ICYMI: Your Social + Creator Marketing 2026 Conference Calendar

Plus my full recap from CES

[📸: Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®]

⏰ 1-SECOND SUMMARY

• TikTok is splitting its U.S. staff into different companies

• TikTok’s global head of creators is leaving the company

• A Chinese government statement seems to suggest there is no deal yet

• Adam Mosseri went on a weird rant about camera company aesthetics — but one part of his message is worth paying attention to

• Pinterest announced a new Roku lifestyle series: Bring My Pinterest to Life

• Spotify opened a new podcast and video production studio in Hollywood

• Spotify is expanding access to its Spotify Partner Program

• Disney+ is launching short-form videos this year

• CES Report: The future of storytelling is creators, Gen Alpha and fan edits

• Resource: ICYMI 2026 Marketing Events Calendar

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💻 ROADMAP

📲 TikTok Updates

What’s the latest in the TikTok saga? It’s a mess:

ByteDance had reportedly signed a deal to sell its U.S. entity to American investors with the swap happening January 22, 2026, according to an internal memo from CEO Shou Chew.

Then on December 25th, a government statement was released through state media, saying: “The Chinese government hopes that relevant parties can reach a solution regarding TikTok that complies with Chinese laws and regulations and achieves a balance of interests.”

Cue January 2025 flashbacks.

Now, some U.S. staff are being told they won’t be part of the new TikTok and will instead work for TikTok's global operations after the sale closes. As part of the company reorg, there have also been layoffs and Kim Farrell, TikTok’s global head of creators, is leaving her role.

I suspect we’ll see a lot more upheaval in the next two weeks.

• TikTok Shop launched a new feature that lets you buy digital gift cards for friends that range from $10 to $500. The move is expected to let TikTok Shop to compete more directly with e-commerce retailers like Amazon and eBay.

• Spotted: TikTok is testing a program called TikTok Minis. In a now-deleted LinkedIn post from a TikTok staffer, they said the section featured “lightweight, in-app mini programs that let users access experiences and content without leaving TikTok.” That means users will be able to access apps within the TikTok ecosystem, letting them play games and watch micro dramas without ever leaving the platform.

• TikTok announced TikTok Game Plan for sports teams, leagues, and broadcasters. An anchor link on relevant videos drives to a dedicated in-app destination where fans can discover official accounts, check schedules and standings, buy tickets, add games to their calendars and create their own content.

• TikTok announced it’s FIFA’s first-ever Preferred Platform for the FIFA World Cup 2026™. They’ll host a hub with behind-the-scenes access, on the ground creators, and participation incentives like custom stickers, filters and gamification features.

Related TikTok News:

• Why Hollywood is paying this 17-year-old up to $20,000 to boost film trailers with TikTok edits

• After watching X’s ownership issues play out, marketers brace for TikTok whiplash in 2026

📲 Meta Updates

Adam Mosseri released a 2026 mission statement over the holidays. It’s long, confusing, and got people upset, so let me break down the most important parts:

The Gist of It: In the AI era, the bar for creators is shifting from “can you create?” to “can you make something that only you could create?”

Make It Make Sense: Adam called out camera companies for “betting on the wrong aesthetic,” because they’re prioritizing flattering imagery over unflattering candids. Um, what? Besides being a questionable hot take, it’s like the head of Heinz coming out against dairy farmers for producing the wrong kind of cheese for burgers.

Pay Attention to This: “We need to surface credibility signals about who’s posting so people can decide who to trust.” Mosseri is more interested in labeling real media than flagging AI slop or deep fakes. While we don’t know how this will play out yet, it’s worth looking at a feature X launched last November which revealed account details: like country of origin, when the account started and how many times it had changed usernames.

• Instagram updated the number of hashtags allowed in captions for Reels and posts to a maximum of 5 — some people had previously been limited to 3.

• Spotted: Threads is testing built-in games within your DMs.

• Meta announced a new teleprompter feature for its Ray-Ban Display glasses, one of several announcements made at CES. But it will be a while before the world can get their hands on them, Meta announced it would delay the global roll-out of its glasses because of short supply and strong demand in the U.S.

Related Meta News:

• Leaked documents show Instagram’s plan to win back teens

• AI godfather says Meta’s new 29-year-old AI boss is ‘inexperienced’ and warns of staff exodus

📲 Pinterest Updates

• Pinterest is not being acquired by OpenAI. At least, not yet. Over the holidays, a reporter predicted that the AI startup might acquire Pinterest to benefit from its data, ad infrastructure and retail relationships. However, no one’s been able to confirm the news and neither company has responded to the rumors. So, put a pin in this one.

• Pinterest CMO Andréa Mallard just announced she’s stepping down after 7 years.

