Winter is coming, and along with it comes holiday shopping, whether your family celebrates Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus for the rest of us.
But December is also a time to recognize more serious issues, with key dates including World AIDS Day, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, International Human Rights Day, and International Animal Rights Day.
Social Media Holidays to Mark on Your Calendar
- Dec. 1: World AIDS Day
- Dec. 1: Cyber Monday
- Dec. 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- Dec. 4: National Cookie Day
- Dec. 10: International Human Rights Day
- Dec. 10: International Animal Rights Day
- Dec. 14: First day of Hanukkah
- Dec. 21: First day of winter
- Dec. 23: Festivus
- Dec. 24: Christmas Eve
- Dec. 25: Christmas
- Dec. 26: First day of Kwanzaa
- Dec. 31: New Year’s Eve
Social Media Platform Updates
TikTok
Check the Bulletin Board
TikTok introduced Bulletin Board, which it described as a one-to-many broadcast channel for creators to communicate and share content directly with fans and followers.
During its beta-testing phase, accounts including soccer club Paris Saint-German and People Magazine used Bulletin Board to share exclusive content, news, and updates, and build communities.
The platform said musicians can also use the feature to share newly released tracks or albums.
Is It AI?
TikTok is exploring several ways to help users detect and understand content generated by artificial intelligence.
A new tool being tested within the platform’s Manage Topics feature will let people choose how much AI-generated content they will see in the For You feed.
TikTok is also testing invisible watermarking, which makes it more difficult for users to remove labels on content generated by AI when it is edited off-platform or reuploaded.
The company launched a $2 million AI literacy fund to help expert organizations such as Girls Who Code create content to teach people about AI literacy and safety, and it became a sponsor of nonprofit Partnership on AI.
Finally, TikTok said it continually evolves its approach to labeling AI-generated content, such as by adding more context on whether the labling took place due to the platform’s AI detection tools, creator labels, or TikTok’s own AI tools.
Red Carpet
The first-ever TikTok Awards event, “New Era, New Icons,” will take place Thursday, Dec. 18, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles and streaming live on TikTok and Tubi.
La La Anthony will host the event, and presenters will include Paris Hilton, Bethenny Frankel, Micky Gordon, Josh Richards, and Jordan Chiles.
The company said e.l.f. Cosmetics will be the title sponsor, joined by H&R Block and Carl’s Jr., and the event will “honor the creators who have inspired, entertained, and connected communities across the country.”
The nominees for Creator of the Year are Alix Earle, Keith Lee, Brooke Monk, Kristy Sarah, and Adam Waheed.
Other TIkTok News
- Amazon Music added a Share to TikTok feature, enabling users of both platforms to share songs, albums, playlists, and personal listening highlights.
- TikTok reached a multiplatform partnership with iHeart Media, bringing TikTok creators into iHeart’s ecosystem. The TikTok Podcast Network will feature up to 25 new podcasts hosted by TikTok creators, and there will also be a national broadcast and digital radio station, and a series of live event integrations.
- Finally, the platform introduced a Time and Well-Being space aimed at helping users relax and build mindful digital habits.
Bringing Podcasters to Threads
Instagram is taking aim at podcasters and hoping to draw them to its stand-alone Threads application.
Podcast links in the Threads feed will now have a more pronounced look, with colorful backgrounds and image thumbnails.
And creators will have a dedicated spot on their user profile where they can add a link to their podcast.
Instagram also said it will deliver more insights and analytics to podcast hosts and develop more features to improve discoverability of podcasts on the Threads platform.
Other Instagram News
- A new reply approvals feature will enable Threads users to determine which replies from other users will appear on their posts, and Threads also added activity feed filters that enable users to see replies from people they follow or replies that include mentions.
YouTube
Creator Premieres
YouTube took over the historic Metrograph movie theater in New York for Creator Premieres, a film-festival-style event to showcase the work of creators and emphasize why agencies and brands should partner with them.
Recess Therapy’s Julian Shapiro-Barnum hosted the event, and highlights included:
- Comedian, writer, and actor Julian Shapiro-Barnum introduced new live late-night weekly series Outside Tonight.
- Trevor Noah: The Lost SA Special will debut on Noah’s YouTube channel in December.
