for Reels in 2026, which involve the Edits app for ideas plus Trial Reels. He also wrote a long blog post about the state of Instagram and where things are headed with respect to AI. The CEO of YouTube, Neal Mohan, gave an interview explaining where he sees YouTube fitting into the landscape compared to Netflix and where things will be in 5 years. Links: Instagram...

When the new year starts, Jen Lehner and I make predictions for the next 12 months. In today's episode, we talk about our favorite marketing campaigns of 2025 and our predictions for social media in 2026.    Links: Watch the rest of the interview ( YouTube ) Listen to the rest of the interview ( Spotify ) Jen Lehner: https://jenlehner.com/ Front Row Daily Briefing: https://jenlehner.com/flash/   S...

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At the end of every year, Jen Lehner and I discuss social media and tech - the biggest fails, the best new features, and make predictions for the next 12 months. In today's episode, we get into the biggest social media fail of the past 12 months, our favorite new Instagram features, and our favorite new apps and platforms.     Links: Jen Lehner: https://jenlehner.com/ Front Row Daily Briefing: htt...

Every year around this time, Jen Lehner and I talk about our favorite social media moments of the year, the biggest fails, the best new features, and make predictions for the next 12 months. In today's episode, we start by talking about the predictions we made for 2025, then get into our favorite social media news story of the year and our favorite TikTok trend of the year.   Links: Jen Lehner: ht...

Today the head of Instagram explains why Follower count still matters, the limiting of hashtags to 5, Instagram on televisions and the available data, plus a feature request that already exists in the Edits app.   Links:   Sign Up for The Weekly Email Roundup: Newsletter Leave a Review: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Me on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@danie...

Instagram announces that hashtags will be limited to 5 - but don't worry, they weren't helping you get reach anyway. TikTok has been sold! The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, sent a memo to employees, which thankfully we have access to. Also the YouTube team is hard at work, rolling out the YouTube Create app for iOS and Nano Banana AI features in YouTube.   Links: TikTok: TikTok signs agreement to crea...

Instagram announces their TV app is coming to Amazon Fire devices first, the Edits team has a bunch of updates, X (AKA Twitter) makes a separate desktop inbox that Threads needs to add ASAP, and the YouTube team adds images to the Shorts feed. Plus the YouTube team discusses strategic ways to use the new collabs feature and I do Wednesday Waffle.   Incogni:  Take back your personal data with Incog...

Today on the show, the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, talks about what Creators should focus on in 2026, how to adjust your Instagram algorithm settings, how to Edit a Reel after posting it (hint: you can't!) and the future of the Edits app on the desktop.    Links: Sign Up for The Weekly Email Roundup: Newsletter Leave a Review: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow...

Today we hear from Mr. Beast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, on which platform is the most important to create content for, and why. If you've ever struggled with this question, and I certainly have, you're going to like this episode. Also the Instagram @creators account explains the analytics stat "when people liked this" for videos, and why it's so important. Lastly the YouTube team explains Brand Partner...

Instagram has added Story Re-Sharing - I explain how we all did this before using workarounds, but how businesses and brands can use this new feature strategically. Also Instagram is rolling out Reels topic customization in the USA this week, plus testing Early Access Reels. The YouTube team is has been improving the YouTube Studio Inspiration tab, the Create app and Thumbnail/Title A/B testing. T...

The Head of Instagram's weekly Ask Me Anything is always packed full of good questions. Today's episode includes answers to questions like "how short is too short for a Reel?", "How long should I try to make new content before moving on if it's not working?", "What counts as a view for photos or a carousel?", and "Does someone viewing my Reel at 2x affect the calculated watch time?" Links:   Sign...

People have been writing "Dear Algo" on Threads with requests for how their feed should be different - and now Threads is testing supporting these requests. Additionally, the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri explains why they move the buttons around at the bottom, and YouTube Liaison Rene Ritchie explains how to link from a YouTube Short to a longform video.   Links: Threads: "Dear Algo" support in...

Normally the Head of Instagram answers questions, but today the CEO of YouTube takes over. He answers questions like "What's YouTube going to look like 5 or 10 years from now?" and "How does YouTube help Creators?" Additionally, YouTube announces "Recap", a feature that is exactly like Spotify Wrapped, and the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, explains Notes. Links: YouTube: YouTube CEO Neal Mohan...

A listener named Nina left me a lovely review of the show, plus links in Reels isn't news and Lia Haberman of the In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) email newsletter.   Links: Old News: Links in Reels ( Social Media Today ) Interview with Lia Haberman ( Video ) ( Audio )     Sign Up for The Weekly Email Roundup: Newsletter Leave a Review: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Foll...

YouTube tests a new custom feed just like Instagram and TikTok, Shorts AI Creation Tools get updates, and I experiment with speeding up Lauren to see if that helps. Also the Head of Instagram stops by to explain that reposting your own content to Feed really won't do much, and the team at TikTok shares some stats around using Creators to make content for brands. After the music, I do Wednesday Waf...

Thank you to everyone who filled out the listener feedback survey! If you haven't had a chance to do that yet, you still can - using the link here ! Instagram announced 20 minute Reels, so we get Adam Mosseri's take on how they fit into the Instagram landscape. We also discuss Carousels vs. Reels, Trial Reels, and more. Links: Listener Feedback Survey ( Survey ) Instagram: 20 Minute Reels! ( Insta...

The Listener Survey is still open! The first 10 people who submit responses to the survey get a $20 Amazon Gift Card. Today on the show we dive into a clip from the Head of Instagram explaining the algorithm and how your content gets shared, plus an explanation of collab posts and how to game the system for more reach. Additionally the TikTok team rolls out the ability to adjust how much AI conten...