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The key for growing businesses is creative technologies

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By Olivia Atkins

While there’s no doubt that technology has always been present in the creative industries, its accelerated use has disrupted almost every aspect of our lives.

Marketers regularly use tools to enable more efficient work and speed up workflows, while data is useful for informing a campaign’s direction. However, questions over the purpose of technology remain. Creatives recognise that while technology can act as an enabler of creativity, they can’t become too reliant on or distracted by technological developments as it could trivialise their campaign’s message. There’s a necessary fine line between experimenting with new tech and focusing on the campaign’s core message to ensure that their idea is creative and, most importantly, remains relevant.

The Drum, in partnership with Mailchimp, has launched A Guide for Growing Businesses to discuss some of the issues small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs) face today when it comes to business growth.

The guide further explores how SMEs are achieving growth by finding a balance between creativity and tech.

Know your tech

“It’s difficult to define ‘technology’ today,” says Unit9’s creative director, Kate Lynham. “From improvements and everything ‘in-camera’, CGI techniques to artificial intelligence software, it all falls under the same umbrella and you can’t really work without it in some way.”

Tech falls under so many categories and is used in such varied ways that separating the tech from the creative can be difficult to do. Lynham urges marketers to become really familiar with the tech they’re working with so they can continue to find room for experimentation. “If you don’t have enough of an understanding of the tech itself, then you can’t think of ways to manipulate it,” she adds. “Reimagining what a piece of technology can do is part of the process. At Unit9, we’ve used a GPS system across three different jobs, with each providing totally different creative outcomes even though the base technology is the same.”

To download the digital version of The Drum’s Guide for Growing Businesses complete the form below.

Resisting tech trends

It can be tempting to plunge head first into the tech and try out new innovations as they arise. But Nexus Interactive Arts’ executive producer, Colin Davis, urges marketers to proceed with caution and not get swept up by tech trends. “The real source of a lot of what people perceive as technology getting in the way of creativity stems from how technology gets covered in the press,” he says. “Novelty and ‘world’s first’ get attention and thus there is a PR premium placed on that, which causes the technology to drive the creative, which rarely results in amazing work that stands the test of time.”

Wieden+Kennedy’s head of technology, Michael Naman, agrees – the industry needs to restrain using tech for tech’s sake or else we risk undermining creativity. “We as an industry are fantastic at navel gazing; we continually fetishize over what we can do with technology and forget about what technology is doing to our clients’ businesses,” he says.

“These businesses will be unrecognisable in the next five to 10 years as they continue to digitise what they do.”

Collaborative creative processes

Streamlining the creative process and getting creatives to work more closely with tech developers is one way to make sure that the process is a bit more joined-up. “Bringing creatives and coders together at the beginning of a brief can yield fantastic results, but you have to be willing to learn,” he says. “You can’t just rock up with a tech idea and expect it to work out of the box. It can be unnerving to hand over your idea to a team of coders who are going to tell you that certain bits aren’t going to work, so focus on building trust between teams and production companies.”

Relatability

Ultimately, tech can push ideas into unimaginable territory, but brands need to remember the importance of connecting with their consumers.

“Creativity can suffer when marketers are too quick to jump to a solution that is solely data-driven and ignores the human factors at play,” cautions Media Chain’s COO, Dominic McGregor.

Going post the digital hype of course is key, but it is also critical to remember how technology can create opportunities.

Technology is an incredible tool for understanding audiences and informing creative decision making, an assistant in the creative process. However, it’s important for marketers to get the balance right between tech and creativity because, ultimately, it is creativity that creates value, concludes Lynham.

By Olivia Atkins

Sourced from The Drum

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How to repurpose one great idea into a week’s worth of social posts

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By Jeremy Knauff

Jeremy Knauff helps you develop a leveraged approach that efficiently turns a single topic into a mountain of content that you can publish to all social media platforms

I bet that there’s a particular agent who constantly shows up in your social media feed and gets tons of engagement. It probably drives you crazy because they’re not smarter or more charismatic than you, but they still get the lion’s share of the attention in your market.

You know you need to publish more content to stay in front of your audience and build brand recognition and trust. This may seem impossible because you’re already so busy providing top-notch service to your clients, but the truth is that you can keep serving your clients just as well, while building a mountain of content that keeps you in front of your audience and builds brand recognition and trust.

Write a comprehensive article

You might be wondering, “Why write an article if I just want some social media content?”

The answer is simple — it becomes the foundation to build a mountain of content that you can then publish on social media, plus you can also publish the article on your website.

But I want to be clear — you absolutely should NOT use AI to write this article.

Your unique insight and voice is what will make people interested, so this is a critical element.

You should aim for about 750-1,500 words, focus on one key topic and hit on three to five key points to support that topic. You also need an engaging opening that explains why it matters and a closing that brings it all together.

Craft long-form posts

Once your article is written, you can easily craft half a dozen or more long form posts that are perfect for Facebook and LinkedIn.

The first is to address the topic itself and why it matters to your audience, which you can draw from the opening of your article. This should be an informative post about the topic and how it impacts your audience without digging into the supporting points yet.

Next, you’ll write a post for each of the key supporting points from your article, briefly reiterating the topic and why it matters, followed by the supporting point, which should make up the bulk of the post. This should give you another three to five posts.

