First You're Viral, Then You Spiral

The comments, the likes, the shares — they flood in so fast your phone can’t keep up with the notifications. The warmth of the back of your phone... it reassures you. Yes, you've made it. The viral gods have blessed you.?

You got your 15 minutes.?

Now, ALL of the stupid, paltry problems of your former life are gone forever.

Huzzah!

…

Well, obviously not.?

The bitter truth, according to the data, is that most creators who go viral see engagement drop to pre-virality numbers within just 6 months.?Hawk Tuah girl notwithstanding.

That got us thinking: Why is Internet fame so goshdern fleeting? What do creators do when the algo betrays them forever? And how can anybody hedge against it? (Become a marketer! Just kidding… But only kinda.)?

Below, our deep-dive answers all.

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News of the Social

• ?? IG, Now Rated T for Teens. I’ll start the Rice Krispy Treats, you bring the lemonade. ?? Big news last week as Insta rolled out "Teen Accounts" with built-in safety considerations for the under-18 crowd. Think private profiles, stricter content filters, and limited DMs. Ultimately, this means younger fans might have a tougher time finding your content. But don't sweat it! We're absolutely positive teens will find ways to sneak around it.
• ?? Fories? Steed? Stories and Feed had a baby and it's not ugly. IG’s spicing up Stories with comments that everyone can see (which pop up at the bottom, so they won't steal attention). Depending on how you play this one, it could be your ticket to more engagement — or you can still smash that Mute button if you're not feeling particularly chatty. Importantly: By default, only mutual followers can comment, but you can open the floodgates… if you're feeling brave or hate yourself. ??
• ?? Get On the Hype Train. Next Stop: Growthville. YouTube recently unveiled "Hype," an inventive-as-heck feature that lets viewers boost vids from channels with under 500k subs. Users only get 3 hypes per week, smaller channels get more hype-points, and the top 100 videos hit a special leaderboard. Plus, creators get a cash bonus for each hype! We’re… feeling… some sort of… positive emotion about this one! Looking to make the move? More here .
• ?? Sacre Bleu! Telegram ever-so quietly updated its reporting system this month to allow users to flag private chats for moderation, a humongous shift from their previous hands-off approach. The changes, which come after founder Pavel Durov's recent arrest in France, might mean keeping a closer eye on your content and interactions. (Or… you may just wanna rethink that trip to Marseille? ??)

Our Best Stuff

A Look Behind the Ring Light

We surveyed 100s of creators on everything from burnout to the pressures of authenticity, and they spilled the tea all over the rollercoaster that is creator life.

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Shifting Gears: A Cautionary Tale

What happens when corporate giants gobble up your channel? As the saga behind the once-beloved automotive gurus at Donut Media shows…

Read Up >

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Chatter Matters

From humble beginnings as a teenage hacker to his now automation maestro status, Joren Wouters is turning heads. His YouTube channel, Chatimize, is a legit goldmine for Manychat tips. Check out our interview with Joren here !

Also worth noting: A HUGE milestone for the community team this week: We hit 10,000 members! If you have questions, wanna rub elbows with other community members, or just like to lurk and/or creep around, we highly recommend it!

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It's 'bout That Time

Instagram Summit by Manychat (that's us!) is nearly here. Wanna learn how some of the biggest self-made creators and marketers made it on Instagram all while attending a fantastically wonderful two-day, half-bootcamp, half-virtual festival?

You’re in luck. Some tickets are still available.

We're running it Oct. 2 to 3.

Let's go!