Simply put, adults who use social media may no longer be turning first to established names like the New York Times or Washington Post for the news. Instead, they want to see what influencers think is important, and to hear their opinions about the news. The experience is much like turning immediately to the op-ed page of a newspaper rather than scanning all the stories on page 1.

Who are the news influencers?

As defined by Pew Research, news influencers are individuals who have a large following on social media, and who often post about the news or on political and social issues. Unlike “travel influencers,” or “beauty influencers,” or “lifestyle influencers,” these “news influencers” may not necessarily have a product to sell you.

So that means they must work a lot harder to get clicks and engagement. They need to search out news that is likely to be controversial, polarizing, or alarmist. And they need to have a “hot take” on the news, so their social media posts are often accompanied by descriptions like “URGENT” or “BREAKING.”

The demographics of news consumers

When you start to dig into some of the data from Pew Research, some interesting patterns start to show up in the demographics. One major difference revolves around age. Younger users of social media are much more likely to turn to news influencers than older users. In the 50-to-64 demographic, for example, only 15% of social media users turn to influencers. And, in the 65+ demographic, only 7% of social media users turn to influencers.

There is also a slight difference based on income level. In general, lower-income individuals appear to be more dependent on news influencers than higher-income individuals. Of course, this is to be expected, given that young students (typically without income of any kind) are also the same people who are most likely to use social media in the first place.

There doesn’t appear to be any difference based on political or partisan affiliations. Of those who identify as Republican, 21% turn to social media influencers. And, of those who identify as Democrat, 22% turn to social media influencers. The percentage is almost identical, so both sides of the political aisle are being shaped by influencers.

What is the future of the news?

It will be interesting to see how many social media news influencers have real staying power. Just like adults of older generations grew up with TV news anchors telling them about the news of the day, will young adults of today look back with nostalgia at the news influencers of the current social media era? Will there ever be a Walter Cronkite for the TikTok generation?

One thing is certain: the influencer trend isn’t going away anytime soon. Influencers have helped to transform nearly every sector of the economy, and the media is simply the next sector to fall under their sway.

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But many music industry insiders are now acknowledging that social media platforms such as TikTok are creating an entirely new style of music that is bland and lacking any true originality. At the same time, it is becoming harder and harder for musicians without an extensive social media presence to stand out from the crowd and really break through.

The social media algorithm

The problem, quite frankly, is the social media algorithm. Just as the algorithm determines what content appears in your news feed, it also determines what songs to recommend to you. And, by and large, anything that is too experimental is rejected by the algorithm. Lyrics must be simple and easy to understand. Song intros must be short and to the point. Catchy hooks and simple loops are the way to attract new listeners.

As a result, musicians are forced to change the way they make music. Instead of trying to be music revolutionaries, they need to fit in with whatever is trending on TikTok or Instagram. And that might be a good reason why much of the music being produced today all sounds the same. It’s not the fault of the musicians – it’s the fault of the algorithm.

And there’s another important way that social media is changing the world of music forever. And that is how musicians interact with their fan bases. It’s now expected that musicians will devote considerable resources to posting content on social media platforms such as TikTok, in order to keep their fans involved. And not only that. They must be focused on creating “viral content”  – and the more, the better. This helps to feed the algorithm, ensuring that their music is constantly getting new streams.

The role of gatekeepers

Of course, the argument could be made that “gatekeepers” have always determined what types of music gets made, and which musical acts become famous. In the 1970’s and early 1980’s, for example, it was radio that helped to define music. In the 1980’s, it was MTV. When the internet first launched, it was music bloggers who determined what became popular.

There have always been music labels, promoters, managers, music critics, and the media. And each has played a role in determining which songs become popular. But social media seems to be speeding up the process, to the point where it seems like a losing battle for many musicians. It’s hard enough to produce one viral hit. But to keep the momentum going, hit after hit, seems almost impossible.

