🌀 chaotic check-in
Heyyy algorithm survivors…
Meta just threw half the internet into algorithm jail for reposting memes, and TikTok is out here running Christmas, culture, and ecommerce like it’s their side hustle.
And MaryRuth’s CRO, Jay Hunter dropped a masterclass for brands on how to go from nada to $70M. It’s just not smart to sleep on this.
Keep scrolling, it gets real gooood!
today's menu
🫖 trending tea
Meta’s Big “AI Eats Everything” Era
Instagram’s new algorithm is slapping accounts that repost viral videos, memes, and news. Creators say their reach has collapsed overnight, with warning messages like “Your content can’t be shown to people who don’t follow you.” The update is clearly Meta pushing original content over anything recycled.
algorithm jail is real and it does not allow visitors.
Meta just launched Content Protection for eligible Facebook creators, it scans Facebook & Instagram for reposts of your Reels (even partial matches). When a match is found, you can either track it (with an “original by” link), block it, or release your claim via the Professional Dashboard.
Instagram also swapped the visible “Following” number for “Mutual Friends,” slowly killing follower-flex culture and nudging the platform toward “relationships, not clout.”
Meanwhile, Facebook Marketplace just got a full redesign – cleaner UI, better tools, and an obvious push toward becoming a proper shopping destination. Meta’s also injecting AI tools to write listings, set pricing, and make search smarter, meaning sellers now basically get a robot intern.
Meta is retiring those old Like/Comment buttons on third-party sites, forcing engagement back onto Facebook where they have more control.
They also dropped the official 2025 Holiday Ads Checklist, which — shocker — pushes AI-generated creative, Reels-first strategies, and Advantage+ as the new default. And Meta’s ad targeting is shifting from manual targeting to predictive AI systems, meaning the algorithm decides who sees what.
On top of that, Meta rolled out its AI-generated short-form video feed in Europe, a nonstop stream of algorithmic content to keep users scrolling.
But behind the scenes, Meta’s AI ambitions seem… wobbly. Reports say the internal roadmap is chaotic, with missed deadlines, pivots, and confusion slowing progress.
TikTok Runs Culture, Ecommerce and Christmas
TikTok just launched Bulletin Board, a dedicated hub that lets creators and brands pin important updates, collab info, announcements, and news in one place, basically turning TikTok into a public notice board for the entire community.
it’s like Notes app drama… but official.
TikTok also teamed up with iHeartMedia to create a massive multi-platform partnership built around music, radio, live events, and TikTok-powered artist discovery.
TikTok joined forces with Amazon Music too, adding a “Share to TikTok” button inside the Amazon Music app so users can push songs directly into TikTok videos.
For the holidays, TikTok launched a full Holiday Hub to help brands plan Christmas campaigns, optimize creative, and jump on seasonal trends. They’re making it extremely easy for brands to plug into Q4 hype.
Meanwhile, TikTok Shop is becoming a global ecommerce beast, with Wired reporting that TikTok’s sales growth is outpacing traditional platforms and reshaping how people shop worldwide.
But the flip side: a TikTok Shop exec confirmed AI is now being used as a weapon for ecommerce fraud, from fake listings to scammy sellers. TikTok is scrambling to fight AI-generated scams as fast as they appear.
TikTok also announced the TikTok Awards 2025 – celebrating creators, trends, and standout moments that defined the year.
And for businesses, TikTok released its massive 2025 Holiday Playbook, covering shopper behavior, creative best practices, always-on sales strategies, and measurement frameworks.
YouTube Is Going Full Multiverse Mode
YouTube dropped a major manifesto outlining why the future of online content is basically YouTube-shaped. They’re doubling down on longform, Shorts, connected TV, creator funding, and AI tools – positioning YouTube as the all-in-one entertainment platform while everyone else scrambles for scraps.
the confidence is… Olympic-level.
Creators are also getting AI comment summaries inside YouTube Studio, making it easier to skim audience feedback without reading 4,000 variations of “first” and “WHO’S WATCHING IN 2025?” This is a huge time-saver for large channels drowning in comment chaos.
YouTube also announced an extremely clutch upgrade for streamers: you can now automatically generate a vertical version of your horizontal livestream with a simple toggle.
It auto-crops the center of the feed for a clean vertical look, a massive win for creators who want to hit both YouTube and TikTok/Shorts styles at the same time.
And even better: creators can now split YouTube metrics between organic traffic and promoted content, giving creators and brands way clearer data for growth and ad ROI.
Influencers are also becoming core to Make-A-Wish experiences, with Disney and YouTube helping arrange creator meetups for wish kids, proof that creators are the new celebrities for Gen Alpha.
And Gen Z is eating up microdramas – bite-sized storytelling series trending on YouTube and TikTok. These mini-shows are cheap to make, addictive to binge, and the new frontier of snackable entertainment.
Netflix shaking in their 17-user-password-sharing boots.
New in Creator Economy
Authenticity, AI, and creator ecosystems are the B2C social game-changers. Forbes outlines 16 major social‑media trends B2C brands must lean into. They highlight the rise of social commerce, private creator ecosystems, and DM‑driven purchase journeys.
