📱 Meet the “screenmaxxers” who spend almost all day on their phones

WIRED spoke to people logging extreme screen time, in some cases nearly 19 hours a day, and many of them say they have no interest in cutting back.

For some, the screen is work. For others, it is Instagram, games, Discord, or constant scrolling.

It becomes a mix of social life, entertainment, and routine. One person stays on their phone almost nonstop due to ADHD. Another says living far from the city made screens a lifeline.

The key idea is not just how much time people spend on screens, but why. Many of them do not see it as a problem at all. They see screens as a tool that helps them stay connected, informed, or in control of their environment.

➡️ One user averaged 18 hours 55 minutes a day
➡️ Another averaged 18 hours 58 minutes
➡️ Instagram and social apps play a central role
➡️ Screens used for connection, work, and daily structure
➡️ Few had plans to reduce usage despite ongoing concerns

The article is less about addiction and more about adaptation.

For some people, being online all the time is no longer a bug. It is how life works now.

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📱 Meta drops Muse Spark to power its AI across apps

Meta just introduced Muse Spark, a new lightweight AI model that now runs its assistant across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and AI glasses.

This is not just a speed upgrade. It’s a full rebuild of how their AI works.

➡️ Faster, smaller model designed for real-time use across apps
➡️ Can handle complex reasoning, including math, science, and health-related queries
➡️ Multimodal by default, understands both text and images
➡️ Uses multiple “subagents” at once to solve tasks in parallel
➡️ Supports visual coding, can generate sites, dashboards, simple apps
➡️ Pulls context from posts, trends, and communities inside Meta’s ecosystem

Meta is turning its apps into one connected AI layer that understands what you see, read, and do.

Rollout starts in the US, with global expansion and potential open-source versions later.

They’re not just building an assistant. They’re building an operating system around attention.

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📊 Instagram pushes deeper into real analytics

Instagram rolled out API updates that move beyond likes and views, focusing on what users actually do after seeing content. This is less about vanity metrics and more about understanding where attention holds and where it breaks.

➡️ Reels Skip Rate shows how many people swipe in the first seconds. If it’s high, the issue is usually your opening, not the edit or length. This is the clearest signal of whether your hook works

➡️ Repost Counts reflect willingness to share. This is a stronger signal than likes because it shows content people want to pass on, not just react to

➡️ Profile Visits show which posts actually push users into your profile. This helps separate content that gets views from content that creates intent

➡️ Crossposted Reels can now be compared across placements, making it easier to see where distribution actually works

➡️ Trial Reels allow testing ideas on a smaller audience first, so you don’t burn good content before refining it

The shift is practical.

You can now see where people drop off, what they share, and what drives action.

That makes it easier to fix weak hooks, double down on strong formats, and focus on content that actually converts, not just performs on the surface.

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🎥 The Easiest way to make your reel viral

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📱 Instagram gives users more control over the algorithm

Instagram is expanding its “Your Algorithm” tool into Explore, letting users directly adjust what content they see, not just in Reels but across both surfaces.

✔️ You can now choose topics you want to see more or less of
✔️ Changes apply across Reels and Explore at the same time
✔️ Interests can be edited directly from topic suggestions in the feed

In theory, this gives users real control over recommendations.

In practice, most people won’t use it.

We’ve seen this before. Users ask for control, but rarely adjust settings once they get them. Algorithms already optimize for engagement, so manual tuning becomes optional.

The takeaway is simple. This is more about perception of control than actual behavior change. But for creators, it matters, content is now even more tied to topic signals, not just engagement.

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😀 Instagram partnership ads quietly outperform brand ads

Most brands still treat influencer posts as one-off content. That’s the mistake.

Partnership ads (ex branded content ads) let you take a creator’s post and run it as a full paid campaign through Meta Ads Manager. Same content, but now you control distribution, targeting, and budget.

➡️ You’re no longer limited to the creator’s audience
➡️ You can target by interests, behavior, and demographics
➡️ Full tracking available: clicks, conversions, ROAS
➡️ Works across Feed, Reels, and Stories

The key insight is simple. Creator content already wins on trust and engagement, but most of it dies in organic reach.

Partnership ads extend its life and scale it with paid distribution.

That’s usually the difference between “nice campaign” and actual ROI.

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📷 How to Analyze Your Competitors on Social Media

Most brands still guess. The ones growing fast run structured competitor analysis and work off real data.

It’s about tracking how others perform across platforms. Content, engagement, audience growth. Then spotting what actually works and where gaps are.

Core process is simple:

➡️ Identify real competitors
Not just same product. Include creators, influencers, and pages your audience follows

➡️ Break down content strategy
Understand what each post does. Reach, education, or conversion. Not just format, but purpose

➡️ Track meaningful metrics
Saves, shares, comment quality, growth speed. Not likes

➡️ Find gaps
Missing formats, weak topics, ignored comments. That’s where you win

➡️ Build a dashboard
Keep everything in one place so the team sees patterns, not random data

➡️ Run it continuously
Test small changes every 1–2 weeks. Double down on what works

One key stat: brands create just 1.11% of the conversation. The rest comes from users.