Moreover, with all music sounding the same these days, there’s arguably no reason for fans to favor one musician over another. And that’s really a shame, because we may no longer have musical icons with long careers that span decades. Musicians may no longer become larger-than-life personalities with the power to shape cultural trends. If the algorithm is shaping them, then the real star is the algorithm.

That’s not to say that some music will not eventually break through and stand out from all the rest. Olivia Rodrigo, for example, is someone who has capitalized on early TikTok success to achieve fame. Surely there will be others. But one has to acknowledge that the era of edgy, unconventional music is coming to an end. With the rise of AI, there might soon be a day when #1 hits are created by bots, and not by humans.

The post The Social Media Algorithm is Forever Changing the Way We Listen to Music appeared first on Social Media HQ.

The new X?

A big reason for this surge in momentum has to do with Twitter. Now that Elon Musk is at the helm of Twitter (now called X), people are looking for alternatives. They are convinced that X has lost its way and is becoming too much of an ally of the Trump administration. It’s much the same phenomenon as occurred a few years earlier, when pro-Trump social media users were looking for alternatives and started to migrate to platforms such as Gab, Rumble, and Truth Social.

It’s not a stretch to say that Bluesky could become the new Twitter. For one, it shares some of the same DNA as Twitter. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey helped to launch Bluesky back in 2019, as a more decentralized version of Twitter. So it naturally looks and feels much like Twitter.

Just like Twitter, Bluesky is primarily a text-centric social media platform that encourages people to leave 300-character “skeets” (not “tweets”). And, just like Twitter, Bluesky is available as an app for iOS and Android.

How much momentum is there?

While Bluesky undoubtedly posted a surge in new users after the 2024 presidential election, it is still very much behind the big social media behemoths. For example, it has – at best – 20 million daily active users. That’s approximately 10% of the daily active users of X. And it’s also well behind Threads, the new social media platform from Meta, which has 175 million users.

So it remains to be seen if Bluesky is a long-term trend, or just a passing fad. People threatening to leave Twitter for Bluesky could be the latest iteration of people threatening to leave the USA for Canada if Trump won re-election. How many of your friends have actually packed up and left for the colder climes of our North American neighbor?

The decentralization trend

The big idea behind Bluesky is decentralization. Simply put, that means a social media platform where users have far more power than with today’s social media platforms. While Bluesky still has a CEO and a hierarchical management structure, the goal is to eventually give more and more of the decision-making power to users.

That might include, for example, the ability to change what appears in your social media news feed. Instead of a nameless, faceless algorithm being in charge of what appears on a daily basis, you would be in charge. And it means more power over how your personal data is used.

What will be the top social media platform of 2025?

Is Bluesky viable? Will it take over from X? It remains to be seen. A lot really depends on Elon Musk. The more that he is seen as an influential member of the Trump administration, the more likely that Bluesky is to attract new users. For now, at least, it looks like the big social media giants will continue to play a dominant role, with a few minor upstarts providing them some competition along the way.

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Email is still the preferred option

It is easy to understand why businesses are doing this, but the initial evidence seems to suggest that this approach just doesn’t work. By a wide margin, reporters and journalists still prefer to receive email pitches. In fact, more than 80% of reporters say they prefer email pitches. And even when they are open to the idea of social media pitches, they typically want to continue the conversation via email.

Which, if you think about it, makes sense. Do you appreciate it when random strangers send you text messages on your phone, or when telemarketers and other spammers somehow get ahold of your contact details? At least with email, it’s a lot easier to tell if the message is coming from someone official. Or at least, from someone working directly at a company. And, let’s face it, emails are a lot easier to ignore than someone sending you a friend request.

When can you send social media pitches?

That being said, reporters say that there are several situations when they don’t mind pitches being sent via social media. For example, if there is a gap in their coverage, then it can be helpful to get a heads-up about an interesting news story or potential angle to supplement existing coverage. And if reporters are working on a tight deadline, and need a source for their story, it can be convenient to have someone available via social media.

