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We all want to travel more. Whether a vacation, career break, gap year trip, there’s some trip we are always thinking about. One of the things that keeps a lot of people from achieving that dream is money. Saving money to travel can be an uphill battle but travel is not as expensive as you think. There are plenty of ways to save money on the road and lower your costs. And you don’t have to be a backpacker to travel cheap. There are tons of ways to travel on a budget without sacrificing comfort. One of the easiest ways to travel on a budget is to just go somewhere inexpensive. There are plenty of amazing places to visit that are still quite affordable. In fact, many of them are actually cheaper than day-to-day life back home! And, while there are dozens upon dozens of inexpensive countries you can visit, in this post, I am going to share my favorite that I think are the best! Table of Contents Thailand Mexico Portugal Central America Hungary Peru Vietnam India Taiwan 1. Thailand Despite being a hugely popular tourist destination, Thailand has remained relatively cheap. Outside of the popular island destinations, it’s easy to visit the country for around $50 USD per day if you’re backpacking. Hostel dorms cost $10 USD per night, you can eat on less than $10 USD per day if you stick to delicious street food markets, drinks are just a couple bucks each, and tours and activities don’t cost much more than $20-30 USD. If you’re not looking to backpack around Thailand, you can still visit the country on a budget if you use points for hotels, stick to budget accommodation, continue to stick to street food vendors and public transportation. If you do that, you’d spend around $100 USD per day. For more information, check out my guide to visiting Thailand. 2. Mexico I’ll be honest: I was late to the game on Mexico. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I finally took the time out to explore the country. The country is just incredible. Mayan ruins, stunning beaches, lush jungles, world-class food, picturesque cenotes, mezcal….I love the country. The trick to having an affordable trip to Mexico is to get out of the tourist regions. Leave Tulum (it’s the worst place in the world anyway), Playa del Carmen, Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, and all the other resort towns filled with American hotel brands and tourists. Hostels cost between $10-15 USD per night, street tacos are $1 USD or less, other meals will set you back $5-10 USD, beer is around $1-2 USD, and even big-ticket sites like Chichen Itza are just $5-15 USD. If you aren’t looking to backpack, you can still visit affordably. On a midrange budget of about $80, you can stay in a private hostel room or cheap hotel, eat out at restaurants serving cheap traditional cuisine, visit more attractions, enjoy a few drinks, and take the occasional taxi to get around. For more information on how to plan a trip there, check out my guide to visiting Mexico. 3. Portugal Portugal is not only one of my favorite countries in Europe but it’s one of the cheapest eurozone countries as well. Offering charming cities, stunning coastlines, and beautiful weather, this country has become much more popular in recent years. There’s a growing expat scene as well as a lively digital nomad community. You can get by here for around $50 USD per day without missing out on the amazing food, fun activities, and delicious wine. On this budget, you’ll be staying in a hostel dorm room, cooking all of your meals, limiting your drinking, using public transportation to get around, and sticking to free activities like free walking tours and enjoying the beaches. While prices are a bit higher in popular Lisbon, you can easily offset that by visiting in the shoulder season or in the winter. For more information, check out my guide to visiting Portugal. 4. Central America Central America is one of the cheapest regions of the world, with pretty much every country here an affordable place to visit. Because of that, I’m including the whole region! In countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala you’ll find the best deals, with budget hotels costing around $15 USD, meals for $3-4 USD, bus journeys for the same price, and beer for less than a dollar. In the “expensive” countries in the region (Belize, Panama, Costa Rica), you’ll be spending closer to $50 USD per day, though you won’t be wanting for anything as street food costs under $5 USD and hostel dorms are $8-12 USD. For more information on the region, check out my guide to visiting Central America. 5. Hungary Hungary is an amazing, affordable country, the highlight of which is Budapest. I love Budapest. It’s a beautiful, historic city. Hostels in Budapest start at $10 USD per night. Meals at the markets or at the plethora of kebab and sandwich shops are around $5-10 USD. Trains and buses were just a few dollars while a beer is less than $2 USD. Unless you are going out for a big night of drinking or paying for lots of attractions and activities, $50 USD will give you plenty of room to enjoy the sites and sounds of the country. And the Budapest is a great alternative to more popular destinations like Prague or Vienna, offering just as much fun for a fraction of the cost. For more information, check out our guide to visiting Hungary. 6. Peru Home to the epic Wonder of the World, Machu Picchu, Peru is one of the most popular countries in South America. I absolutely loved my trip there. It’s a country I would go back to over and over again. While hiking the Inca Trail will definitely burst your budget, everyday life in Peru is quite affordable. If you want to backpack Peru, I’d plan for $50–80 USD per day. On this budget, you’d be staying in hostel dorms, eating at typical hole-in-the-wall restaurants and cafés, limiting your drinking, taking public transportation and overnight buses, and doing a few paid activities and tours. If you’re going to party a lot, you’ll be on the higher end of this range. And, if you do want to do some guided hikes but don’t have the money, try to book last minute. You can usually find amazing deals — including deals for hikes like the Inca Trail. While you might end up spending more than $50 USD per day, those once-in-a-lifetime experiences are worth it. For more information, check out my guide to visiting Peru. 7. Vietnam Vietnam is one of the cheapest countries in Southeast Asia. From the stunning views of Sam Mountain and Ha Long Bay to the man-made artistry of the sacred temples and pagodas to the rice terraces and beaches, Vietnam is stunning. Hostels can be found for as little as $4-5 USD, with many including free breakfast and free beer (during limited hours). Food from street vendors can be found for under $1-2 USD, and buses around the country are incredibly cheap. Even activities here are cheap. The Cu Chi Tunnels (tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war) are just $5 USD to visit while a full day of canyoning is just $20 USD. For more information, check out my guide to visiting Vietnam! 8. India No budget travel list would be complete without India. India has always been an inexpensive place to visit, but the steep decline in the Indian rupee in recent years has made the country an even bigger bargain. You can travel well here for very little money, and increasing your budget by just a few dollars can often lead to substantial increases in luxury. For example, on a budget of $30-45 per day, you can do the typical backpacker thing: guesthouses, cheap food, sleeper trains, and overland buses. In the larger cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore as well as beach destinations like Goa, you can expect to spend around $45-55 per day. But, if you doubled that, there’s virtually nothing you couldn’t do from private tour guides to three- or four-star hotels to opulent meals to internal flights. The country is generally just really, really cheap. 9. Taiwan Taiwan is one of the most underrated countries in Asia. It’s super affordable, safe, clean, and has plenty of things to see and do. You can easily visit Taiwan for $40-50 USD per day as food and accommodation are both super affordable. Hostels start around $10 USD while street food costs just a couple dollars (and is super tasty). There are plenty of markets, lots of hiking, convenient public transportation, and a fun nightlife. No matter what you are interested in, you can find it in Taiwan. You’ll get a lot of value here. For more information, check out my guide to visiting Taiwan. ***There are many great destinations in the world that don’t have to cost a fortune. And, if you use points to fly there, you can save even more money. And, even if you aren’t an uber budget traveler and want some more luxury, all the destinations listed here can still provide a lot of luxury on a bargain. By visiting some of these budget destinations, you’ll be able to stretch your budget and make your trip financially attainable. How to Travel the World on $75 a DayMy New York Times best-selling book to travel will teach you how to master the art of travel so that you’ll get off save money, always find deals, and have a deeper travel experience. It’s your A to Z planning guide that the BBC called the “bible for budget travelers.” Click here to learn more and start reading it today! Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner. It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned. Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels. Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are: SafetyWing (best for budget travelers) World Nomads (best for mid-range travelers) InsureMyTrip (for those 70 and over) Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage) Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals. Need a Rental Car? Discover Cars is a budget-friendly international car rental website. No matter where you’re headed, they’ll be able to find the best — and cheapest — rental for your trip! Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more. Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip. The post 9 Destinations Under $50 A Day appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site. View the full article

It can be useful, while studying any topic, to get an overview of when major events happened relative to each other. History textbooks commonly use a timeline for this—a chronological chart that shows when various events happened. WikiTimeline is a free website that uses a large language model to turn any Wikipedia article into a visual timeline you can use to see major events in a sequence. Wikipedia's open nature means there's all kinds of third party tools that use the articles in interesting ways. There's WikiTok, a sort of TikTok for Wikipedia, which allows you to scroll through articles to learn topics at random. WikiTimeline is another tool like that, putting the free and open information into a new context. To get started, just head to the home page and search for anything—you will see suggested articles. Select the article you want to turn into a timeline. WikiTimeline will scan the article, note everything in the article that happened on a particular date, then compile it all into a timeline. You can start exploring right away. You can click any item to read a few more details, typically the year and a one-sentence summary of the event. You can zoom in and out, depending on how crowded the timeline is, and you can use the arrows on the side to jump between events. You can also add multiple articles to one timeline, allowing you to compare the relative history of two people or organizations. Credit: Justin Pot You can then copy the URL to your timeline and share it. An embed code is offered if you want to put the timeline on a website. There's even the option to customize the color scheme, if you want. Credit: Justin Pot As for the timelines themselves, they're pretty good. I'd say they're useful as a quick study aid than anything as authoritative as the timelines in a history textbook. And all of the usual nuances that apply to large language models are relevant here—it might get facts wrong or miss certain things. The product's about page recommends actually reading the Wikipedia article: "Our tool is meant to be a visual aid and should not be used as the sole source of information." In other words, it's probably best to think of this tool as a visual supplement. It's a potentially useful one, though. View the full article