- Wildlife filmmaker, explorer, and host of Brave Wilderness Mark Vins will debut documentary Reef to Ridge on the Brave Wilderness YouTube channel next year.
- Cleo Abram released a new episode of HUGE* If True, “What If an Asteroid Is About to Hit the Earth?”
- A new episode of Deestroying, “America vs London 1v1,” debuts Nov. 30.
- Dhar Mann Studios is launching “7 Days of Christmas,” a holiday programming event featuring seven brand-new, 25-minute scripted episodes.
- Brittany Broski’s Royal Court will welcome Paul Mescal.
- Finally, a new episode of Friendship will debut on Ms. Rachel’s YouTube channel in early 2026.
Pinterest Assistant
AI-powered, visual-first collaborator Pinterest Assistant was rolled out to help users with discovery and online shopping.
Pinterest Assistant provides proactive recommendations based on a user’s saves, boards, and collages, as well as other users with similar tastes.
The platform’s visual-first AI technology uses real-time conversational descriptors and expands multimodal search, allowing context to seamlessly flow between images, voice, and text.
Other Pinterest News
- Pinterest Holiday Edit features curated gift guides from experts and celebrities including Pamela Anderson, Dwyane Wade, The Jonas Brothers, KATSEYE, Zara Larsson, Conan Gray, Rain Spencer, and Selena Gomez.
- A new integration with Epsilon and Epsilon Clean Room enables advertisers on Pinterest to activate privacy-safe audience segments from Epsilon Clean Room directly to Pinterest.
- Finally, Pinterest shared tips on how marketers can tap its platform during Q5, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Snapchat
What Do Creators Want?
Snapchat teamed up with Publicis Media and Ipsos to study what creators want from brands they work with, their followers, and the platforms they post on. Highlights follow:
- 80% of creators have a high affinity for the social platforms they’re creating on.
- 42% of creators post content tailored specifically to each platform, 49% post consistent content across all, and 9% use a flexible strategy.
- Poor engagement, audience reach, and lack of mobile tools were the top challenges creators cited about platforms.
- Long-term partnerships with brands that allow for more meaningful connections and stronger conversions are important to creators.
- 54% of creators say they’re typically contacted by brands via social platforms, 45% say direct message through apps, and 44% say via email.
- Almost one-third of creators say their followers feel like part of a unique inner circle and that they have positive interactions with them.
Conversational AI Search via Perplexity
Starting in early 2026, Perplexity’s AI-powered answer engine will be integrated directly into Snapchat, enabling users to ask questions and get clear, conversational answers drawn from verifiable sources, without leaving the app.
Under terms of the agreement between the two companies, Perplexity will pay Snap Inc. $400 million over one year, through a combination of cash and equity.
Snapchat users will still be able to chat with the platform’s existing My AI chatbot, with Perplexity joining as an answer engine that helps them find real-time answers from credible sources and explore new topics within the app.
Other Snapchat News
Snapchat began rolling out Topic Chats, which let users discuss trending topics and events and view related Snapchat Spotlight videos.
Subscribers to Snapchat+ will gain access to Comic Bitmoji, a new style that combines classic avatars with current 3D infrastructure.
Snapchat is now available for Amazon Fire Tablets.
Finally, the company released research on: navigating food and drink trends, with WPP Media and Ipsos; how gifting behavior evolves during special moments, with NRG and Stagwell Group; and reaching multicultural consumers, with Collage.
Meta
AI for Q5
Meta detailed updates to its suite of AI-powered lead generation tools released in time for advertisers to prepare for the Q5 period.
Advantage+ leads campaigns, the company’s end-to-end campaign automation solution for lead generation, are now available worldwide.
Integrations with Zapier and Salesforce provide more opportunities for brands to connect their customer-relationship-management platforms with Meta’s Conversions API (application-programming interface).
Finally, Meta is introducing SMS phone number verification and work email verification for instant forms, testing address verification, and offering third-party lead nurturing templates with partners such as Manychat and Botcake.
Reeling In Stolen Reels
Facebook parent Meta introduced a new content protection tool aimed at detecting when original Reels posted by a creator are being used without their permission.
Creators will have the ability to block those Reels from visibility on Facebook and Instagram, track the content’s performance, and add attribution links to their original work. Or they can opt to do nothing.
