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The regulator is reviewing Fannie's operations and those of another government-sponsored enterprise, where there was reportedly a separate executive departure. View the full article

Too often, we get stuck waiting—waiting for a boss, a higher-up, or even a partner to hand us the reins and tell us it’s our time to shine. But here’s the truth: empowerment isn’t something you’re given. It’s something you take. If things aren’t going your way, there’s no one else to blame—it’s up to you to make a move. If you’re tired of waiting for someone else to recognize your potential or tell you what to do next, here are three actionable steps to take control and empower yourself today: Stop Asking for Permission—Start Taking Initiative Empowerment begins when you stop waiting for someone to tell you what to do and start taking proactive steps toward what you know needs to be done. Identify a recurring problem at work and propose a solution to your team or supervisor. Even if it’s not implemented, the act of stepping forward demonstrates your leadership mindset and builds confidence. Instead of waiting for your boss to address a gap in team communication, suggest implementing a weekly check-in meeting. Better yet, create a suggested communication matrix with specific questions to ask to ensure gaps are minimized. Taking initiative shows you care about the team’s success and your role in it. This puts you in the best position to shine and to keep top-of-mind when positions or projects pop up that require your skillset. Remember that your boss most likely has a busy calendar with shifting priorities and mounting headaches, if you can make their job easier and alleviate some of their headaches, you will be the hero in their workplace story. Word will travel that you are resourceful. Cultivate Self-Awareness and Lean into Your Strengths Understanding your own strengths, weaknesses, and values is the foundation of self-leadership. You don’t need your boss to define your role—you need to define how you show up in it. This simple reframe will help you take back the influence that many of us give away. Spend 10 minutes each week reflecting on recent wins and challenges. What strengths did you leverage? Where could you improve? Use this insight to guide your actions. Also, assess how you feel at the end of each day for one week and note which job functions you were performing when you felt like you were succeeding and when you felt most stressed. That will help you pinpoint the best positions and functions for you. If you’re naturally skilled at relationship-building, consider how you can use that strength to foster collaboration or improve team dynamics, even without being prompted. It will be those relationships that will get you through tough times and could prove beneficial when up for that next promotion too. Don’t forget that you are the captain of your own ship and the chief navigator of your workplace and life experiences. You do not need to be the victim or bystander. Embrace Feedback as a Tool, not a Threat Empowered leaders view feedback as an opportunity to grow, not as a personal attack. Seek out feedback proactively, even if it’s uncomfortable—it’s a critical step in refining your approach and building trust. Without this feedback, you will undoubtedly experience blindspots on your journey. Be open to feedback if you want to minimize painful mistakes. At the end of a project or meeting, ask a colleague or manager, “What’s one thing I did well, and one thing I could improve?” Listen without defensiveness and take actionable steps to improve. Younger says, “We can choose to remove the clay that we place over our brilliance.” She points out that being proactive about requesting feedback allows our brilliance to shine through. When receiving feedback that your presentations need more clarity, take a public speaking course or workshop to elevate your skills and demonstrate your commitment to growth. In this example, be sure to ask what specific areas of your presentation lack clarity. That way, you will not waste time on the wrong things. Often, people shy away from feedback, because they are afraid of what they might find. Those who are eager to go into the unknown of feedback and take in the good with the bad quickly discover the benefits. We cannot be our best and become more self-empowered unless we know where to smooth our rough edges. The good news is that we all have them. So, there is nothing to be ashamed about. Instead, look at the courage you display when you eagerly seek the feedback as a badge of honor. Claim Your Leadership Role Empowerment isn’t a gift someone hands you—it’s a mindset you cultivate. By taking initiative, leveraging your strengths, and embracing feedback, you build the confidence and competence needed to lead yourself—and, in turn, inspire those around you. Stop waiting for permission. Start leading yourself, and watch how others begin to follow. View the full article

Brands that have built success on Meta’s ad ecosystem have mastered the art of the thumb-stopping creative. However, as competition heats up and audiences saturate one PPC platform, acquisition costs typically go up. This is when social-first advertisers might start to explore a different channel, like Google Ads. Google’s advertising ecosystem is based on search intent, which fundamentally differs from Meta’s, built around behavioral and interest-based targeting. As people actively search for products, Google offers a massive advantage: It knows exactly what they want. Between legacy campaigns (like Search, Shopping, and YouTube) and newer technology (like Performance Max and Demand Gen), social-first advertisers have options and a powerful opportunity to open up new acquisition channels. When is the right time for Meta advertisers to try out Google Ads? Platform diversification tends to work better for brands that have succeeded in one place (Meta) and have sufficient budget to expand into a new one (Google) without disrupting their existing growth operations. Part of that means knowing where you’re going to put your money, as Google offers a variety of options. For retail and direct-to-consumer ecommerce, explore these options: Bottom funnel Search can work if people are actively searching for your product or category or if you have informational content that can help nudge mid-funnel prospects to purchase. Shopping lets you showcase your catalog to in-market buyers by building a solid product feed. Mid-to-bottom funnel Performance Max offers multiple inventory placements – Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps – under a single campaign at the cost of some granularity, visibility, and control. Upper funnel Demand Gen helps boost discovery and engagement through YouTube, Gmail, and Discover by running your top-performing creative assets to people potentially interested in what you’re selling YouTube can be its own campaign separate from Demand Generation and is typically best used to seed awareness and interest. (Note: Video Action Campaigns are being rolled into Demand Gen in early 2025.) How does Google know? Google’s user database is unlike any other, with access to millions of data points that indicate where someone is in a hundred different purchase journeys. While you and I can’t see any of this, it’s there, and it works very well when the messaging is on point. Google gives advertisers access to intent-driven audiences and unmatched data on individual users. If you have winning creatives on Meta and a brand with product/market fit – and people are searching for what you’re offering – then you’ve got a very good chance of turning Google Ads into a profitable channel. Dig deeper: Top 5 Google Ads opportunities you might be missing Auditing your Meta setup ahead of launching Google Ads All good things begin with an audit. Before you launch any campaigns, you need to study what has worked and what hasn’t. Auditing your marketing before testing a new platform allows you to tailor your approach to the needs of the platform in terms of budget, creative assets, and campaign selection and structure. Step 1: Budget allocation Google Ads demands a different mindset than Meta, including budget allocation. A good place to start is by identifying your goals. Are you looking to simply capture bottom-of-funnel conversions for which demand already exists? Or are you willing to invest in nurturing new demand further up? For conversion-oriented campaigns like Search and Shopping, you can only capture as much demand as possible. If 100 people search for your product daily, you can’t reach a bigger audience without moving up-funnel. Performance Max is similar in its mechanics, but you should expect a higher budget due to the amount of testing required for the system to start generating quality conversions. Typically, the learning phase lasts about 4–6 weeks. Google recommends setting a daily budget above 15 times your average cost per conversion. Fine-tuning your budget is a matter of finding how much you can realistically spend on demand that exists without telling the system to spend more, irrespective of relevance or quality. Reserve around 10–30% of your total budget for testing and learning, depending on your tolerance and appetite for risk. Step 2: Reusing creative assets The best part about moving from a Meta-first setup to Google Ads is that you don’t need to start from scratch. Simply take your top-performing Meta creatives – the ads that are driving engagement and conversions – and repurpose them for Google. You can also use fatigued creative on Meta since you’ll be showing it to people who might not have seen it on Meta. Static images can be used in Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Discovery campaigns, as well as Display (resized appropriately). Videos can be repurposed to high-engagement Reels and Stories for YouTube Shorts (via Demand Gen) or video assets in Performance Max. Product catalog assets can be used in your ecommerce product feeds for Shopping and Performance Max. 3⃣ DATA FEED Product feeds are the life and soul of ecommerce PMax campaigns. That goes double for Q4. There’s a lot you can do with a feed, but I focus on four areas: • Titles • Identifiers • Price • Category https://t.co/58RPzT9P3g — Menachem Ani – Google Ads (@MenachemAni) July 11, 2023 Step 3: Campaign selection While Google used to be a demand capture ad platform, you can now use it to nurture people who would otherwise have never looked you up. Still, not all Google Ads campaign types fit the same goals. Search and Shopping: Great for brands looking to capture mid- and bottom-funnel conversions based on specific search terms and queries (Shopping uses product feed attributes to match with search queries). Performance Max: More automated like Advantage+, and best for mid- and bottom-funnel conversions by using Google’s automation to find high-intent buyers. Demand Gen: Google’s closest equivalent to Meta’s prospecting and retargeting campaigns, optimized for top-of-funnel engagement and the only way to run performance-focused YouTube ads as of April 2025. Vertical-only Demand Gen (YouTube Shorts): Ideal for brands that already have success with short-form video ads on Meta. We’re in demand gen shorts only beta and it’s crushing! — Cody Plofker (@codyplof) March 8, 2025 Step 4: Audience targeting Advertisers used to Meta will need to adjust as Google Ads doesn’t rely on interest-based targeting. Instead, you’ll use: Custom intent audiences based on user search behavior that Google can see deeply. Customer match audiences using email lists and first-party data. Google’s AI-driven audience signals in Performance Max and Demand Gen (important to note these are guidelines for targeting and not actual targeting lists). Affinity and in-market audiences of users actively researching related products. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. Covering all the bases: Expanding to Google step by step If it were as easy as pulling your best ads from one platform and popping them into another, more brands would be winning on all fronts. Instead, you’ll want to make sure all the pieces are in place as you set up a methodical expansion and testing regimen. Account and campaign structure Meta advertisers are used to audience segmentation at the ad set level. But in Google, you’ll want to structure campaigns around search intent, product categories, and performance signals. Search: Segment ad groups by brand, competitor, and generic keyword themes. Proprietary brand search (people searching for your own brand by name) should run in its own campaign. Shopping and Performance Max: Group products by margin, best-sellers, bundles, etc. You can use any segmentation you like as long as it ties back to a business goal and financials. For Performance Max, structure asset groups around a theme, category, or pain point. Demand Gen: Create separate campaigns for prospecting and retargeting, making sure that YouTube Shorts ads run in vertical placements. Managing budgets and bidding Budget pacing works differently in Google than in Meta, which makes bid strategy selection extra important. Most notably, your budget pacing is based on your daily budget multiplied by 30.4, the average number of days a month. Google will spend up to twice your daily budget in a day but will rarely exceed your monthly budget. Experiment cautiously with Smart Bidding and watch how Google adjusts spend. Automated bid strategies can ramp up slowly and then very quickly, and any significant adjustments can reset the learning period. Dig deeper: How each Google Ads bid strategy influences campaign success Targeting and audience differences Meta’s audience targeting leans heavily on interest-based signals and lookalikes. When targeting audiences in Google, you will generally pick one of these options: Search behavior and intent signals (e.g., keywords and browsing activity). First-party data from Customer Match (e.g., your latest customer list). AI-driven audience expansion, which behaves differently than Meta’s lookalike Measuring effectiveness As a Meta-first advertiser, you’re likely accustomed to near-instant feedback on performance. As you test out Google Ads, you will need more patience. Search and Shopping drive high-intent conversions, but attribution can take longer. Demand Gen and Performance Max need learning phases before stabilizing. Consider blended MER (marketing efficiency ratio) to compare Google’s impact with Meta’s. Google Ads has an innate conversion lag, especially in Smart Bidding. Expect a 3–7 day delay in performance data. There are no view-through conversions in Shopping and Performance Max, which are the two campaigns you will most likely use. Don’t ignore Google Analytics 4 and a custom Looker dashboard for full-funnel insights. It’s worth investing the time and energy in this upfront. Pitfalls and common errors Avoid these common mistakes paid social professionals tend to make when expanding into paid search: Oversegmenting campaigns instead of consolidating data. Ignoring keyword intent and treating Google like another social or display platform. Not testing audience signals in Performance Max before scaling. Failing to adjust bid strategies based on performance trends, like seasonality. Neglecting negative keywords in Search and Shopping campaigns (coming soon to Performance Max). Scale beyond Meta: Making Google Ads work for your brand Expanding to Google Ads can be a massive opportunity for social-first advertisers if approached strategically. It’s important to remember that Google isn’t Meta. They’re very different products built by entirely different companies with their own cultures. Don’t make the rookie mistake of treating them the same just because they’re both ad platforms. While intent is king with Google Ads, you can still use your best (and past) creatives to target users actively searching for what you sell. Lean into Google’s automation and guide it at every step with the right inputs. Google’s ecosystem offers a new dimension for brands with product/market fit that want to think beyond social for growth opportunities. If you’ve been Meta-first or social-only, now is a great time to start testing what lies beyond. Dig deeper: Meta wants its advertisers to connect to Google Analytics View the full article