The rules of the road for social media pitches

Based on what we know, there appear to be some very clear “rules of the road” for engaging via social media. First of all, you should be familiar with the work of the reporter or journalist, and be very clear on how your pitch aligns with their work. A travel blogger, for example, is looking for travel and leisure content, and probably doesn’t care about much else.

And, secondly, you should use the two social media platforms – LinkedIn and X (formerly known as Twitter) – that are most often used to cover the news and find new business stories. If you are pitching via Instagram, TikTok, or SnapChat, you are probably wasting your time. That being said, LinkedIn appears to be the clear favorite of journalists and reporters.

So, if you are looking to boost the profile of your business or brand, you should definitely keep this in mind. Get to know the work of the top journalists and reporters in your industry. And only then reach out to them via email. Over time, as the relationship builds, you might be able to add them to your social media outreach efforts. But always make sure you are mindful of their time and privacy.

The post Should You Be Pitching Reporters and Bloggers Via Social Media? appeared first on Social Media HQ.

Unfortunately, it’s getting harder and harder to spot fake news. And that’s because the creators of this fake news know exactly how to game the system. They understand how the algorithms work, and they understand what makes people click on certain types of content. And, increasingly, they are becoming increasingly proficient with AI-powered tools, in order to pump out as much of this content as possible.

So, with that in mind, here’s a closer look at several tips for spotting fake news on social media.

Tip 1: Be wary of clickbait headlines

Since the goal of any scammer is to get you to click on certain content, it makes sense that they are using clickbait headlines to get those clicks. It boosts the probability that you’ll read their content. So be skeptical of any headline that seems too outrageous to be true. You’d be surprised at how deceptive many headlines are, and how they feed on our worst instincts.

Tip 2: Be able to spot the key attributes of bot accounts

Often, it’s not humans creating the fake content out there, it’s bots. So you need to learn how to spot these bot accounts. Most of them are anonymous in nature, meaning you have no idea who’s behind the account. Many don’t even have profile photos. And most bots are very prodigious content creators, pumping out content much faster than any human possibly could. So be wary of any social media account that seems to be working around the clock 24/7.

Tip 3: Be careful before clicking on links you don’t recognize

Before you click on a link, be sure you know where it will take you. Often, malicious accounts try to create links that resemble links from reputable sources. So feel free to do a double-take if a domain name doesn’t seem to be quite right, or if the typical .com extension is replaced by one that you don’t immediately recognize. The goal of much content out there is to hijack the user and take them to a place where they don’t want to be.

A common sense approach to social media

If there’s one big takeaway lesson, it’s this: use a bit of common sense before you believe anything you read on the web. And do the heavy-lifting of actually reading an article before sharing it online. It’s being lazy (and potentially irresponsible) if you only read a headline, and then decide to share the content because it seems to capture an idea you want to spread. As noted above, often there is a real disconnect between the headline and the content.

This is not to say, however, that you shouldn’t rely on non-traditional sources of content for your news. There are some remarkably informed and intelligent people out there. And there are definitely some people you can trust, even if they don’t have a blue checkmark next to their name.

But certainly keep your eyes out for the bad actors, and especially the bots. If we want social media to be trustworthy, then we all need to do our share to protect it from all the bad actors out there.

The post 3 Tips For Learning How to Spot Fake News on Social Media appeared first on Social Media HQ.

So it’s perhaps no surprise that law firms are now willing to accept social media addiction cases on the behalf of clients. At the core of these cases is a very simple principle: a victim who has undergone pain or suffering as a result of social media use should have some legal recourse to hold the appropriate parties responsible.

What types of cases are lawyers taking on?

The classic case is known as a social media addiction lawsuit, and it is typically filed against one of the major social media platforms. Makes sense, right? In many cases, these platforms are specifically using sophisticated algorithms to keep people engaged, and all of that engagement is leading to addiction. In some cases, that addiction can lead to kids experimenting with harmful substances or engaging in harmful activities.