So you’re not competing on content alone. You’re competing on how well you read the audience.

That’s the edge.

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😀 Instagram Close Friends is turning into a monetization layer

Creators are starting to treat Close Friends as a paid inner circle. Same Stories, different perception. The green ring makes content feel more personal and more selective, which directly lifts attention and perceived value.

➡️ Why it feels more valuable

Close Friends changes context. Public Stories feel like a broadcast. Close Friends feels like something shared with a smaller group. Even if the list is big, the perception stays. People pay more attention, respond more, and treat it as something intentional.

➡️ What is actually being sold

The product is not exclusivity itself. It is the content inside. The formats that work are simple and clear: deeper insights, faster takes, early access, or direct advice. When people understand exactly what they get, paying becomes easier.

➡️ Where it fits in monetization

Close Friends sits between free content and full paid products. It works like a soft subscription inside Instagram. No need to move users to another platform. It becomes a clean upgrade for those who want more depth without friction.

➡️ Why most attempts fail

Most creators focus on the idea of “private content” but do not change the content itself. If Close Friends looks the same as public Stories, people lose interest quickly. Weak positioning and inconsistent delivery kill it even faster.

➡️ What makes it work

Clear structure and consistency. People need to know what they get, how often, and why it is different from free content. When that is obvious, the format does the rest.

Feels like Instagram quietly introduced a native paywall for attention.

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🤖 Meta is pushing its AI business assistant to a much wider audience

The tool is now expanding across major global markets, including the U.S., EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, with stronger local language support. In practice, that means more advertisers, agencies, and creators will be able to use it directly inside Meta Ads Manager.

➡️ The assistant is designed to answer common business and account questions without waiting for human support

➡️ It can also use a company’s own ad data to suggest campaign improvements and optimization ideas

➡️ During beta, businesses solved common account issues 20% more often when using the tool

➡️ Small business advertisers who applied its opportunity score recommendations saw ad cost per result fall by 12%

Meta’s support has been weak for a long time, so this looks less like a nice extra and more like an attempt to patch a real gap. If the assistant works well, it could become the first place advertisers go when something breaks or performance slips.

For creators, agencies, and brands running campaigns at scale, that matters. Meta is quietly turning AI into a support layer for its ad machine.

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📊 Instagram just made life easier for social media managers

Meta rolled out new updates to Instagram APIs, expanding what third party tools can do when it comes to posting, tracking, and managing content.

➡️ Partnership ad labels can now be added directly when publishing через API, without manual edits in the app
➡️ New performance metrics include reposts, saves, and shares, giving a clearer view of content reach
➡️ Aggregated data now combines views, likes, and comments across Instagram, Facebook, and boosted posts
➡️ Third party platforms can now like and unlike posts, Reels, and comments on behalf of users

Meta is turning external tools into full control panels for Instagram.

For teams running multiple accounts, this is less friction, more data, and faster execution.

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📈 Instagram trends this week worth testing

A few simple Reels formats are picking up traction this week. The common pattern is clear: simple structure, strong emotion, and easy repeatability across niches.

➡️ “Everything Hallelujah”
Audio: Everything Hallelujah – Justin Bieber
Clips of things you are grateful for. Can be sincere or ironic. Works for lifestyle, creators, brands, even meme pages. The format is flexible, which is why it spreads fast.


➡️ “Process vs Results”
Audio: Original audio – meglika
Split screen format showing the messy process on one side and the final result on the other. People like seeing how things are made, not just the polished outcome. Strong for edits, outfits, builds, or any transformation.

➡️ “Strong enough to bear children”
Audio: Run the World – Beyoncé
Content built around strength and responsibility, often tied to motherhood themes. Emotional and relatable, especially with seasonal timing like Mother’s Day.

These trends work because they are simple to produce and easy to adapt. You are not inventing content from scratch, just plugging your angle into a format that already performs.

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😀 Instagram is testing a new Snapchat style app

Meta has launched a new standalone app called Instants in Spain and Italy, focused on fast, low effort photo sharing between friends.

The concept is simple. You take a photo or video inside the app, send it, and it disappears. No feed, no polish, no overthinking.

➡️ Photos and videos disappear within 24 hours and can only be viewed once
➡️ Content is captured directly in the app with very limited editing, only basic text
➡️ Sharing is limited to close friends and mutual followers
➡️ The app is connected to your Instagram account but runs as a separate product

Meta is clearly pushing a different behavior here. Less curated content, more spontaneous sharing. The kind of interaction that built apps like Snapchat and BeReal.

At the same time, this is another attempt to capture a format that already works elsewhere. Meta has tried similar features inside Instagram before, now they are testing whether a separate app can do it better.

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