August 24, 2026 · Blake Mischley
Students Use TikTok to Find Scholarships & New YouTube Updates | Reach Report No. 23
August 24, 2026 | The Weekly Reach Report | Unpacking a Monday rewrite of the YouTube view count, along with what move-in did to higher ed feeds.
Good morning everyone!
Welcome back to the Reach Report.
Move-in continues at full force, with first day of class content stacked right behind it. We've also got changes to how YouTube counts a view, playlists becoming episodic TV shows, and the scholarship search that's happening on TikTok without you.
Let's dive in!
You might've noticed the Reach Report has been landing at different times lately. That's on purpose, we've been experimenting. When do you actually want it in your inbox? |
What’s New In Social Media
YouTube Changes What Counts as a View
Starting Monday, August 24, YouTube counts a view the moment a video begins to play. The 30 second threshold for long form is gone, and every format now runs on the rule Shorts has always used. Earnings do not change, since monetization stays tied to engaged views and watch hours. The practical effect is that your view counts go up on Monday without anything about your content changing, so any month over month comparison or peer benchmark that crosses that date will show growth that did not happen.
YouTube Turns Playlists Into Episodic Shows
Creators in the Partner Program can now designate a playlist as a show inside YouTube Studio, and YouTube will present it on television as a featured series with its own page and organized seasons. The catch is that the videos have to share consistent themes and stories across episodes, so a dumping ground of clips will not qualify. For now it is gated to the Partner Program, which leaves plenty of university channels on the outside, but if YouTube opens it up, student vlogs and day in the life series are exactly the shape this format rewards.
What’s New Across Higher Ed
1 in 5 Students Are Searching for Scholarships on TikTok at least Once a Week
This came out when I was OOO, so it is slightly older news, but Sallie's TikTok Made Me Apply study asked Gen Z where they typically learn about scholarships, and TikTok landed fifth at 22 percent. TikTok outranked the school guidance counselor at 19 percent and email newsletters at 17 percent, which are the two channels institutions actually staff and control. One in five students are searching there at least weekly, 62 percent turned up opportunities they had not seen anywhere else, and 9 percent won one they first heard about on the platform. This presents a unique opportunity for higher education. This is a great example of potential evergreen content around finding scholarships, including ones unique to your college. Out of roughly 3,000 posts made by the higher ed TikTok accounts we have monitored over the past 30 days, only eight mentioned scholarships. Big opportunity.
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 | +0.32% | +0.09% | +0.63% |
| Engagement Rate | 2.2% | 0.3% | 5.0% |
| Posts Made | 5.5 | 5.6 | 2.7 |
Top Growers This Week
The accounts that gained the most followers over the past 7 days, ranked by % follower growth.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @seminolestate +12.9% +1,291 followers | 1. @forthaysstate +3.0% +1,344 followers | 1. @PurdueUniversity +31.1% +409 followers |
| 2. @lakesumterstatecollege +4.7% +224 followers | 2. @colbycollege +2.8% +1,149 followers | 2. @pennstatealtoona +17.8% +216 followers |
| 3. @umsl +4.1% +469 followers | 3. @LoyolaChicago +1.7% +1,335 followers | 3. @unccharlotte +12.6% +327 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. @smsutoday 13.4% 4,201 engagements | 1. @mayocliniccollege 18.2% 1,580 engagements | 1. @clarkatlanta1988 115.9% 57,952 engagements |
| 2. @reinhardt_university 11.4% 1,874 engagements | 2. @Virginia.Union 3.0% 3,834 engagements | 2. @msstate 31.4% 65,376 engagements |
| 3. @seminolestate 10.0% 5,487 engagements | 3. @keukacollege 2.0% 954 engagements | 3. @stlawrenceu 20.0% 1,528 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
Fall semester officially landed this week — first-day-of-class posts, welcome-week recaps and Class of 2030 move-in content drove the biggest spikes across every platform, with #FDOC alone turning up on nearly 80 posts as campuses threw open their doors.
| 1. #firstday | ▲ 1,400% |
| 2. #fdoc | ▲ 690% |
| 3. #newsemester | ▲ 467% |
Blake’s Bookmarks
A few posts that stopped my scroll this week and why I think they worked.
 | Hold It DownThis is an emerging trend, and this is one of the first times I have seen an institution follow it. I can see why there is some hesitation, because you are acknowledging that you are a big city school. But I genuinely think more schools should lean into it. It is true that there are very few NYC and LA schools, so students will be excited to rep your institution and your location. |
POV From The CarMove-in has continued to dominate the feeds. While it is common to focus on the parents, an interesting perspective comes from the car itself. I thought this one was unique. Now, I am not sure if all students get stampeded in their cars at OBU, but it was entertaining! |  |
 | Class of 2030 Time-LapseMany institutions will have an activity where new students come to the field and form their logo, and those posts always do well. I have seen a few use that opportunity to get more content and shoot a time lapse of the photo being created. Another easy content win! |
What’s New At Reach
X is Now Supported!
You can now connect X accounts and publish directly from Reach. If you already connected an X account, you may need to disconnect and reconnect it to get the updated permissions.
Monitor President & Chancellor Accounts!
Reach is now officially categorizing and monitoring the presidential and chancellor accounts of universities. If you go to the Research tab and filter by account type, you can see content being posted by college presidents.
MeetYourClass Welcomes a New CCO
Excited to welcome our first CCO (Chief Canine Officer), Chester. He is a two-month-old Shih Tzu. He brings lots of energy, and I'm sure he'll start making appearances on calls soon.
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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Until next time.
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