Are you new to the world of PPC? If so, welcome! We’re thrilled to have you on board. A career in paid search offers exciting opportunities for growth, creativity, and making a real impact on businesses. Let me tell you, starting out in 2025 is a whole different ballgame than when I first started in PPC. In those days, we managed accounts overflowing with millions of keywords, manually adjusted bids, and navigated the platforms while learning how the web was shifting marketing and consumer behavior – all while serving our clients. This was a time before AI and automation, when text ads were static, and both searchers and marketers approached the internet with less skepticism. Today, with all the advanced technology at your fingertips, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed in this industry. You know you’re missing the “been there, done that” context that comes with nearly two decades in the trenches. I wrote this article to share 12 essential tips for building a strong foundation in paid search with knowledge, clarity, and healthy skepticism. By the end, you’ll be able to critically assess strategies rather than relying on automated systems or unverified claims about what works in PPC in 2025. 1. The power of ‘why?’ The most potent tool in your advertising arsenal isn’t a new platform or algorithm – it’s the relentless pursuit of “why.” Question everything: Why this campaign type? Why these keywords? Why this budget allocation? Consider different campaign objectives (e.g., awareness, consideration, conversion) when asking “why.” In 2025, “standard” setups are obsolete. While non-brand campaigns, a brand campaign, and a display campaign once dominated, Performance Max (PMax) often delivers superior results. For ecommerce, a focused strategy of brand campaigns, PMax, and strategic YouTube placements frequently outperforms traditional display. This isn’t about blindly following trends – it’s about deeply understanding your “why” and your client’s “why.” Before allocating budget to a standalone YouTube campaign alongside PMax, define its purpose and realistic goals. A 10 times ROI from YouTube is often unrealistic, but boosting brand recall or branded searches is achievable. Only through rigorous questioning can you align campaign objectives with realistic expectations – ensuring every dollar spent serves a clear, measurable purpose, whether it’s driving direct conversions or building long-term brand equity. Dig deeper: Becoming a world-class PPC ad buyer: 8 key lessons 2. Explore every nook and cranny of the platforms Mastery comes from immersion. Don’t just navigate your accounts. Explore them. Click through every dropdown, dissect campaign settings, and question each feature. “What does this do?” should be your mantra. Then, seek answers. Google is your ally. Experiment fearlessly; you won’t break anything, and you’ll uncover hidden functionalities. For example, you could explore the Change history feature to track past modifications and identify the root cause of account performance fluctuations. Many paid search leaders began as curious explorers, sharing their discoveries and building their expertise. I personally found new settings, shared insights, and connected with fellow professionals through this process. Remember, interfaces vary widely, even within the same manager account. Consistent exploration is nonnegotiable, especially for newcomers. Make it a daily habit, regardless of your experience level. 3. Business context is king Paid search operates within a broader business ecosystem. Performance fluctuations rarely exist in isolation. Instead of solely scrutinizing campaign metrics, analyze the surrounding landscape: Market trends. Product quality. The overall marketing strategy. While clients may fixate on ROAS and conversion targets, recognize the limitations imposed by budget constraints and unrealistic expectations. Experience will sharpen your ability to discern what’s achievable within the platform. Crucially, collaborate with senior experts to differentiate between paid search challenges and fundamental business or expectation discrepancies. Dig deeper: 5 ways to align PPC campaigns with business objectives 4. Ditch the process, embrace the data Rote processes breed stagnation. Too many campaigns are launched on autopilot, adhering to rigid, “boilerplate” structures – brand, non-brand, display – a cookie-cutter approach applied indiscriminately. This formula guarantees mediocrity. Instead, become a data interpreter. Really embrace the data. Ask yourself: “What insights does the data reveal?” “How can we leverage these insights to maximize results?” This data-centric approach fuels innovation and transforms you into a strategic powerhouse. 5. Understand PPC’s role in the customer journey PPC excels in the lower funnel, capturing users with immediate purchase intent. However, it’s crucial to recognize its limitations. Brand awareness is primarily cultivated through upper-funnel initiatives like CTV and Facebook campaigns. While YouTube and Discovery campaigns can contribute to awareness, relying on search for foundational brand building is inefficient. Non-brand search – particularly for ambiguous keywords like “truck” – yields costly and diluted results due to vague user intent. Understanding PPC’s strategic position within the customer journey is paramount for effective campaign planning and realistic performance expectations. Dig deeper: How to set and manage PPC expectations for teams and stakeholders 6. Influencer insights: Take ’em with a grain of salt While expert insights offer valuable perspectives, remember that context is paramount. Strategies that succeed in one account may falter in another. Prioritize your own data-driven analysis over blind replication of external playbooks. Leverage PPC influencer insights as a source of inspiration, not as a rigid blueprint for implementation. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. 7. Master the basics Dive deep into keyword matching, search terms, negative keywords, and targeting. Understand the basic settings and the “unwritten rules” that contradict Google’s support documents – like location settings and the display network inclusion in search. Foundational mastery is non-negotiable. Develop a comprehensive understanding of core PPC principles. Dig deeper: 5 essential PPC skills every agency pro must have 8. Platform-specific advice: Be discerning Exercise critical judgment when evaluating platform-generated recommendations. Platform suggestions are not inherently aligned with your account’s best interests. Google representatives, for instance, may advocate strategies that prioritize platform revenue over your specific objectives. Similarly, interface prompts often encourage changes that may not be strategically sound. Remember, platform goals and your business goals may diverge. Approach platform advice with the same skepticism you would financial guidance from a credit card provider – their primary objective is to increase spending. Dig deeper: Top Google Ads recommendations you should always ignore, use, or evaluate 9. Master the art of ad copy Writing persuasive ad copy remains a critical differentiator – a skill that can fast-track your success in PPC. While automation and algorithms dominate many aspects of paid search, the ability to craft compelling, human-centered language is a rare and invaluable asset. As a senior strategist, my days are consumed by high-level strategy, budget allocation, and stakeholder management. By the time I’ve finalized a campaign framework and gotten sign-off, I’m often mentally exhausted. Expecting me to then conjure up brilliant ad copy? Not a chance. That’s where you, as a junior strategist, have an opportunity. Don’t underestimate the power of strong ad copy – and the brainpower it takes to write it. It’s more than just clever writing; it’s about understanding the target audience, conveying value propositions, and driving meaningful action. A junior strategist who consistently delivers persuasive, high-converting copy is a godsend. It’s an immediate way to prove your worth, become an indispensable team member, and accelerate your career growth. So, hone that skill, embrace those copy templates and sitelink assets, and watch the doors swing open. 10. Consistent monitoring is key PPC is an ongoing process – don’t set it and forget it. Check your accounts regularly, even if you decide not to make changes. Think of PPC as tending a garden. You wouldn’t constantly dig up plants, replant them, and add new fertilizers every day. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is simply observe, water when needed, and let nature take its course. The same goes for paid search. Regular check-ins, even without immediate changes, give you a deeper understanding of account behavior. You’ll develop a sense of what’s normal, what’s not, and when intervention is truly necessary. This “zen” approach to monitoring allows you to: Spot anomalies quickly: If something unexpected happens – a sudden spike in CPCs, a drop in conversions, or a rogue campaign draining your budget – you’ll identify it immediately and take action. Anticipate trends: By observing patterns over time, you can anticipate seasonal fluctuations, competitor activity, and other factors that might impact performance. Build confidence: The more familiar you are with your accounts, the more confident you’ll feel in your ability to manage them effectively. Dig deeper: PPC management checklist: Daily, weekly and monthly reviews 11. Budget management: Don’t panic Budget management is the unsung hero of successful PPC campaigns – and it’s a great entry point for junior strategists to make a real impact. Mastering this skill isn’t just about number crunching; it’s about understanding how Google Ads allocates budgets across campaigns and over time. Familiarize yourself with the nuances of daily and monthly budgets, and remember the crucial 30.2-day rolling average that influences spending patterns. Avoid making impulsive daily adjustments. Instead, adopt a strategic, data-informed approach. Explore the budget management tools and scripts available within the platform. These resources can automate tasks, provide insightful visualizations, and help you maintain spending targets. By taking ownership of budget management, you’ll free up senior strategists to focus on higher-level tasks while gaining invaluable experience in a core aspect of PPC. It’s a stepping stone to mastering campaign strategy and essential to keeping accounts from over- or underspending. Dig deeper: PPC budgeting in 2025: When to adjust, scale, and optimize with data 12. Beware of account overload As a junior strategist, it’s easy to fall into the trap of account overload – especially in agency settings. You might be pressured to juggle 40–50 accounts simultaneously, with the promise of rapid experience gain. However, this is a recipe for burnout and subpar performance. While the ideal number of accounts depends on their complexity, spreading yourself too thin inevitably compromises quality. When you’re overwhelmed, strategic thinking and in-depth analysis suffer. You’re forced into reactive mode – checking boxes and putting out fires – instead of proactively optimizing campaigns for maximum impact. Your value lies in delivering insightful, data-driven strategies, not just completing tasks. Advocate for a manageable workload that allows you to master the craft and provide exceptional client service. Final thoughts Navigating the world of paid search can feel like traversing a constantly shifting landscape – but with the right mindset and a commitment to continuous learning, you can thrive. Success in PPC isn’t about blindly following trends or succumbing to platform pressures. It’s about: Cultivating a data-driven approach. Questioning assumptions. Understanding the nuanced interplay between strategy, creativity, and human psychology. As you embark on your paid search journey, embrace the challenges and celebrate the victories. Never stop questioning, testing, and refining your approach. Most importantly, remember that your value lies in delivering insightful, impactful solutions that drive meaningful results for your clients. So, keep learning, growing, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the ever-evolving world of paid search. You’ve got this! 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I like to say that I spend most of my life negotiating—and if you consider your own work and life, you just might feel the same. My career has been full of back-and-forth: I sat across tables negotiating agreements for Christie’s for over two decades as Global Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships; I stand on stages around the world as a charity auctioneer, negotiating prices up to maximize fundraising; and I founded a talent agency that requires me to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of my clients. To top it all off, I’m a mom of three kids. Over the years, I have listened to many people unknowingly sink their own negotiations with a mistake as simple as using the wrong language, revealing their inexperience and lack of confidence in one sentence. Here are three phrases you should avoid if you want to come out on top in your negotiations every single time: 1. Is it okay if I ask for . . . ? One of the most important things to remember in any negotiation is to project confidence from the minute the conversation begins. I have watched innumerable people show a lack of confidence and subpar negotiating skills in the first couple of minutes of the negotiation with this phrase. If you begin a negotiation asking “Is it okay if I ask for . . . ?” you have made me the authority, which gives me the upper hand. As an auctioneer, I never look out into the audience and ask the bidder for the next increment—I tell them the number and then wait for them to agree. This doesn’t mean you need to walk into a negotiation acting aggressive or assertive if that is not your natural demeanor. In fact, it is better if you act naturally when you walk into the room, so that the person sitting across from you feels comfortable and relaxed. Body language is a telltale sign that you are in control of the situation. If you are the type of person who likes to overexplain or ask for permission, practice the negotiation with friends and family before you walk in the room and get comfortable sitting in silence. Remember, in a negotiation, confident silence will always be your greatest asset. The person who speaks and asks too much will usually come out with less than they wanted. Negotiation is about gaining the upper hand from the minute you sit down . . . and keeping the upper hand until the DocuSign has been completed. 2. Do you think my number is too high? To set the right tone for a negotiation, it is important that you appear to be in control at all times. If you have done your prep work, you should set your “LMH” number in advance of the meeting. Your L is your Low (walk away) number. Your M is your medium number; you would feel comfortable accepting this offer. Lastly, your H is your high number; would be thrilled to get this in exchange for what you are providing. By thinking this through before the negotiation, you should feel confident you won’t give away more than you want or accept less than you should in the heat of negotiation. Even better, this means you don’t need to ask the question of the person across the table because you already know what you will accept for the service or product you provide. If they want it, fantastic! If not, you already know what it will take for you to walk away. Also note that a shrewd negotiator will go into a negotiation expecting that a higher number will be stated to start the negotiation. Good negotiators expect the person across the table to be good at negotiating until proven otherwise. If you don’t feel like a confident negotiator, asking if your number is too high will only show them you don’t feel confident that what you are asking for is worth the number you have put out there. Instead of asking, state your number and let them react to it before continuing the negotiation. 3. I will just wait to hear back from you about next steps. When I stand onstage at an auction watching two bidders battle it out to win the item, the minute I slam down the gavel and read out the paddle number, I recommend the winning bidder’s credit card number be charged as soon as possible. I learned a long time ago that buyer’s remorse is real, and things that are purchased in the heat of an auction battle might not be as appealing outside of a crowded room of people cheering on the bidders. I have seen the same thing happen in a negotiation. A negotiation is not done until the contract is signed—so make sure to take the initiative to follow up immediately and ensure everything you discussed is ready to be finalized as soon as possible. The sooner you finalize the deal, the sooner you can get on to your next successful negotiation. View the full article

