October 19, 2026 · Blake Mischley
LinkedIn Tests a Network Feed & Ask YouTube Opens to Everyone | Reach Report No. 31
October 19th, 2026 | The Weekly Reach Report | LinkedIn tests a feed just for your network, Ask YouTube reaches every U.S. user, and a survey shows how students research colleges.
Good morning everyone!
Welcome back to the Reach Report.
Fall break is wrapping up on a lot of campuses, Halloween content is starting to fill feeds, and early application deadlines are just around the corner. On the platform side, LinkedIn is testing a feed built around the people you actually know, YouTube opened up its AI search to every U.S. user.
Let's dive in!
What’s New In Social Media
LinkedIn Tests a Feed Just for Your Network
LinkedIn announced a batch of updates on October 15, led by a test of a new Network feed. It shows posts only from your connections and the accounts you follow, with no algorithmic recommendations mixed in, and it sits alongside the main feed rather than replacing it. The test is live in the U.S., the U.K., India and Australia. Pinned comments are also back, so post authors can keep a helpful reply at the top of the discussion. LinkedIn is also rolling out an updated insights dashboard that shows how your content is performing, plus a digital business card you can save to your phone’s wallet.
Ask YouTube Is Now Available to Everyone in the U.S.
YouTube has made Ask YouTube, its AI-powered search tool, available to all U.S. users on mobile, desktop and connected TVs. Instead of typing a few keywords, people can ask a full question, follow up to narrow it down and get results back in an interactive format. YouTube first tested the feature in 2023 and has expanded it gradually since. Students can now ask YouTube the same kind of detailed questions they’d ask a chatbot, like what a residence hall looks like or what classes a major includes, and get videos back as the answer.
What’s New Across Higher Ed
Students Rely on Social Media, AI and Their Own Research to Find Colleges
Spark451 surveyed more than 3,500 college-bound students and parents this summer for its 2026 Survey of College-Bound Students and Their Parents. When researching a school, 56% of students rely on the college’s website, 45% rely on generative AI tools, 42% rely on social media and 35% rely on search engines. Much of that research happens anonymously. About 61% of students never filled out an inquiry form, most often to avoid spam or because they could find what they needed on their own.
Weekly Higher Ed Social Snapshot
Here's how higher ed accounts performed this past week. Averages across the board, who grew fastest, who got the most engagement, and the posts that pulled the biggest numbers.
Weekly Social Media Benchmark Averages
How the average higher ed account performed over the past 7 days on each platform.
| Metric | TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| % Follower Growth | +0.26% | +0.09% | +0.65% |
| Engagement Rate | 1.7% | 0.2% | 3.8% |
| Posts Made | 5.6 | 6.5 | 2.6 |
Top Growers This Week
The accounts that gained the most followers over the past 7 days, ranked by % follower growth.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @lifeatpurdue +10.3% +21,320 followers | 1. @VCOMLouisiana +7.7% +329 followers | 1. @sacstate +14.4% +1,425 followers |
| 2. @tamu_victoria +4.4% +361 followers | 2. @PurdueUniversity +6.0% +18,334 followers | 2. @cle_state +5.7% +60 followers |
| 3. @aamu1875 +3.0% +1,747 followers | 3. @jcsuniversity +3.8% +919 followers | 3. @PurdueUniversity +5.5% +166 followers |
Top Engagers This Week
The accounts whose posts from the past 7 days earned the highest average engagement rate — engagements (likes, comments, shares) on a post as a % of followers, averaged across the week’s posts. Minimum 3 posts.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @unomaha 132.9% 297,199 engagements | 1. @WesternColoradoUniversity 2.2% 2,696 engagements | 1. @stan_state 50.1% 4,076 engagements |
| 2. @uhwestoahu 26.9% 6,249 engagements | 2. @Bowdoin 1.9% 1,626 engagements | 2. @stocktonedu 14.6% 4,138 engagements |
| 3. @sunypurchase 13.6% 8,753 engagements | 3. @marquetteu 1.9% 17,246 engagements | 3. @ferrisstateofficial 11.8% 3,347 engagements |
Top Instagram Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Top Facebook Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Top TikTok Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Trending Hashtags in Higher Ed
Indigenous Peoples’ Day led the week with land acknowledgment signings and tribal flag dedications, nursing programs celebrated expansions and sim-lab open houses, and schools from Trent to Northeastern jumped on the “Your major, your Snoopy” trend to give every program its own Snoopy alter ego.
| 1. #indigenouspeoplesday | ▲ 1,533% |
| 2. #nursingeducation | ▲ 600% |
| 3. #snoopy | ▲ 333% |
Blake’s Bookmarks
A few posts that stopped my scroll this week and why I think they worked.
 | Showing Off Study SpotsWith study season here and finals coming up before we know it, this is a good time to call out study spots. They’re a great opportunity to show off your campus and the local area around it, which can be valuable for current AND prospective students. |
Guess Their MajorI first saw this as a common street interview format, where you guess something about someone based solely on a picture. I think it works well because it gives students a big opportunity to recognize each other and engage in the comment section! |  |
 | Escape Room Inside JokeEvery campus has that one building that’s an absolute maze. This is a fun audio to play into it. I’ve also seen this work well for places someone might not want to leave, so you could take a few different angles on this, too. |
What’s New At Reach
In Case You Missed It: On-Demand Webinar
Last week, we hosted a webinar with Emma Filipsson of Elmhurst University and Connor Donohue of Ursinus College, where we walked through early data from our annual MeetYourClass student survey and how each campus uses data and student workers to guide its content strategy.
That's it for this week.
I want to hear what you thought. What was actually useful, what you skipped, what you'd want more of. If there's a section missing, a metric you'd rather see, or a post you think belongs in Blake's Bookmarks, send it over. Just hit reply, I read all of it.
And if something in here was useful, forward it to whoever on your team needs it.
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