• Pinterest announced a new Roku lifestyle series at CES: Bring My Pinterest to Life. Creators will work with real people to bring their Pinterest boards to life. The series features integrated brand partners including Wayfair, eos, and Michaels, who will be woven into the storytelling rather than traditional ad breaks.

📲 YouTube Updates

• YouTube announced it would stream the Oscars® ceremony starting in 2029 — live and for free around the world to 2B people.

Related YouTube News: A new Spotter and Comscore partnership means YouTube creators will get TV-style measurement

📲 LinkedIn Updates

• LinkedIn’s VP of Product Management wrote that content sharing was up 15% in 2026 while comments in the feed were up 24%.

• As part of a LinkedIn blog post about video, the platform revealed that 40% of B2B decision-makers say creative ads make them more likely to consider a purchase from a brand.

📲 Spotify Updates

Spotify’s had a busy month and we’re barely a week in:

• The platform launched a new Awards Season Hub ahead of this weekend’s Golden Globes featuring conversations surrounding the ceremony with three curated sections: Podcast Nominees, Interviews with Nominees and From Critics & Fans.

• Spotify opened a new state-of-the-art podcast and video production studio in the trendy Sycamore media district: Spotify Sycamore Studios. The space will be home to Ringer podcasts and other video creators in the Spotify Partner Program on an invite-only basis.

• Spotify is expanding access to its Spotify Partner Program. The new criteria for creators is 1,000 engaged audience members, 2,000 hours consumed over the past 30 days, and three published episodes.

• Spotify announced a distribution API for videos: Creators will soon be able to publish and monetize video podcasts on Spotify directly from participating hosting platforms, including Acast, Audioboom, Libsyn, Omny, and Podigee.

📲 Reddit Updates

• Reddit is beta-testing verified profiles that would place grey checkmarks next to individual and brand usernames.

Related Reddit News: Reddit has now overtaken TikTok in the UK as the fourth most visited social media site.

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🎟️ 2026 CONFERENCE WATCH

I just updated the ICYMI Marketing Events Calendar — a free spreadsheet of digital, social and creator marketing conferences you can use to plan your 2026 travel and speaking schedule.

Here are a few highlights coming up in Q1:

🎟️ Creator Economy Live West, Jan 13-14 | Las Vegas, NV

🎟️ SXSW, March 12-18 | Austin, TX

🎟️ Social Fresh, March 19-20 | New York, NY

Where should you go?

It’s totally personal. I loved SXSW last year — the B2B creator presence was huge, and Lorraine K. Lee and Grace Ling even hosted a LinkedIn meetup. But I also heard from plenty of folks who walked away wanting a different vibe.

How I choose my events

When I’m deciding which conferences I’ll attend (whether I’m speaking or not), I use this checklist — in order of priority:

1. The speakers

Who’s on the stage and who’s in the room? I want to know if there are interesting brand leaders, creators, or innovators I might be able to meet. Conferences are all about proximity — especially to platform reps, who you rarely get real face time with unless you’re a major advertiser or creator.

2. The programming

Even after all these years, I’m still hopeful I’ll learn something new. Plenty of people skip panels, and yes, some are pretty boring — but every once in a while you’ll hear a perspective or framework that changes how you think. (The speaker lineup is usually directly correlated to the quality of the programming.)

3. The offsites

Major events now come with full ecosystems of satellite parties, invite-only dinners, and meetups outside the main show. These can be harder to access, but they’re often the best for networking — and can more fun than the conference badge activities.

4. The host city

If it’s in LA, I’m pretty much there — no travel required. But if I need to fly or road-trip, I pick destinations I’d actually like to spend time in. You rarely get time to explore, but I always build in a few hours: Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta? Check. Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh? Check. Wynwood Arts District in Miami? Check.

*I keep the spreadsheet updated throughout the year so keep checking back. I’m also accepting anonymous (constructive) reviews if you’d like to contribute your thoughts. And if you’re a Google Sheets pro and have the time for a short formatting job to make this more interactive, let me know!

ICYMI x CES: TAKEAWAYS

[left to right: Jennifer Cho, Lia Haberman, RJ Larese and Rene Ritchie]

I just got back from CES where I hosted the Creator Space kickoff panel alongside my brilliant panelists: YouTube’s Rene Ritchie, Sixteenth’s RJ Larese and CreatorIQ’s Jennifer Cho. (More on that below.)

I got in early and spent an afternoon jumping between 4 different Digital Hollywood panels. My takeaways are specific to what I heard and the backstage conversations I had. (I don’t care about robot maids, smart doorbells and disappearing TV screens so you’re not going to read about any of those updates.)