There is a big debate in the SEO community on the topic of schema markup and LLMs. Do LLMs like Microsoft Bing's Copilot, Google's Gemini, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Perplexity and others use schema markup and structured data in any way. Fabrice Canel, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft Bing, said they do.View the full article

Google seems to have dropped showing the number of reviews are on a page, the review count, next to the review stars, for non-shopping/e-commerce pages. Google Search is now showing rating review values when using AggregateRating mark-up.View the full article

Google admitted in a video published on its own Search Central YouTube channel that if searchers do not use your page(s) in the search results, those pages may stop showing up in the search results. Martin Splitt said this in a recent YouTube short he posted where he said, "if pages fall off the index again... users don't really use them in search results."View the full article

Microsoft Bing's shopping carousel results have a "buy now" button that now links directly to the checkout page of the merchant. So when you click on buy now, it adds that item directly to the cart of the merchant's website.View the full article

In an era where nearly everything we do carries a digital footprint, experts warn that our freedoms are increasingly under attack. But the average internet user can take steps to fight back against threats that range from mass surveillance to the decline of net neutrality to changes to the very architecture of the internet. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is calling on people to become involved in the nonprofit’s wide-ranging work at the intersection of technology and civil liberties. Last month, for example, it filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking transparency about DOGE’s access to Americans’ personal information and has a petition for people to sign that will be sent to Congressional members. “There’s such an important space for everyone to be involved in defending and continuing to advance rights,” Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties director for the ACLU of Northern California, said during a discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. “This is not a moment where we just have to crawl into a ball, this is a moment where we have to be aggressively using our entire toolkit to be doing what’s right for ourselves and our communities.” Fighting for what people want is important, especially because many people may not appreciate the access afforded by the internet, added Alissa Starzak, deputy chief legal officer and global head of policy at Cloudflare. “We sort of take it for granted, but now is a time when it’s starting to fall apart, and so really thinking about what we can do to sort-of make sure that doesn’t happen is going to be important.” What’s scary right now One sign that Western democracies are moving closer to their versions of a restricted internet was the recent, temporary ban of TikTok, said Stan Adams, public policy specialist at the Wikimedia Foundation. “As a precedent, that is not a great thing for Western democracies.” The TikTok ban also raised important questions about who implements that type of ban—and how, Starzak added. “People are going down into the internet’s architecture and they’re changing things so that they can limit access, and that is a very scary world if you think about the open internet as a good thing.” What’s more, in a time when we’re all living “incredibly digital lives,” the ACLU is focused on ensuring that all of digital information—about who we are, where we go, what we do, and what we know—is safeguarded and isn’t weaponized against us, Ozer said. For example, the ACLU is working to pass laws to limit the use of geofence warrants so the government can’t find out every single person who has been somewhere at a given time—be it SXSW, a protest, or a reproductive clinic, Ozer added. “That is so scary, particularly in this current moment.” Even age verification laws for certain websites, which Adams pointed out are ostensibly intended to keep children from viewing harmful content, also have implications for digital freedom. That’s because they serve as a partial block to people who don’t have a government ID, people who cannot prove who they are, or people who don’t want to submit a facial scan. “It’s still a trend in the wrong direction,” Adams said. “It’s just a soft way of saying don’t go there, which is bad for internet freedom generally.” Why activism matters If Cloudflare gets pressured to block something, the company prioritizes transparency and tries to advertise what’s happening so that people know, Starzak said. “The reality is if you live in a democracy, you should care about these issues.” What’s more, she said, there have been some victories that show the power of activism—such as early-2010s opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which the U.S. Congress ultimately decided not to pass that legislation. “We all have a role to play,” Starzak said. Adams and Ozer echoed this sentiment. “People like the internet, we all use it, it’s a valuable tool for everyone,” Adams said. “And when we get upset about things that the government does or the companies do, we should speak out about that.” Finally, Ozer emphasized that people have more power than they may realize, especially when it comes to issues people care about. “Democracy doesn’t defend itself and laws don’t pass on their own,” she said. “ We have to have the power as people to move those issues forward.” View the full article

Last week, Google sent out a bulk load of reverification requests to Google Business Profiles. Well, according to Google's Rick Saxe, it was a bug and the bug should be fixed as of the past day or so.View the full article

