School is back in session, and summer is heading toward its unofficial and official end, but pumpkin spice is beginning to appear in drinks and food throughout the country.
Labor Day may be the last day to wear white, but September offers other key social media holidays, including Suicide Prevention Day, the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, and National Drink Beer Day. Pumpkin beer, anyone?
Social Media Holidays to Mark on Your Calendar
- Sept. 1: First day of Fashion Month, spring/summer collections
- Sept. 5: International Day of Charity
- Sept. 6: Read a Book Day
- Sept. 7: Labor Day
- Sept. 7: National Beer Lover’s Day
- Sept. 8: International Literacy Day
- Sept. 10: Suicide Prevention Day
- Sept. 11: National Day of Service and Remembrance
- Sept. 13: Grandparents’ Day
- Sept. 15: First day of Hispanic Heritage Month
- Sept. 21: International Day of Peace
- Sept. 22: First day of fall
- Sept. 27: World Tourism Day
- Sept. 28: National Drink Beer Day
Social Media Platform Updates
TikTok
The Wonderful World of Disney
TikTok reached a global short-form content-sharing agreement with Disney that will initially take effect in the U.S. in the coming months.
Creators who opt into the program will be able to share their Disney-centric fan content related to characters and stories from parts of the Disney portfolio including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and FX on TikTok and Verts on the Disney+ application.
Those creators will have access to assets from hundreds of Disney-owned movies and series.
Other TikTok News
- The Motion Picture Association and TikTok parent ByteDance inked a global pact to protect the intellectual property of the film and television sectors from generative artificial intelligence video and image models such as Seedance and Seedream.
- TikTok USDS Joint Venture published its initial Platform Security and Community Guidelines Reports.
- The company hosted its U.S. Regional Community Fest Event at the Santa Monica Pier in California, putting the spotlight on creators from all backgrounds and interests, hosted by Markell Washington, and wrapping with a DJ set from singer, writer, and dancer Tinashe.
- The platform introduced in-app fan experiences marking the new Wild EP from KATSEYE and Alex Warren’s new Wildchild album.
- Finally, Bella Kay became the latest artist to star in TikTok’s “Behind the Breakthrough” campaign.
Is It AI?
Instagram announced that it is renaming its AI Creator label as AI-Generated Profile in order to make it more clear to users when the profile features an AI-generated character and not a human.
The platform added that reach will be limited for applicable profiles that fail to add the new label.
Other Instagram News
- Instagram streamlined the process of creating Reels directly within its app with First Draft, which lets users select clips and tap once to cut pauses and trim those clips down. All changes made by First Draft are reversible by the creator.
- Several updates were introduced for stand-alone app Edits, including: a streamlined video editing workflow offering multiple versions of a single project, item-to-item alignment, richer templates, and the ability to upload videos up to 15 minutes; the option of finding the perfect audio to match the content’s vibe and to export projects directly to Instagram Stories; new video effects and animations; and audio enhancements including bilingual captions, generating lyrics in captions, filtered audio searches, and the ability for creators to import their own audio.
- Instagram also shared video editing tips from creators on Edits, as well as a guide to performance metrics and insights on the app.
- Finally, several creators were featured in the “Watch While” campaign for the platform’s TV app, created with Special U.S.
YouTube
Consistent Count
Views will now be counted for videos of all formats on the platform once the video begins to play, in order to ensure consistency.
This had previously been the case for short-form option YouTube Shorts, but multiple counting systems had been in use across the various formats on the Google-owned video platform.
The Engaged Views metric will remain in Advanced Mode for YouTube Analytics so that creators can see how many viewers continued to watch their content.
YouTube said the chance will not impact creators’ earnings or eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program.
Speaking of the YouTube Partner Program …
The company detailed several changes to its YouTube Partner Program.
Premium Lite was expanded to all countries where YouTube Premium is offered.
Beginning Feb. 1, 2027, creators who have 10 million qualified Shorts views over the past 90 days will be eligible for ads and subscription revenue sharing on Shorts.
Finally, new creators applying for the YouTube Partner Program must have 8,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days.
Other YouTube News
- Two new tools were introduced for creators: Live Practice Mode, which enables them to test audio, lighting, and pacing on a private stage; and the Get Feedback button, which provides tailored, data-driven insights on Shorts hooks, visuals, and pacing prior to posting,
- Eligible U.S. creators in the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program can now tag Amazon products in Shorts, long-form videos, and livestreams.
- Finally, YouTube Vice President of User Experience Jonathan Terleski shared five design principles the platform uses to ensure that creators are center stage.
Home Is Where the Pin Is
Pinterest and Zillow announced a partnership enabling advertisers to target Zillow’s audiences with ads on Pinterest.
A total of 34 audience segments of buyers, renters, sellers, and owners on Zillow is being opened up to Pinterest for the sale of targeted ads.
Other Pinterest News
- The platform shared its guide to success for the 2026 holiday season; a market response study with Mphasize on how to determine intent earlier; and the Pinterest Hobbies Trend Report 2026.
Snapchat
Authenticity Is Key
Snapchat continued its push to reward authentic content created by humans, announcing that fully AI-generated videos will no longer be eligible for recommendation on its Spotlight surface for user-generated content.
The company clarified that content enhanced or edited using Snapchat’s AI creative tools will continue to be eligible for recommendation and include transparency indicators.
Other Snapchat News
- A new integration enables brands to launch native lead-generation campaigns on Snapchat and automatically collect leads that are generated into agentic consumer platform HubSpot.