It’s important to note that you’re not going to just copy and paste from your article for these posts. Instead, you should write something new based on the info from your article.

Extract short-form tweets

When it comes to X, short-form content really shines — especially when you can leverage questions or controversy.

The first thing you’ll do is pull all of the powerful one-line statements from your article to use as individual tweets. And you can take things a step further by creating a quote graphic that you can share with tweets. These can also be shared on other platforms as well.

Next, you’ll pull a few longer sections, making sure to keep them under 280 total characters each. This ensures that your audience can see the entire tweet without clicking the “see more” link.

It’s relatively easy to generate a dozen or more pieces of short-form content using this tactic.

Record a long-form video

Your article gives you a framework to record an informative long-form video on the topic, which you can upload to YouTube and other social media platforms.

The key here is to use an outline rather than trying to read the article as a script. This ensures that your video sounds natural and engaging instead of robotic and boring. And remember to make eye contact with the camera — if you stare down at your notes while talking, your audience will tune out.

I try to keep my videos under 30 minutes because most people have a short attention span today. It’s usually pretty easy to make one video on the topic, but you may be able to record a few videos from one article.

It’s also important to complete all of the available fields when you upload your videos to YouTube, including a short, engaging title, a well-designed thumbnail, a robust description and a list of tags. This helps ensure that your video shows up in feeds and search results.

Extract short clips

Once you’ve recorded your long-form video, you can extract short-form clips from it to publish on every platform. These are especially effective on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram when limited to three minutes. And this is a powerful way to rack up a ton of views and quickly earn more new subscribers.

You can do this manually with video editing software, like Adobe Premier or Camtasia, or you can use AI tools like Descript or OpusClip to automatically extract multiple short clips on autopilot. And these AI tools also automatically generate captions that match your branding, which is critical for maximizing watch time since many people scroll social with the audio turned off.

You’ll find that in most cases, you should be able to generate anywhere from half a dozen to several dozen short-form videos from your long-form video.

The algorithms that power social media platforms prioritize video content, so this is an essential element of your marketing efforts today.

You need to publish more content

Consistently creating lots of content is a must in today’s noisy marketplace, but it doesn’t have to mean slaving away in front of a camera or at your computer all day.

It just requires a leveraged approach that efficiently turns a single topic into a mountain of content that you can publish to all social media platforms.

When you do this properly, it enables you to demonstrate your expertise, build authority status and cut through the noise to stay in front of your audience so that you’re the one they think of when it’s time to make a buying decision.

This is your blueprint to do exactly that, and if you follow it consistently, you’ll build a more resilient business that generates predictable and scalable revenue.

By Jeremy Knauff

Jeremy Knauff is the founder of Spartan Media, a speaker, author and Marine Corps veteran.

Sourced from inman

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11 Things Brands Still Get Wrong About Authenticity (and How to Get It Right)

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By Rolling Stone Culture Council

Authenticity isn’t a trend or tagline. It’s a long-term commitment to consistency, accountability and real human connection.

In an era where consumers can spot performative messaging from a mile away, “authenticity” has become one of the most overused and misunderstood ideas in branding. Too often, companies mistake relatability for honesty or aesthetics for values, only to lose trust when their actions don’t align with their words.

Here, 11 Rolling Stone Culture Council members explain what today’s brands commonly get wrong about authenticity and what it really takes to build real, lasting connections with audiences. By showing up consistently and letting your values guide you, your brand will be well on its way to being truly genuine.

Forcing Your Brand Into a Crowded Space

Too many brands force themselves into a crowded space instead of creating their own space. Make decisions rooted in values versus trends. Do what’s right for your brand and community — not because everyone else is doing it or because it’s never been done. Meet your audience where they are and your audience will meet you where the truth is. – Zech Francis, BeatBox Beverages

Treating Authenticity as Messaging Instead of a Responsibility

Brands miss authenticity when they treat it as messaging, not responsibility. Real leadership isn’t polished statements; it’s consistent action. Social impact isn’t a campaign; it’s accountability. If your values vanish when it’s inconvenient, that’s not authenticity — it’s performance. Purpose must be practiced, not posted. – Kimberly S. Reed, Reed Development Group

Mistaking Authenticity for Performance

Brands mistake authenticity for performance by sharing “raw,” unpolished moments. This is just self-proclaimed noise. The better way? Verifiable consistency. True authenticity isn’t what you claim; it’s what your entire digital ecosystem proves. It’s a clear, consistent and corroborated narrative that algorithms can understand and audiences can trust. – Jason Barnard, Kalicube

Oversharing Raw Emotion

Most brands mistake authenticity for oversharing. Authenticity isn’t dumping raw emotion online — it’s consistency between what you say, what you do and how you show up. The better path is disciplined honesty. Communicate with clarity, keep your promises and let integrity — not algorithms — shape your voice. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

Viewing Authenticity as a Tactic

Too many brands treat “authenticity” as a tactic rather than a mindset. Connections built on quality, consistency and a story that feels genuine are real connections. The most enduring brands pair a solid product with a spark of personality, successfully pivoting with the times while maintaining a core ethos. One can’t fake trust; however, one can build it one honest interaction at a time. – Thomas Andersen, BTA Cannabis CPA Tax

