The Longest January in Social Media | MKTRSU #25

TikTok situation, US plans with social media, the DeepSeek controversy and Instagram’s number of new updates and clarifications. Welcome to Marketing Right Side Up #25

Author

Mark Valasik
January 29, 2025

Dear gentle reader,

What the @#$% is this January?? 

TikTok’s not-so-ban, Oracle wanting a piece of social media, AI wars like we’ve never seen and Instagram gambling hard on uncertainty and clarifying how it actually works. We need to talk.

Before we start, let me say this first - the past couple weeks were HARD on mental health of literally everyone. I’ve been contemplating completely skipping news and maybe even pivot away from social media, because the speed and chaos of everything coming up and then immediately changing was unbearable. Find a hobby, go for a walk, treat yourself first. Be aware of what’s going on but don’t obsess over it. I’m not sure if this advice is meant for you or for me. 

But don’t worry, there’s a sliver of bright light! Next week’s episode will be about the “social web”, the very promising yet very infant possible future for truly social media without ads and corporations. Sounds too good to be true, I know, but just wait. Next week. It’s a good one.

But now, for our regularly scheduled content:

TikTok situation, US plans with social media, the DeepSeek controversy and Instagram’s number of new updates and clarifications.

My name’s Mark Valasik, I help companies with their marketing strategies, and this is the 25th edition of Marketing Right Side Up newsletter. 

TikTok’s Not-So-Ban and the Mysterious “Different” TikTok

So, after weeks and month of me reporting to you about the world after TikTok and after many sleepless nights of millions of TikTok affiliates and influencers, TikTok faced a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 12-hour ban in the U.S., all in the name of "national security concerns." 

The platform came back online faster than a trending dance routine, but something was…off. Users reported that TikTok felt “different” upon its return—like when your favorite coffee shop switches baristas and your usual order tastes weird.

Content moderation seemed cranked up to 11, with fewer livestreams, more flagged posts, and creators complaining that their accounts were suddenly on life support. TikTok insists nothing’s changed, but you can’t help but wonder if they’re testing a new recipe for algorithm soup. OR a separate algorithm for US divesture?

What’s even weirder is the whole timing - TikTok shuts down, Trump tells it to not obey the ban, TikTok gets back up, Trump gets inaugurated, postpones the ban for another 75 days.

So now, TikTok either sells or gets banned–again. And what’s the weirdest is the potential buyer.
Microsoft is said to be one of the main bidders and Larry Ellison’s Oracle. THAT Oracle that was cited as the potential buyer when Trump first proposed the ban in 2020. Hold that name for a sec… 

Elon Musk’s “Gesture” and Larry Ellison’s Stargate Ambitions

Elon Musk stirred the internet’s pot again—this time for making what some are calling a Nazi salute during Trump’s second inauguration. Critics and leaders were not amused, with Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling it “really disgusting.” and Musk fanboys stormed the internet to take his side and say he’s a genius and perfectionist to make an imperfect nazi salute. Weird flex but okay. But that’s just smoke. 

Let’s get back to above mentioned Larry Ellison. Not only was his name mentioned in 2020 as potential TikTok buyer, not only is his name mentioned in 2025 as potential TikTok buyer, he was one of the “tech oligarchs” prominently seated behind Trump on his inauguration. And if that showed us anything, it’s the fact that the current US administration is leaning heavily into having social media in check. For safety reasons. Hopefully just safety reasons…

But to top it all off, Ellison is one of the prominent figures mentioned in the Project Stargate massive AI fund - a 500 BILLION dollar fund to Make America the AI-leader Again by a massive gap. And Oracle stock soared.

This massive initiative was announced just mere 24 hours into President’s Trump presidency, so it makes you think, how long have they been at it and how much lobbying was done behind the scenes in the past months?

The DeepSeek Shakedown: China’s AI Moment…and Backlash

Speaking of AI, the Chinese AI company DeepSeek was giving tech giants whiplash…but things are messy. Their AI model, DeepSeek-R1, shook up global markets with its jaw-dropping capabilities—imagine an AI so good, it’s being called AI’s "Sputnik moment." Stocks of U.S. AI firms plummeted, as investors panicked like they were on a rollercoaster with no seatbelt. 

It is said to be better (in some regards) than OpenAI’s ChatGPT o1 reasoning model AND supposedly cost 1/100th of OpenAI’s funds invested into their development. That’s obviously a problem. But you’ve read this all around the internet I’m sure.

But here’s the kicker: DeepSeek’s data collection practices are…let’s just say, not subtle. The AI avoids topics like "Tiananmen Square" faster than your cousin dodges politics at family meeting. And its real-time censorship has drawn major side-eyes from privacy experts and regulators. Italy’s already knocking on their door asking, "Sooo…what are you doing with all this data?". Because even their ToS claims it collects all the text, audio and visual inputs and processes the data in People Republic of China. 

However there have been reports that the DeepSeek desktop instance you can run locally on your own PC collects much more data than just what you input into it.

And to make things even twistier, OpenAI now claims it has proof DeepSeek used GPT models to train the R1. 

Closing the Week with Instagram’s Drama

As if this week needed more spice, Instagram decided to toss in some updates of its own. 

From 3-minute Reels, tweaking profile grids to 4:5 rectangles (cue influencer meltdowns) and offering a very lackluster resizing solution for anyone who was invested heavily into their 1:1 square profile grids, to announcing TikTok-like editing app called ‘Edits’ (hello, CapCut competition!). Oh, and they’re also offering massive cash bonuses to lure TikTok creators—because apparently, the war for your scroll time never ends. All this shows how heavily they are gambling on the fact TikTok was about to be banned.

I was previously certain it’s actually Meta who’s the main lobbyist behind the TikTok ban, but with these steps and the eventual TikTok not-so-ban, I’m not so certain anymore. Just imagine spending MONTHS on developing the CapCut alternative, because you’re so sure there will be a massive untapped market after CapCut gets banned along with TikTok, you announce it on the very day of said ban, just for the ban to be reverted mere hours after it? Not very cash-money of you if you’re the CEO of Instagram…

…speaking of CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri revealed in a series of videos how Instagram content rating works for Reels and Stories! 

For example, for Reels Ranking, sends per each as previously mentioned as the most important ranking factor for Reels, is supposedly more important with non-followers watching your video. On the other hand, the previously mentioned “not as important” likes per reach ARE actually important ranking factor with your followers watching your Reels. For both audiences tho, the most important ranking factor is watchtime.

When it comes to ranking for recommendations, original content without watermarks, with added sounds/music, shorter than 3 minutes is supposedly the “golden ratio” for your content to be recommended to non-followers and therefore grow organically.

But the Stories ranking works differently - Instagram sees stories as your way of reaching “your really passionate followers”. If you want to reach as many of your followers as possible, livestreams or, surprisingly, Feed posts might be a better way. As Instagram tries to predict if your followers would want to click on your story and interact with it BEFORE it even shows the story to them.

That’s all for now. While this all might seem like a massive chaos, don’t worry, next week’s episode should bring in some positive mood and maybe even closure in this whole social media rollercoaster.

Because especially in a week filled with AI drama, billionaire antics, and platform chaos, one thing’s for sure: staying on top of social media trends is like playing a roulette. But it doesn’t have to be.

Stay tuned!

Stay safe,

Mark.

 

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