It might not be the most obvious social media platform choice when it comes to building your brand as a creator or business. But, when used right, Pinterest could become the most effective platform in your social media toolbox. A bold statement, but I stand by it. That's because Pinterest has what many other social media sites don't — the ability to include links in every single post. Of course, there's more to Pinterest than just clickable posts. Unlike other social platforms, where content tends to disappear quickly, Pinterest acts more like a visual search engine — meaning the pins you post today can continue driving traffic weeks, months, or even years from now. With all that in mind, getting more followers on Pinterest isn’t just about vanity metrics. A bigger, engaged audience means more people discovering and saving your content — which translates into more subscribers, sign-ups, sales, and brand awareness over time. Pretty neat, right? But... how do you get more followers on Pinterest, exactly? Let’s break it down. Here are 20 practical tips to help you get more Pinterest followers and move the needle right away. Optimize your profileYour profile is the first impression. Here's what you need to do and how to do it to optimize your Pinterest profile. 1. Convert your Pinterest profile to a business accountPinterest has two kinds of accounts: personal and business. If you have a Pinterest Personal account, I'd recommend switching to a Pinterest Business account. Why? Because business accounts have access to: Analytics for how your pins are performingAdvertising features to create various types of adsPinterest Business Hub & Creator HubPinterest itself recommends converting to a business account to access helpful growth features. Here's how you can convert your Pinterest Personal account to a business profile: 1. Log in to your Pinterest account 2. Click the arrow next to your profile icon 3. Click on the ‘Convert to Business’ option and then the ‘Upgrade’ button (don’t worry, it won’t cost you anything) 2. Brand your Pinterest profile to make it recognizableOptimizing your profile is a must for growing on Pinterest. Imagine someone clicking on your pin, going to your Pinterest profile to learn more, and having no clue who you are or what you do. They won't hit that follow button. Here's how to give some personality to your Pinterest profile page: 1. Add your name and profile name to your profile. If you have a brand name or username that you're already using on your website and other social media accounts, use the same one here. ⚡ Pro-tip: Pinterest also recommends adding searchable keywords along with your name to make it easy for people to discover you. You can use the search option to find relevant keywords and add the relevant ones to your name. For example, Micah has used keywords like ‘DIY’, ‘decor,’ and ‘content creator’ to make her profile more discoverable. This helps her appear in searches when users look for DIY inspiration, home decor ideas, or content creators in her niche. 2. Add a clear profile photo so people can put a face to your name. If you're a brand, put your logo in the profile photo. 3. Use your ‘About’ section to describe what you post on Pinterest and how it can benefit your audience. Keep it short and sweet. 4. Add a cover photo telling people what you do or what you represent. This isn't necessary, but it's a good addition! Shreya Dalela, creator of The Creatives Hour, is the perfect example of how you can brand your account and make it easy for people to click follow. If you're a small business, you can also apply for Pinterest's verified merchant program to get a blue checkmark, which gives you that extra badge of authenticity and some coveted features (like shopping experiences). And remember: Branding isn't just for your profile. Pinterest actively encourages its users to put a logo on every pin they share: “Put a logo on every pin that you make, but keep it subtle. Avoid the lower-right corner, since that spot gets covered up by our product icons.” 3. Verify your websitePinterest lets you claim your website, linking it directly to your profile. This ensures your profile picture appears on every pin saved from your site, making it easy for people to find and follow you. Claiming your website also gives you insights into how often your content is shared. You'll get advanced analytics and a direct link on every saved pin, helping users discover more from you. Whenever someone saves an image from your site: Your profile picture appears on the pin.The pin links to your Pinterest profile.Viewers see an option to follow you.Claiming your website also unlocks rich pins. Rich pins are a type of pin that automatically sync information from your website and display extra details like titles and descriptions. It’s fairly simple to do, if you know the ins and outs of your website. This step-by-step video shows you how. Create content that engages your audienceJust like other social media platforms, Pinterest's growth thrives on content. Here's how you can make yours more Pin-teresting. 😉 4. Create fresh pins consistentlyAll social networks want you to post consistently on their platform. The minimum frequency for Pinterest is at least one pin a week, though posting more often is generally a good idea. “While you can determine the best schedule for you, posting on a weekly basis is a good rule of thumb,” Catie Marques Teles, a Product Marketing Manager at Pinterest says. “Because content is evergreen, your hard work works harder, and people will keep seeing your ideas over time.” .If even one post a week feels a little intimidating, it might help to draw inspiration from the various content types Pinterest recommends: 1. Instructional 2. Quick tip 3. Comparison 4. Storyteller 5. Conversation Food and recipe creator Lindsey Baruch is a great example of step-by-step guide-style Pinterest content. Pro tip: You’re not limited to static images! Pinterest allows short-form video content, too, which is a great way to present tutorials and how-to content. On the other hand, Brian S. Stone, founder of Adaptive Communities, creates marketing-focused Pinterest content, such as infographics and tool stacks with a clear goal: driving Pinterest users to his page, where he sells Notion templates. ⚠️ Note: Don't compromise on the quality of your Pinterest pins to meet a certain number. Pinterest content has a longer shelf life — meaning the pins you create today can generate traffic for weeks. Invest time in creating thoughtful, quality content that is actually relevant to your target audience. Now, creating and posting multiple pins weekly, especially if you’re a part-time creator or small business owner, might sound exhausting. Who has the time to write the title, the description, and edit posts every single day? Which is why it’s a great idea to work smarter, not harder. You might want to try batch-creating content and scheduling pins using Buffer. You can create pins in advance and queue them into relevant boards. The best part? If you add a destination link, Buffer will automatically pull through the available images on your website. So, if you're adding Pinterest-worthy photos on your website already, you don't even need to upload the image if you use Buffer. 5. Publish high-quality vertical images and videosPinterest is a visual platform. Quality matters on Pinterest — whether it's for infographics or videos. The ideal image size is 1000 x 1500 pixels in a 2:3 aspect ratio. Pinterest says other ratios can negatively impact your performance because the image's text is half-visible. The ratio is also ideal because most Pinterest users use the app on their mobile. A great example is Melisza Mcfierce's Pinterest profile. Each and every pin she posts is of extremely high-quality and stands out as clean, clear, and crisp on the home feed. 6. Select a strong, relevant image for your pinsIt probably goes without saying that Pinterest is first and foremost, a visual platform. When Pinterest users search for something, they’re more likely to click on the pin with the most relevant, visually appealing image. According to Pinterest Creators, being strategic with your pin’s image and text can significantly improve engagement. For example, if you're sharing a lasagna recipe, a pin featuring a delicious, well-cooked lasagna is far more likely to attract clicks than one showing just the raw ingredients. Pinterest users engage visually first — your pin should instantly communicate the value of your content. Using high-quality images, clear text overlays, and an engaging design will make your content more likely to stand out in a sea of aesthetic visuals users will find on their feeds. But image relevance is just as important as the quality. For one thing, the Pinterest algorithm scans your images to understand whether or not they match your pin description and overall profile niche. So, your Pinterest cover images should contextualize what you're discussing in the pin. Let's say you're a travel creator and are creating a pin on the best coworking cafes in Prague. Don't use a generic picture of a latte as the cover image for this pin — use a photo of the relevant cafe instead. When I type “best coworking cafes in Prague” into the Pinterest search bar, it displays various relevant cafe images with overlay text. However, the ones that catch my attention aren’t just snaps of coffee or food, no matter how aesthetic — they’re high-quality photos of the cafes, showcasing the ambiance, workspace setup, and overall vibe. 7. Level up your content using music, duration settings, stickers, and morePinterest has developed a ton of native editing features — like editing music, syncing text to video, adding stickers, and more. Use all of these features to create more engaging content. Academia Central Fitness is an excellent example of how to use Pinterest’s various features to create scroll-stopping pins. They align the text to the videos they share, use Pinterest’s native font, and add stickers and music to all their pins. 8. Use Pinterest Boards to organize your PinsPinterest Boards are a way to categorize your various content pillars into different folders. This advice comes straight from Pinterest “Because we know pinners are planners, it's important to focus on your board strategy.” Pinterest also suggests keeping your board names straightforward rather than overly clever to make them search engine optimized (SEO-friendly). This means using clear, keyword-rich titles that describe exactly what the board is about. For example, if you're creating a board about makeup recommendations, name your board something simple and direct, such as “Makeup products recommendations,” instead of using an informal term such as “makeup products that slap.” The fashNcurious Pinterest profile is an A+ example. The mother-daughter duo creates fashion content on Pinterest and organizes it in boards such as “nail content” and “fashion inspiration for all occasions.” Categorizing your content into boards also helps new followers navigate your profile and get similar content in one window. Here's how to create a board: 1. Go to your Pinterest profile 2. Click on ‘Saved’ 3. Click on the ‘➕’ plus icon on the right-hand side 4. Choose ‘Board’ 5. Name your board and start adding pins to it If you want to take it up a notch, you can also create sections within your boards. For example, if one of your Pinterest boards is about “winter recipes,” you can break it down further into sections like “winter beverages” or “winter desserts.” 