Just Talking About What You Do Without the ‘Why’ Behind It

The best way forward for brands that truly want to connect is to get real. That means being honest about the good and the bad, pulling back the curtain and letting people see what really happens behind the scenes. Don’t just talk about what you do — share why you do it. That’s how you build real trust: through consistency, honesty and actions that actually mean something over time. – Jeff Hopmayer, Brindiamo Group LLC

Being Unwilling to Pay the ‘Cost’ of Authenticity

Brands believe that authenticity and values go together (and rightly so). But values, by definition, cost something. And audiences are wary of convenient values that change the moment they become inconvenient. So, what is your brand prepared to give up for the sake of your values? Revenue? Convenience? Popularity? Either consistently pay the cost or don’t claim to hold the value. – Jed Brewer, Good Loud Media

Treating Authenticity as an Aesthetic or Filter

Most brands treat authenticity like an aesthetic — a tone, a filter, a “real” post. But true authenticity isn’t what you show; it’s what you sustain. It’s built through consistency, not confession. The future belongs to brands that design systems of sincerity, where integrity is visible, not staged. – Sudhir Gupta, The Facticerie

Failing to Have a Mission, Ethos and Strategic Plan in Place for Communications

Brands across existing and new brand categories are best served by having a mission, ethos and strategic plan when it comes to communicating with their audiences, customers and investors. Authenticity is a byproduct of your messaging when you are doing it right. It will shine through in well-thought-out and articulated content that is aligned with your roadmap and goals. – Julie Zinamon, Vataseason

Chasing Trends Instead of Originality

Everyone’s doing the same exact thing that’s trending at any given moment. Audiences don’t care to see the same content over and over. With all due respect to the social media teams, originality still triumphs over short-term vitality. – Kathy Schenfelt, SCH Entertainment

Performing Vulnerability While Hiding What’s Behind the Scenes

Most brands treat authenticity like confessions. They perform as vulnerable on socials while hiding their operating systems and what truly holds their missions. Real authenticity is governance: clear standards, fair policies and receipts. Show how you decide and what you fix when you fail, and invite an audit. Consistency beats confessions every time. – Sonia Singh, Center of Inner Transformations

Feature image credit: Tamani C/peopleimages.com — stock.adobe.com

By Rolling Stone Culture Council

Sourced from RollingStone

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Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Influencer Script Global Market Report 2025 with Long-term Prospects to 2029 and 2034

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Sourced from yahoo! finance

The market for AI-generated influencer scripts is rapidly expanding due to rising demand for personalized content, increased digital marketing adoption, and innovation in AI technologies. Opportunities lie in enhancing brand engagement through scalable, interactive content, advancing AI-driven storytelling, and leveraging real-time analytics.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Influencer Script Market

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Influencer Script Market
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Influencer Script Market · GlobeNewswire Inc.

Dublin, Jan. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The “Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Generated Influencer Script Global Market Report 2025” has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.

The artificial intelligence (AI)-generated influencer script market is experiencing robust growth, projected to expand from $1.18 billion in 2024 to $1.48 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.7%. This surge is driven by the demand for personalized digital content, increased investment in influencer-marketing campaigns, and the widespread adoption of virtual influencers. The market reflects a growing consumption of social media content, rising global marketing budgets, and a shift towards cost-efficient content creation models.

Looking ahead, the AI-generated influencer script market is anticipated to reach $3.66 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 25.3%. This growth is underpinned by a focus on audience engagement, authenticity, and the trend of brand-creator collaborations. The demand for scalable marketing solutions and real-time analytics is rising, fuelled by consumer preference for interactive experiences and behavioural insights. Key technological trends include advancements in generative language models, emotion-driven storytelling algorithms, and automated synthesis for influencer content.

The ongoing rise of digital marketing is a key driver for the AI-generated influencer script market. With digital marketing involving the promotion of goods via channels like social media and search engines, the industry’s expansion is supported by increased online commerce and branding efforts. AI-enabled influencer scripts enhance digital marketing by offering personalized content, optimizing audience targeting, and ensuring campaign efficiency. For example, Eurostat reported that in 2023, 60.9% of EU enterprises utilized social media, highlighting the trend toward digital engagement.

Prominent industry players, such as Pictory and HeyGen, are advancing technological capabilities within the AI script market. In February 2024, Pictory introduced its Custom Pictory GPT tool for transforming user inputs into full scripts, enhancing content creation through automated video production. In April 2025, HeyGen partnered with HubSpot to create personalized videos directly within HubSpot’s workflows, utilizing customer data from its CRM platform to enhance engagement and streamline content production.

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Sourced from yahoo! finance

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Rory Sutherland: Our favourite marketing tools can be dangerous in the wrong hands

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By Rory Sutherland

Comparison charts help us make choices – but it isn’t always the correct choice, warns Rory Sutherland.

For the most part, marketers are not qualified to comment on possible miscarriages of justice in the trial of Lucy Letby. Few of us have any qualifications in neonatology, and I doubt many of us have read the transcript of the trial.

However, there is one area where many of us might be called on to act as expert witnesses in any future retrial: to testify on the uses and abuses of the comparison chart.

Below was the chart used in the trial to suggest that there was an unusually high correlation between the nurse’s presence on the ward and the incidence of suspicious deaths. It is now the subject of intense debate among statisticians, many of whom suggest that the frame of comparison is misleading. For instance, occasions where suspicious deaths occurred when she was not present were omitted from the table.