So it is precisely social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram that are often named in these lawsuits. In some cases, these cases feature a single individual or family attempting to take on a major Silicon Valley social media company. For example, in some cases, young users are getting lured into using fentanyl via social media, so one type of lawsuit is known as a Snapchat fentanyl lawsuit. Parents are rightfully outraged if drugs are being sold via social media platforms.

In a specific type of lawsuit known as a school district lawsuit, it is actually an entire school district using the law to defend the interests of its students. Schools are noticing a real uptick in mental health issues, and they are convinced that it is the big social media platforms that are to blame. So schools are banding together as an entire school district, and then acting to take on Silicon Valley.

Is this new legal activity a positive development?

On one hand, this outgrowth of legal activity seems to be a positive development. If someone has been harmed, then someone should have to pay for that harm. Certainly, if drug dealers are using social media to find new users, there’s a problem. And, if sexual predators are using social media to find new victims, that’s a problem. The list of potential ills is a long one.

But here’s the thing: some of these lawsuits may be stemming from activity that is not the fault of the big social media platforms. That was the first thought that I had when I saw one category of social media addiction lawsuit: the “subway surfing challenge” lawsuit. That’s right – kids in New York City are seeing “subway surfing challenge” videos posted on social media, and then rushing out to try to surf on the tops of moving subway trains.

Does that sound like a good idea to anyone? And should social media platforms be forced to pay for such reckless behavior? This might be an extreme example, but many of the so-called “social media challenges” being posted today by kids seem to be outside the realm of reasonable behavior. Just think about the “Tide Pod Challenge” from a few years ago, in which kids dared other kids to consume laundry detergent.

Are there other options beyond lawfare?

This is not to say that there are not serious problems being caused by social media. In many cases, social media platforms are doing everything they can to keep you endless scrolling on their apps for hours. That can cause addiction, which in turn can lead to some very negative consequences.

But, we need to be very careful about using the law as a cudgel to go after the big tech giants. At a certain point, people need to take responsibility for their actions. After all, you can’t blame everything bad in the world on social media, can you?

The post If You Have Been a Victim of Social Media Addiction, You Now Have Options appeared first on Social Media HQ.

One potential solution is known as a social media takeover. This is when a business or brand enlists the services of a social media influencer to create high-quality content for an agreed-upon amount of time. It could include someone taking over your YouTube account, your Instagram account, or your TikTok account.

This takeover works best around key events, such as new product launches, when the maximum number of people have the potential to see your content. Thus, you can think of a social media takeover as a short-term, highly-targeted influencer marketing campaign.

Key success factors for a social media takeover

For a social media takeover to be successful, certain things need to happen. The first step is to identify the social media platforms that you are looking to activate. If your brand has a very young demographic, for example, this might be TikTok. If you run a fashion brand or a travel brand, this might be Instagram. You get the idea – you want to choose the social media platforms where you can get the maximum number of views from potential customers.

The next step is to find the right influencers for the takeover. The mistake that too many brands make is simply to reach out to influencers with the biggest number of followers, or the highest number of views. But this can result in an exorbitantly expensive takeover, in which an A-list influencer without any direct knowledge of your products fails to achieve key success metrics.

This leads to the third step of any takeover strategy – agreeing on the right metrics to measure success. Often, the goals of a takeover go far beyond just “brand awareness” or “community engagement” or “gaining new followers.” Quite simply, it involves selling products. Thus, if your brand sells widgets, you want the takeover to result in a huge spike in widget sales. That’s why it’s so important to schedule social media takeovers around high-profile events.

Don’t forget about your own employees

When people talk about Instagram or TikTok influencers, they are usually talking about highly-visible personalities on social media with tens of thousands of followers, or even more.

But they can also include your own employees. Who else knows more about your products, how they are made, and why people should be buying them? So, for example, if you run a fashion brand, your influencer of choice might be the head designer of your products. If there’s a big fashion show coming up, this designer can help take people behind the scenes to get a first-hand look at what’s happening.

