Aliza Hughes
You know how when you go on vacation the world is calm and peaceful but then you get back to work and there is more work than ever?
That’s how I felt when I sat down to put together this newsletter. There shouldn’t have been double the amount of updates and news to share and yet it very much felt like there was (is?).
One of the things that I noticed very clearly was that a lof of social media relevant companies are coming out with reports for the year (ie: “Best performing LinkedIn posts for 2025”, “Social Media Benchmarks for 2025”, “2025 State of video report” and so many more).
So I decided that this newsletter edition will be about the updates you need to know now, and the next edition (maybe even a special edition!) will cover all the reports.
Keep reading and scrolling for:
Yalla, let’s jump in. 
Would you risk a $23.85 million lawsuit over your social media posts?
Because that’s what the team at Crumbl are dealing with right now.
Here are the details:
Warner Music Group (WMG) has launched a copyright infringement lawsuit against Crumbl, Music Business Worldwide reports. The complaint cites 159 videos on Crumbl’s social media pages that contain allegedly unauthorized usages of music by WMG artists; WMG is asking for $150,000 in statutory damages per video, up to $23.85 million in total if a judge grants the maximum penalty per video.
As if you needed a reminder why you CAN’T (not shouldn’t, but can’t) use audio or visuals in your posts without authorization, this is it.
The truth is I get some of the arguments for why you’d let it slide. Especially with smaller companies and profiles, the chances of getting caught and sued seem pretty small.
I’ve even tried to skirt the rules a few times because a sound or meme just fits so well with the post.
True story: I used a gif from Fantasia for a post and Zoe was (rightfully) very upset with me. My (naive) response was “if Disney sees this post, I’ll consider it a success!”
But I really do understand the other side as well. This is someone’s intellectual property, full stop.
So let’s reframe a little. Let’s agree that it’s fun to jump on trends, but that we need to make it our own. That’s where the real creativity and individuality shine. This is true for people and for B2B companies.
I appreciated these 2 LinkedIn posts on the issue by Steffanie Agnew and Nycole Hampton
📽️📽️📽️ LinkedIn is trying a new video trends feature that will encourage members to add their own video responses to trending topics in the app – or in other words “Collab articles as videos”.
LinkedIn’s new format will include header tags within video clips, as well as within the main feed, that highlight trending video topics in the app. Users will tap on any topic to see what other members are sharing about that specific subject.
LinkedIn will also encourage viewers to “Add to this trend” with a simple CTA button that opens your own camera to record your take.
As Social Media Today, LLC explains: the format is similar to LinkedIn’s AI-generated “Collaborative Articles”, which generate industry and niche questions, then invite members to contribute.
📱📱📱Instagram is experimenting with a collaborate stories feature called “Storylines”.
This could be really interesting for brands in a scenario where, for example, you have a team building day and your employees/colleagues would be able to add to the original Story from that event with their own, related content, building a bigger Story from your initial update.
Also on Instagram, we might all get the option to repost. As we know, up until now, if you wanted to share someone’s content, you could only share it into your story. Now you’ll have the option to actually share the post as a post.
I think companies are going to have to toe a fine line when asking their employees to share company content to their Instagram. For the most part this is common and accepted now on LinkedIn, where often people’s networks are professional and relevant, but much less so on Instagram, where personal content still reigns. Still it’ll be interesting to watch this develop.
🤳🤳🤳 TikTok is adding a featurefor artists that allows them to add additional members to their account. I’m hoping that this is the start of something really exciting on the B2B side of managed accounts. (Maybe this isn’t really collabs but it feels like it fits 🙂
Also collab adjacent, more like cross platform-ing/collab-ing with yourself?, Facebook now lets you showcase your TikTok, YouTube and instagram presence on your Facebook profile.
This is one of my favorite updates ever… you can now choose custom dates for reporting on personal profiles on LinkedIn! 💃💃💃
Previously, if you weren’t using a reporting tool for your personal profiles, reporting was really annoying if you didn’t catch it right on the first of the month.
Instagram is showing the date a Reel was postedat the end of the caption now.
I don’t know if this matters so much in reporting because obviously the account knows when it was posted, but it is an insight for the rest of us. (And honestly, I’ve found myself wondering when content was posted and being annoyed that you couldn’t see it on a Reel).
And of course a video update… Longer short videos are now seemingly gaining more traction with audiences on TikTok and Instagram.
So by “longer short” videos, we’re not talking about a shift back to long-form content of 5 minutes or more. But what is seemingly happening, based on the announcements from each app, is that consumers are now more willing to engage with 3-minute-long videos, as opposed to 30-second uploads.
And last but not least: Threads is now showing insights per post
Thanks for sticking with me this far down!
LinkedIn added some new tricks to its Premium Company options, including the ability to invite followers of Pages similar to yours to also check out your profile in the app.
LinkedIn has launched a new “Create on LinkedIn” mini-site, which includes a range of posting tips, best practices, examples and more.
Meta has published some new insights into the content consumption habits of Gen Z, and how marketers need to align with these shifts in order to maximize the impact of their promotional and branding efforts.
Bluesky is instituting a verification system. As reported by TechCrunch : While similar in some respects to the system that Twitter had once used before pivoting to paid verification under Elon Musk, Bluesky’s verification builds on the company’s decentralized ethos by giving other entities the authority to verify users independently.
TikTok adds support for ALT text for photos
Kind of hiding this new feature here because well, come on TikTok, you’re better than this: TikTok just added a feature called text image.
X may soon start selling inactive usernames to Verified Organizations but it’s going to cost you at least $10,000.
Now for my favorite section of this newsletter …
OpenAI is building a social network. According to reporting by The Verge:
OpenAI is working on its own X-like social network, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. While the project is still in early stages, we’re told there’s an internal prototype focused on ChatGPT’s image generation that has a social feed.
🌶️ I’m very curious – would you join a social media network run by OpenAI? 🌶️
Meet Neptune, a TikTok alternative where creators can hide likes and follower counts. I would love this for the teenagers who use social media but it would be very hard to convince a marketer to get on a platform where they can’t do any reporting.
And finally. Series, an AI-powered social network designed to help people make real professional connections, over something as simple as a text message. NBD this app was built by 2 Yale students and has already raised $3.1 million in pre-seed funding.
What I read and found interesting in Medium :
Unlike traditional platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram, Series doesn’t rely on follower counts, likes, or flashy profiles. Instead, users chat with an AI “Friend” over SMS or iMessage, sharing the kind of connection they’re looking for — a mentor, investor, cofounder, etc. The AI agent (mine was named “Stevie”) then scouts the Series network to find the right match — even reaching out to other AI agents (“Oliver,” in my case) on your behalf. If both human users agree, you’re connected in a group text. No cold DMs. No awkward outreach. Just a warm intro, Gen Z style.
I’ve been working with a lot of clients this year on agentic AI so the idea isn’t that far out there for me, but I’m going to argue on the “just a warm intro” line.
A warm intro is shaking someone’s hand, meeting them for coffee, hanging out over delicious pasta. Not my AI agent contacting your AI agent and setting up a meeting.
Well, you finally reached the end and I give you an A+ for effort!
Your reward for making it this far down is a fun little article where Mark Zuckerberg says social media is over. That should make for some fun reading for those of us who are on social media, let’s just say a lot of hours, during the day! 😂
