Welcome back to this week’s TEAM LEWIS Social Round-Up.
This week Meta is having another crack at Snapchat with disappearing photo app Instants, YouTube says people are watching billions of hours of Shorts on their TVs, and LinkedIn apparently wants to become TED Talks with a ticketing system.
Meanwhile Meta says social media is now replacing search engines, and there’s a new app trying to stitch together the open social web before another billionaire buys it.
Let’s get into it 👇
Latest News
📸 Meta takes on Snapchat with new Instants app
Meta has officially launched Instants, a new disappearing photo-sharing app designed around quick, unedited updates between friends. Think Snapchat, but wearing an Instagram hoodie and pretending it came up with the idea itself.
The push is clearly aimed at younger users who are tired of hyper-polished feeds and AI-enhanced selfies. No filters, no edits, no pressure. Just quick photos that disappear after they’re viewed. So naturally Instagram will probably monetize it in about six weeks. 👉 Read more
📺 People are watching 2 billion hours of Shorts on TVs
YouTube says viewers are now watching more than 2 billion hours of Shorts on TVs every month. Which feels slightly unhinged given Shorts were literally designed for phones.
Still, the living room is becoming YouTube’s fastest-growing screen, with podcasts, Shorts and creators increasingly competing with traditional TV. Somewhere out there, somebody is sitting on a couch watching vertical slime videos on a 75-inch screen and honestly… fair enough. 👉 Read more
🎟️ LinkedIn plans creator-led paid events
LinkedIn is reportedly planning up to 4,000 creator-led events a year, with gated sessions, educational talks and paid access becoming a much bigger focus for the platform.
It’s another sign LinkedIn wants creators posting more often, but in a very LinkedIn way. Less “link in bio”, more “join my exclusive webinar on operational resilience in B2B procurement.” 👉 Read more
🔎 Meta says social media is replacing search
Meta has published new research claiming social platforms are increasingly replacing traditional search engines for discovery, especially among younger users.
The report says people now discover products, ideas and recommendations directly through social feeds, creators and short-form video rather than typing questions into Google. Which makes sense. Most of us already trust a random person reviewing pasta in their car more than a sponsored search result anyway. 👉 Read more
🌐 Indigo wants to combine the open social web
A new app called Indigo is launching to combine Bluesky and Mastodon into one experience, giving users a single feed for decentralized social platforms.
The app lets users cross-post, merge timelines and manage conversations across networks. Which sounds very useful for the twelve people currently trying to explain Mastodon to their friends. 👉 Read more
🔧 Quick Tip of the Week
The success of Instagram’s new Instants feature will probably come down to one thing. Lowering the pressure to post.
Not every piece of content needs to look like a campaign shoot. Some of the strongest engagement now comes from casual, quick, low-production content that feels more human and less polished. Especially in Stories and DMs.
✨ Campaigns We Love ✨
🍺 Guinness revives a classic World Cup ad
Guinness has remixed its iconic 1990 football ad ahead of a massive soccer summer in the U.S. Nostalgia, football and pints. Honestly a pretty unbeatable combination. 👉 Watch the comeback
✈️ Airline turns World Cup ticket prices into a campaign
Air Transat built a campaign comparing the cost of World Cup tickets to actual flights. In some cases, going overseas was apparently cheaper than sitting behind the goal. 👉 See the comparisons
🗓️ Mark Your Calendars
Opportunities to celebrate this week
- Wednesday May 20 – World Bee Day 🐝
- Thursday May 21 – International Tea Day 🍵
- Friday May 22 – World Goth Day 🖤
- Saturday May 23 – World Turtle Day 🐢
- Sunday May 24 – National Escargot Day 🐌
- Monday May 25 – National Wine Day 🍷
- Tuesday May 26 – World Dracula Day 🧛
And next…
- Wednesday May 27 – National Flip Flop Day 🩴
- Thursday May 28 – Amnesty International Day ✊
- Friday May 29 – International Everest Day 🏔️
- Saturday May 30 – International Day of the Potato 🥔
- Sunday May 31 – World No Tobacco Day 🚭
- Monday June 1 – World Milk Day 🥛
- Tuesday June 2 – International Volkswagen Bus Day 🚐
- Wednesday June 3 – World Cider Day 🍎
That’s a wrap for this week!
I’ll be over here trying to work out whether I’m too old for Instants, or whether disappearing selfies are exactly the kind of low-pressure social media we all actually wanted back.
See you next week, bye 👋
Subscribe to our Weekly Social Newsletter and receive the weekly trend straight to your email.
