October 12, 2026 · Blake Mischley
Meta Blocks Ads to TikTok & Common App Unpacks the First-Gen Label | Reach Report No. 30
October 12th, 2026 | The Weekly Reach Report | Meta blocks ads that send people to TikTok, Common App unpacks the first-gen label, and a pet video trend inspires a campus tour.
Good morning everyone!
Welcome back to the Reach Report.
Midterms are hitting campuses this month, and feeds this past week filled up with awareness days, from World Teachers’ Day to World Mental Health Day. On the platform side, Meta drew a firm line with TikTok, and Common App released new research on how colleges count first-generation students.
Let's dive in!
What’s New In Social Media
Meta Blocks Ads That Send People to TikTok
Meta has stopped accepting ads from ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, across Facebook, Instagram and its other apps. The ban took effect Thursday in the U.S., Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. It also covers any advertiser in those countries whose campaign links to TikTok or another ByteDance property, which would include a campus ad meant to grow a school’s TikTok following. A Meta spokesperson said the company doesn’t have to run ads from a competitor trying to pull people off its apps. The move follows TikTok removing dedicated Instagram links from user profiles, though users can still add a website link.
What’s New Across Higher Ed
Common App Shows How Much the “First-Generation” Label Can Change
Common App released a five-part research series on first-generation applicants, using millions of application records and National Student Clearinghouse data. Schools and federal programs use more than 100 definitions of “first-generation.” Depending on the definition, the count of first-generation applicants on Common App ranges from about 304,000 to more than 709,000. That decides who gets fee waivers and support programs. Nine in ten applicants enroll in college. Once enrolled, though, first-generation students are twice as likely to leave without a four-year degree, even when they have strong academic records.
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 | +0.28% | +0.05% | +0.70% |
| Engagement Rate | 1.9% | 0.2% | 4.3% |
| Posts Made | 5.6 | 6.4 | 2.7 |
Top Growers This Week
The accounts that gained the most followers over the past 7 days, ranked by % follower growth.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @byuhawaii +12.9% +4,945 followers | 1. @stanford +3.1% +55,706 followers | 1. @johncarrolluniversity +10.4% +335 followers |
| 2. @johncarrollu +5.3% +1,056 followers | 2. @seuniversity +1.8% +949 followers | 2. @officialxavieruniversity +8.3% +1,000 followers |
| 3. @memorialuniversity +4.4% +2,179 followers | 3. @Morehouse1867 +1.6% +2,850 followers | 3. @unccharlotte +8.0% +398 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. @uofnorthgeorgia 223.5% 164,703 engagements | 1. @JCU1886 9.5% 11,223 engagements | 1. @johncarrolluniversity 288.9% 30,626 engagements |
| 2. @universityofthepacific 189.5% 189,997 engagements | 2. @TrinidadStateCollege 2.8% 1,008 engagements | 2. @sacstate 57.4% 22,658 engagements |
| 3. @johncarrollu 66.9% 84,312 engagements | 3. @MountMartyUniversity 1.9% 1,376 engagements | 3. @officialxavieruniversity 46.6% 30,274 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
Awareness days set the agenda this week, as schools invited students to shout out their favorite professors on World Teachers' Day, thanked the coaches behind every team on National Coaches Day, and closed the week with World Mental Health Day reminders pointing students to campus counseling.
| 1. #worldmentalhealthday | ▲ 7,000% |
| 2. #worldteachersday | ▲ 580% |
| 3. #nationalcoachesday | ▲ 560% |
Blake’s Bookmarks
A few posts that stopped my scroll this week and why I think they worked.
 | Campus Tour With A TwistI’ve seen lots of videos showing pets parts of the house they’ve never seen before. This is a similar concept, but it highlights uncommon areas of campus that many people don’t know about. I think it’s a creative way to spotlight areas you want to promote! |
Whiteboard CandidsFunnily enough, I originally saw a similar concept from a library, and it works really well. The idea is to share candid photos of campus and use a whiteboard to communicate with your audience. It keeps things real and authentic, which campus communities love. |  |
 | Midterm Call OutAnytime you can take a fun jab at your audience, it’s a great way to stay topical about what’s happening around campus. Very simple but effective. |
What’s New At Reach
Trending Sounds Now Give Insight Into Business Rights
We got a lot of feedback asking whether trending sounds were approved for business use, so we added that to how we track sounds. We now check each sound for any rights or labels attached to it. If you only want to see sounds cleared for business use, you can quickly toggle that filter on.
REMINDER: Webinar THIS Thursday
This Thursday, October 15 at 1:00 PM ET, Connor from Ursinus and Emma from Elmhurst are joining me to talk through how research and benchmarking data shape what their student teams actually make. It’s your last chance to sign up. See you there!
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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