The Instagram Stories - Social Media News

In this interview, I chat with Diego Sanchez, a product manager at Buffer. He is a product leader with over a decade of experience launching new products from zero to one. At Buffer, he leads Community, the company’s newest product, focused on building scalable, meaningful social engagement.
Diego explains what makes Buffer different from other social media management platforms - the team is dedicated to helping small businesses and creators grow through publishing, analytics, and engagement tools. He highlights the company's unique culture of transparency, featuring public salaries and a four-day work week to prioritize employee well-being. A major focus of the discussion is the launch of Community, a new tool that uses gamification and AI to help users respond to comments and build meaningful connections.
 
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Diego shares data showing that active engagement can increase post interactions by up to 42%, reinforcing the idea that creators should not simply "post and ghost."
Ultimately Buffer aims to simplify the complex landscape of social media while remaining an independent and mission-driven company.
 
You can find Diego online at: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/diesanx⁠
You can find Buffer at: ⁠https://buffer.com/⁠

 
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TikTok's 2026 trend report is out! Longtime listener Casey Ross stops by to share his insights. The YouTube team has improvements to the content upload system, then actor Chris Gethard shares his thoughts on the creator economy and compares the American Revolutionary War being kicked off by mail delivery to our current system of gatekeepers with Instagram and TikTok. Then I do Wednesday Waffle, part 2 of the story where I hired actresses as a gift for my wife.

 
Links:
TikTok: 2026 TikTok Trend Report (PDF)
Connect with Casey Ross (LinkedIn)
YouTube:This Week at YouTube: Improvements to Content Management and Video Settings Page (YouTube)
Vulture: Preparing for the Creator Economy Apocalypse (with Chris Gethard) (YouTube)

 
Wednesday Waffle: Just Bananas (Overheard Conversation) - Pick Your Podcast App

 
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The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, answers questions about posting every day on Instagram, and explains the new Edits linking feature. He also gets into improvements around saves, and explains why there's no dedicated Direct Message app for Instagram. 

 
Links:
My Latest Reel - Anna Mongiello's Story (Instagram) (TikTok)

 
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Apple announces a direct competitor to Adobe Creative Cloud - it's cheaper and you can purchase the apps so you don't need to pay monthly. Also, the Head of Instagram busts the myth about needing to edit video in Instagram, and YouTube rolls out protections to keep kids limited in their Shorts watch time. Lastly, I do Wednesday Waffle, talking about a gift that I set up for my wife.
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Links:
Apple: Creative Studio (Apple)
Instagram: Mythbusting - Videos Created In Other Apps (Instagram)
YouTube: Limiting Watch Time on Shorts (YouTube)
YouTube: Interest Targeting for Promote, Ingredients to Video, and Creator Insider Content Requests for 2026! (YouTube)
 
NordVPN:  Get Exclusive NordVPN deal here → https://nordvpn.com/ignews  It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee!
 
Wednesday Waffle:
Just Bananas (Overheard Conversation) - Pick Your Podcast App
 
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The Head of Instagram explains how often the Instagram algorithm changes, how to use Trial Reels and make them permanent, along with how to share a Reel to Broadcast Channel. We also talk about music on Reels, and how frustrating it is when Instagram loses music rights to a song and now your Reel has no audio.
 

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