ResidentialBusiness

UK prime minister says government will change unpopular policy this yearView the full article

For the past few weeks or so, Google has a bug where the right side knowledge panel goes missing for business owners when you try to bring up your business listing in Google Search. This is not impacting everyone and it can be random but Google is supposedly aware of the issue and is fixing it.View the full article

Google seems to be testing showing author names and website citations in the AI Overviews. I am honestly not sure if this is new but Christian Kunz said it was and posted about it on his blog and on X.View the full article

Like a poorer Switzerland, the UK will never find a happy balance of independence and accessView the full article

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer your biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: What should I do if my coworker is using AI unethically? A: This is a question that feels new but is actually just an evolution of a classic workplace issue. You can slot any number of issues in the place of “AI” and the problem is essentially the same: What’s the best way to handle misconduct at work? The answer for all situations, including this one, comes down to a few factors: 1. Do you know (or just suspect) your coworker is doing something they shouldn’t? 2. Does the misconduct violate company policy or is it something you just don’t agree with? 3. How severe is the misconduct? And is it a pattern or a one-off? 4. What is your relationship with the coworker? Let’s take this scenario through those checkpoints. Are they actually doing something wrong? The use of AI at work can be a contentious topic. Your first step should be to check your company’s AI policy and make sure that the way you suspect your colleague to be using AI is actually in violation of the policy. Typically companies have varying degrees of comfort around using AI for workflow and administrative tasks, including email, scheduling, and note-taking. If your company is okay with AI use for these purposes, there might also be a clause that the use of AI tools needs to be disclosed (for example: letting meeting participants know that you are using an AI notetaker). Companies should also have guidance on using AI to complete the work itself (like in written reports or presentations, creating images, etc.). Again, at the very least, the policy should ask that employees credit and acknowledge work that was created by or with the help of AI. If your company doesn’t have an AI policy or it’s too vague, your first stop should be with company leadership to suggest the need for clearer guidelines. While your coworker should have basic ethics and know better than to submit work that’s false or fabricated or pass off AI work as their own, they can’t be blamed for violating a policy that doesn’t exist. How severe is it? Assuming the AI use is in violation of company policy, there are a couple of approaches depending on how severe it is and your relationship with your coworker. Using AI to help write email responses is a lot different than passing off work that you didn’t create or outsourcing quotes and data to AI without fact-checking. If it’s a workflow process that you don’t agree with but that comes down to a personal preference, you can either bring it up directly with your coworker or go to their manager. As long as you feel comfortable and have a good relationship, going directly to the person should be your first step. Assume good intentions. Say something like “I noticed you are using AI notetakers for our weekly staff meeting. I think that’s against our AI policy because of privacy concerns. You might want to check with John about it and see if we can have an intern take notes instead.” If you suspect someone is passing off AI work as their own, or submitting work with AI-produced errors, it’s more of a delicate situation. If you aren’t the person’s boss, it’s not for you to litigate, but before you make a potentially career-damaging accusation, do a little fact-checking. If you have proof that the work is in violation of company policy, take it to their manager, express your concerns, and let them take it from there. If you are in a leadership position and you are sure that an employee’s work is unethical or contains false information, confront the employee with proof. The degree of the deception should dictate whether the employee can be trusted again after a warning or if it’s a fireable offense. More on AI at work: Nearly half of workers using AI at work admit to doing so inappropriately How to learn to work with your new AI coworker Bots, agents, and digital workers: AI is changing the very definition of work View the full article