For those who need reminding, this is a comparison chart often used in marketing.

Both these charts absolutely fascinate me because they are, at varying times, both incredibly useful and totally misleading.

They are useful to consumers (and consequently to sellers) because, in many situations, it is impossible to make a confident purchase decision when presented with two or more options without being able to perform a side-by-side comparison.

Brands that offer consumers a portfolio of variations on the same theme – think Dyson or BMW – are always at risk of losing a customer who would have been happy with several of the options had they been presented singly, only to end up not buying any because they cannot decisively pick which of the acceptable options is best for them.

One reason I often buy second-hand cars is that the decision is usually easier: do I want this car or not? When configuring a new car, I am sometimes literally and metaphorically blinded by the headlights. Do I want to spend an extra £500 on active-matrix LED technology, or would I prefer the ventilated seats?

You can present consumers with too many acceptable choices, creating paralysis in place of decisiveness.

I’m told that the paradox-of-choice issue is also one of the surprising downsides of engaging in a threesome or orgy. There are plenty of attractive options, but it is difficult to know what position to adopt at any given moment.

Whenever people need to choose between options, they need to see the information all in one place, so side-by-side comparison is often essential. People cannot contentedly book a premium economy air ticket unless they know what the economy ticket would have cost – an insight that made one of our clients many millions of pounds.

But the very act of comparison also introduces a mental bias, in that it focuses your mind disproportionately on points of difference rather than areas of similarity.

In presenting side-by-side comparisons clearly, the comparison chart is an invaluable tool. But it is also a marvellous – and highly lucrative – device for misleading people.

Consider a typical comparison chart for three classes of car.

Let’s call them the L, the GL and the GLX GT, priced respectively at £30,000, £45,000 and £60,000.

Typically, the chart will show two meager features possessed by the L (heated seats, automatic wash-wipe), then add another four features for the GL (leather seats, premium infotainment system, etc) and put a full column of 16 green ticks for the GLX.

None of this is entirely inaccurate or dishonest, but it is highly misleading – which is why marketers rather like it, especially as there is much more margin to be had on a premium product. You have focused the buyer’s attention disproportionately on the points of difference, not on the points of similarity.

“Oh look,” you think, “I get eight times as much stuff for only twice the money” (the GLX). Or, if you are torn between the L and the GL, you think, “Well, it’s only 50% more for three times more stuff. Ker-ching.”

But this is not so. A truly accurate comparison chart would list all the items you get with all three cars – wheels, tyres, folding rear seats, windscreen wipers, doors, windows, the lot. Then you would see that the base model L is perhaps better value after all, because it gives you 97% of the stuff for half the price of the GLX.

As with the information presented to the Lucy Letby jury, you can often cherry-pick data to make a very convincing case by leaving out contradictory information, or by focusing people’s attention on a narrow discrepancy shorn of its wider context. Lucy Letby had just bought a house (to me, one of the most surprising findings from the trial – that there are still parts of the UK where a nurse can afford to buy a house) and was working long hours to pay for the mortgage. There were also unexpected deaths where she was not present, but these were excluded from the comparison chart to produce a clean line of green ticks.

Forgive me another aside. I often think about this when I book air travel. I sometimes pay twice the price to enjoy a slightly bigger seat, lounge access and an extra piece of hand baggage. When I make that decision, I am thinking about the seat, the lounge and the baggage. But as Daniel Kahneman observed: “Nothing in life matters quite as much as you think it does while you are thinking about it.”

Looked at dispassionately, the really amazing part of air travel is the fact that you can travel at 600mph in a pressurized metal tube, with expert pilots and sensational technology. The seat and the lounge are perhaps only 10% of the value. But for whatever reason, I don’t think of it like this at all.

There is a wider philosophical question here. How often are decisions swayed not by an ultimate assessment of value but by ease of comparative judgment? As a marketer, I hope the answer is “rather a lot”. But in wider life, this is surely a problem.

Unrepresentative data is incredibly valuable for winning arguments. For really solving problems, just remember, it is often the data you don’t see that can crack the case.

By Rory Sutherland

Get in touch with Rory on LinkedIn

Sourced from The Drum

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ChatGPT’s free ride is ending: Here’s what OpenAI plans for advertising on the chatbot

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By  MATT O’BRIEN

OpenAI says it will soon start showing advertisements to ChatGPT users who aren’t paying for a premium version of the chatbot.

The artificial intelligence company said Friday it hasn’t yet rolled out ads but will start testing them in the coming weeks.

It’s the latest effort by the San Francisco-based company to make money from ChatGPT’s more than 800 million users, most of whom get it for free.

Though valued at $500 billion, the start up loses more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit.

“Most importantly: ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you,” said Fidji Simo, the company’s CEO of applications, in a social media post Friday.

OpenAI said the digital ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT’s answers “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.”

The ads “will be clearly labelled and separated from the organic answer,” the company said.

But introducing personalized ads starts OpenAI “down a risky path” previously taken by social media companies, said Miranda Bogen of the Centre for Democracy and Technology.

“People are using chatbots for all sorts of reasons, including as companions and advisors,” said Bogen, director of CDT’s AI Governance Lab. “There’s a lot at stake when that tool tries to exploit users’ trust to hawk advertisers’ goods.”