I've been watching the volatility ever since the unconfirmed February 26th or so ranking volatility when the tools didn't show much of a spike but the chatter was super high. Well, the tools started to show the spike around March 1st and the chatter is still heated.View the full article

Google is now using generative AI, and labeling it as such, within the Google Search product details overlay. When you click on a product listing in Google Search, the overlay window has a section called top insights. That section can be generated using AI.View the full article

Google now supports expressive reactions for Google reviews on mobile search and maps. This shows up when viewing a Google Business Profile's reviews on mobile.View the full article

Understand the role of digital marketing KPI in overcoming attribution issues while using analytics tools for better insights. The post Mapping Digital Marketing KPIs To Business Outcomes appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Hello! Thank you, as always, for reading Plugged In. A quick scheduling note: Starting next week, this newsletter will land in your inbox on Fridays instead of Wednesdays. See you then. Back in December, a Meta executive catalyzed a doozy of a kerfuffle by saying the company expected AI-generated profiles to exist on its platforms “kind of in the same way that accounts do.” “They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform. . . . That’s where we see all of this going,” VP of generative AI Connor Hayes told the Financial Times. The reaction was . . . not great (Futurism’s headline: “People Are Disgusted by Facebook’s Plan to Deploy AI-Powered ‘Users’”). Hayes specified that Meta expected this development to happen “over time,” and though it didn’t sound the least bit appealing to me, I also thought it wasn’t an immediate threat. But in recent days, a bevy of AI-generated people have overwhelmed my Facebook feed. They are, I’m sure, a cruder manifestation of the idea than the AI members Hayes was talking up. But their presence has left me even warier of Meta willfully reimagining a social network around synthetic personalities. The posts in question come from a variety of AI slop Facebook pages I didn’t ask to follow. The page names, such as “Nature and Animals,” “The Newstoday,” and “Dogs World,” have little or nothing to do with the topics of the posts. And those topics are, well, bizarre. How bizarre? Something like half the posts I’ve seen involve AI-generated images of senior citizens—as old as 120—showing off birthday cakes they’ve baked themselves. Most of the others relate to talented craftspeople who have fashioned elaborate sculptures out of materials as diverse as wood, ice, and vegetables. A smattering are then-and-now shots of happy people in photos taken decades ago and in 2025. A few show distressed wild animals getting rescued by humans. Much of the imagery is obviously synthetic; some of it is a tad more subtle. But all of it is meant to tug at the heartstrings, often in nakedly manipulative ways. A pretty high percentage of the cake bakers and craftspeople explain that their accomplishment has gone unacknowledged. Sometimes they look downright morose about the lack of love. That’s presumably meant to get Facebook members clicking, which they do—sometimes to the tune of thousands of comments and tens of thousands of likes. Along with inserting these posts into the feeds of users who didn’t request them (like, for instance, me), Meta tries to goose engagement via its Meta AI bot. An image of a bearded gent who carved a crib for his grandchild—only to discover that “Nobody Likes It :(”—is accompanied by suggested questions such as “Why is it unliked?” and “Baby’s reaction to crib.” None of the answers the AI generates are of even the slightest value, creating a perverse feedback loop in which Meta is feeding one form of bad AI into another to generate even more slop. Which is not to say that I didn’t find this material briefly transfixing when it first found its way into my feed. Craving more understanding of what was going on, I clicked on some of the posts to read the comments. An alarming percentage of them showered the purported posters with birthday wishes, compliments on their artistic creations, and general good vibes. Either the Facebook members who left the comments had been fooled or—worse—they were happy to be happy about the accomplishments of AI-generated characters going through slight variations on a handful of maudlin scenarios. I did savor the delightfully cynical comments from those members who saw through the whole thing. “So what?” snapped one member in response to a post involving one particular cake-baking centenarian. “I’m 199 years old and I made my cake with peach cream and filling and I started decorating cakes when I was 6 months old.” After a few days of this, I got worried that engaging with these posts at all had something to do with them being there—especially when the onslaught not only continued, but intensified. Maybe Facebook took me as liking them (though I never, you know, clicked the Like button) rather than merely being a victim of my own morbid curiosity. So I started using the “Not Interested” option to tell its algorithm I didn’t want to see these kinds of items. A day later, they seem to be gone, though I’m not ready to declare them eradicated. At its best—as when group moderators take their jobs seriously—Facebook is still wonderful. It might even live up to Mark Zuckerberg’s platitudes about its mission being to connect the world. These AI posts have nothing to do with that. Stripped of its humanity and stuffed with generative AI, Facebook is the junkiest digital junk food imaginable. And the worst part is that the bad contaminates the good. As AI-generated fake then-and-now photo comparisons began showing up, I started skimming right past similar ones posted by people I’m following. Only after slowing down and assessing them more carefully did I realize they were their real family members, not more empty calories. I felt like I’d been left to moderate my own feed—which, come to think of it, is an official Facebook policy these days. Maybe Meta will somehow institutionalize AI profiles in a way that adds value and leaves no member confused. But I can’t help but wonder: Instead of welcoming AI-generated members onto its platforms, might the company be better off doing everything in its power to guarantee that the only people you’ll run across are, indeed, actual people? You’ve been reading Plugged In, Fast Company’s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to you—or if you’re reading it on FastCompany.com—you can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. More top tech stories from Fast Company Uber will now pair Austin riders with Waymo self-driving cars Austin riders can be matched with a Waymo all-electric Jaguar I-PACE. Read More → Mozilla’s new message: We’re the only browser not backed by billionaires Mozilla’s new CEO outlines coming browser features and her hopes for regulatory action. Read More → TikTok’s ‘airport theory’ dares you to arrive just 15 minutes before your flight A viral trend has travelers cutting it dangerously close, claiming you can breeze through security in minutes. Some make it. Others? Not so much. Read More → Trump’s crypto reserve is a payoff for loyalists A crypto stockpile rewards supporters while creating volatility for the government. Read More → AI Chatbots have telltale quirks. Researchers can spot them with 97% accuracy A new study shows that different LLMs have distinct writing styles—making AI-generated text easier to detect. Read More → Elon Musk’s bumbling X posts are inadvertently teaching everyone how government works Thanks to replies from journalists and experts, Musk’s X feed has become an accidental crash course in civics and a variety of topics. Read More → View the full article