On a recent weekend in April, data consultant Shane Kessler wasn’t at the grocery store to panic-buy eggs, but rather to scour the tall, narrow aisles of the the H Mart in Manhattan’s K Town for the viral Korean pastry known as a crungji, basically a flattened croissant. He hadn’t found one yet, but his basket was filled with popular Melona ice cream, from South Korea, and two bottles of his favorite Japanese soy sauce from among the more than 100 varieties on offer. He was worried about tariffs raising the prices of his favorite goods. “I never thought I’d be stockpiling soy sauce, but here we are,” he shrugged. “I’ve come to H Mart every weekend this month.” Kessler’s transformation from casual fan to hoarder of once-niche pantry items is symbolic of a broader shift in America. Last year, sales of Asian groceries grew almost four times faster than overall grocery sales in the U.S., according to data analytics company Circana, and topped $55 billion here, per research firm IBISWorld. Korean instant ramyun exports alone surpassed $100 million last year, thanks to the popularity of products like Nongshim’s Chapagetti noodles (seen in Parasite) and BTS-endorsed Buldak from Samyang Foods, which was the official “hot sauce partner” of this year’s Coachella. Leading that boom in the U.S. is H Mart, the 43-year-old Korean grocery chain that stocks thousands of brands from across Asia in what have become almost Walmart-size stores. Since its founding with a single outpost in Woodside, Queens, in 1982, H Mart has grown into the largest specialty grocer in America. Over the past three years alone, it’s expanded from 77 stores in 12 states to around 100 across 16 states, plus seven in Canada and one in London, generating $2 billion in annual sales, according to reporting by the New York Times. H Mart’s cultural reach has risen alongside its physical footprint, which in New York recently included a Squid Mart collaboration with Netflix for season two of Squid Game. The company has benefitted from the ascendance of K-dramas, K-pop, and the broader “Korean wave,” as well as TV-famous Korean fusion chefs, like David Chang and Roy Choi. Other celebrities have put an even finer point on it: Musician Michelle Zauner’s 2021 memoir, Crying in the H Mart, catapulted the grocery store’s name onto the New York Times bestseller list. Nearly a third of H Mart’s customers are now non-Asian, it has said—a significant pivot from the early days, when its original name (“Han Ah Reum”) appeared only in Korean characters. (Privately run by the Kwon family since 1982, H Mart largely shuns the media and eschews national advertising. It didn’t respond to Fast Company’s interview request.) Since early April, when President The President held his “Liberation Day” press conference, hooked American consumers have been worried that their new obsession with Asian groceries could become a casualty of the administration’s trade war. The roller coaster of tariff rate changes so far is dizzying. But unless new trade agreements are struck before the 90-day suspension expires, “retaliatory” tariffs will be imposed on July 9—of around 25% on Japanese and Korean products, and up to 48% on Vietnamese items. Tariffs on Chinese goods, currently at 30%, could snap back to 145% by mid-August. Surveys show most Americans expect grocery prices to get hit the hardest, with half already adjusting their spending habits. On a recent earnings call, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon signaled that the rising price of imported food is a particular concern for the retailer. (The President responded by telling Walmart to “eat the tariffs.”) Online, reactions have ranged from people copping to panic-buying Kewpie mayo and Fly by Jing chili crisp to grimly joking “how skinny I’m going to be” once the tariffs hit their go-to specialty grocer’s aisles. “We’re all going to be crying in H Mart,” one TikTok user commented. But the truth is more complex. H Mart, which has grown into a U.S. grocery powerhouse by stocking items from around the globe, appears hitched to such a remarkable growth trajectory that it may be less vulnerable than people fear. Asian brands, made in America Specialty foods are particularly vulnerable to tariffs. They rely on regional ingredients and techniques that are hard—even impossible—to replicate elsewhere. Champagne and Parmigiano Reggiano, for example, simply can’t be produced on American soil. The same is true for many Asian food brands. Fly by Jing, for example, only uses ingredients from China’s Sichuan province for its line of sauces and spices that launched in 2019. Founder and CEO Jing Gao says that the tariffs for her products stood at 160% prior to the 90-day negotiation period. Though Fly by Jing isn’t sold at H Mart, it is carried by Whole Foods, Kroger, Walmart, and other major U.S. supermarket chains, which gives it some padding to absorb the extra costs. Even so, it’s an independent food brand, and Gao worries how the tariffs will impact food companies like hers—and American culture, along with them. “Sharing authentic ingredients and flavors is one of the most