You know that awkward moment when two YouTubers collab and half the audience doesn’t even realize it? Yeah, YouTube’s fixing that. 

The platform is testing a feature that lets creators tag collaborators directly in video titles. And, if you’re wondering who broke it in, it’s none other than MrBeast. Now, instead of burying your guest star in the description, their name is front-and-center for all to see (and click).

Today, we’re breaking down YouTube’s collaborator tagging test, what it means for marketers, and audience growth, inspired by MrBeast’s latest charity collab epic. Plus, your weekly dose of digital and social updates, served hot by The Viral Venti from Akari & Co.

Social Media Marketing

YouTube’s Launches Collab Posts With MrBeast and Friends

Spotted first in MrBeast's #TeamWater launch video, where he teamed up with Mark Rober, Ben Azelart, and the Stokes Twins to rally $40M for clean water—the feature lets creators tag partners directly in the title display. Avatars pile up next to the uploader's name, and a quick tap reveals the full lineup with handy subscribe buttons.

It's like Instagram's collab posts met TikTok's duets, but on steroids for long-form video. For marketers, this screams opportunity. Imagine your brand's influencer squad getting equal billing, sharing audiences without awkward re-uploads. But we’ll have to wait to see if it dilutes watch time or supercharges discovery. 

Key Details

• Tag Team Visibility: Collaborators appear via stacked avatars and names under the video title. Multiple partners? It shows “…and X more,” expanding to a full list on tap. Perfect for highlighting joint efforts without cluttering thumbnails.

• Audience Crossover Magic: Videos get recommended to each collaborator's subscribers, expanding reach organically. In MrBeast's case, his 300M+ subs could funnel views to Rober's engineering fans or the Stokes Twins' prank crowd.

• Invite-Only Vibes: The uploader sends invites; collaborators must accept. No backend analytics sharing yet (like revenue or insights), but it's a step toward true co-ownership.

• Limited Beta: Currently rolling out to select creators, with MrBeast's videos serving as the primary testing ground.

What Marketers Should Do

• Brand Partnership Visibility: Sponsored collabs just got way more transparent (and valuable).

• Influencer Strategy Shift: Multi-creator campaigns could see better attribution and reach.

• Discovery Algorithm Changes: Expect collaboration content to get prioritized as YouTube learns from engagement patterns.

The Bottom Line

YouTube's collaboration tagging is long overdue, but it's finally here, and it could reshape creator partnerships forever. With stacked avatars making collaborators impossible to miss and discovery algorithms getting a collaboration boost, this feature turns every collab into a potential audience exchange program. If you're banking on partnerships, this is your cue to start planning multi-creator campaigns that actually give everyone the spotlight they deserve. Because in the age of MrBeast-level collaborations, sharing credit shouldn't be an afterthought.

Social Media Trends

The Weekly Scroll 📱

Instagram/Facebook/Threads

📍 Instagram Clarifies Location Privacy Instagram reminds everyone that location sharing isn’t on by default — so no, your ex can’t track your coffee runs unless you let them. 👉 Check your settings

TikTok

❓ TikTok Tests 'Post Question' in Search On iOS, TikTok is experimenting with a “Post question” box in Search, prompting users to create text posts on topics that don’t yet have much coverage. 👉 Start the convo

🚫 TikTok Adds ‘Content Check’ for Creators TikTok is rolling out a tool that flags if your video might get blocked from the For You Page before you post. No more shadowban surprises. 👉 Run a check

YouTube

Nada this week!

X / Twitter

🎥 Musk Pushes Free Grok AI Video & Animation Tools Elon Musk and his xAI team are going all-in on Grok, making its “Imagine” text-to-video generator free in the U.S. for a limited time. X has also unlocked image animation directly in-stream — so your pics can now move as much as your hot takes. 👉 Try Grok while it’s free

Other Platforms

🛂 UAE Tightens Influencer Rules Influencers in the UAE now need an advertiser’s permit for paid promotions — because even #ad posts need official paperwork. 👉 Know the rules

✨ LinkedIn Adds Flashy Announcements LinkedIn just upgraded its announcement posts with new animations and GIFs — perfect for making your “We’re hiring” pop like a confetti cannon. 👉 Post in style