Google is now showing AI Overviews within the movie review summaries in Google Search. Under the review summaries is a disclaimer that reads, "Al overviews are experimental."View the full article

There is no way of defending the continent without cuts to social spendingView the full article

Delegate passes for corporate event at the party’s conference this autumn have been increased to £5,000 View the full article

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: My boss is playing favorites, what should I do? A: So much of adult life can feel like you’re perpetually stuck in high school: gossip and office politics, making friends, and who the boss favors. If you feel like your boss is playing favorites, the first step is evaluating why you feel this way as objectively as possible. The more specific you are about the problem, the more specific you can be about how you address it. A vague feeling of “I think you like Sam more than me,” doesn’t have much of a solution. Do other employees get more opportunities to work on high-profile projects? Do other employees seem to get more leeway to make mistakes? Are your colleagues getting promoted or praised and you aren’t? Does your boss just seem to like your colleagues more or have formed a friendship with them and not you? Once you pinpoint what’s wrong (and it may be more than one thing), you can address the issue directly. Your feelings of being left out and overlooked are totally valid and worth bringing up. What you shouldn’t do however is pit yourself against your colleagues. If you view it as a competition, you will lose. Your work is to improve your situation, not destroy someone else’s. A rising tide lifts all boats—or at least it should. Whatever the issue, approach it as a problem you and your boss will solve together, not an accusation. If your colleagues are getting more opportunities So much of my workplace advice boils down to the same thing: Have a conversation with your boss. It’s the most obvious move, but also the thing that so many people avoid. If you want more opportunities to work on high-profile projects, set up a meeting with your boss and tell them exactly that. Don’t frame it as something they owe you. Instead, come to the meeting with some ideas of what you’d like to do. Explain how it fits into the company’s goals, as well as your career goals. It wouldn’t hurt to also have some examples of why you are ready for this new level of responsibility, too. Presented like this, even if your boss says “no,” they will be pressed to give you a reason and likely a time frame for when you can take on more. If your colleagues are getting promoted and praised When your coworkers are getting praise and promotions, it can feel particularly hard to not view it as a competition. But again it’s best to focus on yourself and your work. Follow all the advice for getting a promotion: Work above your current title and make sure your boss knows about your accomplishments. If you are doing all of those things but your colleague with the same title just got a bump up and you didn’t, you can be more explicit in your next check-in. Try something like “I feel my work is at the senior associate level. Can you help me understand what it would take for me to get to that level?” If your colleagues get more leeway to make mistakes This is tricky, as you likely don’t know all the factors behind what causes mistakes at work. Pitting your failures against someone else’s isn’t likely to end well. Instead, focus on getting feedback on your work and owning up to your mistakes if you make them. If your colleagues make mistakes that impact your work, deal with them as constructively as possible and outline your problem-solving to your manager. If your colleagues are allowed to make continuous mistakes, there will eventually be repercussions. If not, it’s a red flag for a toxic culture that you likely don’t want to be a part of. Your boss just seems to like your colleagues more This is both a professional and a personal problem and the type of problem that can make you feel the most like you’re back in high school. Some people just click more than others. You can be a friendly colleague and just not form a close personal relationship with someone. You can do the work I mention above to try to change the way your boss views your work, but you can’t really call a meeting to say “You like Dave more than me.” If there is an unprofessional level of favoritism or personal relationships between your boss and your colleagues, you can try to delicately raise it with your manager’s boss, or HR if you feel comfortable. But tread carefully. If you just feel like you want better relationships at work and it’s not clicking with your manager, look elsewhere. Make friends in other departments or start a project with someone on another team. Not only will it make you feel less alone, it might help your boss see how valuable you are. Want some more advice on favoritism at work? Here you go: What to do when your boss favors a colleague over you How to deal with a boss who plays favorites How to deal with favoritism at work View the full article

Google announced a number of updates to Google Shopping and Search with AI enhancements and expansions. Specifically rolling out vision match, a new try out new looks feature and expanding the try on feature to more clothing.View the full article

Consultation will explore mechanism that would replace controversial ‘windfall tax’ after 2030 View the full article

Google has launched AI shopping tools that help customers find real clothing items based on generated images. The post Google’s AI Shopping Tools Transform Ideas Into Real Products appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Fresh blow to embattled Kyiv regime as Trump administration shifts on conflictView the full article

Google today rolled out new AI-driven shopping features to help users visualize and try on fashion and beauty products virtually. These updates aim to make online shopping more interactive and personalized. Key features: Vision match. Users can describe desired clothing items and AI generates visual suggestions with similar shoppable products. For example, search for a garment, scroll to “Can’t find it? Create it” prompt, refine the AI-generated ideas, and browse shoppable products. Virtual makeup try-on. Shoppers can test celebrity-inspired makeup looks using AR, combining products from multiple brands. For example, search for celebrity looks or trends like [spring makeup] on mobile, tap “See the looks on you” and “try it on” to test products. Expanded virtual clothing try-on. Now includes pants and skirts from hundreds of brands, viewable on diverse model body types. For example. search for pants or skirts, select items with a “try on” badge, and view on diverse models from XXS to XXL. By the numbers. Over 1 billion shopping activities occur daily on Google. More than half of shoppers struggle to find specific clothing items they envision. Over 50% of U.S. makeup users seek online inspiration for new looks. Why we care. With features like vision match, virtual makeup try-on, and expanded clothing try-on, brands can showcase products in a more interactive way, helping shoppers make confident purchase decisions. These tools create a personalized, immersive shopping experience, which can lead to higher click-through and conversion rates. What’s next. Google is leveraging its AI models and Shopping Graph to enhance product discovery and help users make more informed buying decisions. These features are rolling out to U.S. shoppers on mobile and desktop platforms. Bottom line. By integrating AI and AR technologies, Google aims to bridge the gap between online shopping and the in-store experience, making it easier for consumers to visualize and purchase products that match their personal style. View the full article

