🌀 chaotic check-in
another week, another reminder that the creator economy is moving faster than my Wi-Fi when I forget to pay the bill.
YouTube’s handing out AR superpowers, TikTok’s flexing EU money bags, Instagram’s gaslighting us with post sizes, and Meta’s spiraling into an AI obsession. and then there’s Jenny Hoyos, breaking down the science of going viral.
also, I may or may not have tried to toast a Pop-Tart in my laptop’s USB port. don’t ask. just keep scrolling.
today's menu
🫖 trending tea
YouTube levels up
YouTube is rolling out new creator tools and comment controls, giving creators more ways to manage their communities and content. Creators now have access to Effect Maker, a tool for designing AR effects and filters to use in Shorts and videos. This is how to get started.
YouTube is also putting more muscle into BrandConnect, letting creators officially link videos to brands for smoother partnerships. This is how to link videos.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, YouTube Music dropped “Taste Match”, a feature that lets users compare their music taste with friends.
YouTube dropped a blog on “8 ideation strategies to spark your next video.” It’s packed with ideas like remixing your hits, tapping trends, doing Q&As, and treating your own videos like a goldmine of concepts.
And for sports fans: YouTube revealed its on-air talent lineup for the first exclusive NFL live broadcast at the 2025 São Paulo game, featuring a mix of NFL stars, traditional broadcasters, and YouTube creators.
Instagram can’t stop tweaking
Instagram is testing screenshot tracking. Yep, the app might soon let creators see when people screenshot their posts, adding a whole new layer of insight (or paranoia) to engagement metrics. Source
Creators can now link multiple Reels together into a series, making binge-scrolling even easier (and keeping audiences hooked inside one content rabbit hole).
And yes, post sizes changed… again. IG is being silent about it but the new recommended format is 3:4 (that’s 1080 × 1440px). Twice in six months, Insta has moved the goalposts, so keep your text centered unless you want buttons eating your captions.
Instagram's Edits: now lets you turn your text into voice, with a new text-to-speech feature.
TikTok’s legal drama
The Chinese government says it won’t sell TikTok’s secret algorithm to the U.S., which makes the whole divest-or-ban plan look shaky at best.
China Daily calls out the White House for launching its own TikTok account, pointing out how wild it is that the U.S. is cozying up to TikTok for official messaging while still chasing “sell-or-ban” legislation over data-security fears and winding the deadline into September.
TikTok’s still raking it in. European revenue jumped 38% to $6.3 billion, even while the U.S. is threatening to ban it.
Starting September 1, TikTok Shop sellers must use GMV Max. It’s an AI tool that runs your ads instead of you, which some brands hate, but smaller sellers are rolling with it.
TikTok just joined the INTA’s “Unreal” campaign, using its shopping platform to push education around counterfeit goods and brand protection.
Hashtag spam is officially out. TikTok is capping posts at five hashtags, forcing creators to keep it focused instead of drowning captions in tags.
TikTok also rolled out new creator guidelines with subtle but important changes covering Live streams, AI content, and more.
Meta’s AI season
Meta AI just got a major upgrade with AI-powered translations. The tool can now dub and lip sync your Reels between English ↔ Spanish across Instagram and Facebook, making it easier to reach global audiences. More languages are on the way.
Meta is changing how ad budgets are charged. The updates could impact how campaigns are billed and paced, so brands will want to pay close attention to the fine print.
And just in time for Q4, Meta added AI-powered ad options for holiday campaigns, including new partnership ad formats designed to help brands boost seasonal reach.
beyond the platforms
Back-to-school shopping is officially booming. Deloitte’s 2025 survey shows parents plan to spend big, with tech and digital gear driving the splurge. 59% of Gen Z parents say influencer content is more trustworthy than brand content, highlighting why creators are becoming a key part of purchase decisions.
New YouGov research breaks down how Americans are consuming media in 2025, showing shifts across streaming, gaming, and social that brands can’t ignore.
Duolingo’s social media manager, the brains behind Duo the Owl’s viral chaos, quit her job and opened up about virality, burnout, and what happens when brand memes hit too hard.
The U.S. military is leaning into influencer marketing to recruit Gen Z, turning to social media creators to spark interest in service careers.
McDonald's is leveling up influencer marketing by turning campaigns into interactive experiences, like Minecraft skins, anime shorts, and Twitch collabs, generating massive engagement. Their “lots of littles” strategy focuses on multiple small, targeted activations rather than one big campaign, optimizing reach across fragmented audiences.
Creator @littlefatboyfrankie dropped his first product collab, a chili crisp ketchup with Fly By Jing, and it sold out in just 33 hours. Inspired by his series Turning American Classics Asian, it’s spicy, savory, and sweet.
✨ main character moment
Jenny Hoyos and the science of virality
Every week, someone swears they’ve cracked the code to going viral. Jenny Hoyos actually did it. As of now, she packs a punch at 9.7 million subscribers and over 3.3 billion views across roughly 346 videos.
But that’s not where the story ends. It's where it gets wild.
How She Built It
Started Young, Scaled Fast
Jenny launched her YouTube channel at just 16 and recently graduated college in two years with a business degree while building her creator career.Viral Hits that Hook and Stick
Her most iconic content moments include turning an old wall into a “secret room” (168M views) and cooking a burger in the car faster than the drive-thru (48M views). These are perfect loops of relatable setups, suspense, and payoff.Relatability Layer: Her Mom
Featuring her mom (often playfully annoyed by Jenny’s antics) adds a warm, real-life thread audiences connect with and everyone in the comments lives for it.The Formula: Hook → Foreshadow → Payoff
Jenny teases endings early, like promising a Mother’s Day gift with just $5, then delivers with satisfying visuals. It’s the textbook for keeping eyes glued till the very end.Idea Bank + Ruthless Filters
She keeps over 1,000 ideas handy but filters them with a checklist: value, hook, payoff, shareability, rewatch potential, virality. If an idea flunks, it’s tossed.Podcast Wisdom
In the YouTube Success Podcast, she dove into trend hacking, audience avatars, and balancing creativity with business strategy. And YouTube’s Creator Blog featured her in the “In a Pickle” series, where she shared what keeps her thriving at scale.
the takeaways that actually work
strategy | what you can do |
Hook Fast | Nail emotional stakes + payoff in the first 3 seconds |
Foreshadow a | Show glimpses of the ending to secure retention |
Filter Ideas Ruthlessly | Keep only those with emotional resonance and virality potential |
Embed Relatability | A warm, human element (like a parent cameo) amps connection |
Simplicity Wins | Run your scripts through a readability checker to keep the language at a third-grade level. If a kid can’t get it, it’s too complex. |
Play Long Game | Persistence pays off; Jenny’s snowball started slow but exploded. She went from 1k to 5M subs in a year. |
TL;DR: Jenny Hoyos proves that virality is a formula, not luck. And if you put in the work, the algorithm will reward you. Master the first second. Keep it simple. Tell a story. And make it rewatchable.
👀 what stopped our scroll
Eight hours of sleep and a daily walk outside will solve as many of your problems as any guru or life coach.
— #Mark Manson (#@IAmMarkManson)
11:30 PM • Aug 12, 2025
Eight hours of sleep, a daily walk outside and reading this newsletter will solve all your problems 🙂
@tonyrobbins Lasting success doesn’t belong to the smartest. It belongs to the hungriest. The ones who never lose the drive to be more, to do more, to ... See more
P.S.
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