It's me. Hi. I'm the problem, it's me.

Just Another Day in Social Media. 🎃

A new song is trending on TikTok, but this one isn't a dance challenge. Taylor Swift's single, Anti-Hero, from her latest album, Midnights, is inspiring TikTokers to share their faults using a line from the chorus: It's me. Hi. I'm the problem, it's me. Here are some examples of how it's being used — by celebrities and regular folk alike, talking about themselves, dating, drinks, you name it. This might be a good trend for Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg to jump on... just saying' 🤷‍♀️.

Here are today's top stories: 

• What Twitter's change in leadership means for social media managers and brands

• Don't forget to claim your YouTube handle

• A quarter of young adults are getting their news on TikTok

• And in case your Halloween costume isn't sorted yet, here are some ideas

 Chief Twit 

If some of you had a "sinking" feeling in your stomach this week, you may have heard about some changes at Twitter. Last week, a billionaire walked into the company's San Francisco offices holding a kitchen sink (for comedic effect) and promptly named himself CEO and Chief Twit after closing the deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion. Elon Musk then proceeded to lay off top executives (many of whom had "golden parachutes" — so don't feel too badly for them), with plans to lay off even more staff. Here's what this all means for social media managers and brands...

 In Moderation  
One of the biggest fears is that Musk, who has repeatedly talked about "free speech", will allow unmoderated, uncensored hate speech onto the platform, and reinstate accounts belonging to individuals like Donald Trump and Kanye West. In response, Musk has already tweeted that a content moderation council with "widely diverse viewpoints" will be created. "No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes." However, the Network Contagion Research Institute is already reporting that trolls on 4chan are encouraging Twitter users to amplify derogatory slurs as a way to test the limits on Twitter. Meanwhile, some companies aren't waiting to see what Musk does. General Motors announced last week that it is suspending its advertising on Twitter until the company's new direction becomes clear. 

But these issues may be just the beginning for Musk. If you read anything this week, it should be this article from The Verge: Welcome to hell, Elon. 😳

 Should You Stay or Should You Go? 
I've seen a few posts on Twitter from people who are fleeing. But in most cases, Twitter users are vowing to stay because they love the platform so much. That includes BuzzFeed News reporter Kate Notopoulos, who penned this article: Please God, Don't Let Twitter Die. In this love letter to Twitter, she lays bare her feelings, saying, "I know it’s not cool to admit to liking Twitter, but I’m not afraid: Fuck, I love Twitter. I love reading tweets, I love tweeting. I’m such a twitcuck I actually pay for Twitter Blue. I don’t care who knows it." (I also pay for Twitter Blue, btw). 

But even if many are choosing to stay, as a brand, you should start to think about the potential implications of a change in direction on the platform. No decisions have to be made today, but if content moderation goes sideways, or the platform becomes very toxic, you may need to decide whether your brand should be on there.

Here are some options:

• Suspend posting activity  

• Suspend advertising

• Deactivate the account (you can do this for 30 days)

• Delete the account permanently

On a side note: Cosmetics firm Lush announced it was pausing posts on a number of platforms (not Twitter) back in November 2021 in the hopes that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok would become "safer" for users. (Probably still waiting on that, tbh).  

But let's give the Chief Twit a chance first. Who knows... maybe Musk will make Twitter even better?

SOCIAL SNACKS

📹 Don't Forget to Claim Your YouTube Handle

If you have a YouTube account, you've probably received an email asking you to claim your new YouTube handle. Make sure to claim yours by Nov. 14th! Otherwise, Google-owned YouTube will just assign handles automatically based on your channel name (which you can also change). As for why YouTube introduced handles: "Your unique @handle will help people find & interact with you & your YouTube channel," Google said in a blog post. "And because handles are unique (unlike channel names), it’s easy to confirm if you’re engaging with the right person or not!" (aka, not a bot). Google also said that in the coming months, people will be able to use your handle across YouTube in comments, mentions, in Shorts & more. Learn more: youtube.com/handle

🗓 Meta, One Year Later 

It was almost one year ago (Oct. 28, 2021) that Facebook became Meta — and the company seems to have had its own share of scary news. For one thing, the company has lost $650 billion in market value. Mark Zuckerberg has personally seen his own wealth drop by $11 billion. And a recent report in The Wall Street Journal cites internal documents as saying Horizon Worlds has fewer than 200,000 active monthly users. But despite this, Zuckerberg seems determined to make the metaverse a key focus. "... I think our work is going to be of historic importance and create the foundation for an entirely new way that we will interact with each other and blend technology into our lives, as well as a foundation for the long term of our business." (Anyone else feel a chill go down their spine? 😳)

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 ICYMI 

🔴 Twitter is designing accessible sounds: The story behind our new Chirps [Twitter Blog] 

🔴 LinkedIn announces new profile features to help verify identity, detect and remove fake accounts, boost authenticity [LinkedIn Blog]

🔴 YouTube announces a new look and feel [YouTube Blog]

🔴 Snapchat reduces payouts for Spotlight creators [TechCrunch]

 26% 

That's how many U.S. adults under the age of 30 regularly get their news on TikTok. And overall, the share of U.S. adults who get their news on TikTok has grown from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022. 

Pew Research Center

 HALLOWEEN OUTFIT SORTED 

I'm Here For the Halloween Content

I've been enjoying the Spirit Halloween meme costume ideas floating around on social media this week. Below are a few of my favourite. Here are a few more curated by BuzzFeed News.

And if you haven't watched this viral video from TikTok's @brunchwithbabs on the best way to carve a pumpkin, you need to watch it now! 

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