Social media marketing is using social media platforms — like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, etc. — to promote your business and build a community. It also includes paid social media marketing, like running ads and influencer marketing. But what’s the difference between a social media calendar and a social media marketing strategy? A content calendar is the place where you slot your social media posts. It shows what content will go live, when, and on which social media platform.A social media marketing strategy is the driving force behind why you post what you post and choose the social media platforms you’ve selected. It outlines your social media goals and the metrics you use to measure your success.Why do you need a social media marketing strategy? To give direction to your social media marketing efforts and get clarity on what success looks like. The ‘throw stuff on the wall and see what sticks’ approach doesn’t work if you want to achieve a positive return on investment (ROI). In this article, I’ll share seven steps to create a social media marketing strategy from scratch. 📝Note: This guide primarily focuses on building an organic social media marketing strategy. If you want to understand how to add a paid social strategy into the mix, read our guide on creating the ideal hybrid strategy.If you’ve already been dabbling in social media marketing for a while, begin with the first step in the following section. If you’re starting from scratch, jump straight to step two. How to create a social media marketing strategy in 7 steps 1. Conduct a social media audit 2. Know your target audience deeply 3. Set SMART social media goals 4. Choose and understand the social media platforms you’re going to be on 5. Identify content gaps and set your content pillars 6. Set up your social media content calendar 1. Conduct a social media auditIf you were already posting on your social media handles (however infrequently), evaluate: What kind of posts get the most engagement for your social media accounts?Which types of social media content led to the most profile visits?What types of social media posts did you enjoy creating the most?Look at your social media analytics and also reflect intrinsically on what you think worked the best for you. These insights are important to determine how you want to move forward. Maybe you decide to switch channels because you didn’t enjoy creating content for a social media platform. Or perhaps you found educational posts got the most direct messages (DMs) and engagement for your target audience. Once you’ve done that, take those findings with you to the following six steps. And remember, the below steps don’t have to follow a chronological order — they will inform and impact each other. 2. Know your target audience deeplySome resources will start with setting social media goals, which is a great first step, but Instagram creator and consultant, Elise Darma, recommends putting audience research front and center. “Customer research isn't just part of my strategy,” she says. “It's the foundation of everything I do.” You need to understand your target audience deeply to create social media content that genuinely helps them. What should you know about your target audience? Basic audience demographics: Their age, gender, location, job title, salary, etc.Jobs to be done: What are they looking to accomplish with your product or serviceChallenges: What are their pain points and struggles (that your product or service can alleviate)Social media platforms’ preference: Where do they hang out onlineTypes of content they love: Entertaining, educational, funny, relatable, etc. and video vs. image postsInfluencers in the industry they trust: People they follow on social media who are thought leaders in your nicheFor Jade Beason, creator and social media consultant, understanding your target audience’s pain points is the most crucial finding: “Get really, really clear on what your audience’s pain points are,” Jade says. “This will help you create content that solves those pain points — whether it’s via educational, entertaining, or relatable content.” Now, the next question arises: How do you gather these insights about your target audience? Jade says the best way to practice audience research is via social listening: “Listen to what your audience is saying about your content. But also monitor what your audience is saying under other people’s content (which is similar to yours).” Elise says she gathers customer insights from four places: Analyzing DM interactionsDirect conversations with her audienceStudent feedback during and after programsStudying which content gets the most meaningful engagementI won’t sugarcoat it: Audience research is a beast. You need to understand what your audience likes, cares about, enjoys, and so much more. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth the investment. When you know your audience’s pain points, you can create truly helpful content on your social media profiles. Here’s how I would advise you to begin audience research: If you’ve already been posting on social media, analyze your DMs, posts, and commentsIf you’re putting together a strategy for business, ask your adjacent marketing, growth, sales, and customer support teams for insights about your ideal customersSpend time in online spaces where your target audience or customers hang out — other social channels, forums, private communities, Discord servers, etc. Subscribe to industry newsletters and follow thought leaders in your niche to stay up to date about current events and trendsAs a business, you could, incentivize customers (with gift cards, coupon codes, etc.) to chat with you directly via 1:1 calls or surveysIf you can, invest in an audience research software (like SparkToro) or social listening toolsRemember: Audience research is never done. You need to continually stay in touch with how your audience's needs evolve. It might be a boulder to tackle initially, but once you start getting some followers on social media, it becomes easier to gather feedback. 3. Set SMART social media goalsKnowing why you are on social media is one of the most essential ingredients of a successful social media strategy. It’ll help you understand what social media success looks like and give direction to your efforts. How do you set social media goals? If you’re a social media manager for a business, find out your business goals for the quarter or year. Are you focusing on customer acquisition? Or do you want to retain existing customers? Perhaps you want to save costs and improve efficiency. Whatever it is, your social media efforts must work in the same direction as your broader business objectives. Why? Because as social media marketers, impacting the bottom line is crucial to prove the impact of your social media strategy and show a positive ROI. Achieving business objectives using social media marketing will also help you get buy-in for hiring more social media managers, investing in new social media channels, getting the budget for social media advertising, etc. How do you set social media goals as a creator? Brainstorm how social media is helping you achieve your goals. Do you want more influencer partnerships to earn money from your content? Or perhaps you want to increase your newsletter subscribers using social media. Keep this goal in mind as you create social media content. Jade explains how your success metrics will differ based on your overall goals with an example: “Your success metrics will depend on what your objectives are,” she says. “If you’re on Instagram to grow, then your view-through rate and retention might be the most important. But if you’re on Instagram to build a community, then your interactions are the most important metric.” To give a creator example, Elise tracks the following metrics: How her content translates into sales (she generated $60-80K monthly, even during maternity leave)How effectively she’s connecting with new audiences (her best content reaches up to 86% of non-followers)How well she’s serving her existing customers (she has helped over 56,487 students so far)She advises creators to be flexible in their goals and pivot according to their audience’s needs: “The key is staying flexible enough to pivot when you spot an opportunity,” Elise says. “It's not about sticking to rigid plans — it's about watching what resonates with your audience and being ready to serve them in the way they need most.” Setting social media marketing goals will also simplify what kind of social media content you should create. For example, if your goal as a business is to boost brand awareness, you’ll post more engagement-centric content. But if you want to generate leads for your digital products as a creator, you’ll create more selling-related content. How many goals should you have? If you’re a creator, it’s best to have a maximum of three goals to provide focus to your social media efforts. You can layer more goals if you have a social media team and each person can be assigned to specific goals. Once you set your goals, it’s best to convert them into KPIs or key performance indicators. These are the key metrics that will act as evidence for your social media success. For instance, if you want to increase brand awareness via your social media marketing campaigns, how do you know you’ve achieved this goal? Which social media metrics will you monitor to measure success? How long will you evaluate these numbers? Setting KPIs will help you answer all of those questions. How do you convert a goal into a KPI? Use the SMART goals acronym to transform a vague goal into a concrete one: Specific: What do you want to achieve using social media marketing? Increase brand awareness, boost traffic to your website, generate leads, etc.Measurable: How will you measure the success of your goals? Get specific about the social media metrics you’ll use to signify success — like follower count, engagement rate, click-through rate, and more.Achievable: Be realistic about your goals given your resources and platform’s algorithm. Expecting to grow to 10,000 followers on Instagram in one month is unattainable when you’re new to the social media channel, for example. Don’t set yourself up for failure — especially if you’re a social media manager who has to report to stakeholders. It’s always best to underpromise and overdeliver.Relevant: Ensure your goals are relevant to your broader business objectives.Time-bound: Set deadlines to achieve your goals (monthly or quarterly) to reflect on your social media marketing performance and present results to stakeholders, too.Let’s say you want to increase website traffic using your social media strategy. If I assume you’ve checked the relevance part (social media goal aligns with your business goals): ❌ Vague goal: Increase website traffic using social media ✅ SMART goal: Increase website traffic by 20% in 3 months Here’s how you should approach goal setting for your social media strategy: Understand your business and department goalsSet goals for social media that can help your company achieve larger business goalsConvert those goals into SMART goals by attaching a KPI metric and deadlineWhen you’re a creator, you can keep things more straightforward and focus on a select few success metrics that directly impact your overall business and income. But don't let your success metrics exist in a silo — convert them into SMART goals! 4. Choose and understand the social media platforms you’re going to be onChoosing which social media platforms to be on is a critical aspect of your social media strategy. Which social networks you choose depends on: Where does your target audience hang out online?Where do you enjoy creating content?It’s tempting to think the first point is the only one that really matters when choosing the right social media platforms, but Jade reminds us why the second is equally important: “You should be on the platform where you actually enjoy consuming and creating content,” she says. “If you don’t enjoy that platform, it’s not going to work. For instance, if you struggle with short-form video and don’t enjoy using TikTok, then don’t focus on it because it’s going to be super easy for you to give up and lose motivation.” Jade’s advice hits home because not only do you need to create content for a social media platform, you also need to immerse yourself in it. Here’s what you should research about when you decide on your chosen social networks: Social media algorithmDifferent social media platforms have different algorithms — and they keep evolving as social media users change their preferences. You need to understand and keep up with the algorithm’s preferences to guide your social media content strategy. SEO importance Many social channels have solid search engine optimization capabilities (like X), while others are still refining theirs (like Instagram). You need to pick out the relevant keywords for your social media niche so you can use SEO if your chosen social networks value it. SubcultureAll social channels have a unique ‘vibe’ to them. TikTok is more casual and off-the-cuff, while YouTube still emphasizes production quality. Your Facebook audience will have different expectations than your Instagram audience. The more you spend time on your choice of social networks, the more you’ll understand the unique subcultures of social media platforms. BenchmarksDifferent social channels demand different posting frequency. You need to understand how consistently you need to post on any social channel to stay on the algorithm’s good side. This will determine your posting schedule. If you’re looking to know the benchmarks of various social media platforms quickly, here’s a quick summary: Social media platform Ideal posting frequency Facebook 1–2 posts/day Instagram Stories 2 Instagram Stories/day Instagram in-feed posts (carousels, reels) 1–2 posts/day TikTok 1–4 posts/day X (formerly Twitter) 3–4 posts/day LinkedIn 1 post/day Pinterest 15–25 pins/day YouTube 1 video/week YouTube Shorts 1–3 videos/week Now, how many social media networks should you be on? It depends on your resources and audience preferences. But Jade advises against starting with multiple platforms: “When you’re starting, focus on creating content for one social media platform,” Jade says. “If you want to repurpose that content for other social platforms, that’s totally fine. But when you sit to create social media content, create for one platform only.” Why should you stick with one social platform in the beginning? Because creating content is hard work. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin by trying to create different content for different platforms. It’s the first step to creator burnout (and we don’t want that!). Not to mention: Once you ace a single social network, you develop the social media muscle and catching up with a new platform becomes easier. Remember: You don’t need to expand your social media presence to all social platforms to execute an effective social media marketing strategy. More doesn’t equal better. Elise is also a big fan of repurposing as a part of your social media content strategy. She’s focusing on adding YouTube as one of her social media networks this year: “I don't create completely different content for each platform,” she says. “Instead, I focus on creating quality content that can be adapted and repurposed. The goal isn't to be everywhere at once, but to show up consistently where your audience needs you the most.” Even after you’ve added multiple platforms to your social media marketing plan, bake repurposing into your social strategy. You don’t want to create new content from scratch every time. Instead, you need to work smart and repackage your content to be adaptable to new social media networks. This way, you also get the most output out of every post you create. ⚡Pro tip: Maintain your brand strategy across social media networks when expanding your social presence. You don’t want someone to experience a totally different brand voice from you on different social media platforms.Need more help? This episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast with social media expert Lindsey Gamble is just the ticket. 5. Identify content gaps and set your content pillarsThe next step is finding content ideas for your social media accounts. This is the first step to the execution puzzle of your social media strategy. How do you find content ideas for social media? You know your audience’s pain points from your audience research. Begin by creating content around their pain points and how you can help solve them.Ensure that nearly every piece of content you create works towards achieving the social media marketing goals you’ve set for yourself.Use social media listening to identify content gaps. What is your audience discussing online? What are they asking for in communities? What are the thought leaders in the space discussing?Do a competitive analysis to enhance your social media strategy. What kinds of comments are people leaving on your competitor’s videos? Try to spot a pattern by analyzing multiple competitors.Kendall Dickieson, social media consultant and writer of No Filter newsletter, also suggests looking outside of your social media niche for fresh ideas on your content strategy: “I personally think looking outside of your niche is your biggest advantage,” she says. “You're able to get inspiration from other places and brands who aren't doing what the hundreds around you are vs. consuming the same concept over and over.” It makes sense: You’re kind of creating inside a bubble when you’re heads down in your social strategy. Looking outside the usual realm can spark creative ideas. So, if you’re a productivity creator, see how skincare content creators are creating content lately. Maybe it’ll spark some unique social media posts. Once you’ve brainstormed some ideas, start slotting them into content pillars. These are essentially the broad topics under which you’ll create most of your content. It’s what you’ll be known for amongst your audience. Keep 3-5 content pillars so your niche is airtight! For example, whenever I think of Instagram and TikTok creator Suman, I think of “wavy haircare” because that’s her mojo. Her content pillars all fall under the bucket of wavy haircare — hair growth for wavy hair, styling wavy hair, products for wavy hair, etc. You might be wondering if setting content pillars puts boundaries around your content and restricts content ideas. It’s quite the opposite! When you set guardrails in the form of content pillars, you choose a strong focus and decide what your brand strategy isn’t. You can easily eliminate content ideas that fall far from your pillars and brainstorm the tiniest pain points within your core specialties. That said, content pillars aren’t an excuse to limit your experimentation on social media. Kendall reminds us that no idea is ‘dumb’ but just might need a few tweaks: “If a social media team knows they have some freedom to test and play around, then the team won't feel so limited in sharing concepts that might seem way too out of hand,” she says. “I like to hold the notion that no content concept is "dumb" or not worth it; it could simply be a jumping-off point to a bigger concept or something that can come to life at another time with some tweaks.” So, if you feel strongly about a content idea, create it! Your social media strategy isn’t to stop you from having fun and experimenting with new things. Leave some wiggle room in your content calendar to jump on trends and test your out-of-the-box ideas. And when those social media post ideas pop in randomly while cooking dinner, store them in Buffer’s Create space. You can build a library of your content ideas and jot them down as they come to you without missing a beat. You can even assign them tags (like your various content pillars) if you wish to keep them more organized. Lastly, when you’ve started gaining momentum with your social media strategy, pay attention to your audience’s comments and DMs. They’re the best source of content ideas. “There are concepts waiting in your comments and DMs,” Kendall says. “This is an example from Graza of when the torque setting on our machine was set too tight, and we saw comments and DMs coming in from folks saying that they could not unscrew the top. So, we filmed and edited this within 5 minutes and almost got 1M views alone on Instagram.” Here’s the post from Graza Kendall is referring to: Your content ideas can come from a lot of places, but the best source is listening to your audience’s questions and requests and creating content around them. 6. Set up your social media content calendarThe next step in your social media strategy is to get into the nitty-gritty of execution. After you’ve figured out which social media channels to be on and have a list of content ideas, the next step is creating content. My top tip? Divide your days into themes and work on one aspect of your social media strategy daily. This is often called content batching — where you create multiple pieces of content in advance. If you’re a creator investing in video content, you might not want to get camera-ready daily. So, it’s best to create content in one day and shoot them all (perhaps with an outfit change or two thrown into the mix). Other days can be spent editing, working on content ideas, and engaging with your audience. As you’re ramping up your content production, you'll likely spend the majority of the days creating content — and those days also might weigh more heavily on you. That’s normal (even though exhausting!). As you develop the muscle of content creation, it’ll get easier. Once you’ve divided your day into themes, the next step is putting it all on a social media content calendar. This is your execution document that shows when you’ll post what content on which social media networks. Use a free social media management tool like Buffer to store your ideas, schedule your posts, interact with your audience, and analyze your performance — all from one place. Want to learn more about how to create a content calendar using Buffer? Watch this video. The best way to systematize your workflow is to lay down every single step you need to take to create a post on social media. From there, divide your days into themes and go into deep work mode each day to maximize your productivity. Make no mistake: You can’t rely on motivation alone to create social media content every day. The only way to maintain a consistent posting schedule is to create a content calendar and start creating content in advance. ⚡Pro tip: Leave some room in your calendar for trending content and experiments. This way, you’ll have the opportunity to jump on trends and experiment with new content formats if you wish to.7. Analyze your social media insights regularly and tweak your strategyPart of creating a social media strategy is evaluating whether or not it's working to help you achieve your goals. Setting some time aside in your calendar every week to monitor your social media numbers can provide valuable insights about what’s working — see which posts performed the best, got the most engagement, and try to dissect why. Jade and Kendall both suggest implementing a strategy for at least three months before you think about pivoting. “Most strategies need at least 3 months to show real impact, so patience is key,” Kendall says. Use social media insights to better understand your audience and their preferences. Metrics can inform your content ideas and help you double down on what’s working. “If you know something is working, lean more into it,” Kendall says. “If you realize quickly that something isn't, adjust accordingly. Being nimble within your social media strategy while also playing the long game is a balancing act, but one that allows for creativity and structure.” When should you pivot your social media strategy? Kendall suggests switching your social strategy when you see a downward trend in your performance, audience behavior shifts, or major platform changes happen (like the potential upcoming TikTok ban in the U.S.). If you’re using Buffer, social media insights become easier and more accessible. Buffer tells you the best time to post, the best type of post, and the best frequency to post specifically for your own social media strategy. The best social media strategy is adaptableSocial media marketing isn’t a one-and-done task. Neither is creating, maintaining, and implementing a social media strategy. As platform changes happen, your target audience evolves, and your product/service/skill improves, so will your social media strategy. Think of social media strategy as a forever-updating document. You need to come back to it frequently to remember your goals and tweak them as your needs change. View the full article

