The internet certainly is. Meta's latest tech drop has people up in arms and it could now impact how you film in public. Stick around, in this Uppload we’re also delving into Odyssey-inspired music collections, Instagram hacks and social media bans. But first, let’s enter the fever dream that is WWE’s latest collaboration…
WWE enters the ring with ReelShort
What happens when a multi-billion dollar wrestling company meets a multi-billion dollar ‘slop’ factory? We’re about to find out.
WWE recently announced a partnership with the microdrama platform ReelShort. Wrestlers Drew McIntyre, Jacob Fatu and Joe Hendry will star in their own series of vertical videos alongside ReelShort classics like Keeping the Cowboy’s Baby and Married to the Don, My Duplicated Husband…
Odd partnership or strategic play? Despite the Uppbeat team having “never heard of it”, ReelShort is a pretty big deal. We’re talking 2.7 million daily users, a $1.2 billion profit in 2025 and a viewership that surpasses even Netflix → The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband clocks over 523 million views, whilst Squid Game Season 1 recorded ‘just’ 265 million in its first 90 days.
Why does ReelShort work? Low budget, 2-minute corny dramas might not seem the most lucrative enterprise – but people are paying. ReelShort builds on the success of short-form content with real actors, serialized storytelling and a ‘freemium model’ packaged up in that familiar vertical format we’ve come to love. As Rachel Bencosme Head of PR says, “This is putting creator economy, the changes in social media, and new ways of innovation all in one product.” And that product is addictive.
The underbelly → Users fall into two categories: those happily addicted to ReelShorts, and those… less so. Concerns have been raised about its exploitative model that gets users ‘hooked’ on a series, before asking them to cough up $20 a week for unlimited access. This, amidst a proliferation of AI-generated content on the platform makes you ask… what are you really paying for?
The finisher → Wherever you stand with ReelShort, WWE stands to make a lot of money from the collaboration and cameo appearances of their biggest stars on the platform. Keep an eye out for the first episode this fall, but maybe hide your credit card before watching… you know, just in case.
1. Lead with a compelling ‘hook’
2. Build your video around an exciting storyline
3. Keep your shots fast moving with new and interesting camera angles
4. Don’t be afraid to tease your next video with a cliffhanger
5. Use real-time data, like viewer drop-off, to inform your next upload
Meta’s new AI glasses meet backlash
From an abundance of content to a never-ending stream of it, Meta’s new AI glasses promise the ability to capture film constantly – but is this really a good thing?
The tech → Meta’s new range of ‘AI’ glasses boast cool Mission-Impossible-esque features, a built-in camera that lets you capture high-quality, POV content, plus easy connections to Facebook and Instagram… and yet public outrage over the eyewear has reached such a fever-pitch that they’ve been re-branded “pervert glasses” by the internet. Beautiful.
The Meta glasses controversy in three scandals:
- Where does your data go? Apparently, to an AI firm in Kenya. Earlier this year a Swedish newspaper found that private video from Meta glasses is sent across the world to train AI systems without user knowledge. As one employee says, “We see everything – from living rooms to naked bodies.”
- Surveillance, made chic. Kylie Jenner’s collab on a cat-eye style of glasses has bombed, in part due to some very out-of-touch advertising filmed from her mansion. Not great news for Kylie, but the whole fiasco did result in some brutally good Guerilla art.
- The dangers of non-consensual filming – the real kicker. If a user disables the filming light, they can film ‘incognito’. This has opened the gates for wide-scale abuse of the tech - including the harassment of women online - and has even spawned an entire sub-genre of short-form content: oops, I just got caught filming strangers in public without their consent and now they’re angry at me.
Is this the end of Meta’s “pervert glasses”? → Backlash against wearers has been so severe that even creators with good intentions are leaving them at home, whilst others are re-considering their actual eyewear in case ‘chunky frames’ are seen as a political statement.
Looking forward → Having the internet call your latest billion dollar investment ‘pervert coded’ is obviously pretty brand (and soul) destroying. And so Meta is trying to put out the flames in apparently the only way it knows how: an Instagram story from Adam Mosseri.
The Head of the platform said Instagram has started removing smart-glasses content that “take[s] advantage of people” including the controversial “pickup” videos. Two major ‘creators’ have already had their accounts de-activated, hopefully with more to follow.
Our take → Any action that protects people from harm is positive in our books… And yet - call us cynics - but Meta’s feel like they could just be pre-empting an inevitable legal crackdown as the public becomes increasingly outraged. Meta is already being sued for up to $1.4 trillion by US states over accusations they created “addiction machines” for children, and likely can’t afford another costly fallout.
What is for certain is that we need new and improved legislation to protect the rights of ordinary people. Whether that’s laws against non-consensual filming in public or prosecution for people using Meta’s glasses maliciously… we’ll leave that up to the experts.
What are we watching?
We talked to Uppbeat’s Marketing Coordinator, Emma, about a creator she’s been loving recently and why.
What’s your favorite channel right now? “Very Important People (@veryimportantpeopleshow), a spoof talk show hosted by Vic Michaels. Comedians undergo a blind transformation with special effects makeup and costume, then have to create a character on the spot and feature as a guest on the talk show. It originally premiered on the streaming service Dropout but the shorts posted across their socials always find their way onto my feed."
3 words to describe them? “Nothing like it."
Why do you love them? “In an age where it's so hard to find your own niche and stand out, Very Important People is a show like nothing else. They've taken the short-clip format that's worked so well for promoting podcasts and shows, and completely run with it."
We think they would love… "For full talk show vibes, we have to go with this Retro Talk Show Sting. Pair it with the Color Punch LUT to make all the makeup and costumes pop and we're ready to go live on air, people!"
Elsewhere on the web
- Keep up with the latest music trends by switching out your audio on Reels, years after posting.
- Fred Again… and Again and Again. The producer is non-stop live streaming the process of co-creating a mixtape right now on YouTube.
- YouTube and TikTok join the fight against AI ‘slop’ and Substack aren’t far behind.
- Countries across the world ban social media for under 16s. Keep track of bans in your area on the Uppbeat Blog.
- $75 million. The size of the prize pool The Esports World Cup (EWC), streaming live now!
- “Nonsense.” Christopher Nolan’s response to whether AI-generated cinema will overtake traditional film.
- Preparing for my Netflix documentary: the latest explosive short-form trend.
Latest Uppdates
Want to add a touch of the epic to your next video? Uppbeat’s new collection inspired by summer blockbuster, The Odyssey, will set the cinematic mood. If you find a track but it’s not the right length, try out Uppbeat’s Custom Duration feature to cut (or extend) it to size. And for all the Final Cut Pro users out there, motion graphics now have templates to match your editing software!