9. Add a call-to-action (CTA) to every pinWhat should your target audience do after they come across a pin from you? Adding a call-to-action to every pin you create ensures your audience takes that next step of following you or visiting your website. For example, in this pin, fitness creator Jacquelyn has a clear CTA to watch her YouTube video. Some other call-to-action phrases you can use: Read the full blog on my websiteFollow me for more [your niche] contentSave this for laterWhat do you think of [topic of your pin]?Comment your favorite [something relevant to your pin] below.You can also add a voiceover for your CTA if you share a video on Pinterest. 10. Tailor your repurposed content to the Pinterest platformSince the Pinterest algorithm scans your image content for contextual cues, it’s a great idea to edit your content within the platform. So, for example, if you're repurposing a TikTok video for Pinterest, remove the accompanying text and add text within the Pinterest app instead. TikTok, Instagram, and Shorts watermarks are a no-go, too, so be sure to save a ‘clean’ version of your content. With that, you can use the platform's native editing abilities as much as possible to publish more Pinterest-friendly content — and boost your follower count by extension. 11. Craft multiple pins for the same postShreya Dalela used Pinterest to grow the website Elite Content Marketer's traffic by a whopping 829% (!) in just three months. One of her top tips is creating multiple pin designs for the same topic. For example, she suggested varying the designs for the same header or splitting one long-form post into mini infographics. This is an excellent way to get the most out of every piece of content you create and also an A+ Pinterest strategy to pin more without burning yourself out. But it comes with two caveats: Shreya suggests avoiding pinning multiple posts with the same URL in one day, as this might come across as spam. Instead, spread it out over a few days or weeks.Shreya also recommends testing the performance of five pins on one topic, first. If it performs well, create more pins for it. If not, don't design more pins for it.12. Create content your audience would want to saveThe Pinterest algorithm prioritizes content that users save. “If there's a pin with a lot of saves, the system will recommend it across the platform's main pages over other less inspiring, less engaging content,” Pinterest says. A save signals to Pinterest that your post has meaningful engagement and that your idea resonates with people. Ask yourself: “What kind of content would my target audience want to bookmark?” and create more and more of it. Creating saveable content should be your top Pinterest marketing strategy. People often return to their saved content, increasing your engagement and website traffic even further. Make your pins discoverableThere's no point in creating perfect pins if your ideal followers can’t find them. Below are the best tips for improving the visibility and reach of your pins. 13. Optimize your images, pin descriptions, and text overlays for SEOIf you pick the right keywords on Pinterest, you'll improve your discoverability and increase your number of followers. Pinterest also highlights that using the right keywords for SEO positively affects the distribution of your content. Use keywords in three spaces on Pinterest: Text overlaysTitlePin description⚠️ Note: In text overlays, ensure your image is as easy to read as possible. Remember people are scrolling on their phones. Small fonts are easy to miss. Use header fonts to show what your image is about. This pin by Cassey Ho of Blogilates on “how to do a split” is an excellent example of how to sprinkle keywords into your Pinterest content. How do you find relevant keywords related to your pin? You can search for your topic on Pinterest, see the suggested keywords that pop up, and monitor what your competitors are using. You can also use the Pinterest trends tool to search for your topic and find what your audience is searching for. 14. Use topic tags instead of hashtagsTopic tags are the new hashtags on Pinterest. Although you might still see many creators using hashtags, Pinterest says they rely on topic tags to categorize your content. You can add up to 10 topic tags for each pin you post. Pinterest gives you the option to “tag related topics” while you're posting your pin. Pinterest users can't see your tagged topics — which is another benefit since it doesn't appear spammy like hashtags. 15. Engage with othersIf I had a penny for every time I saw a creator posting and ghosting on Pinterest, I'd be swimming in cash. Social media marketing is a two-way street. This is especially true for Pinterest. It encourages active users to respond to comments, pin frequently, and share ideas with each other. If you want to grow on Pinterest, you have to build a community. This means following others in your niche, commenting on other people's content, and responding to comments and direct messages (DMs) you receive. For example, Suman replies to questions and comments on her Pinterest videos to help her audience. Engaging on Pinterest doesn't have to be complicated. Take 10–20 minutes every day to respond to any notifications you receive. When you reply to someone, you increase engagement and also prompt them to check your pin again. Also, scroll Pinterest for the kind of content you like. If you find another creator in a relevant niche with useful content, follow them and engage with their profile. They might follow you back or start saving your pins on their boards. 16. Join relevant group boardsGroup boards are Pinterest boards with multiple collaborators. You can create your own group board by inviting collaborators and giving them various levels of permissions. There are popular group boards in every niche that aid in providing an additional reach to your Pinterest content. You can request to join these boards and participate in pinning content consistently. Use pingroupie to search for popular group boards in your niche. Most group boards will also use the description to share guidelines on joining the board and set up some ground rules. 17. Hop on trending contentPinterest users love seasonal content more than any other social media platform. And Pinterest capitalizes on it by giving you tons of resources to find the latest trends on the social network: 1. Pinterest trends tool 2. A monthly trends report 3. A Pinterest predicts series to help you ace future trends today 4. A theme to organize your content for the whole year and inspire your content calendar Use these resources to create trending content in advance (as much as possible). Some trends — like the holidays — allow you to prepare pins early because you already know that spike is coming. Cross-promote your pinsAny marketing strategy is incomplete without a promotion strategy. To get the most out of your Pinterest content, you need to actively share and distribute your pins for greater visibility. Here are some effective ways to promote your pins: 18. Advertise your pinsWhile we’re fans of organic growth here at Buffer, giving your pins a little nudge (if you can afford to) hurt no one. If you have some budget for Pinterest Ads, consider promoting your Pinterest pins to reach potential followers. How do you create a Pinterest ad? It might seem a little complicated, but the platform will guide you through the process, step-by-step. Here’s an overview: Click on the three horizontal lines at the top left corner of your Pinterest profile and select ‘Create Campaign’ under the Ads section.Choose a campaign objective (e.g. brand awareness, traffic, conversions, or catalog sales).Set a daily or lifetime budget and define the campaign duration.Select the target audience based on demographics, interests, keywords, and behaviors.Choose an existing pin from your boards or upload a new one with a strong, relevant title, description, and destination URL.Set a bid strategy (manual or automatic bidding) and select ad placements (search results, home feed, or related pins).Review all settings and click ‘Launch’ to start your promoted pin campaign.Monitor ad performance through Pinterest Analytics and optimize based on engagement, clicks, and conversions.And you’re done! Try Pinterest ads for yourself and see if promoted pins give you enough return on investment (ROI) to become a regular part of your Pinterest marketing strategy. 19. Add a Pinterest follow button to your website, newsletter, and other social mediaEncourage the followers, fans, and email subscribers you already have to follow you on Pinterest. For example, in your email newsletter or Instagram Stories, you can share a regular “What we’re pinning” update to remind your existing followers to check you out on Pinterest, too. Etsy links its Pinterest profile in the footer of its website — along with other social accounts. But remember: Your target audience needs a reason to follow you on Pinterest. Perhaps you create exclusive content, or maybe organize all your existing content neatly into boards and sections your audience can refer back to easily. Whatever it is, craft a compelling offer that will entice people to click the follow button. Measure your successHere’s a social media strategy step often missed by creators and brands alike: analyzing their content performance. 20. Use Pinterest Analytics to guide your content strategyOnce you switch to a business account, you get in-depth insights into how your content is performing. You get details like saves, outbound clicks, pin clicks, profile visits, and more. The metrics you should focus on will depend on your goals. For example, if you want to grow website traffic via Pinterest, the outbound click rate is the most important. Spend some time each week or month identifying your best-performing pins. Maybe you noticed how-to video content gets the highest number of saves and click-through rates, so you can double down on it when you start creating new pins. There’s more to Pinterest than Pinterest followersPinterest is known as the social network to drive more traffic to your website. It encourages its users to leave the platform — an anomaly in the social media marketing world. So, while Pinterest followers are a good metric to look at to evaluate your growth on Pinterest, remember it’s not the only one. If you’re getting decent traffic, enough saves, and impressions, and engaged comments, you’re doing Pinterest right! Don’t focus on gaining new Pinterest followers in a silo — look at the big picture and focus on building a community on the platform. View the full article