Microsoft leans on big-name creators to sell Copilot
Microsoft is enlisting super-popular influencers, like Alix Earle and the Pheloung twins, to pitch Copilot as a lifestyle tool, not just a workplace AI. It’s a bold consumer push. Microsoft needs to catch up to ChatGPT + Gemini, and they’re hoping creators are their shortcut.Apple may be building a “Creator Studio” for pro apps
Code in iOS 26.2 beta suggests Apple is working on something called Apple Creator Studio, possibly a bundled subscription for their pro apps (Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Motion, etc.).Creator labor is getting grim: algorithm doesn’t pay
A Time piece argues that creators are grinding for free for the algorithm, turning their lives into performative content.TikTok Shop is going BIG
According to Business Insider, TikTok Shop is now one of the fastest-growing U.S. brands. This signals that social-commerce is mainstream, and creators can actually sell like full-on retail partners, not just via affiliate links.Retail is turning into creator commerce realness
Walmart, LTK, and ShopMy are investing hard in creator-driven shopping. Walmart sees creators as real sales partners, not just face influencers.Reddit is the new research hub for holiday shoppers
Reddit data shows that holiday buyers are starting early in 2025 – 79% of Americans plan to research before buying, using real community recommendations to make decisions.
✨ main character moment
The $70 Million Secret to E-comm Growth
Featuring Jay Hunter, CRO of MaryRuth Organics
Powered by JoinBrands
3 Non-negotiable rules for hyper-growth
Jay’s strategy is about discipline in three core areas. Master these, and you unlock your next growth chapter.
1. The content engine: volume, pillars, and authenticity
The algorithms (Meta and TikTok) have the attention span of a goldfish, meaning your creatives fatigue faster than ever. The Solution? Weaponized Content Velocity with Micro-Creators.
Instead of chasing one massive viral hit, MaryRuth Organics built an efficient engine to create content at scale. Jay describes MaryRuth’s content machine as a three-part system:
Micro-Creator Content: The thousands of micro-creators producing authentic, high-converting videos.
Internal Studio Content: The in-house team crafts high-quality, reusable assets for paid campaigns and repurposing.
Paid Amplification: Ads scale top-performing content across channels, feeding both TikTok Shop and Amazon.
The Viral Unlock (Authenticity over Polish): Jay shared that their best-performing content often comes from radical authenticity.
The lesson: Stop thinking about "campaigns." Start thinking about "production lines." You must secure constant input from all three content pillars, leveraging JoinBrands for the high-volume, reliable creative needed to scale
2. The data core: why you must ditch ROAS
If your brand sells in more than one place (DTC, Amazon, Target, TikTok Shop), your platform-specific ROAS is lying to you.
Metric | Definition & Importance |
TROMs (Total Return on Marketing Spend) | A macro-level metric calculated as Total Sales (All Channels) divided by Total Marketing Spend (Paid Ads + Creators + Content Creation Costs). |
Why it Matters | It captures the true "Halo Effect". An ad on TikTok might not convert there directly, but it provides the critical first touchpoint that drives a profitable sale on Amazon or in a Target store. |
The Rule | The Undefeatable Strategy: "If your TROMs target for profitability is a five and yesterday was a five too, you should spend more money today than you spent yesterday." Spend until you hit your ceiling, then fix the weakest part of your stack and repeat. |
The Lesson | Stop getting caught in the weeds of low platform-ROAS. If your total business is healthy, keep spending. You need to trust the synergistic effect of your media spend. |
3. The future channel: go all-in on creator live shopping
Jay identifies Live Shopping as the next massive unlock for e-commerce. The future is not continuous branded lives, but distributed creator-led lives.
MaryRuth’s Strategy: While they currently run branded live streams 24/7, the ultimate goal is Creator Lives.
The Challenge: "Can you get 100 creators to go live for you an hour a day?" This model, which leverages micro-creators to continuously broadcast, is the key to scaling live commerce globally. And JoinBrands has made Creator Lives easier than ever.
4. The team foundation: hire for hustle, not history
Jay built his department to 45+ people, and his hiring philosophy is brutal in its efficiency:
Prioritize Grit: In a space that evolves monthly (TikTok Shops didn't exist two years ago), specific platform experience is overrated. You need people who are committed to figuring it out.
The 90-Day Litmus Test: Jay is a firm believer in the probationary period as a mutual evaluation. Never let an underperformer linger. As he says, "Nothing slows A players down more than B players." Leaders must have the radical candor to set expectations and make tough calls quickly to protect the velocity of the entire team.
🎧 Want to hear Jay share timeless learnings for brands?
Watch the full episode on YouTube:
P.S.
Ready to Build Your Own $70M Content Engine?
Now you’ve seen exactly how Jay Hunter and MaryRuth Organics blew past their plateau: they stopped trying to “do more with less” and instead built Content Velocity into the DNA of their brand.
MaryRuth Organics proved one thing:
When you replace creative chaos with a creator engine, growth stops being luck and starts being inevitable.
So ask yourself:
Are you ready to stop chasing creators and start having them apply to you?
Do you need Spark-ready UGC instantly, high-GMV TikTok Shop affiliates, or creators to run paid-by-the-minute LIVE sessions – all with usage rights included?
Stop squeezing water from stone. Start stacking content like ammunition.
→ Create your free brand account on JoinBrands today and create your first campaign.
Join the thousands of brands, agencies, and founders using JoinBrands to access 500,000+ real creators, turning impossible demands into predictable success.