Conclusion

Just about any business or brand can benefit from a well-timed social media takeover. Over time, your company will find the right goals, metrics, and social media platforms to make any social media takeover a success.

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California’s new social media law

The one piece of legislation that I have in mind is California’s new social media age verification law, which is supposed to take effect in January. The new law has several important clauses. One of them requires parental consent for any type of personalized social media feed for minors. Another limits minors to a certain amount of social media usage per day during the school year. Another limits the ability of social media platforms to push out updates or notifications at night. And another requires social media companies to verify the age of users using methods beyond just self-reporting.

All of the above sounds very reasonable, right? It’s important to get parents more involved. It’s important to set limits on social media usage. And it’s important to limit the number of pings, notifications, updates, and alerts that are known to fuel social media addiction.

It’s hard to imagine any reasonable person objecting to these goals. However, a number of tech activist groups appear to be fighting back against them hard, desperate to prevent this new California social media legislation from going into full effect next year.

The tech lobby fights back

The tech lobbying group NetChoice is the most visible right now. It is making a number of wild claims. For example, it claims that all of those age verification rules would end anonymous speech on social media. After all, if you have to provide an official ID of some kind to prove your age, then you’re not anonymous anymore.

And it further claims that the “duty of care” required of the big social media companies could pose a threat to First Amendment protected speech. NetChoice claims that the new law would be unconstitutional, as it would severely limit the access of kids to protected online speech.

And that’s not all. These tech lobbying groups are convinced that a greater duty of care is being placed on tech companies than on media companies. For example, why can a streaming video service like Netflix use a recommendation algorithm to suggest new movies to kids, but a social media platform like Facebook can’t use a recommendation algorithm to suggest new posts to kids? And why can ESPN blast out late night sports updates and notifications to sports-obsessed kids, but social media platforms can’t do the same?

So you can see what’s going on here. The tech lobbying groups are trying to muddy the waters here. They are combining half-baked constitutional law arguments with half-baked business competition arguments.

Moreover, tech lobbyists are even raising questions about how complex the law is going to be to enforce. For example, “parental consent” might be great, but how do you know that somebody claiming to be a parent is really a parent? And what about all the potential cybersecurity hazards posed by third parties being used to verify identities? There are even questions being raised over whether this law applies to Californians who leave the state temporarily, such as for a vacation.

Same playbook, different tactics?

We’ve seen this story before. The big social media companies make a very public show about how hard they are trying to reform. They promise to self-regulate. They promise to abide by the law. And, then, secretly behind the curtains, they do something entirely different.

It’s time for that bad behavior to stop. We need new social media laws now. While they may be imperfect in some regards, they are much better than having nothing at all.

The post Why Are Tech Companies Attempting to Block an Important New Social Media Law? appeared first on Social Media HQ.

To be fair, that makes good business sense. After all, social media platforms are businesses, and they need to make a profit. So, by optimizing for engagement, they can sell more ads. The more ads they sell, the more money they make. From a cold-hearted, purely capitalist point of view, it makes sense that big social media giants now view their users as guinea pigs for their elaborate algorithmic experiments.

New algorithm changes at Instagram

That’s why the latest moves being taken by Instagram are so interesting. Instagram says it is now working on changes to its core algorithm. The biggest change is something that can be thought of as a giant “reset” button. The new “reset” option from Instagram will enable a user to clear a social media feed of all recommended posts. In short, if something has been recommended by an algorithm, it will be scrubbed from the feed.

In theory, that should enable users to see a wider variety of posts. And it should help to cut down on all the polarizing content out there, as well as all the misinformation that is out there. You’ll see more posts from your friends and family, and fewer posts from popular influencers who are doing everything they can to get you to click on their content.

But is Instagram going far enough?

Certainly, Instagram should be applauded for taking this step. But here’s the thing: the change is not a voluntary one. It’s stemming from a new UK law (the Online Safety Act) that is designed to make social media companies more accountable for the content showing up on their platforms. And it’s also designed to avoid any negative repercussions from upcoming child safety codes expected to go into effect in April that will force social media companies to ensure that only safe, age-appropriate content is being shown to children.

