What a HOT 🥵 Mess

SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS
January 2025 – WTF?!

The entire world 🌎 stopped spinning around 10:30 PM EST on January 18, 2025.

Okay, I might be a little dramatic, but this is for historical purposes, and everyone needs to know just how cray-cray things have been since.

Here are the events that have transpired…

TIKTOK WENT DARK

At around 10:30 PM EST on January 18, 2025, TikTok went dark across the U.S., roughly 90 minutes before the legal ban of the app was set to go into effect. Users were immediately met with a message that read:

But then, just 12 hours later, TikTok pulled a “JUST KIDDING,” making a swift return Sunday morning around 10:30 AM EST.

Around that same time, Donald Trump floated the idea on his little Truth Social app that the U.S. should take a 50% ownership stake in the platform, which was immediately met with backlash and alarm bells for being a proposal to establish a state-run media.

BIG YIKES 😱

In the 11 days since, thousands of influential progressive TikTok creators have either been banned from their original accounts or have been pushed aside for more Trump-friendly and far-right creators, leaving many to wonder what kind of deal TikTok struck with the incoming administration and what terms it had to adhere to in order stay active.

But is the app safe? It might be too early to say. For now, the TikTok lives, but only for another 64ish days. Trump’s current executive order could only extend the implementation of the ban for 75 days.

Only time will tell. But that hasn’t stopped millions of users from migrating away from the platform and onto others like RedNote, Bluesky, or even back to Meta.

SPEAKING OF META…

Did you honestly think Mark Zuckerberg was going to let TikTok steal ALL the attention in 2025? HA!

Just this month alone, Zuckerberg has:

• announced that Meta would be moving its content oversight teams from California to Texas.

• announced plans to lay off more than 5% of its workers.

• replaced Fact Checkers on Facebook with Community Notes (whatever the f*ck that means).

• Dismissed the company’s DEI initiatives to embrace a “more masculine work environment.” (again, WETF that means)

On top of all that, Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced significant platform changes that nobody asked for (immediately following the TikTok debacle, nonetheless):

• ⏰ Instagram now allows 3-minute Reels, a big jump from the previously restricted 90 seconds (trying to entice TikTok users over to the platform, Mosseri?)

• 📐 Instagram profiles were getting a makeover, including new grid feed sizing. (OLD: 1080×1080, NEW: 1080×1350)

• 🔦 Story Highlights will soon have their own tab on your profile rather than being displayed along the top.

• 🎥 And Instagram launched its own video editing app called…wait for it…EDITS.

So, yeah…

To say it’s been a whirlwind of a January is an understatement. 😫

If you know any social media managers or anyone working in this field, give them a hug, a coffee, and maybe a little grace.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?

Jury’s still out on what this all means for brands and small businesses. I wish I could sit here and tell you EXACTLY how all these platform changes are going to affect your business, but the truth is, no one really knows.

All I can do is prepare you.

So, here are the next 3 things I want you to do:

1. Continue Posting Where I Am, But Explore Alternatives

The fact of the matter is we don’t know where users, buyers, and scrollers are going to go should TikTok be banned permanently. So, the best thing you can do as a brand is continue posting where your audience is currently but start exploring the alternatives. Doing the exploration now means you’ll be able to make the full pivot with confidence later.

2. Build Up that Email List

Weren’t capturing emails before? Then you definitely want to start doing that NOW. One of the best ways to move your audience off social media and into your subscriber list is to offer a FREE resource, consultation, or piece of information they want. Once they’re off social and in your mailing list, you can nurture the heck out of them, creating an even better community-driven content ecosystem. And when the apps crash, you don’t lose communication with your audience.

3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Just because someone follows you on one channel doesn’t necessarily mean they know about all your other channels. Communicate with your audience about where they can find you, whether that’s on Threads, Bluesky, Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook. If you don’t tell them where to find you, they probably won’t go looking very hard. So, if there’s ever a time to promote your other channels, it’s right now!

FROM AROUND THE WEB
News to Keep You Informed-ish

• 🧵 Threads rolled out post analytics for mobile users.

• 🔖 Instagram spills the beans on how story ranking works.

• 🤖 DeepSeek, the latest AI innovation, is giving ChatGPT and U.S. investors a run for their money—LITERALLY.

• Social-first marketing is leading the charge in 2025, and Dogfish Head is leading by example.

• Super Bowl ads for Super Bowl LIX hit a staggering $8 MILLION for the first time ever.

FOR A CHUCKLE