OpenAI makes some money from paid subscriptions but needs more revenue to pay for its more than $1 trillion in financial obligations for the computer chips and data centers that power its AI services. The risk that OpenAI won’t make enough money to fulfil the expectations of backers like Oracle and Nvidia has amplified investor concerns about an AI bubble.

“It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don’t want to pay, so we are hopeful a business model like this can work,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a post Friday on social platform X. He added that he likes the ads on Meta’s Instagram because they show him things he wouldn’t have found otherwise.

OpenAI claims it won’t use a user’s personal information or prompts to collect data for ads, but the question is “for how long,” said Paddy Harrington, an analyst at research group Forrester.

“Free services are never actually free and these public AI platforms need to generate revenue,” Harrington said. “Which leads to the adage: If the service is free, you’re the product.”

Feature image credit:  AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File

By  MATT O’BRIEN

O’Brien covers the business of technology and artificial intelligence for The Associated Press.
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Shopify president: Agentic commerce could usher in ‘merit-based shopping’

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By Erin Cabrey

AI agent-based shopping could increase e-commerce penetration and ultimately “level the playing field” for brands, Harley Finkelstein told Retail Brew.

Retail is entering its agentic era.

At least that’s what Shopify President Harley Finkelstein told Retail Brew at NRF. He’s certainly not alone in that thinking: Agentic commerce was by far the show’s buzziest term, especially if you attended sessions featuring Google, Walmart, Ulta Beauty, Wayfair, The Home Depot, Urban Outfitters…the list goes on.

At the show on Sunday, Google unveiled the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard to scale agentic commerce, co-developed with companies like Shopify, Walmart, and Target, and supported by 20+ others across retail. UCP connects AI agents to merchants, and enables these agents to work across shoppers’ purchasing journeys—giving shoppers options like using discount codes, inputting loyalty account information, or buying subscriptions within AI platforms. Shopify merchants will also be able to sell through Google’s AI Mode within search and its Gemini app.

The UCP addresses pain points and apprehension many brands have surrounding agentic commerce, Finkelstein said. He shared how the news is setting the stage for a major industry shift.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What makes Shopify so bullish in thinking that consumers want to shop using AI?

I’ve been at this for 17 years. Shopify’s been at this for 20 years. We’ve seen these trends that happen. I think social commerce was important. It was never something that most people will do most of the time. We built, initially, e-comm, and we moved to point of sale, and then obviously social commerce came. And we started seeing more of these channels…It has always been our philosophy that wherever there’s a new place where a consumer can buy, Shopify has to enable that.

The Roblox channel—Fenty is doing great with it, but a lot of other merchants don’t even use it because it’s just not relevant…All those things are different than agentic. Why? Because when we look at buyer behaviour outside of commerce, if you look at the DAU [daily active user] chart for these agentic applications for just humans right now, it is exponential. That is very different than social media. That is very different from all these other products. So we are so bullish on this because there is a high likelihood that this will become one of the main paradigms of retail, like e-commerce, and so we have to be front and centre for that sort of stuff as well.

We also have data to back it up. [In] 12 months, we’ve seen a 14x increase in orders to Shopify stores that have been sourced from some sort of agents…The base is small, but it’s growing fast. When you combine all those things, it’s easy to have a hypothesis that this thing may be dramatic for the industry.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying online and today at NRF that agentic commerce could be leading to e-commerce sites almost being obsolete and challenging the storytelling element of brands.

Their online store is their hub. It’s where they have their videos and their content. It’s where you sign up for their newsletters. It is where they display their newest products. It’s where they do product drops. It’s still going to be the hub. But I think there’s going to be this new potential spoke called agentic that could be very, very meaningful.

If you’re planning a trip, for example, and you need to buy from across five different stores. The agentic side of things will give you a much bigger benefit, rather than opening up five different tabs in your browser. But I don’t think e-commerce is going anywhere. In fact, there are a lot of people much smarter than me who believe that what agentic is going to do is actually increase the penetration of e-commerce, because someone right now that’s not buying online may be using ChatGPT to look up recipes, or to plan a trip, or to edit a document, and they may decide, “I’m gonna actually use this now to do some research on a product,” and they may actually complete the purchase on the product. E-commerce as a percentage of total retail is still sub-20% in the US, it’s ~12% in Canada, it’s [more than] 25% in the UK. There is a chance that actually—like Covid-19 bent the curve on e-commerce penetration—there could be a bending of the curve also with agentic.

What’s left for brands to do to compete in the agentic commerce space?

Make sure you have someone looking at catch off the catalogue, the way your products get indexed, the way your products get syndicated. Make sure someone is looking at UCP to make sure all the stuff that matters on a per-product basis is in that protocol. Make sure you are ready for this.

The other thing that’s really cool is that the results in an agent, unlike the results in some sort of ad-based flow, is merit-based. It’s not actually based on who’s paid more money.

Last night, we did an event at the Shopify office with Tom Sachs…He’s the coolest sneaker designer in the world.

Tom Sachs is going to be discovered by more people because of the agentic stuff, because he doesn’t have any money—he runs what’s called NikeCraft, which is a division of Nike, which makes sneakers for what I call entrepreneurs. It’s not for basketball or sports. It’s just for, like, hanging out. And if the agent knows that I like these nichey things—that I like Kith, that I like Supreme, that I like limited-edition stuff, that I really love design and architecture—Tom Sachs is going to actually show up there, whereas now he’s never going to show up in some sponsored search, or even inside of Google because he doesn’t do SEO optimization. The products that will be found will be merit-based as opposed to ad-based. I think that’s democracy. That’ll level the playing field.

