The Reality Show Nobody Asked For But We All Watch

_{Day 49/100}

Hey - It's Tim.

Hey - It's Tim.

 I got hella bored last night and after I’d moved round my entire office setup, I spent 4 hours today sifting through algorithm patch notes so you don't have to.

Here's what content creators actually need to care about this week.

Meta Universe

Facebook's new friends tab brings the app back to its roots. After years of pushing us toward random content, Meta remembered Facebook was originally about... friends? Revolutionary concept.

Instagram finally lets you play Reels at 2X speed. For when you need to consume your dopamine twice as fast. Your attention span thanks you.

Instagram testing "Repost" feature for content. Only took them 13 years to copy what Twitter had in 2009. Innovation!

Instagram announces anti-bullying tool for schools. Noble effort or PR move after years of criticism? Place your bets.

Instagram removing Notes feature from Reels and Posts. Feature nobody used disappears. Nobody notices.

Meta expanding Marketing API support for Instagram partnership ads. Translation: "Here's another way for your favorite influencers to sell you stuff."

Meta considers charging for ad-free Facebook and Instagram in UK. The ultimatum: "Either we sell your data, or you pay us directly." Charming.

Meta rolls out AI on WhatsApp in Europe that users cannot disable. Privacy advocates having collective meltdown. EU regulators loading their cannons.

WhatsApp rolling out music integration for Status Updates. MySpace Tom smiles knowingly from his beach somewhere.

TikTok Tactics

TikTok to launch TikTok Shop in France, Germany, and Italy. E-commerce expansion means more monetization options if you have European audiences. Time to brush up on your product integration skills.

TikTok announces new commerce features for brands. More ways to drive both online and offline sales. The platform is becoming a full-funnel tool, not just awareness.

Creator Tools Elsewhere

Elon Musk's AI company xAI buys Elon Musk's social media platform X. Perfectly normal business practice. Nothing to see here. (Definitely no conflict of interest.)
This is THE BEST video I’ve seen explaining why.

LinkedIn adds new AI and automation tools to Campaign Manager. Content distribution getting automated. If you're in B2B, these tools might save you hours of campaign management time.

Google rolling out Gemini 2.5 Pro to free users. Better AI content generation without the price tag. Worth exploring for content research and ideation. I still find myself using Claude for pretty much everything ngl.

X is projected to generate $1.31 billion in US ad sales in 2025. Up 17.5%. Despite the chaos, advertisers aren't leaving. Maybe your content strategy shouldn't either.
Wanna come say hi, I just found myself over on Twitter. 🫠 

What It All Means

This month's theme: Commerce integration and AI assistance are the big winners.

If you're not thinking about how your content drives transactions, you're falling behind. If you're still doing everything manually, the platforms are leaving you in the dust.

Content that sells > Content that tells.

✌️ Tim "Algorithm Patch Notes Doom Scroller" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

P.S. Found this useful? Forward it to a fellow content creator drowning in platform updates.

This took me 4 hours to compile. Takes you 2 minutes to read. Fair trade?

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