🥬 Taylor Farms highlighted an FDA mistake. PR veterans say it muddied the message.

🎵 Instagram rolls out tool to swap music on published posts.

🤖 Can social media platforms survive the flood of AI content?

🎒 How American Eagle is going back to school.

📄 Opinion: The Pageview Era is dead.

Just because you can post a 20-minute Reel now doesn’t mean you should.

New research from Socialinsider, based on an analysis of 6 million Reels published during the first half of 2026, suggests the sweet spot for both engagement and views is 45 to 60 seconds.

Reels under 30 seconds generated respectable performance, but they were consistently outpaced by videos in the 45–60 second range. That one-minute window delivered the highest engagement rate (0.35%) and the highest median views (10,374).

And while IG technically supports longer videos, Reels over three minutes are no longer recommended to non-followers through the Reels tab, dramatically reducing discovery potential. Engagement drops by more than half, making long-form Reels a poor choice for growth-focused content.

Here’s the golden strategy:

• Aim for 45–60 seconds as your default Reel length.
• Prioritize completion and storytelling over making the shortest possible video.
• Avoid Reels longer than 3 minutes if your goal is reaching new audiences.
• Test different lengths with your own audience, since content type and industry still influence performance.
• Review your analytics regularly instead of relying solely on platform-wide benchmarks.

Head to SocialInsider for more.

Love a Pomodoro timer?

Grindoro synchronizes focus sessions so you begin working together with other users at scheduled times. The idea is that it’s easier to commit to deep work when you know hundreds of other people are doing the same thing alongside you. Aw.

We love that it layers in some gamification with “Light,” “Medium,” and “Dark Roast” focus modes, XP, boosters, daily energy management, and collectible weekly cafés.

You can also organize tasks into routines and larger goals, making it more than a basic countdown timer.

Don’t miss the latest episode of The Daily Carnage Show, “Brand vs. Planet: The Marketer’s AI Footprint,” to learn more about the energy, water, land, and infrastructure costs behind the tech that powers your whole stack.

🎙️ Plus, catch up on Season 2:

• Our Picks for the 2026 Titanium Lions (13:06)
• Silent Spring: Is Rainbox Capitalism Dead? (11:41)
• The Future of Google Search (9:56)
• GLP-1s are Disrupting Every Sector (9:56)
• Spirit Airlines 2.0: Will it Fly? (11:08)
• Major Platform Updates (8:17)
• Nike Runs into Controversy (12:19)
• Transgressive OOH (18:45)
• Your Brain on AI (12:33)
• Meta, McDonald’s Mukbang, and The OpenAI Mess (14:41)
• Ethics in the AI Era (18:33)

🎙️ Now streaming on Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music.

🎙️ The Daily Carnage Show is growing!

So, we’re excited to share a new sponsorship opportunity.

Book a Pre-Roll Ad at the top the episode with your preferred script, on-screen text, and link in description.

🎧 Podcast advertising is one of the highest-performing brand channels:

• 60%+ of listeners say they’ve searched for a product after hearing it on a podcast.
• Podcast ads consistently outperform display ads on engagement and recall.
• Pre-roll ads are among the most-heard placements, with the strongest completion rates.

🗣️ This is your opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience of marketers, creatives, and strategists when they’ve got their listening ears on.

Interested in sponsoring an upcoming episode? Reach out and let’s build something together.

Let’s take this party outside of the inbox, Carnies!

Connect and network with over 20,000 marketers to get (and give) advice, feedback, support, and LOLs.

• 💬 Join r/TheDailyCarnage on Reddit
• 👍 Join The Daily Carnage Facebook Group

😎 See ya there.

Dove Men+Care is challenging the “real men don’t cry” narrative with a World Cup campaign that celebrates the highs and lows of fandom.

Created with Edelman and Getty Images, the work features real photos of supporters in tears, reacting to quarterfinal, semifinal, and final matches.

It’s all paired with a simple headline: “Yes. Men Cry.”

Baskin Robbins, 1984