ICYMI: A Running List of Gen Z Likes

Brand swag, streaming, F1 racing and more

[Cheese-It Diner via Motion Bazaar// Ryan Gregory, Photographer]

Hi - I’m in Pittsburgh for The Platform conference today. I pre-scheduled this newsletter Thursday night — so, right now I’m probably onstage with Paramount’s RJ Larese, Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Nicole Marcus and creators Nick Kosir, Brandon (Bran Flakezz) Edelman and Abbie Herbert. I’ll share a recap next Friday but if you have any questions before then, let me know!

Pro subscribers: keep an eye out for a bonus newsletter this Monday as MIT’s head of social Jenny Li Fowler shares how she thinks about when to adopt and when to abandon a channel!

⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY

• Threads announces new features, including topic tags you can add in your bio

• YouTube is testing a visual guide in the Shorts editor to outline the video safe zones

• LinkedIn launched a newsletter to help you create more video on the platform

• Swag, streaming and F1 racing — a list of what Gen Z actually likes

• My headline hot takes on Poppi’s acquisition, Beis’ human claw, boring New York influencers and more

• Poll: Does more casual, lifestyle content belong on LinkedIn?

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💻 ROADMAP

📲 TikTok Updates

• Buffer revealed longer TikTok videos have the highest watch time and reach based on an analysis of more than 1M TikToks videos.

📲 Meta Updates

• Threads announced several new personalization features including up to 10 topic tags in your bio, extended quote controls and new pause, play and skip buttons on video.

• Spotted: Meta is testing AI generated comments you could leave on Instagram video or image posts.

• A Hootsuite test revealed that Instagram posts with high engagement in the first hour consistently outperformed those without.

📲 YouTube Updates

• YouTube is testing a new feature that would allow viewers to hide end screens for a cleaner, less cluttered experience.

• YouTube is testing a guide in the Shorts editor to help you respect the video safe zones (eg, not conflicting with the comments section, like button and video descriptions).

• YouTube announced a Youth Digital Wellbeing Initiative partnership to promote “healthy and enriching content” for young people, and to actively limit the reach of low-quality content.

• In honor of being named #11 on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list for 2025, YouTube recapped 11 products they’ve launched for creators in the past year.

• YouTube executives shared more details about how creators will be able to organize their content into episodes and seasons.

• YouTube released a report on the untapped potential of Shorts for brand-creator partnerships.

📲 LinkedIn Updates

• LinkedIn launched a new newsletter called Create Video to help you start or elevate the videos you’re creating on the platform.

📲 Snapchat Updates

• Snapchat released a report showing how its app users engage with film and TV content and bond over their shared interests.

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👆 CLICK THRU

I’m catching up on everything I missed last week while at SXSW — here are my rapid-fire hot takes and favorite headlines:

😵‍💫 The Unilever headlines were cool — the new CEO said he plans to hire “20 times more influencers.” But the very same week, advertisers said they planned to reduce ad spend, plus data showed that ad growth was slowing. So… maybe don’t bank on those increased campaigns just yet?

💰 PepsiCo is spending $1.95B to acquire Poppi — presumably making investor-influencer Alix Earle a very wealthy (or wealthier) woman. As creator attorney Tyler Chou said, creators need to be asking for equity and brand deals, which can help them have these insane exits.

🔖 There’s a new, customer journey framework from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and I love it — it looks at how consumers work their way through from streaming, scrolling and searching to shopping. Bookmark this for your next social overview presentation.

🥱 I’m glad I missed the entire ‘NY influencers are boring’ drama but if you missed it, Vulture has a great recap. Long story short: wealthy, white privilege.

🧳 A lot of you posted about the Beis human claw machine in LA. There was some drama (line cutting! luggage snatched!) — so even more than the experiential opportunity, I appreciate a social listening team that monitors online chatter to ensure people’s experiences are positive online and IRL.

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🆉 The Z List

A running list of what Gen Z actually likes:

• Brand swag

• Scrolling and streaming daily

• Audio-only podcasts

• Micro influencers

• Formula One racing

• Revenge Quitting

• Baggy workout clothes

• Baggy, low-rise jeans

• Thrifted clothing

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👆🏻🔲 POLL

I just posted something on LinkedIn about sharing your conference looks on that platform, so I wanted to know what you all thought!

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👀 ICYMI: JUST THE HEADLINES

• YouTube and Bluesky make Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025 -Fast Company

• How you build community on YouTube -YouTube Blog

• Brands are predicted to spend the bulk of their influencer marketing dollars on YouTube this year -Passionfruit

• Newsletters continue to take off—and so do their ad tools -Marketing Brew

• Netflix, Amazon and Peacock Go Big on Popular YouTubers -WSJ

• VSCO is rolling out new tools and making brand introductions for budding photographers -Marketing Brew

• The marketing pendulum has begun to swing toward more polished TikTok content -AdAge

• TikTokers have declared March 2025 the start of the ‘Great Meme Depression’ -Daily Dot

• You need to be stalking the LA Lakers social media playbook -Sponcon Sports

Thank you for reading!