MONDAY MORNING LEARNING – 11 AUGUST 2025

Published on 11 Aug '25

Instagram Rolls Out New Sharing and Social Features
Instagram launched three major features simultaneously: a native Repost function for public posts and Reels, an opt-in Friends Map for real-time location sharing with close friends, and a dedicated Friends tab within Reels. The Repost tool allows users to amplify content they love directly to their followers, appearing in a new profile tab and friends’ feeds. The Friends Map directly mimics Snap Map, indicating a strategic effort to encourage in-person meet-ups and location-based sharing among close connections. The “Friends tab” in Reels curates content liked or shared by friends, shifting discovery toward social proof and away from pure algorithmic trends.

X (formerly Twitter) Settles Major Severance Lawsuit
Elon Musk’s X corporation reached a tentative, multi-million dollar settlement with former employees who were laid off after the 2022 acquisition. The legal battle had centered on claims that X failed to honor the promised severance packages for the mass firings. The tentative resolution, estimated to be around $500 million, addresses a significant financial and legal overhang that had plagued the company for years.

TikTok Ban Threatens US Creators and Marketers
The legal and political uncertainty surrounding the app’s ownership intensified as the US government’s deadline for parent company ByteDance to sell the platform loomed. The continued threat of a full ban has forced creators and marketers to actively diversify their content strategies across other platforms. Negotiations for a sale or a technical deal to satisfy US security concerns remain ongoing, keeping the platform in legal limbo for its vast American user base.

Instagram Expands Creator Analytics
Instagram introduced deeper engagement insights, particularly for performance analysis on Carousels and Reels. Creators can now see exactly which individual slide within a carousel post received the most likes, providing valuable granular data. Similarly, analytics now pinpoint the precise moment within a Reel where viewers tapped the ‘Like’ button, enabling better content optimization.

YouTube Creators Voice Concern Over Algorithm Shifts
Content creators across the platform expressed concern over an alleged algorithm update in mid-August that reportedly caused noticeable drops in views for many channels. While YouTube made no official announcement of a single drastic change, the platform had recently increased its focus on penalizing low-quality, repetitive, and unoriginal content. This emphasis on “authenticity” appears to be negatively impacting channels that rely on highly templated or AI-generated video formats.