Online child abuse is a pernicious problem that’s rife in digital life. In 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 36 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation—and a 300% increase in reports around online enticement of youngsters, including sextortion. And a new report by social media analysts Graphika highlights how such abuse is moving into a troubling new space: utilizing AI character chatbots to interact with AI personas representing sexualized minors and other harmful activities. The firm found more than 10,000 chatbots labelled as being useful for those looking to engage in sexualized roleplay with minors, or with personas that present as if they are minors. “There was a significant amount of sexualized minor chatbots, and a very large community around the sexualized minor chatbots, particularly on 4chan,” says Daniel Siegel, an investigator at Graphika, and one of the co-authors of the report. “What we also found is in more of the mainstream conversations that are happening on Reddit or Discord, there is disagreement related to the limits as to what chatbots should be created, and even sometimes disagreement as to whether individuals under the age of 18 should be allowed on the platform itself.” Some of the sexualized chatbots that Graphika found were jailbroken versions of AI models developed by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, advertised as being accessible to nefarious users through APIs. (There’s no suggestion that the companies involved are aware of these jailbroken chatbots.) “There’s a lot of creativity in terms of how individuals are creating personas, including a lot of harmful chatbots, like violent extremist chatbots and sexualized minor chatbots that are appearing on these platforms,” says Siegel. Of the 10,000-plus chatbots, around 100 or so of them were found linked to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Character.ai, the latter of which has been sued by the parents of a teenager who took his life after interacting with a non-sexualized minor chatbot hosted on the service. “There’s a lot of efforts within these adversarial communities to jailbreak or get around the safeguards to produce this material that in many instances, is child sexual abuse material,” says Siegel. The majority of the offending chatbots were hosted on Chub AI, a character card-sharing platform that explicitly markets itself as uncensored. There, Graphika found 7,140 chatbots labeled as sexualized minor female characters, 4,000 of which were labeled as underage or engaging in implied pedophilia. “CSAM is not allowed on the platform, and any such content is detected and immediately reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” says a Chub AI spokesperson. “We lament the ongoing media hysteria around generative AI, and hope it ends soon as people become more familiar with it. Please use that as an exact quote, including this sentence.” Debate among Redditors that Graphika analyzed circled around whether interacting with minor-presenting AI characters was immoral or not. One of the other key areas of discussion were specific tactics, techniques and procedures to try and subvert guardrails designed to prevent such interactions taking place on proprietary chatbots owned by big tech companies, including eight separate services helping broker access to uncensored versions of those chatbots. “What I thought was particularly interesting in this report was the communal efforts of a lot of the individuals across all the different platforms engaged in trading information on how to jailbreak models, or how to get around and uncensor models,” says Siegel. Because of those efforts, getting a handle on the scale and seriousness of the issue is difficult for the companies in question. “I think there are efforts being taken and there are a lot of conversations happening on this,” says Siegel. Yet he doesn’t lay blame solely at the model makers for the way their technologies and tools are being used. “With anything generative AI, there are so many different uses of it that they have to wrap their hands around and think about all the variety of ways in which their platforms or models themselves are being abused and can be abused.” Siegel declined to apportion responsibility at the door of the tech companies behind the models. “We’re not really involved in any regulatory policy efforts by any of these platforms,” he says. “What we’re doing is enabling them to understand the landscape of how abuse is happening, so they can decide whether to make an effort themselves.” It’s also incumbent on us all to recognize the risks of these chatbots being used in such a way, Siegel adds. “Oftentimes, our conversations about generative AI end up about weaponized unrealities, or the ability for large language models to produce instructions on bioweapons or extremely existential threats, which are very worrisome things that I think we should be concerned about,” he says. “But what gets lost in the conversation is harm like the animation of violent extremists through chatbots, or the ability for individuals to interact with sexualized minors online.” View the full article

