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Hi friend 👋🏼 and welcome to this week’s edition of “the dump.” Facebook is betting on a bunch of new features and a new design to bring Gen-Z back to its platform.. will it be enough?

🌤️ Today on “the dump”

1. 💡 Facebook launches a Gen Z-focused redesign

2. 🤑 Omnicom strikes partnership with Snap for creator collaboration

3. 🎬 YouTube Shorts are getting less short

4. ✅ Instagram’s ‘best practices’ tell creators how they should post

Read time: 5 minutes

💡 Facebook launches a Gen Z-focused redesign

Facebook wants to woo more younger users to join its social network, instead of spending all their time on TikTok, Instagram, and other social apps. To do so, parent company Meta on Friday announced a series of changes to the older social network which will put greater emphasis on local community information, videos, and Facebook Groups, among other things. Other Facebook products, like Meta AI, Facebook Dating, and Messenger are receiving updates as well.

Here is a shortlist of Facebook new features designed for Gen Z:

• a new “Local” tab, which will pull in local content from across places like Marketplace, Groups, and Events into a single section.

• a new “Explore” tab, focused on personalized recommendations and powered by an algorithm that will surface not just content that entertains, but those that will connect you to interests, even if they’re narrowly defined.

• a new “Video” tab, offering a full-screen video player that will allow users to watch short-form, long-form, and live videos in one place.

• a new “Events” tab, offering users both a Weekly and Weekend Digest of upcoming events based on their interests.

• a new “Group AI” feature, helping members of groups find answers to questions — including those that have previously been asked.

Read more here (TechCrunch)

🤑 Omnicom strikes partnership with Snap for creator collaboration

Omnicom Media Group’s influencer marketing agency Creo is partnering with ​Snapchat’s​ Snap Star Collab Studio to develop brand campaigns with the platform’s creators, known as Snap Stars.

OMG’s CPG clients are most likely first in line to make use of the program — although the agency declined to say which. The Collab studio is designed to be marketer-friendly, in that it’s a managed service production program meant to pair marketers with the right creator/influencer, as well as to craft aligned content for the brand in question.

Read more here (DigiDay)

🎬 YouTube Shorts are getting less short

YouTube Shorts, the company’s answer to TikTok, is getting updates including longer video lengths, the company announced today.

Beginning on October 15th, creators will be able to upload YouTube Shorts that are up to three minutes in length — a feature YouTube says was highly requested by users.

TikTok currently allows videos as long as 10 minutes and has steadily increased the limit over the years.

Read more here (TheVerge)

✅ Instagram’s ‘best practices’ tell creators how they should post

A new feature for professional accounts offers personalized advice on how to make and share content on the platform.

The best practices hub is available for professional accounts on Instagram and is accessible through the professional dashboard.

The feature is marketed as an educational tool to help creators make engaging content, and the hub includes tips for making, sharing, and monetizing their videos and photos.

Some of the tips are fairly generic social media strategies, like “track long-term follower growth” and “consistently post more.” Others are more specific and could signal Instagram’s corporate priorities: a tip on one account, for example, tells me that Reels that are longer than 90 seconds won’t be recommended to new users, thus stifling discovery.

Check out the research here (TheVerge)