Many imagined someone in their own hard-nosed imageView the full article

Government debt service payments are biggest portion of rich nations’ GDP since at least 2007, says OECDView the full article

Transform your SaaS model with an enterprise SEO strategy that focuses on sustainable growth and consumer engagement. The post A Guide To Enterprise SEO Strategy For SaaS Brands appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Sixteen years ago, I received a phone call that was both unexpected and surprising. On the other end of the line was Lisa (a pseudonym) who had previously been the leading applicant for an open job position at our agency. Lisa had learned about our agency from some of her peers who worked with us and who had encouraged her to apply for a position in the firm. But, halfway through the interview process, Lisa informed us that even though she really wanted to work with us, she had received an offer from a competitor that she just couldn’t refuse. At the time, we were a start-up agency that was bootstrapping its way forward. We simply couldn’t match the salary that the competitor was offering Lisa. Believe me, if we could have, we would have. Lisa’s portfolio of work, CV, and recommendations were more than impressive. Although we were disappointed, we thanked Lisa for participating in the interview process and genuinely wished her all the best in her career. This is a scenario that many start-ups find themselves in—wanting to attract their industries’ “best and brightest” but being unable to compete with the big guys in the area of compensation. But, back to the phone call. In a faint whisper, Lisa asked if the position at our agency was still available. I replied yes, it was, and asked why she was whispering. As it turns out, Lisa was whispering because she was in her new workplace and didn’t want her colleagues to overhear the call. I reminded her that we wouldn’t be able to match her current salary, to which she replied: “I’d rather be working with you guys at a lower salary than be working here in a toxic culture.” (Lisa’s peers who worked at our agency had told her about our fun and often quirky culture.) So, we offered the position to Lisa, who immediately quit her job and came to work at our agency, where she excelled in her role. Lisa’s story should be good news for any company seeking to attract top talent, but especially those that can’t afford to compete on the basis of salary. Here are five ways to compete for talent without having a huge budget for salaries. 1. Build a highly engaged company culture A study conducted by Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest recruiting sites, found that 77% of employees consider a company’s culture before applying for a job, and that 56% of applicants rank company culture as being more important than salary when it comes to job satisfaction. If you want to attract top talent, prioritize building a highly engaged company culture where employees are excited about the work they do and are committed to helping their organizations succeed. Let your culture act as a magnet to attract top talent—even if you aren’t exactly hitting the top of your industry’s salary scales. 2. Prioritize work/life balance Of respondents in a FlexJobs Career Pulse Survey, 64% stated they would choose better work/life balance over better pay. And no wonder! Workplace stress has been linked to physical, emotional, and mental health challenges, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. If your organization can’t compete for top talent on the basis of salary, try competing on work/life balance by offering generous time off opportunities like “Half-Day Fridays,” flexible working hours, and work-from-home opportunities. 3. Provide opportunities for professional development Ambitious employees often forego higher salaries in favor of professional development that could fast-track their careers in the long run. That’s why a great way to attract top talent is to provide candidates with opportunities for professional development that they would not otherwise find at your competitors. But, what professional development programs would attract the type of employees you would want to apply at your firm? Research conducted by PayScale found that nearly a third of all respondents reported that they would be most interested in management/leadership training. Other coveted training opportunities included professional certifications and technical skills training. 4. Offer non-monetary benefits Cold hard cash isn’t the only thing that can motivate an individual to want to work at an organization. In a study conducted by Randstad US, 61% of respondents indicated that they would be willing to accept a lower salary if an organization offered a great benefits package as part of their compensation. And, in a survey by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 80% of respondents reported that they would choose a job with benefits even if an identical job offered 30% more salary but no benefits. If you can’t go toe-to-toe with your competitors based on salaries, consider offering benefits like workplace wellness programs, gym membership, health insurance, and access to mental health resources. 5. ‘We grow, you grow’ programs When Lisa left a higher-paying job to come to our agency, we promised her that as the company grew and became more profitable, her salary would likewise grow—a promise that we were able to keep. Sometimes, all it takes to win over a candidate is to demonstrate that you value their contributions and that as the company grows, they will reap the benefits. If your company simply can’t offer top-tier salaries, consider using these strategies. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that you can compete effectively for top talent without having a huge budget for salaries. View the full article

Like clockwork, when my daughter turned 9, she started to show interest in nail polish, lip balm, and haircare. “Mommy, I think I need shampoo for my specific hair type,” she told me. I knew the day would come when my daughter would be lured in by beauty products, but I still found myself unprepared to respond. I feel a responsibility to help her navigate what will be a lifelong relationship with the beauty industrial complex. This means helping her decide what products are safe and appropriate to use. More importantly, though, it means helping her see beauty as a tool of self-care, rather than an external standard she must achieve. [Photo: Evereden] This is becoming an increasingly complex task for today’s parents. For one thing, the beauty industry is bigger than ever, with new products and brands popping up daily. Many contain active ingredients that aren’t appropriate for young skin, but that hasn’t stopped tweens from flocking to Sephora to buy them. All of these brands—from Sol de Janeiro to Drunk Elephant—are marketed to adults, with models who are much older than the brand’s youngest customers. The good news is that there’s a new wave of startups emerging that cater specifically to younger consumers, including Starface and Bubble. One of the most successful brands in this category is Evereden, which began as a baby brand in 2018 but has grown alongside its customers by creating skincare products for kids and now tweens. It’s currently making its biggest play for the tween set by launching fragrances designed to compete directly with the Sol de Janeiro mists that are highly coveted by middle schoolers. In many ways, Evereden is filling an important gap in the market for age-appropriate beauty products for young girls. It’s a void left behind by Bonne Bell, the iconic cosmetics brand that catered to generations of American tweens but shuttered a decade ago after years of declining sales. Evereden’s approach offers a glimpse into what today’s tweens care about, and what it takes to win them over. Growing With The Customer Parents who slathered Evereden’s creams on their preschoolers in 2018 are now living with preteens. Evereden is prepared for them. Two years ago, it launched a $22 lip oil that comes with a charm attached that feels like an upscale version of Lip Smackers. (Everden’s formula is certified by the Environmental Working Group to be free of toxic chemicals; meanwhile, EWG says Lip Smackers contains ingredients that could cause allergies, reproductive toxicity, and cancer.) [Photo: Evereden] This week, Evereden is launching a $69 three-piece set of fragrance mists that come in fun, colorful bottles. And when I tested them, they seemed to capture the bright, sugary essence of girlhood. This isn’t an accident. While many adult perfumes are complex and subtle, tweens tend to have simpler sensibilities. That’s what Evereden found when it did a focus group with 200 tweens and teens, asking them to choose among 70 scents. The final fragrances are fresh, floral, and sweet. Over the past five years, the fragrance industry has exploded, and tweens have contributed to this growth. Sol de Janeiro became Sephora’s best-selling brand partly because of the success of its fragrance mists, which are extremely popular among middle schoolers. But Evereden cofounder and CEO Kimberley Ho points out that many of the fragrances that tweens are buying from Sephora aren’t designed for kids. Sol de Janeiro’s advertising, for example, features voluptuous women in bikinis on Brazilian beaches. “Mists were the most requested product last year,” Ho says. “Many parents told me they weren’t comfortable with their child using Sol de Janeiro. The brand’s campaigns are sexual, because they’re meant for adults.” [Photo: Evereden] Ho was careful to market Evereden’s new mists in an age-appropriate way. The boxed set comes with a quiz—reminiscent of something you might find in retro magazines like Girls’ Life or Tiger Beat—that helps you decide which mist to wear on a given day. Are you feeling girly? Darling, with its undertones of strawberry and rose, is for you. Are you feeling a little sassy and independent? Supernova, with its pear and bamboo notes, is the right pick. “We use the same model for all the fragrances, because the message is that we are all multidimensional,” Ho says. “Tweens are at an age when they are trying to figure out who they are. We’re trying to say that you can be many things at once.” The Rise and Fall of Bonne Bell In many ways, Evereden is using the playbook of Bonne Bell, which defined tween beauty for generations of Americans. The brand was founded in 1937, at a time when the concept of the “teenager” was first emerging in U.S. culture. The company realized it had an opportunity to tailor products to girls who were curious about their mother’s makeup and skincare, but weren’t ready to take on an adult beauty regimen. The brand launched a range of teen-focused drugstore products that girls could afford to buy with their babysitting money. It was famous for its three-step acne-fighting regimen called Ten-O-Six. In 1973, it launched Lip Smackers, lip balms that came in flavors like cherry and Tootsie Roll. Two years after that, Bonne Bell launched perfumes. A vintage Lip Smackers ad [Photo: twitchery/Flickr] The branding of these products was distinct from beauty products targeted at adults; Bonne Bell featured younger models with more natural makeup in scenarios that were more about having fun than being sexy. As a result, many parents felt comfortable with their daughters filling their vanity with these products. In the 2000s, Bonne Bell began a slow decline. Competitors like Wet n Wild and L’Oréal started going after the tween and teen market with similar products. And retailers like Bath & Body Works tapped into the tween market by creating fun, limited-edition body sprays and washes that middle schoolers loved to collect. But this was also the dawn of e-commerce and social media, which led to an explosion of new beauty brands in the marketplace. Many tweens were drawn to these other brands, which resulted in Bonne Bell losing market share. In 2015, the company announced it was shuttering its operations. Lip Smackers products have reemerged under a new owner but have nowhere near the same market share they once had. [Photo: Evereden] Bonne Bell for Gen Alpha While the market is now overflowing with beauty brands, there are very few that focus exclusively on the tween consumer. This makes business sense. Brands stand to generate far more revenue by reaching a wider demographic—particularly if tweens are among them. But Ho believes it’s worth creating tween-specific products. For one thing, thanks to the clean beauty movement, many parents are very conscious about what they are putting on their children’s bodies. As their toddlers turn into tweens, they want to be careful about potential toxins or hormone disruptors in beauty products. From the start, Evereden has been focused on clean formulations that are also effective. Ho brought on three chief scientific officers who are professors of dermatology at Harvard and Stanford. Together, they’ve developed products free of 2,000 ingredients known to cause harm. The new fragrance mists are made without any preservatives such as butylated hydroxytoluene, which is commonly used in perfumes in the U.S. but has been banned in other countries because it is carcinogenic. [Photo: Evereden] And parents aren’t the only ones who are eager for age-appropriate products. Based on her focus groups, Ho has concluded that most tweens aren’t interested in plunging fully into the world of adulthood and the beauty rituals that go along with it. They’re just curious and want to dip their toe in the water. Until now, there haven’t been many options for them to explore, so they’ve embraced brands meant for older consumers. I see this in my own daughter. She’s intrigued by my perfume and makeup. But she also seems to understand that girlhood is precious and worth holding on to. When Evereden’s perfume mists arrived, she took the quiz with all the seriousness of a school math test. She decided to wear the Supernova scent, because she was feeling spunky. But who knows which one she’ll choose tomorrow? View the full article