To see if they are eligible to use the tool, creators can check their notifications in their Feed, Professional Dashboard, or profile, or look under Content Protection in Professional Dashboard. Those that do not have access can apply via Facebook’s website.
The new tool is currently mobile-only, but Facebook said it is testing its addition to the desktop version of Professional Dashboard.
Spruced-Up Marketplace
E-commerce surface Facebook Marketplace underwent some updates to make it more social and collaborative.
A new collections feature lets users create groups of listings and invite friends to join. Collections can be made public or private, and they can be shared via Feed, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other platforms.
Facebook is testing collaborative buying, where users can invite a friend to join their chat with a seller.
Users can react and comment directly on Marketplace listings, and those actions will help Marketplace serve up more relevant listings to those users.
A new Suggested Questions to Ask option in chats with sellers taps Meta AI for suggested questions based on the conversation and the listing details.
AI-powered insights on vehicle listings are also being tested, giving shoppers information on topics such as engine options, safety ratings, transmission type, seating, cargo capacity, reviews, and pricing.
Listings from eBay and Poshmark have been integrated into Marketplace, and they are marked with icons.
Finally, the checkout experience has been revamped to give buyers total costs upfront, including shipping and tax, and be notified when the status of the order changes.
Other Facebook News
- Facebook’s Social Plugins, which allowed developers to add Facebook like and comment buttons to their website, will disappear Feb. 10, 2026.
- People in Facebook Groups can now post under nicknames, or custom usernames, instead of their actual names. Group administrators must opt into the new feature.
- Group admins can also change their Group from private to public while still protecting the privacy of members.
AI-Powered People Search
LinkedIn Premium subscribers in the U.S. now have access to AI-powered people search, which lets them use plain language, such as “someone who’s grown a small business” or “an expert in digital marketing,” and then surfaces the most relevant people.
Members no longer need hyper-specific information such as company name, job title, or credentials.
LinkedIn said availability will be extended in the coming months.
Other LinkedIn News
- Parent company Microsoft shared its earnings for its fiscal first quarter of 2026, saying that LinkedIn tallied $18 billion in revenue for fiscal-year 2025, up 10% compared with fiscal-year 2024. The professional network now totals nearly 1.3 billion members.
- Updates to LinkedIn Events include the ability to create and manage ON24-hosted events through the new event management integration on LinkedIn and promote those events by boosting at key moments, as well as the option to sync Cvent registrant data, like contact and company lists, into Campaign Manager. Finally, advertisers can now choose lead generation as an objective when running an event ad.
Interactive Ads
Reddit introduced a new ad format, Interactive Ads, letting brands create immersive ad experiences that invite audience participation directly within the platform’s feed.
Paramount Pictures was the pilot advertiser, working with Reddit’s in-house creative strategy arm, KarmaLab, as well as production house Hi From the Future, to back the theatrical release of adventure film The Running Man with a game, Dodge the Drones.
Reddit said larger advertisers can follow Paramount’s lead and work with its team on fully customized builds, while small and midsized businesses can tap plug-and-play template options such as quizzes, countdowns, trivia, and dynamic reveals.
Other Reddit News
- Maria Angelidou-Smith joined Reddit as chief product officer. She had been chief product and technology officer at Personio following nearly 10 years at Meta.
X
Let’s Chat
X rolled out its new encrypted chat feature, which lets users securely send documents, photos, videos, GIFs, and other files.
Other privacy tools are supported, as well, including disappearing messages.
Other X News
- X is testing Certified Bangers, which will add a badge to profiles that “move the timeline, ranked by authentic interactions.”
diVine
The Return of Vine?
Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey launched diVine a new app that will give users access to more than 10,000 archived videos from Vine, which Twitter acquired in 2012 and shuttered in January 2017.
Users can also create profiles and upload new videos, and generative AI content will be flagged and prohibited.
Watch This
WhatsApp released a new app for the Apple Watch.
The app offers features including call notifications, the ability to read full messages, recording/sending voice messages, the ability to react to messages with emoji, clear images/stickers, and access to chat history.
The new app requires Apple Watch Series 4 or later, running watchOS 10 or later.
Other WhatsApp News
- The Meta-owned messaging app brought back its first feature, About, which lets users share a short phrase at the top of one-on-one chats and their profile, expiring after one day.
- Finally, WhatsApp introduced passkey-encrypted backups.
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