Feature image credit: Shopify

By Erin Cabrey

Sourced from Retail Brew

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Why millennials are yearning for 2016 all over Instagram

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By Aditi Bharade

Get in, loser, we’re going back to 2016.

Open Instagram this week, and you’d think you were back in the early days of Tumblr and Snapchat. Think Lo-Fi selfies, thick winged eyeliner, and the dog-ear Snapchat filter — the days when “Mean Girls” quotes (which came out in 2004 but remains a quintessential millennial movie) and chunky statement necklaces reigned supreme.

People on Instagram and TikTok, influencers and regular folks alike, have been posting throwback pictures from 2016.

In some posts, millennials openly mourned for the halcyon days of 2016, when they were free to wear skinny jeans without being scorned by Gen Z co-workers, some 20 pounds lighter, and juicing up their feeds with the Clarendon and Gingham Instagram filters.

It was also a huge year for music, yielding 2010s-defining pop hits like The Chainsmokers’ “Closer,” Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” and Alan Walker’s “Faded.”

No surprise, millennials are craving a walk down memory lane.

Kar Brulhart, a Mexico City-based social media strategist and coach, said 2016 is trending because of nostalgia and a broader shift toward analogue — think paperback books, flip phones, and digital cameras.

But beyond that, Brulhart said, revisiting the 2016 era provides relief.

“Especially in the US, where the political and cultural climate feels increasingly charged, people genuinely don’t know what — or how — to post anymore. Revisiting that era gives people a socially acceptable break from having to respond, react, or perform relevance,” she said.

2016 in celebrity culture

Celebrities like Charlie Puth, Eva Longoria, Lucy Hale, and Karlie Kloss have jumped on the trend, posting awkward, unglamorous selfies.

Kylie Jenner’s 2016 post on Thursday, captioned “You just had to be there,” has gotten over 2.4 million likes as of press time. The “Keeping up with the Kardashians” star posted pictures of herself wearing skinny jeans, black Converse high tops, and her iconic Kylie Lip Kit.

Makeup artist and beauty influencer James Charles revived a full 2016 cut-crease eyeshadow routine in a TikTok video on Wednesday, which has garnered about 5.6 million views.

Others used the trend to remember milestones. John Legend posted a picture of himself and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, sharing a kiss after the birth of their first child in 2016.

And brands wasted no time capitalizing on the throwback trend. LA-based fashion brand Reformation posted pictures of celebrities like Taylor Swift and Emily Ratajkowski in its 2016 range with the caption, “We miss 2016 too.”

Longing for a simpler, more authentic time

The trend reveals a yearning for a simpler time, social media and PR experts say.

Hailey Bailey, the founder of Los Angeles-based PR and talent management firm Image PR, said the trend is a result of millennials like herself “craving the innocence, promise, and naivety of our summer 2016 selves.”

“I think most millennials look at where they are at in life right now and think, ‘Wow, I thought I’d be in a different place,'” Bailey said. “Many of us can’t afford to buy a house anytime soon, or haven’t found the right partner, or are so career-focused we can’t even think about having children.”

Brulhart said that in 2016, chronological posts were the only way to experience Instagram. That was before Reels, AI-generated “slop,” and hyper-clean, aesthetic-first feeds took over the app.

“There was far less curation, and people weren’t trying to brand themselves with every post,” she said. “They were documenting life as it happened, not worrying about the likes or engagement.”

The trend felt like a gentle moment of reflection to her.

“It’s not about wanting to go backward, but about remembering a version of ourselves that perhaps felt lighter,” Brulhart said.

Feature image credit: Melodie Jeng/Getty Images

By Aditi Bharade

Sourced from Business Insider

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“100 likes is the new 1000”: Creators say Instagram likes have fallen off a cliff. Here’s why

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For months now, Instagram users have been complaining that their posts no longer get the number of “likes” that they used to. Photos and videos that would once easily get hundreds of hearts now only get a few dozen. The change has some content creators nervous and looking for answers.

It may have something to do with changes in both human behaviour and the algorithm.

Why aren’t Instagram posts getting likes anymore?

In 2025, posts started popping up across social media about the steady decline in likes that they can expect an Instagram post to attract. This was especially true among those who’d left Instagram for a while, in favour of platforms like TikTok, and went back months or years later.

People are calling it a “like recession.”

TikTok video of a woman stirring her bubble tea with a caption reading "Instagram is dead nobody can tell me otherwise. You post a pic, and it shows over 1,000 views with only 34 likes? Be so real with me right now. What kind of hater vibes sorcery is going on over there?"
@kimberlywhiteee/TikTok

“Instagram is dead nobody can tell me otherwise,” wrote @kimberlywhiteee in a TikTok caption. “You post a pic, and it shows over 1,000 views with only 34 likes? Be so real with me right now. What kind of hater vibes sorcery is going on over there?”

Meanwhile, @hiiibarbiee compared her single photo post likes from a year ago vs. today, showing how they’ve declined by the hundreds. It has the 21-year-old asking “chat am i UNC?”