So, once again, social media companies are showing us that they only act when they absolutely, positively have to. Excuse me for being cynical, but would Instagram really have embarked on a change to its algorithm if it didn’t have to? It’s simply making this change to avoid potential lawsuits.

Moreover, it could be argued that Instagram’s algorithm change does not go nearly far enough. After all, even Instagram admits that, as soon as you hit the “reset” button, it’s going to start gathering new personalized data all over again. Within no time at all, your social media feed will once again be populated by clickbait, influencer posts, polarizing content, and misinformation.

In many ways, it reminds me of the constant battle to get rid of spam in your email inbox. You can take whatever steps you want to take to purge your email of spam, such as unsubscribing from content and nuking megabytes of content at one time. But the spam just keeps on coming.

People and not algorithms

That leads me to a potentially radical idea: people and not algorithms. Maybe it’s time to go back to curated feeds from human beings who are being paid for their unique abilities to curate content, without so much reliance on AI-powered algorithms to optimize content.

That might not be practical, given the sheer volume of content generated on social media these days. But we can at least do better than a few nips-and-tucks when it comes to the algorithms. If we’re going to make social media a safer, nicer, and more enjoyable place to spend our time, then we shouldn’t be treated like lab rats, baited into clicking on content in exchange for the next dopamine hit.

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TikTok vs. the IRS

Take, for example, the number of people who now rely on #FinTok – the part of TikTok that doles out financial advice – for tips and tricks on how to fill out their taxes. Most people are looking for tips on how to lower their tax bill, so they are often vulnerable to ill-advised tax deduction ideas. It’s gotten so bad, in fact, that the IRS has had to come out and say it directly: don’t rely on social media for your tax advice.

For example, some people think that putting their young kids on the payroll is somehow OK and will pass muster with the IRS. Others think that all of their personal car expenses can somehow be used to reduce their tax burden. And still others think that they might not have to file taxes at all, as long as they explore a few “loopholes” proposed by TikTok influencers.

TikTok vs. Wall Street

It gets stranger still when you consider that people are using TikTok as advice for investing in their future. Need a quick stock pick idea? Go to TikTok. Looking for a high-flying cryptocurrency capable of turning you into a millionaire overnight? Spend some time on TikTok. Not sure how to save for retirement? Just listen to a quick 30-second video clip from a random stranger with unknown qualifications.

Certainly, young people are to be applauded for their take-charge, DIY approach to investing. There’s no ironclad rule that says you have to use a financial advisor to plan for retirement or a registered broker to manage your investments. A lot of people like to pick their own stocks and cryptos. Fair enough.

But here’s the thing: most people have no idea that most financial advice is extremely misguided. Depending on your age, and your overall financial situation, the advice you need can be quite different from the advice for other people.

How to avoid financial scams on TikTok

There are new numbers to back up the notion that young members of Generation Z are falling prey to bad advice on TikTok. Edelman recently polled 3,000 adults and found that more than one-quarter of them (27%) had taken bad advice from TikTok. And nearly one-fifth of them had fallen prey to bad advice on multiple occasions.

That being said, there are a few easy steps that you can take to avoid becoming a victim of bad financial advice on TikTok. First and most importantly, listen to your gut. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Most people have absolutely no idea how many financial scams are out there from people who are only all too willing to take their money.

And, before you take any life-changing financial moves, have a closer look at the qualifications or background of the person giving that advice. After all, social media influencers might have a very real incentive to push you in a particular direction or into a particular financial product, if they are picking up a commission along the way.

There’s no denying that TikTok can be a source of new ideas and new business creativity. You might even learn about the financial markets or how the economy works by spending some time on TikTok. But if you really think that you’re going to outsmart the IRS by listening to a TikTok influencer, then you might need to re-think your approach.

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