What to Watch

The best content clip I saw was a preview of something called Rabbit Hole. It’s a creator-driven (Dan Rhodes, Papa Jake, The Rizzler, etc) variety show developed with Gen Alpha in mind. It’s from a company called Pocket.Watch and will air exclusively on Hulu. The 30-second clip we watched captured the energy of what’s possible when you combine creators, a social-first approach, youth culture and traditional entertainment.

Who to Follow

There were a lot of many amazing speakers but I’d never heard Zehra Naqvi speak before listening to her on the Beyond the Algorithm: Gen Z’s New Digital Habits panel. She’s a VC investor turned founder focused on fandoms who actually started as a tween writing Captain America and the Winter Soldier fanfic on Tumblr. Obsessed.

Personal Favorite

UTA’s Nya-Gabrielle Parchment (Brand Partnerships, DBA) hosted a masterful panel titled Why Creators Are Every Brand’s Most Valuable Media Channel. It was one of the most intentionally curated and layered panels, featuring creator-brand partnerships between Microsoft’s Markus Frieske and creator Chloe Shih and T-Mobile’s Kimberley Hand with creator Jazmyn Smith.

(If you’re extremely online, you’ll remember Chloe went viral on TikTok in early 2024 after being laid off from her Product Manager role at Discord — kicking off the trend of recording an awkward HR call. And Jazmyn had what was called the Influencer Wedding of the Year in 2025 and sparked the TikTok trend “how many brands can we get in the comments before we land.”)

Most Memorable Line

Gymnasium’s Adam Faze saying: “Nothing ends a trend faster than when a brand does it. You know what’s always trending? Something that’s timeless. And great storytelling is always timeless.”

Quick Hits

How T-Mobile, Samsung, Disney and more are thinking about social content, creators and consumer engagement this year:

• Brands like Disney and Lionsgate are incorporating fan edits, theories and Wiki sites into everything from social content to casting decisions and new releases.

• Samsung’s Head of Agency Development, Courtney Howell, predicted the future of storytelling will be driven by AI for cost-efficiency and co-created content that lets people at home create or share the type of content they want to see.

• T-Mobile is building a creator advisory board to be able to plug into creators events and opportunities, versus simply plugging creators into brand initiatives.

• Distribution exclusivity will be fluid. Amazon teamed up with Kid Mero and RDCWorld and had a Knicks game live streaming on Twitch with the creators doing all of the commentary.

• Brands like Microsoft are staffing their social teams with content creators and producers who work fast and understand social storytelling fundamentals.

• YouTube was the most commonly mentioned platform but I also heard predictions that this would be LinkedIn / Snapchat / Patreon / Substack’s year.

• Platforms and media studios are now laser focused on Gen Alpha, who are entering their teens years.

• Developing, monetizing and protecting IP (intellectual property) was a recurring theme. To put it simply: brands and studios are buying up creator series and channels; creators and studios are cashing in on selling those series — primarily to streamers; and there are new tools and agencies popping up to track where creators and their content show up.

• There’s no single way to win this year. Distribution is fragmented and success is omni format, omni channel and collaborative.

Your Questions

I asked the ICYMI community on Threads if they had questions and my fellow CES panelists graciously obliged. (Once I get the recording of our panel, I’ll share more of our State of Creator Economy takeaways.)

How can brands have better working relationships with creators?

“Creators want to be valued as the creative experts they are. Creators told us in our State of Creator Marketing Report that brands should focus on clear and timely communication, giving them more creative input, and reciprocating the value creators provide to them with healthy compensation and longer-term partnerships. Do those things, and you’ll see the strength of your creator relationships—and the success of your program—flourish.”

- CreatorIQ’s Jennifer Cho

How relevant is the “add location” feature for views on YouTube?

“Add location doesn’t help or hurt views. It’s just a viewer service if a creator wants to share a cool place they went.”

- YouTube’s Rene Ritchie

What can creators do to protect their content from AI training?

“The more authentic that a Creator makes their content, the more it’s impossible to replace it. AI can’t produce a unique perspective. So if you bring your own flavor and opinions, you are future proofing yourself as a Creator.”

- Sixteenth’s RJ Larese

*I’ll share some additional thoughts about the conference in the ICYMI Slack

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👀 ICYMI: JUST THE HEADLINES

• Disney+ is launching short-form videos this year, including original content, repurposed social clips, and scenes from TV shows or movies - TechCrunch

• Discord is reportedly going public - TubeFilter

• iHeartMedia’s podcast platform will support both audio and video distribution for creators - iHeartMedia

• Can podcasts succeed as premium TV? - Business Insider

• Publishers like CNN, Yahoo, and Bustle Digital Group are building their own creator networks - Digiday

• In 2025, audiences craved communal, live TV events like the Super Bowl and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade - Axios

• 2025 was the year of the newsletter as creators and brands launched direct-to-consumer newsletters - WSJ

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