Some long-time social media users explained this by pointing to shifts in the way people use these apps. People just aren’t liking the way they used to.

“We deada** see our loved ones get married and buy a house and look at their Instagram post like this,” said @tjr with a blank, bored face, “and proceed to not like, not comment, and scroll.”

TikTok video of a man making wide eyes at the camera with a caption reading "Instagram likes recession."
@tjr/TikTok

TikToker @sweetiebrownieee theorized that users today are more likely to be snooping than supporting.

“So you posted a picture on Instagram. No likes,” she started. “But your stories? So many views. They’re watching you, honey. They’re seeing you, but they do not want you to know they are seeing you.”

“People these days are so nosy.”

How to succeed on Instagram without the likes

Shifts in user behaviour are real, but experts also spoke on the changes to Instagram’s algorithm. In July 2024, Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained that one of the platform’s top ranking signals was “shares per reach,” meaning how many viewers shared a video regardless of how else they interacted with it.

“So out of all the people who saw your video or photo, how many of them sent it to a friend in a DM?” he said. “We want to not only be a place where you passively consume content, but where you discover things you want to tell your friends about.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Adam Mosseri (@mosseri)

With the emphasis shifting away from likes as Instagram also began showing users less content from those they followed and more from accounts the app thinks they’d enjoy, posts that quickly get a few likes from dedicated fans aren’t getting the same boost.

Social media manager Milou Pietersz (@miloupietersz) discussed what this means for creators who still want to make it on Instagram.

“We’ve officially entered a ‘like’ recession on Instagram,” she wrote. “100 likes is the new 1000, and if you are still measuring success by old metrics, it will always feel like you are losing.”

“Stop chasing the number that looks good on the outside and start paying attention to the signals that actually move your business forward.”

Feature image credit: @jackfloood/TikTok, @drainn2c/TikTok

By Lindsey Weedston

Lindsey is a Seattle area writer interested in all things society, including internet culture, politics, and mental health. Outside of the Daily Dot, her work can be found in publications such as The Mary Sue, Truthout, and YES! Magazine.

Sourced from daily dot

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We Should All Be Building People-First Communities in the Age of AI

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I keep catching myself doing this thing lately: staring at an Instagram ad, listening to a podcast intro, scrolling past a post — and wondering, ‘Wait, is this AI?’ Turns out, I’m not alone. A survey by Getty Images states that 76% of people agree: ‘It’s getting to the point where I can’t tell if an image is real’. And it’s this simple sentiment of wondering whether something is real or not that raises an important question for us marketers and creators: How can we shift the narrative of doubt and start focusing on building trust instead?

I’ve been reflecting on this for a while now, asking myself what really makes me trust something online and I keep coming back to the same answer: connection. I trust something when it makes me feel connected.

So that’s when it clicked for me: we double down on what AI can’t replicate. We build connections. We build community. Real, human community. Because while technology can evolve, only people can scale trust. And in an age where so much feels synthetic, trust is about to become your most powerful asset.

If you’re curious about why I’m so passionate about this topic, it’s because community building has changed me. The first time I built a community was in 2021, and it began with 20 inaugural members that quickly grew to 140 founders. In less than a year, we evolved it into a full-fledged fellowship program, which continues today under the European EdTech Alliance.

Thanks to this experience, I have some exciting news for small businesses and creators. You already have what it takes to build trust. According to an article published by WorldCom, micro- and nano-influencers are on the rise because the trust you build runs deeper. Brands are paying attention, and creators who prioritize connection over clout tend to have more engaged communities. And that kind of impact is the perfect testament of a deep, meaningful connection. Something that’s nurtured over time, not created overnight.

In this article, I’ll share why I believe building community can be your superpower right now — not just for marketing, but for building real trust and deep connections. I’ll dive deep into what makes communities such a long-lasting strategy, how to build and sustain one authentically, and even how AI can support (without replacing) the human touch that makes it all work.

Community as a strategy

Unlike marketing campaigns and content pieces that are often one-off and time-bound, a well-built community can evolve and live on by becoming part of your mission. That’s what makes it so powerful. But why does it truly stand the test of time?

Because community taps into something deeper than metrics: emotion and belonging. People want to be part of something meaningful. When you create a space where members feel engaged, supported, and seen, you’re not just building a following; you’re building trust.

That trust creates a bond, not just between members, but between your community and your brand. Over time, you earn a place in their minds and hearts as more than just a product or creator. You become the go-to resource not because you ran a flashy ad, but because you consistently showed up for them. You gave them value, connection, and a sense of belonging.

And when people feel good about being part of your community, they talk about it. They recommend you. They become your advocates. This kind of organic social proof and authority can’t be bought, it has to be built. That’s the true power of community. It’s a space others want to be part of. From a business perspective, it’s hard for members not to fall in love with your brand, thanks to the positive experience your community offers.

When I built EdTech Female Founders back in 2021, we weren’t thinking about AI at all (it wasn’t really a thing yet for most marketers). But the community still thrived. It connected people, sparked ideas, helped increase brand awareness, pushed a great deal of content across social, but most importantly, it created a space others wanted to be part of. If this worked in a pre-AI world, I believe it can work even better now. In fact, I believe building community is more essential than ever. In a landscape transformed by AI, people crave real human connection, and the brands and creators that win will be those that can deliver spaces that unite.