Treasury says law firm’s Moscow division paid £3.9mn to designated entities View the full article

As the geographic center of Indianapolis, Monument Circle is in many ways the heart of the city. The 284-foot Soldiers and Sailors Monument towering in the middle is a beloved local landmark, and the plaza and fountain around its base has been a gathering place since it opened in 1902. But the way most people experience it is through the window of a car. Monument Circle is technically a traffic circle, which means the center of the city is little more than a place for cars to drive. The past couple of years, however, have shown another possibility. Since 2023, from June through November, part of the traffic circle has been closed to cars and converted into Spark on the Circle, a pop-up park that has activated the space and brought tens of thousands of pedestrians downtown. Created by the nonprofit art and design organization Big Car Collaborative in partnership with several local agencies, Spark on the Circle turns a quarter of the circle into an activated public space, with Astroturf covering the roadway, shade structures, games, vendors, and stages for performances. Now the landscape architects who designed the park are working on a plan that could make the pop-up permanent. Merritt Chase, a firm based in Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, has been involved in shaping Monument Circle for several years through its work on the downtown resiliency strategy launched by Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett in 2022. One plan arising from the strategy calls for a renewed focus on improving walkability downtown and creating more public space for an emerging residential population. Spark on the Circle, and Merritt Chase’s design for it, was created to turn Monument Circle into a destination rather than something most people simply drive past. Historic Monument Circle: Soldiers and Sailors Monument, circa 1950 [Photo: W.H. Bass Photo Co., Indiana Historical Society] “There’s been so much history there, protests and demonstrations, parades, festivals, and just the everyday life of the city that passed through that space. There have always been questions around the identity of the circle, the use of the circle, the future potential of the circle,” says Chris Merritt, cofounder of Merritt Chase. “Over the last couple of years, the temporary park we’ve put out there has definitely been a successful case study of new ways to reimagine and use the circle. So we’re building on that to continue to think about what a future permanent plan might be for the circle.” [Rendering: courtesy Merritt Chase] Merritt Chase has just been awarded an 18-month fellowship to further explore ideas for redesigning or reusing Monument Circle. The firm is one of 10 fellows supported by Emerson Collective, a philanthropy started by Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple’s Steve Jobs. The 2025 cohort of fellows, announced this week, is focused on local leadership and community-centered place-based work, according to Patrick D’Arcy, senior director of fellowships at Emerson Collective. “We really respect [Merritt Chase’s] community-centered approach. They believe that successful public projects require more than just really beautiful design; they also require community trust and collaboration and relationship building,” says D’Arcy. “Their vision for a more utilized and joyful Monument Circle is really inspiring.” [Photo: courtesy Merritt Chase] A circle for the city Preparations for this summer’s iteration of Spark on the Circle are still underway, but it’s expected to open in June. Megan Vukusich is director of the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development, and though she says there is currently no funding or official plan in place to make the pop-up park a permanent one, the visitation numbers suggest strong community interest. According to a report from Big Car Collective, the 2024 iteration of the park saw more than 71,000 visitors, with more than 400 on an average day. More than 80% of visitors spent 30 minutes or more at the park, and 30% went to a restaurant or did shopping downtown after leaving. [Photo: courtesy Merritt Chase] “We don’t want people to come and snap a quick photo. We’d like them to stay, maybe check out some of the local shops. These metrics are showing us that it is having an impact on the larger community,” Vukusich says. “Having activations such as Spark gives us a little bit more insight into what the community is looking for.” It’s also a reflection of the changing shape of downtown Indianapolis. Like many city centers, it was deeply affected by the pandemic, with many companies shuttering offices or allowing employees to work remotely. But downtown development is coming back, and officials estimate more than $9 billion worth of projects are in the pipeline, including a convention center expansion and a new 40-story hotel tower. This is happening as downtown’s residential population has grown to more than 29,000, more than a 46% increase since 2010. [Photo: courtesy Merritt Chase] Merritt Chase has two other ongoing projects that feed into this growth. One is a pedestrian conversion of three blocks leading up to the convention center; the other will add a new park to the site of a historic downtown food hall, with construction beginning this summer. Spark on the Circle is the pop-up version of these larger projects. “This is a way of leveraging a lot of that private investment and connecting it all across the city to create better everyday livable experiences,” Merritt says. “Projects like these and the way they connect will give more of a reason to not just visit but hopefully encourage more people to live downtown.” Though some local commenters have bemoaned any street closures, downtown Indianapolis has a very tight downtown grid with city blocks that are smaller than those in other big cities. The closure of part of the circle, or even the entire circle, would require only a short driving detour. [Photo: courtesy Merritt Chase] Merritt Chase will use its 18-month Emerson Collective fellowship to expand its community outreach, research, and planning for the future of downtown centered around Monument Circle, using Spark on the Circle as one of the primary use cases. Chase Merritt cofounder Nina Chase says the 2024 visitation numbers show there’s a big appetite for this kind of unconventional public space in the city. “That’s been really lovely to see,” she says. “We as landscape architects, we think yes that’s what you should do, but sometimes you never know. So it’s good to see it in action.” Merritt says turning the pop-up park into something more permanent is one option, but it’s not the predetermined goal of the plan Merritt Chase will produce. They’re more interested in finding out how people in the city want to use the space and then designing around that. “Whether it’s parklike and still open for cars or completely closed to cars, I think that’s still to be determined through lots of conversations with folks downtown and residents.” View the full article