Figure Technologies is adding a Bitcoin option to its home equity line of credit, while Milo has done $65 million of crypto mortgages since 2021. View the full article

President Donald Trump’s bowling-ball attitude to international relations and business was in evidence again this week as he announced a landmark $100 billion deal with Taiwanese computer chip manufacturer TSMC to bring more production capacity to the United States. The agreement with TSMC plans for five new factories to be built in the U.S., signed alongside TSMC CEO C.C. Wei in the White House on March 3. “We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here,” Trump said as he announced the deal. “It’s a matter of national security for us.” The move to onshore production of the chips that are powering the AI and broader tech revolution may well shore up U.S. national security. But those watching the deal—alongside the stock market, which reacted by lowering the price of TSMC shares—worry that the agreement trades strengthened U.S. national security for weakened Taiwanese security. “TSMC’s additional $100 billion investment is likely to further expand the U.S. presence in global advanced chip manufacturing, which is currently dominated by Taiwan,” says Ray Wang, a Washington D.C.-based analyst focusing on U.S.-China tech competition and the semiconductor industry in Asia. That’s good news for the United States. But onshoring the production of advanced computer chips that help power the AI revolution isn’t necessarily good news for Taiwan. “TSMC’s newly announced investment in manufacturing, packaging, and R&D in the United States will likely diminish Taiwan’s strategic importance for the U.S. and broader global economy in the long run,” says Wang. For years, Taiwan has managed to fend off the threat of a Chinese invasion of the small island nation because of its strategic importance as the key global factory for computer chips. It’s an advantage that the Taiwanese dubbed their “Silicon Shield.” Indeed, just days ago, the country’s economy minister, Kuo Jyh-huei, described Taiwan’s semiconductor industry as its “sacred mountain protecting the country.” Yet that sacred mountain looks a little more surmountable now. “Ultimately it reduces U.S. dependence on Taiwan—which reduces Taiwanese leverage over the U.S.,” says William Matthews, senior research fellow for China and the world in the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House. Losing that leverage is a dangerous move, Matthews says, not least because of the way the United States has taken a more transactional approach to international relations, even with its allies, under Trump. “From that point of view it reduces the incentive in Washington to defend Taiwan from China,” explains Matthews. “Unlike Ukraine, there isn’t an ongoing war, but Trump’s approach to the mineral deal is indicative of his attitude to international partnerships—transactional and potentially extractive while minimizing costs to the U.S.” The Taiwanese economics minister said earlier this month that no deal with TSMC would be signed without the express agreement of the government, suggesting that TSMC hasn’t yet granted the ability for U.S. plants to build the highest-spec chips—for now. “The Taiwanese government has said it will retain the most advanced tech but that doesn’t mean that it will do so forever, or that the U.S. won’t leap ahead with access to more advanced chip production on U.S. soil,” warns Matthews. And at that point, there’s little reason for the U.S. to defend Taiwan should the worst happen. That said, Wang, the tech competition analyst, isn’t certain that it’s a zero-sum game. “This additional investment could also strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations economically and technologically, first potentially reducing the risk of being targeted by tariffs under the Trump administration and serving as a good start for future collaboration between the two governments,” he says. But Matthews worries that it further isolates Taiwan geographically and could result in real worries in the Asia-Pacific region, where China has long threatened to invade Taiwan. “The risk for Taiwan is that China’s approach is not one that prioritizes a war outside specific circumstances—the declaration of formal independence or action taken by Taiwan or the U.S. that puts eventual unification in jeopardy,” says Matthews. Instead, Matthews foresees there could be “a long game of increasing grayzone activities like joint air and naval patrols, cyberattacks, and cable cutting, with an aim of wearing down Taiwan’s resolve.” Such asymmetrical actions that come below the point of outright military intervention make it less and less likely that Trump would intervene now that much of the chip production the U.S. relies on Taiwan for has been onshored—but ratchets up the tension nonetheless. It also gives China time to muster forces further—much as happened in Ukraine with Russia. “All of this means that if and when China does take the step to occupy Taiwan, the costs of U.S. involvement will be much greater,” says Matthews. “If all goes to China’s plan, the U.S. will decide not to get involved in a conflict it could lose, and will be even less inclined to do so if the material incentive of protecting Taiwan’s chip sector is gone.” View the full article

In a test on fields in California last year, a plot of tomatoes looked exactly like the tomatoes growing next to it. But thanks to a tweak in how they were grown, they lasted longer: After they were harvested, they still looked and tasted fresh two weeks later. The new crop wasn’t bred differently or genetically edited. Instead, the plants had been given an epigenetic treatment that fine-tunes certain traits without changing the plant’s DNA. That can happen either when the plant is a seed or by spraying a crop as it’s growing in the field. Decibel Bio, the startup behind the technology, is using the approach to help the food system deal with a range of growing challenges, including drought and extreme heat. The company emerged from stealth today, spinning out from another company called Sound Agriculture, with a $12 million financing round from Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Future Ventures, Bayer, and Syngenta. “Epigenetics is really a sort of frontier that hasn’t been tapped into yet in plant science,” says CEO and founder Travis Bayer (no relation to the family behind the agtech giant). “We’re at the forefront of that with our platform.” The field of epigenetics studies how the environment changes the way genes are expressed—in humans, for example, if we exercise or eat differently, our genes start to work differently, though the underlying DNA is the same. In the case of the tomatoes, exposing the seeds to certain pieces of the plant’s own DNA resulted in “tuning down” enzymes that naturally degrade the fruit. “What we’re really doing is working with what the plant has, but just making a little bit less of that enzyme that is responsible for the cell wall degradation,” Bayer says. The tomatoes lasted roughly twice as long as they otherwise would have. A similar approach for lettuce yielded greens that lasted three times as long without browning. In another set of approximately 50 trials that will run this summer in the Midwest, the startup will test how other treatments can help make corn drought-tolerant, better resist disease, or enhance yields. In a place like Iowa, where severe droughts are becoming more common—but don’t happen predictably every year—the treatment for drought tolerance could help farmers adapt in real time. The state often has plenty of rain (or too much of it); switching completely to a drought-tolerant variety could mean lower yields in wet years. With Decibel’s platform, farmers could grow standard corn and then spray it with the new product. The shift in plant physiology happens in around a week. “Our platform gives a grower the ability to kind of retune and rewire the plant physiology during the season,” Bayer says. “That’s something that hasn’t really been available to growers so far. If you plant a corn hybrid that doesn’t have drought tolerance and you have a drought, you don’t really have a way to deal with that.” The company is starting in the U.S. but says there’s an even greater opportunity to implement its technology in parts of the world with less irrigation, where farmers are completely dependent on rainfall. “The idea is to smooth out the variability that growers see, so they can have a more predictable harvest, a more predictable income, more predictable food security in their region,” he says. The basic platform can be used in multiple other ways. Some treatments could be applied to crops in advance of a major storm to help the plants survive floods. Another iteration could help keep plants growing under extreme heat. Treatments could also enhance photosynthesis—or help crops use less fertilizer. The company has also tested approaches to help crops like soy and peas grow with extra protein, something that can be useful for making plant-based meat. The team plans to continue developing new products, with a focus on major row crops like corn and wheat. A new type of treatment for a particular crop can be developed within a matter of months. The approach could be employed commercially on farms as soon as next year, depending on pilot results and regulatory approval. (Though the method is new, it will likely be regulated as a “biostimulant” by the Environmental Protection Agency; since the DNA of the crops doesn’t change, it isn’t regulated as a genetically modified organism, or GMO.) As climate change progresses, it could be a critical tool to help the food system. “If you talk to farmers today—or even 10 years ago—one thing that you hear over and over again is that the weather is more and more unpredictable every year,” Bayer says. “We know from climate models and a lot of data that we are seeing more extreme weather, and that impacts farmers directly on a day-to-day basis. Our big motivation here was, let’s try to give farmers some tools to adapt to this new reality.” View the full article

