Jack Appleby

We all saw the big social media news: Instagram's chasing YouTube with long-form. Buttt I don't think your brand should try long-form. It's a bit of a trap, and I think your time & resources are better spent elsewhere. ICYMI Instagram just launched Features: horizontal, long-form videos up to 90 minutes. Pretty much YouTube built right into IG with some clever new mechanics. Reels can now act as “trailers” that tap through to related Features, so podcasts are the obvious winners (all those clips can finally link to the full pod). Smart play for Instagram. Buttt you’re a social media marketer, not an influencer. And most brands haven’t cracked 90-second content... so why would they suddenly make long-form? JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD Let’s be really honest about the state of brand social. We all agree you’ve gotta make short-form vertical video to win. Reels & Carousels are the name of the Instagram game. Everyone’s talking about brands making “shows” and “series.” Big yes to all of that... but most brands are still struggling to find social video success. Even the ones winning are mostly doing it with 6-30 second videos (not derogatory, that content matters!). Until brands get good at narrative content between 90 seconds and 3 minutes, with recurring formats, characters, and worlds (consistently, not one-offs), there’s no reason to even consider long-form. And hell, say you unlocked new budget and headcount. Why wouldn’t you throw it at even more short-form vertical video? It’s proven, it’s here to stay, and it’s cross-postable on every single network. Don’t diversify your content. Double down on the one that matters most. “NOT ALL VIEWS ARE CREATED EQUAL” That’s an Adam Mosseri quote from his interview on Colin & Samir. He was comparing your best friend’s baby photos to some viral Reel, but it’s something I’ve always felt about brand content: who cares if it did numbers if it doesn’t drive any interest in your brand? Many brands that do earn organic reach get it with content prettyyyy far removed from their product. The goal of brand social should be to become influential for your own brand, with the audience you want. Most brands can’t do that in 1 minute yet, so maybe we start there before jumping to 89 more. IS YOUR BRAND READY FOR LONG-FORM? Here's the easy FAQ: 1. Can you make a Reel longer than 60 seconds with strong watch-through and real engagement? 2. Can you do it consistently, as a series? Features assumes you already have an audience that wants more from you. 3. Can you make something so compelling someone taps through for 10, 20, 30 more minutes? If the trailer doesn’t work, the payoff never gets seen. If you can’t do #1, Features is irrelevant to you. But hey, good news: I think Features will make brands take short-form more seriously. It’s not just Instagram’s most important format anymore, it’s the prerequisite for everything else. Start there.

As someone who doesn’t speak to family and generally spends Christmas solo, this is the best gift I could ask for.

Thisss is why I’ve been so anti-trend social. Yeah, you finally got views by “attaching your brand to culture.” But no one remembers your brand. You forgot to build a brand while working for your brand. Good read.

It's crazy how AI is just the ultimate FAQ resource for literally any program. I've always found Notion difficult to integrate, but with Claude helping me, it's become so easy

The AI vs artistry discourse always eventually goes too far, where the fine artists forget that ideas > anything and most people don’t care how something is made.

Might fuck around and join the pro 1v1 scene I’m 6’5”, 230 with a quick release and strong old school back the the basketball game. I can’t guard, but I’m not sure they could guard me either

Invited a recently-fired social media personality to the pod to tell his side of the story

Thoroughly enjoyed this evening

Okay, this new @tiktok_us feature is cool. Must Eat takes more than 40 million TikTok posts, review, and comments, then builds em into this community-powered guide to restaurants. It's honestly got everything you'd want. You can book tables, save restaurants for later, browse lists (love that they split everyday and elevated, sometimes I just want a turkey sandwich, not omakase), check prices, see who's been... the list goes on, my carpal tunnel would kick in if I kept listing features. Must Eat's in NYC, LA, and the bay to start, but I bet this'll be a hit & to wide soon.

We’ve strayed so far from god’s light @dunkindonuts