This nondescript piece of home decor is about the size of a narrow bookshelf, and it looks like a vertical soundbar speaker. In reality, it’s a new home fitness device—and it hides a gym’s worth of workout machines. Amp is a $1,995 home fitness device that streamlines the clunkiness of a cable-based workout machine into the form of a thin, wall-mounted home accessory. It’s now available to pre-order for $99. Just six feet tall and one foot deep, Amp consists of a vertical mounted bar with a movable arm that pivots off the side and serves as the main workout interface. Unlike the typical gym machine with a stack of weights attached to a cable, Amp’s single cable interface connects to a magnetic resistance motor and electrical driver and can be adjusted to different heights to accommodate everything from bicep curls to squats to lunges. [Photo: Amp] Amp was founded by Shalom Meckenzie, a fitness enthusiast and tech entrepreneur. In 2020, he merged his betting software company SBTech with the sports betting company DraftKings for an undisclosed sum. Driven by the impact of losing his father when he was just 18, Meckenzie knew he wanted his next venture to focus on wellness and fitness. He scoured the market and came upon the idea of creating a workout machine that was more accessible than the large, complex and often ugly devices found in gyms. The starting point for Amp’s fitness device was to build something that “would look like a premium, luxury product,” Meckenzie says. “Not like a fitness device but more something like furniture that will blend into any house.” [Photo: Amp] This is a particular challenge for the multi-functional workout device known as a cable crossover machine, which Amp is intended to replicate, and is among one of the most used devices in any gym. Users can do a wide variety of exercises on this machine, but it’s often an elevator-sized metal cage strung through with cables, pulleys, and large stacks of weights. The solution would need the versatility of a crossover machine without the clunkiness—Meckenzie wanted Amp to sit in people’s living rooms, not get tucked away in their basements, while still being useful. “We’ve looked into all of our competitors and we chose one thing. We said we don’t want to look like any of them,” Meckenzie says. [Photo: Amp] About three years ago, he convened a team to devise a different approach. They holed up in a villa for two weeks and started designing prototypes out of cardboard. “I think we built about 25 different mock-ups,” says Shahar Cohen, Amp’s CEO. At the end of this campout design sprint the team members voted on their favorite version of the device. Their selection was unanimous. This prototype became Amp. Amp’s magnetic motor has between five and 100 pounds of resistance, which may seem low for those accustomed to straining against hundreds of pounds of metal weight. Meckenzie says the team designed Amp to optimize how a user works out, not how much weight they can pull. It operates on three different modes that alter the way weight and resistance are used in any given exercise. A fixed mode uses the same amount of resistance for both pulling and releasing the cable. A rubber band-like mode increases the resistance the longer a user pulls on the cable. And “eccentric” mode adds more resistance as the user returns the cable back to its starting point, meaning a 20-pound curl will feel like 30 pounds during the release. [Photo: Amp] With custom-built motors, integrated artificial intelligence, and a companion smartphone app, the device can mimic some of the most common machines found in gyms, and also create entirely new types of workouts based on the needs of the user. “We have a lot of opportunity for different types of resistance that you actually cannot perform with standard mechanical systems,” says Cohen. About 1,000 of Amp’s fitness devices have shipped to customers and installed so far, mostly in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, and the company expects to ship to other regions in the coming months. The full $1,995 cost includes shipping as well as installation, which Cohen compares to mounting a television. Hitting a relatively low price point was important to Meckenzie, who developed the idea for Amp during the pandemic when people were buying up smart home fitness devices like Peloton, which sell for between $1,495 and $2,495. “For me, it wasn’t interesting to sell a device for $5,000 or $10,000 which will not be accessible to people,” Meckenzie says. “I wanted to do something that has a big impact.” View the full article

A lot goes through our heads during company restructurings: Will I get laid off? Will my coworkers lose their jobs? What will happen to my workload if my team is affected? But in the wake of such events, if we don’t get laid off, we often ignore or dismiss the emotions that linger because we don’t feel we deserve to experience them. After all, we kept our jobs, we’re the lucky ones. Why should we complain or feel upset? However experts say that not addressing this so-called survivor’s guilt can negatively impact your confidence and productivity moving forward. “Those employees who remain, they feel either undeserving of being able to stay, or they feel responsible for their colleagues who lost their jobs, or they just feel kind of an overwhelming sense of guilt and sadness, even though they’re still at the job,” says Isha Metzger, a psychologist and cognitive-behavioral therapist specializing in trauma. There’s also often a fear of the unknown among employees who make it out of a major transition unscathed. “It’s this wrestle in the mind of, Oh man, I got to stay, but now I don’t know for how long,” says Lisa Rigoli, who worked in human resources for brands such as Target and CarMax before becoming a leadership consultant for individuals and teams navigating change. Luckily these feelings don’t have to stick around forever. Here’s how to overcome survivor’s guilt so you can make the most of your situation and come away from the organizational pivot stronger, wiser, and much less overwhelmed. PINPOINT THE WHAT AND WHY OF SURVIVOR’S GUILT Common wisdom says that the best first step to tackling any emotion is acknowledging it. That can be easier said than done, which is why Rigoli recommends asking yourself three pointed questions: What about this experience motivates me? What about this experience triggers me? What are some of my blind spots as a result of this experience? Let’s say your boss was let go. You might be motivated by the fact that there’s now an opening to step up as a leader, but triggered by the advanced responsibility or skill set that would entail. Meanwhile, your blind spot might be how to go about taking on this new role. When you’ve identified the things that excite and scare you, you can then begin to take steps toward solving for them. Metzger says labeling how you’re feeling—whether hopeless, nervous, angry, or something else—can also further prepare you for getting what you need to process it effectively, be that talking with a coworker who can comfort you or a family member who can help you decompress. “Without being able to first identify and then communicate what it is that you need, it’s very hard to advocate for yourself,” she says, adding that it’s also okay to acknowledge uncertainty. “Empowerment can also look like, ‘I don’t even have the feelings, or I’m not even able to communicate those feelings right now, and that’s why I’m coming to you for help.’ “Meeting yourself where you’re at, giving yourself grace, and being able to articulate . . . is the best way to get that help that we need,” Metzger adds. SET BOUNDARIES You might be tempted to overcompensate for organizational confusion or a lack of resources by working harder or longer hours. Or maybe there’s a spoken or unspoken expectation that you’ll take on more. As much as you can, resist this urge and set clear boundaries. “You can give yourself permission to disconnect as needed,” Metzger says, noting that this can be as simple as deciding not to check emails after 5 p.m. “If now you need to recharge and rest twice as much, make sure that you’re doing that as well.” With this, it’s important to get clarity on whom you’ll now report to, if management has shifted or left the company, as well as who on your team is new to you. Once that’s clear, you’ll be able to form a relationship built on mutual respect for work-life balance and boundaries. The best way to do so? Advocate for yourself early and often. FIND YOUR COMMUNITY It’s easy to feel like you have to go it alone in the aftermath of a transition—especially if your organization tends to promote a “dog eat dog” culture. But even in the most competitive of spaces it’s possible, and crucial, to find a community that can support you emotionally. “Focus on those allies or those advocates you’ve already been able to identify, and then . . . if you’re asked to take on an extra load, you can go to that ally or that advocate you’ve identified, and hopefully that will be someone who can protect you,” Metzger says. If all your friends or mentors have left, ask them who at the company you could connect with. “If there isn’t anyone who’s currently at your job, you can certainly think about mental health resources that exist, peer support groups that maybe you could find online,” Metzger adds. FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL Survivor’s guilt often stems from the fact that something happened to us that was out of our control. Moving past it, then, requires us to focus on the things we do have a say on. “If you’re feeling a loss of control over your workplace, then reframe the narrative in terms of, ‘Okay, I don’t have control over my workplace, but what sorts of things do I have control over? I can maybe get involved socially or civically, or even politically. I can make sure that I am staying close with those colleagues who no longer work here. I can make sure that I can contribute positively to the new workplace reality,’” Metzger says. Just because someone has left your team doesn’t mean you can’t remain friends, close colleagues, or mentor-mentee. Chances are you’ll need that person for emotional and career support down the road—and so will they once the smoke clears and they’re ready to make their next moves post-layoff. CONSIDER YOUR NEXT MOVES Sticking around long term, even with the residual feelings that stir up, might be exactly the right move for you. However, in some cases, your survivor’s guilt could be a sign of something bigger—for example, that you’re ready for a new job. This was the case for Rigoli, who faced a restructuring in 2022 that had her reconsidering her career path. “It forced me to take a moment to really ask myself, ‘What’s right for me? If I were to stay in that role, how would I feel?’ And I felt not complete,” she says. Or it could mean that you need some extra guidance from a therapist or career coach. “If you’re having these conversations and you find yourself still ruminating, still worrying, still feeling sad or guilty or hopeless,” Metzger says, “it never hurts to get that additional professional help.” View the full article