Why community should matter to you (now more than ever)

When your audience sees the real people behind the product, behind the content, you’re not just selling something or posting something. You’re building and creating with them.

Often, your early followers know you. They’ve DM’d you. They’ve seen your behind-the-scenes stories and lessons. They know what you stand for. That creates a level of emotional equity that big brands struggle to earn.

While AI can generate thousands of words in seconds, it can’t generate trust, loyalty, or belonging. Those things are built through consistent, real interactions, and that’s something you can deliver. So, how can you get started?

A strong community strategy starts with authenticity

When everything feels artificial, authenticity becomes your pillar.

Start with real faces, real values, and a real purpose that your community can jump on board with, not just because it sounds good, but because it resonates.

Ask yourself: What’s something you are already doing that could bring people together? Or what’s something that’s missing that you should focus on?

  • If you’re innovating in a specific niche, can you create a space for experts to swap ideas and insights?
  • If your segment lacks diversity, can you build a platform to elevate the voices that often go unheard?
  • If you’re launching a product that reimagines how people live or work, can your community help others do the same?

Your community doesn’t need to be huge to matter or have an impact, but it does need to make sense. It needs to align naturally with your focus, and you should also want to build it. Doing it just for marketing’s sake comes across as inauthentic, and that defeats the purpose. A strong community is real, offers value, and grows from genuine care and intention.

How to keep the spark alive: Nurturing your community long-term

Community is not a transaction, it’s a relationship, and relationships need care and consistency.

Think about how you can show up for your people. Are you giving them something they genuinely value? What’s the reason they should stay connected? You need to build one!

To keep that spark alive, you need to constantly give people something that ignites it! Here are a few ideas on how you can do just that:

  • Offer exclusive value: Try and think of what free resources you could put together that your members would find interesting. This can be anything from thought leadership content, tutorials, beta access to product features or programs, webinars, and even behind-the-scenes content.
  • Foster meaningful conversations: Build spaces where members can share their thoughts, network with each other, and feel seen. This could include a dedicated Q&A channel or a space for members to share their own experiences and insights with each other. If you notice this channel going quiet, take the initiative to start a conversation and keep the momentum alive.
  • Create regular touchpoints: Diversify where you get your community engaged. You can do this by expanding to meetups (virtual is great too!), sending them newsletters with community updates, or those awesome resources you’ve created just for them. Try to keep things fresh and meet your members where they like to be.

The more consistently you show up with real value, the more trust you build. That’s what can transform passive followers into loyal advocates, the kind who root for you even when you’re not in the room.

It might sound like a lot, because it is. No one said building a community is easy. But hey, we’re in the age of AI, remember?

Integrating AI without losing the human touch

You might be surprised by this section, but I truly believe AI can play a big role in helping us scale, even in community building. What matters is how we use it.

AI should support your community-building efforts, not replace the soul of it. Think of it as aid, not the drive. If you’re building something that matters, you shouldn’t burn out trying to do everything yourself. But you also shouldn’t lose the warmth that made people care in the first place.

Here’s how to strike that balance:

  • Use AI to research your ICP (Ideal Community Persona). Let AI handle the heavy lifting when it comes to understanding who your potential people are and what they care about (at least in the early stages when you don’t have a ton of users). It can uncover trends, sentiments, and even unmet needs.
  • Use AI to spark conversations. Coming up with content ideas every day is hard, but AI can help you generate prompts, questions, and topics that resonate with your members.
  • Use AI to streamline onboarding. From automated welcome messages to helpful chatbots, AI can make sure new members feel supported from day one, just don’t forget to add a human touch at the end of the funnel.

The key is to use AI to support the person running the community – not replace the human touch. On the contrary, this should give the manager more time to really focus on deepening those connections.

Real companies, real communities: What this looks like in action

We’ve talked about how to build community, but what does it look like in real life?

Here are 3 community examples that continue to inspire me, and that might just spark some ideas for your own journey:

Women and Climate (WAC) 

A global space where women lead the climate conversation, connect across borders, and drive real business impact. Their Slack channel brings together over 4,500 members from around the world, offering a daily touchpoint for ideas, support, and collaboration. One standout feature is their speaker database, which helps connect climate experts with event organizers, ensuring fresh, diverse voices are heard on stages across the world.

Notion’s Community

Notion turned its users into its best teachers. Through events, videos, templates, and workshops, community members actively help others master the tool. The magic? It’s all built by people who actually use Notion every day, making learning feel real, not rehearsed. Whether you’re into productivity, design, or teaching, there’s a space for you here.

Buffer Community

I couldn’t not include Buffer. Their community isn’t just for social media experts, it’s a co-creation hub. From feature suggestions to product feedback channels, users actively shape the platform’s evolution. Initiatives like Creator Camp support users in staying consistent, while casual check-ins foster genuine connection. It feels like a shared home where everyone can put a brick to build.

Let’s build what AI can’t, while letting it help where it can

In a world rapidly filling up with auto-generated everything, a real community becomes the most valuable thing you can build. Not just because it feels good (though it does), but because it gives you an advantage that’s hard to replicate: loyalty, trust, and belonging.

So while everyone else scrambles to scale with AI, take a moment to scale something different, something timeless.

Build community, because you have the power to make someone feel seen, trusted, and supported and that’s where the magic can still live.

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