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And welcome back to the Weekly scroll, your go to social media update for creators who want to grow smarter, not harder. I'm your host, Kaitlyn Rhodes, and in the next 10 minutes, I'm going to catch you up on everything trending on Instagram right now. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. I've got it all, from new features to algorithm shifts so you can stay ahead without spending hours researching. This episode is brought to you by Club Influence. This the creator membership everyone's raving about. I mean, it might be mine and I might be biased, but it's the best all in one creator membership that you can get into right now. Each week we're going to give you viral reels, ideas, fill in the blank canva templates, swipe ready captions, and we take the guesswork out of content creation. Imagine logging in, grabbing your ideas for the week and posting with confidence. No more wasted time scrolling for inspiration. If you're ready to finally make Instagram work for you, this is where it starts. Your access code is waiting in the show notes. Come join me inside. All right, let's scroll. So I've got a couple different things to talk about. We've got TikTok news, a lot of Instagram updates, and then some insights from Meta because holidays are coming up and I want you guys to be prepared for Black Friday because I think everyone can lean into that holiday shopping season. Let's lean into Black Friday by utilizing social media the right way. So first up for the Weekly scroll is TikTok's US deal. It's still in the works, guys. Scott Bessant told CBS Face the nation that U.S. and Chinese negotiators met recently in Madrid and have ironed out all of the details with plans for both countries leaders to finalize the transaction this Thursday in Korea. Besant says TikTok's sale into U.S. ownership should be complete before the Dec. 16 deadline under the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Still, there is a little bit of uncertainty. China hasn't publicly confirmed approval and tensions may remain high following the new U.S. tariffs earlier this month. So while the U.S. says the deal is nearly done, it's not quite official yet. So stay tuned. Update number two. Instagram has given us yet another update that we did not ask for. You can now add drawings and stickers in the DMS mic drop. Instagram just rolled out this fun new update for DMs, and it's all about creativity. You can draw directly on your DM screen, add stickers anywhere in your messages. All you have to do is press the little plus sign icon next to your message bar and look for the new Draw option. From there, you'll get a full set of drawing tools to doodle or highlight parts of your conversation. Will this change your life? Probably not. But it is another sign that Instagram is doubling down on DMs because right now more people are sending messages than posting to the feed or to Stories. I thought that was pretty interesting. And that's exactly why sends matter so much for the algorithm. If you're sent if someone's sending their post to someone else in the DMs, it's going to help your piece of content get more reach and traction. It signals deeper engagement than a like so Instagram keeps adding features to make messaging more interactive and more fun. We'll see if drawing in DMS becomes the next big thing, but considering how popular the Notes because game, I wouldn't be surprised if this one catches on. Or not. Number three, Instagram has added an AI editing to Stories with Restyle, which I kind of am a fan of. This Instagram just dropped a major AI update. It's called Restyle and it's designed to make editing your photos and videos on reels on Stories way easier. No third party app needed. So this one's kind of special to me because when the creator's account on Instagram reached out to me to collaborate with me, they chose Restyle as my update slash trend to talk about in my reel. So I know everything about resale at this point because I studied my butt off to make this collaboration really stand out. So I am a fan of Restyle. I think it's really cool. I think it's super easy to use. We've always had it in the Reels Edits app, but now it's coming to Stories. So you can remove unwanted details, add playful elements, or completely change the vibe of your photo using simple conversational prompts. Powered by Meta AI. So think like make this background sunset pink or add confetti. Meta says the goal isn't to replace your creativity, but to enhance it. So they want to give creators smarter, faster editing options right in the app. Okay, I can. I can be okay on. I can be okay with this. I can be on board. All right, number four, Instagram's new layout is here and it's all about Reels and DMs. So Instagram is officially rolling out its new app layout to more users. The change is simple, but it's significant. The bottom navigation bar is getting reorganized, so Reels now sit in the second tab, DMs in the third, and then you can swipe between them for faster access to the most used parts of the apps. Adam Mossery says the update will soon hit every account, explaining that Instagram's redesign reflects how people are actually using the platform. They're spending most of their times watching reels and they're chatting in the DMs. So what does this mean for creators and marketers? Not much changes strategy wise here, but it reinforces what's already true. Reels and stories run the show feed posts are still valuable for profile depth and brand building, but but they're no longer the main driver of visibility or engagement. With video watch time up 20% year over year, and reels now making up half of all time spent on Instagram, this redesign just makes it official. The app we once knew for photos is now fully leaning into short form video and private conversations. And that's where your focus needs to be, especially with 2026 coming. Which brings me into my next little segment here. Social Media today shared a 36 predictions for social media marketing in 2026. Don't worry, I already scanned through all of them. I picked five of them to talk about with you. So the first one Instagram goes reels first. They're moving reels and dms. Like I said to the private nav, this was a part of the predictions. Why does it matter? Because you need to treat reels and stories as your primary growth slash retention engine. Keep keep reels as your growth and stories to nurture and retain them and then use your grid for like your proof portfolio. Not discovery but just for proof like oh you should stick around. You should follow me. Next little tidbit in here. IG monetizes creation and reach so you guys can expect edits to add a paid tiered for advanced AI features plus simplified boost packages for creators to pay and amplify posts that are trending. I'd really be interested to see how that works. Budget for creation tools and selective boost on winners. Build a test, maybe boost like your top performers and see how it goes. But this could be something that you add into your budget for 2026 marketing. Facebook is facing a real test of a non algorithmic feed so a Dutch ruling could force an easy permanent chronological feed opt out undercutting the algorithm that they have been working on for years. And why does this matter for EU Reach diversify beyond the pure algorithm wins. So lean on your groups direct sharing dms, email and reels that travel cross Right. That that work for both ways. Okay, so that's my main takeaways from the predictions. You can get the whole report over on social media today. There was also Meta's holiday marketing guide, which I thought was worth sharing about. They did say Facebook and Instagram are the most active ways to grow awareness and inspiration for gift guides or holiday hacks or storytelling. Like using both platforms will be the way to go and push direct sales this season. They also said that reels are still the number one growth lever. So Meta's guide specifically says to double down on your reels this holiday season and that's where the algorithm is going to push the most visibility. All right, that wraps up this week's weekly scroll. If you loved getting all these updates without wasting hours researching, you're going to love Club Influence. Inside my membership, you'll get weekly viral reels ideas, plug and post canva templates, swipe ready captions that help you grow faster without the overwhelm. So if you're ready to turn what you just learned into content that actually converts, join us inside Club Influence today. You can grab your access link in the show notes and I will see you inside. Until then, keep scrolling smarter.