- Unified Attribution is now available to app advertisers using AppsFlyer or Adjust.
- Snapchat rolled out a new ad solution for pharmaceutical advertisers in the U.S.: multiple-CTA (call to action) attachments to support disclosure requirements for branded campaigns.
- The Snapchat Ads MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server is now live, furthering Snapchat’s goal of opening its ads platform to third-party AI agents.
- Snapchat will launch its SPECS augmented reality glasses at an event in Los Angeles Sept. 16 at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET, and those interested can register to view the livestream.
- Finally, the company shared research on: sports betting and prediction markets, with Alter Agents; and how Generation Alpha and Gen Z use humor to connect, with Omnicom Advertising.
Meta
Sharing the Burden
Meta reached an $18 billion settlement with 52 attorneys general across U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia over claims that its platforms fueled social media addiction among teens, and it is calling on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar safety measures to those it is rolling out and share the financial burden.
New safety features across Facebook and Instagram, most of which will remain in effect for 10 years, include:
- A default two-hour daily time limit that teens can only turn off with a parent’s permission.
- A default block of Meta’s apps between midnight and 6 a.m. local time.
- A School Mode that mutes notifications by default between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time,
- Prompts after 15 minutes of continuous screen time on Facebook and Instagram, as well as when total daily usage reaches 60 and 90 minutes.
- Teens can choose a non-algorithmic feed (not personalized by Meta’s recommendation systems) as their default.
- Teens can turn off autoplay.
- Teens will no longer see the number of likes and reactions on posts (their own and those by others).
- Extreme makeup filters are now blocked for teens, joining cosmetic surgery filters.
- Meta pledged to improve its age detection technology to remove users under 13 and provide age-appropriate experiences for those 13 through 17.
More AI Features for Small Businesses
Meta detailed new AI features aimed at enabling small and midsized businesses on its platform to grow.
Meta AI now works with Facebook and Instagram analytics, Meta Ads, and Google Workspace, letting SMBs pull insights, audit and optimize campaigns, benchmark against similar brands, and understand what is working and how to improve.
The company shared examples of prompts that SMBs can use to incorporate the technology into their marketing efforts:
For SMBs seeking to better understand their organic content: “What types of content have worked best for my Instagram account over the past month? What can I do differently? Send me a report every Monday.”
For those seeking more insights on how they stack up versus their competitors: “Benchmark my organic performance against five top and comparable brands in my space: Am I ahead or behind, what’s driving the gap, and what should I change? Check the brand list with me first.”
Finishing the Year Strong
LinkedIn shared highlights from parent company Microsoft’s fiscal fourth-quarter financial results:
- Revenue grew 12% year-over-year, reaching $19.8 billion for the full fiscal year.
- Global membership increased at a double-digit rate for the fifth consecutive year.
- Time spent on content rose 10% year-over-year, while knowledge-oriented posts were up 24%, and time spent on comments grew by 18%.
- Revenue at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions rose 16% year-over-year.
- Recruiters at over 20,000 companies are now using LinkedIn’s AI-powered hiring solutions, with seats across its enterprise AI-powered hiring products up 140% versus the fiscal third quarter.
Other LInkedIn News
- The professional network released guides on dominating AI search on LinkedIn and how the class of 2026 can stay safe when applying for jobs online.
- Finally, LinkedIn B2B Institute Global Research Lead Alejandro Garcia Medina penned “The Credibility Code: How B2B Brands Win Trust that Converts.”
Bolstering the Backend
Reddit announced plans to invest in its infrastructure and make improvements to its content moderation tools.
The infrastructure improvements are aimed at:
- Easing the process of starting and moderating communities.
- Giving developers more options for building tools on the Reddit Developer Platform.
- Protecting the platform from scraping and other AI abuse.
As for moderation, the company’s goal is to enable moderators to spend less time dealing with spam, abuse, and rule-breaking, freeing up more time to shape the culture, norms, and identity of their communities.
Reddit continues to test Rules Hub, a new suite of moderation tools, and it expanded the capabilities of its Post & Comment Guidance tool.
Other Reddit News
- The company began testing a new experience that allows users to listen to Reddit posts in the background while performing other tasks or activities.
- The first-ever People’s Beauty Index was released.
X
It’s an Original
X introduced the Original Content Rewards Program as a way to reward creators who share original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
New enrollments are no longer being accepted for the company’s Revenue Sharing program, and those currently enrolled will continue to earn through Sept. 7.
Creators who are eligible for the Original Content Rewards Program will earn money from qualified impressions—defined as unique impressions from Premium users on the Home Timeline feed, where at least 50% of the post is visible—generated by their original content and paid out every two weeks.
Content will be ineligible for monetization if:
- It is copied or substantially reproduced from another creator.
- It is downloaded from X or another platform and reuploaded onto X (unless the creator is the author of that content).
- It was created or posted using automated means.
- It is inappropriate, sexually explicit, or potentially harmful to viewers.
- It is exclusively focused on monetization coaching, monetization discussion, or maximizing payouts.
- It contains disinformation or misleading content.
- It has a helpful Community Note.
- It violates X’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, or Copyright Policy.
Other X News
- The platform launched Lead Gen Ads.
- Ongoing litigation between X and the World Federation of Advertisers was scrapped.
- Creators on X can now be paid immediately via X Money.
- The company open-sourced the code behind its For You timeline.
- iOS users can now add text overlays to their videos.
- The React With Video feature is now live on Android.
- Finally, X introduced NFL Gametime on X, a new all-in-one experience for National Football League fans.
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