Between the rise of quiet quitting, the evolution of hybrid work, and concerns about artificial intelligence, we live in tumultuous times. In order to retain talent, it’s important for leaders to adapt to the changing needs of their employee population. This is a particularly large challenge at the moment since it requires understanding and supporting very different groups. There are currently five different generations from all walks of life in the workplace. They have a wide range of preferences when it comes to money management, lifestyle, and retirement goals. Finding ways to better understand and engage with the needs of unique employee segments can enhance recruitment and retainment efforts. In fact, our research shows that 91% of employees would be interested in changing jobs and 89% interested in keeping their jobs to gain access to the financial benefits they need. Below are three ways to increase engagement through workplace benefits while fostering a workplace culture that addresses various employee financial goals and needs. 1. Make sure your benefits meet your employees’ specific needs Fair pay, retirement income, and financial guidance may seem like universal demands, but employees come to the table with varying exposure to workplace benefits or financial planning, not to mention different goals—and thus may require different support. For example, Generation Z officially outnumbered the baby boomer generation in 2024. Many Gen Z’ers are likely experiencing benefits for the very first time. Meanwhile, the sandwich generation—employees caring for both aging parents and growing children—is the fastest growing employee segment and likely needs additional support. Additionally, women with children (35%) are about twice as likely as men with children (18%) to say they declined or delayed a promotion due to family obligations. Look for opportunities to provide support for their range of financial needs. For example, student loan repayment programs can help finance an education, emergency savings accounts can prepare your employees for an unexpected expense, and retirement savings vehicles like 401(k) can help your employees reach long-term financial goals. For complex issues, consider connecting your employees with a financial coach or advisor. Our research at Morgan Stanley shows that only about four in 10 diverse high earners use a financial advisor or wealth manager, yet those who do feel more positive about their finances. At the end of the day, keeping pace with the needs and experiences of all employee segments can support a more financially healthy and engaged workforce. 2. Use equity compensation as a retention tool According to our research, equity compensation is growing in popularity: three in four HR leaders (76%) reported that their companies are offering some form of equity compensation, up four percentage points year-over-year, and 12% since 2021. Offering equity compensation can help strengthen teams, attract talent, and keep companies competitive in today’s dynamic environment. It gives employees the opportunity to benefit from the company’s success and potentially increase their net worth. Additionally, it motivates employees to adopt a collective mindset and invest in the success of the company—emphasizing the shared purpose of your organization and uniting all employers behind a common goal and culture. The benefits of equity compensation reach beyond the employee: Equity can help you better reach business goals like recruiting top executives to hit a specific target or promoting company values. Our research shows that most HR leaders (95%) and employees (80%) agree that equity compensation is the most effective way to keep employees engaged. 3. Ensure your benefits education program meets different groups where they are Benefits are no use to employees if they don’t know about them. Consider diversifying your communication strategy by using multiple channels to meet participants where they are: Data shows that baby boomers tend to prefer to learn about benefits through in-person conversations, Gen X employees through online resources, millennial employees through video and podcast content, and Gen Z employees through social media. Our research shows that most employees (80%) believe their company needs to do a better job helping them understand how to maximize the financial benefits offered. Maintain a thoughtful cadence of communication throughout the year. Use various channels such as SMS text, chats, webinars, conference calls, and virtual meetings. Create a library of educational content such as articles, on-demand videos, and virtual classes on your employee intranet, so that employees can easily locate what’s relevant to them. Financial education can help employees connect the dots between their workplace benefits and their individual financial needs. View the full article

The better your ChatGPT prompts, the better your outputs. Here are 234 prompts to speed up your work. View the full article

Norges Bank Investment Management makes fresh bet on fortunes of UK capital’s retail and leisure districtView the full article

There’s a growing fear that artificial intelligence will soon replace human talent. While it’s undeniable that AI will impact the labor market, as with any disruptive technology, a closer look reveals a different—and far more empowering—future. Rather than displacing highly skilled professionals, AI is setting the stage for knowledge workers to transition from individual contributors into high-leverage managers, directing teams of AI agents that can execute tasks with breathtaking efficiency. Rather than consign the expertise and creativity of humans into irrelevance, AI will make it all the more essential, as humans direct and guide AI agents toward the ideal outcome. AI as High-Performing Team Members Today’s AI systems are already demonstrating mastery in tasks ranging from data analysis and report generation to complex decision-making in finance, legal research, and the creative industries. In many of the sectors mentioned, this capability emerged only in the past few years, as generative AI became a viable and mature tool for businesses. Agentic AI is the next logical step, wherein AI isn’t a tool that assists a human worker but one that acts alongside them with a degree of autonomy. In effect, digital agents are becoming the new breed of employees: competent, consistent, and ever-improving, with the ability to work around the clock and to ingest vast quantities of data in a matter of seconds. You can understand the fear this provokes. AI agents have the ability—at least, in their realm of operations—to be faster, better, and cheaper than humans. But even the best talent needs a manager. And managers with the most high-flying players on their team are the most effective in the organization. The future belongs to professionals who channel AI’s capabilities into results that are exponentially better than what any one person could achieve alone. Leading AI Through Technical Management This begs the question: What does it mean to be a manager of AI agents? The truth is that effective management has always required a dual set of skills, whether we’re talking about people or, indeed, AI systems. On one hand, there’s people management—the art and science of understanding human behavior, motivation, and emotions. Although AI lacks that emotional depth, effective collaboration with AI agents requires certain soft skills, like the ability to set expectations and provide clear, unambiguous instruction. On the other hand, management also means organizing, delegating, and ensuring that systems are in place to execute a strategic vision. This isn’t just about setting a direction; it’s about verifying that every task contributes toward delivering a shared goal. These abilities (tactical oversight, process optimization, and strategic judgment) are specialized skills that don’t easily transfer among different domains. It’s one reason why a stellar sales manager might struggle if suddenly tasked with running an engineering team, and why an esteemed product manager might struggle to motivate a sales team. In a world where AI agents work alongside us, these two facets of management become even more critical. While AI can execute many tasks with remarkable speed and precision, a manager guiding a team of AI agents must both understand the intricate mechanics of the technology and appreciate the human elements of collaboration to work with other human peers who are managing AI systems. The common notion that great managers need to be skilled only in people management, without truly grasping how the work is done, misses the mark entirely. Anyone who’s experienced a manager disconnected from the practical realities of the job will tell you that true leadership demands a hands-on understanding combined with a clear vision. Revisiting the Job Displacement Myth Some worry that as AI becomes more capable, we’ll need far fewer humans in the workforce, which will ultimately lead to mass unemployment. The counter-argument to this common claim is known as Jevons paradox: the idea that increases in efficiency can paradoxically lead to even greater overall demand. While AI might take over tasks that human beings currently do in the workplace, the gains in efficiency in certain tasks will increase the need for human operators (and the human touch) in other ways. The mistake people continually mistake is assuming that the demand for humans (and human skills) is elastic only in one direction—down. That we’ve reached a ceiling for the usefulness of the collective human race and, over time, that ceiling will get lower and lower. If we embrace the possibility that a single person managing AI could deliver outputs far beyond what we see today, we aren’t looking at a future with fewer opportunities. Similarly, the industrial revolution replaced countless manual jobs, particularly in sectors like garment manufacturing, but at the same time it led to a historic explosion of wealth that continues to this day, although, admittedly, unevenly shared. It led to lower prices for many staples of living, not to mention luxuries, which in turn raised our standard of living. The current wave of AI pessimism ignores previous historical trends. It’s equally plausible that the productivity boost of AI will unlock entirely new opportunities—new markets, industries, and innovative products—that we can’t even imagine now. While some jobs might be displaced, others may emerge in the economy that offset that loss. AI agent managers are just one example. So, How Do We Get Ready for This Shift? I’ve been careful not to minimize the pain that a transition to an AI-centered economy will bring. Just like the industrial revolution brought its own short-term displacement, the same will happen here, but with nowhere near the force and system shock that came with the full-blown mechanization of human labor. I believe AI’s path will be slower and more deliberate, and that there are many steps we can take along the way to make the transition much smoother. First, let’s talk about education. Universities are great at producing academics, but they don’t necessarily provide vocational and professional skills. A computer science program will teach you about algorithms, but it might not cover things like GitHub and Docker. As we transition to an AI-powered workforce, it’s likely we’ll need to shift the emphasis away from academics and toward practical, real-world skills. These are the skills that were, in many parts of the world, once provided by polytechnic institutes and are now offered by community colleges in the United States. I would argue that we need more of them, and to treat them with greater esteem. For the current workforce, companies need to make AI literacy part of their playbook, inculcating it within existing workers and incorporating it into their onboarding processes. Training should be provided evenly, from the most junior hires to the C-suite. The companies that start from the outset with an AI-enabled, AI-aware workforce will be those that thrive during this period. And for individuals, especially those in jobs most vulnerable to being disrupted by AI, this is the time to take action. The best thing you can do? Start learning. Not everyone needs to become a software engineer, but understanding AI tools, getting comfortable with digital workflows, and building problem-solving skills will make all the difference. But here’s the catch: It’s not just about knowing how to use AI. It’s about knowing enough to question it. AI is powerful, but it’s not perfect. Blindly accepting AI-generated outputs without understanding the logic behind them, or the limitations of the models themselves, is a recipe for disaster. It’s also, fundamentally, the definition of AI illiteracy. Ultimately, the role of an AI agent manager will be to push back against their “employees” from time to time. The professionals who thrive in this new era will be those who keep their critical thinking skills sharp and who can evaluate AI’s suggestions, knowing when to trust it and when to override it. The good news? There’s no shortage of ways to level up: free courses, employer-led training, AI boot camps, and self-guided learning. The resources are there, but you have to take the first step. The future belongs to those who adapt—and those who think critically. View the full article

Figures come as Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates on Thursday View the full article

Plus the debt ceiling and the end of QTView the full article