Many American business leaders assumed President Donald Trump was making empty threats to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China—that these were “mostly negotiating ploys.” They were wrong. On Tuesday, the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on China. A global trade war is now fully in effect, as Canada retaliated immediately; Mexico will announce its own retaliatory tariffs on Sunday. Investors are concerned about the future of the global economy. The stock market has already gone into its steepest decline this year. For Americans, these tariffs are going to make goods more expensive at a time when many are already feeling financially strapped. Companies are going to pay more for goods overnight, and will have no choice but to pass on these costs to consumers. On Truth Social, Trump made it seem like there was a simple fix to this problem. “IF COMPANIES MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES, THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!!!” he posted. But nobody I’ve spoken to in the business community thinks this is a reasonable response. Workers produce consumer lithium battery products in Hai’an, Jiangsu province, China, on March 4, 2025. [Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images] Fifty years ago, America was indeed a global manufacturing hub. But since the 1980s, the U.S. government has supported the globalization of the economy with free trade agreements. This allowed China, and other countries in Asia, to start building factories that make everything from clothing and furniture to iPhones. In return, Americans got access to an abundance of cheap products. There’s been a lot of debate about whether this half-century effort to flood the U.S. with cheap merchandise was entirely a good thing. Yes, it democratized access to more affordable consumer products, but it also opened the door to overconsumption, which has been a blight on the environment. Over the past few decades, some companies have focused on bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., because it is more sustainable and produces higher-quality products. A workshop in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, China, produces textiles for export to Europe, on March 3, 2025. [Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images] In the fashion industry, for instance, labels like American Giant and Buck Mason have tried to build supply chains from scratch. But it’s been a slow, laborious process. It took the founders of each brand roughly two years to identify the handful of factories in the U.S. that still had the capacity to manufacture clothing, and had workers who could cut and sew the garments they wanted to make. Given the higher cost of labor in this country, these brands are significantly more expensive than those produced overseas. An American Giant sweatshirt costs $138, while Buck Mason T-shirts cost $45. “The apparel supply chain in the U.S. has been completely hollowed out,” says Bayard Winthrop, founder and CEO of American Giant. “You’ve got to be a little crazy to try to make clothes in this country from scratch.” The struggles these brands have experienced reveal just how hard it is to bring manufacturing back to these shores in the face of a tariff. In the fashion industry this would involve setting up factories and buying industrial manufacturing equipment, which itself is now made overseas. Very few companies have the money to invest in that kind of infrastructure. In other countries, governments have been instrumental in funding and building manufacturing hubs. It would take years to set up factories here. There’s also the question of training an army of workers who understand both the delicate craft of making garments and how to operate industrial machinery. But it’s unclear where we would even find these workers. “Unemployment is at a record low,” Jon Gold, VP of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, told me during a recent interview. “Where are we going to find workers to do those jobs?” The National Retail Federation, which represent millions of retail establishments, has been lobbying against tariffs. As Gold speaks with members, he says it’s abundantly clear that it will not be possible to simply set up supply chains in the U.S. overnight. Many aren’t even bothering to try; instead, they are considering moving away from factories in China and Mexico and into countries that haven’t yet been hit by tariffs. Steve Madden, for instance, is trying to tap factories in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Brazil. “Solely relying on tariffs to bring manufacturing to the U.S. has never worked in the past,” Gold says. And it’s unlikely to work now. The result will mean a lot of pain for U.S. companies and consumers. View the full article

Nearly all job growth since 1980 has been in occupations that are social-skill intensive. Teamwork, for instance, is now considered “very” or “extremely” important in eight of 10 occupations. Not surprisingly, a Stanford study shows that people working collaboratively persist on a task for 64% longer than those working individually on the same task, and they exhibit higher levels of engagement. According to the platform LinkedIn, the most in-demand skills in 2024 include “teamwork” and “communication.” Jobs that require high levels of analytical and mathematical reasoning but low levels of relational skills have been declining because they are easier to automate. As a result, workers in positions requiring social skills are demanding higher wages. These trends align with the fact that there has been a decrease in demand for jobs involving routine tasks, whereas those that require the human touch for enhancing team productivity and flexible adaptation to changing circumstances are on the rise. David Deming, who studies social skills at Harvard University, analyzed team performance and showed that there really is such a thing as a team player. He was able to isolate and replicate the effect of an individual team member’s contribution across multiple groups, showing that a team player increases group performance quite meaningfully. Similarly, in a large research study referred to as Project Oxygen, Google examined what made the company’s employees good managers. The assumption was that it was technical skills. In fact, most successful managers were relational individuals who made time for one-to-one meetings, helped employees work through problems, and took an interest in their lives. The future belongs to those with relational intelligence, and it’s vital to instill these skills from an early age. The workplace increasingly values the skills that are typically nurtured in a preschool-like environment. Paradoxically, however, preschools are starting to shift toward a more rigid, academically focused model reminiscent of the pedagogy of the industrial era, potentially neglecting the importance of play and peer interaction. James Heckman, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics, conducted pioneering research establishing the equal importance of noncognitive abilities—including social skills—along-side cognitive ones. Heckman asserted that these attributes are teachable, although he pointed out that American educational institutions may not consistently focus on cultivating them. To prepare students for the future, education systems should focus on and measure relational intelligence—the ability to interact and work effectively with others—not just mastery of academic skills or acquisition of content. A love of learning is also gaining importance in the ever-evolving world of work. Maintaining a thirst for learning is like having a dependable compass in a shifting landscape. We know that the average American will change jobs twelve times between the ages of 18 and 54, and will switch careers between three and seven times. About one in five American workers has a job with high exposure to artificial intelligence, according to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. Over time, automation may create as many jobs as it eliminates, but those new jobs will require people to retrain and acquire new skills. As technology hurdles forward, those who embrace learning will navigate the twists and turns of the modern job market with greater ease. They will have a knack for staying in the know about the new tools, technologies, and industry trends that will be crucial for remaining competitive in their careers. But the significance of a love for learning goes beyond just professional growth. It’s about personal empowerment. It’s akin to having a versatile tool set for life. A curious and open attitude can make you more adaptable, more resilient, and a sharper problem solver. When you love learning, you tend to approach challenges as opportunities for growth rather than insurmountable obstacles. That kind of mindset not only helps you flourish in your career but also enriches your personal life. In my opinion, a love of learning is an understudied competency, despite its vital role in human flourishing. What is a love of learning? It characterizes an individual’s approach to acquiring new information and skills, encompassing both a general enthusiasm for learning and a pronounced interest in specific subject matter. When I think of a love of learning, I picture someone like my younger daughter, whose passion for dance and desire for mastery cause her to continue dancing across our living room after formally training at her dance school for five hours straight. When people possess a strong love of learning, they become mentally engaged and derive positive emotions from the process of acquiring new skills, satisfying their curiosity, building upon existing knowledge, or delving into entirely new topics. Young children simply love learning. Four-year-olds ask as many as two hundred to three hundred questions a day. How can we keep that love alive and well? Adapted excerpt from Love to Learn: The Transformative Power of Care and Connection in Early Education by Isabelle C. Hau (PublicAffairs, 2025). View the full article