Digital Marketing Trends/Ads

Tour de Headlines

Meta

🛡 Meta Refreshes Brand Protection Manager Meta’s Brand Protection Manager gets a cleaner, upgraded UI to help businesses track and tackle IP infringements faster. Less hunting, more protecting. 👉 Check it out

🎯 Meta Shares AI Ad Targeting Tips Meta’s dishing out fresh advice on using AI placements to get your ads in front of the right eyeballs — because clicks don’t grow on trees. 👉 Read the tips

TikTok

📊 TikTok Tests ‘Engaged Session’ Tracking TikTok is trialing a new metric that measures what users do after clicking off the app. Your campaign’s story now continues beyond the scroll. 👉 See how it works

Google / YouTube

Nada this week!

X (Formerly Twitter)

🧠 X Plans AI-Powered Ad Upgrades X is cooking up a smarter ad system with Grok-powered creative tools, automated targeting, and better performance insights. Your ads may soon think for themselves. 👉 See what’s coming

Other Platforms

🔍 Reddit Wants to Be a Search Engine Reddit is unifying its search into a single interface — aiming to rival Google in finding opinionated answers. The SEO world just raised an eyebrow. 👉 Take a peek

🚫 Reddit Blocks Internet Archive Reddit has cut off the Internet Archive’s access to its content, citing privacy and data concerns. Historians of memes are officially in mourning. 👉 Read why

📈 Pinterest Q2 Numbers Look Strong Pinterest’s Q2 2025 report shows both users and revenue are up. Apparently, inspiration boards still pay the bills. 👉 View the report

Interesting Stats

Show these to execs when they question you

🛡️ Moderate Use Helps Teen Mental Health: Australian teens using social media for 1–3 hours a day report better mental well-being than those with higher or lower usage.

⚠️ Rise in Harmful Content: Meta’s Q1 2025 report shows bullying content on Facebook increased from 0.06–0.07% to 0.07–0.08%, while violent content rose to 0.09%.

👥 Effective Audience Understanding: Social listening gives LinkedIn and Instagram users a major ROI confidence boost—76% feel confident vs. just 27% on Facebook without listening.

🖼️ Multi‑Platform Behavior: On average, users engage with 6.7 social media platforms monthly, reflecting diverse digital habits.

💬 Comment Growth Explodes: On X (Twitter), comments per post are up 107% year-over-year, and LinkedIn is up by 37%, signaling rising user engagement.

📸 Facebook Still Leads Web Referrals: Facebook generates 64.79% of all social-to-web traffic, followed by Instagram at 10.03%.

Recommendations/Resources

Tools & Apps We’re Loving Right Now 🛠️

Best AI Image Creator – Leonardo AI is blowing our minds. We’re ditching clunky design tools because this one’s got the magic touch.
👉 Give it a go

Best for Tracking TikTok Metrics & Competitor Benchmarking – TokBackup has become our secret weapon for TikTok insights. If you’re not using this, you’re flying blind.
👉 Explore TokBackup

See Competitor Ads in Real-Time – Meta Ads Library lets you spy on your competitors' strategies and campaigns. Lurking in here is basically a full-time job.
👉 Peek inside

Google Ads Campaign Insights – Google Ads Transparency Center lets you see where ad dollars are flowing. If you like data with a side of snooping, this tool’s for you.
👉 Go snoop

Best AI voiceovers - So, your talent flubbed a line, or you changed your script after recording? ElevenLabs lets you turn text into hyper-realistic voiceovers so seamless, no one will ever know.
👉 Fix it

Best AI Video Generation- HeyGen is a cool AI tool that lets you create videos with super realistic avatars that talk just by typing a script. It’s great if you hate being on camera or want to make content fast—plus, it can speak over 40 languages, so it’s perfect for reaching a global audience. Super easy, saves you time and money, and the results actually look professional.
👉 Try It

Ad Creative Analytics - Beautiful creative reporting to help your team generate more revenue from your paid social ads.

👉 Try it out

Shower Thought  🚿💭

Vandalism in bathroom stalls has gotten very rare now that we all have smartphones.