powerful ways to explore the nuances of other cultures,” she tells Fast Company. Tariffs “not only threaten our brand’s prosperity,” she adds, “but rob Americans of an accessible way to connect with and appreciate cultures at a time when we need it most.” Large companies, as well, are wrestling with the operational unknowns that The President’s tariffs have unleashed. Last month, at an international ramyun conference in Seoul, the CEO of Samyang Foods noted that his company was forming a task force to study U.S. tariff policy more closely. Samyang has been focused on wooing American consumers. Its U.S. sales hit $280 million last year, growing 127%, thanks to its Buldak ramyun sales. For its pop-up experiences at Coachella this year, the company enlisted influencers, K-pop stars, and even American rapper GloRilla to drive awareness. But Samyang doesn’t have any manufacturing facilities here, at least not yet. Some Asian food brands are in a very different position. Shoppers might be relieved to learn many of H Mart’s top brands outsourced production of their U.S. products years ago—to right here in America. Though industry analysts say it’s difficult to ascertain what proportion of products H Mart imports versus sources domestically, a fair number of the brands that it stocks have manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Nongshim, the maker of Chapagetti, already manufactures the ramyun products for its North American market just outside of Los Angeles, in Rancho Cucamonga. Pulmuone, the world’s largest tofu maker and a popular H Mart brand, produces tofu in the same area. Kikkoman, Ajinomoto, and CJ Foods also maintain extensive U.S. production facilities. Some are even expanding: CJ Foods, which aims to become “the No. 1 provider of ethnic cuisine in the United States,” is building a 700,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (It will be one of the world’s largest when it comes online in 2027.) H Mart stocks more than a hundred items made by these companies, from packaged noodles and frozen foods to bottled sauces. None of these brands would talk tariff strategy with Fast Company, or even discuss their own recent cultural momentum within this context, underscoring the general sense of confusion about what comes next. (As one high-level PR professional who works with retail food brands put it: “Our clients can’t get far enough away from this right now.”) But last fall CJ Foods CEO Misook Pak explained the company’s U.S. strategy to Bloomberg, sounding very Made in America, “If you look at something like mandu [Korean dumplings], we’re able to take this product and localize it for consumers in the U.S.,” he explained. Indeed, the company’s Bibigo dumplings, which are sold at H Mart and produced domestically nowadays, are available in special American flavors like chicken and cilantro. H Mart’s community hubs H Mart, for the moment, seems to be shrugging off any obstacles. The grocer has been on an expansion tear, and there are no signs yet that it’s slowing. In San Francisco last May, it paid $32 million to buy a strip mall in Ingleside, going from tenant to owner. It now rents storefronts in the space to Korean bakery chain Paris Baguette, a Vietnamese coffee shop, and a boba tea outpost. The largest H Mart in existence—a 100,000-square-footer—opened last summer in the Salt Lake City suburbs, between a Mormon church and a sporting goods store. Next, H Mart debuted its own dining hall at the country’s second-largest mall, New Jersey’s American Dream, where diners can try a dozen different eateries offering create-your-own hot pots, bulgogi heroes by a Michelin-star chef, and a self-serve beer bar. Dallas will soon have a $42 million, 16-acre H Mart Plaza, set to hold 50 stores and restaurants. People in Orlando are counting the days until the state of Florida’s first location opens. Las Vegas welcomed its first outlet just last week. “I’ve heard about it, I’ve seen it, there are books about it,” an excited local raved to ABC 13. These locations aren’t just larger than their predecessors. They’re also taking over spaces where rivals crashed and burned—a fallen Super Target in Orlando, a closed Save A Lot in Illinois, a former Kmart in Salt Lake City. H Mart recently swallowed up two underperforming Albertsons stores in Los Angeles. Where H Mart thrives, it seems to refigure sterile supermarkets into vibrant community hubs. H Mart’s shoppers aren’t after Tide pods, after all. They’re there for the food court, the live lobster tank, the wagyu ribeye bulgogi free samples, the cotton candy dispenser near the row of Korean claw machines full of stuffed Pokémon toys. The grocer’s immersive experience could help it continue to reel in shoppers even amid rising prices. That sense of discovery and connection expands beyond the stores themselves. According to data provided by market research firm Datassential, the proportion of restaurants within a half-mile of H Mart that are Korean, Chinese, Japanese, or another type of Asian food is anywhere from 200% to 1,500% higher than average nationwide. That reflects H Mart’s strategy of putting its stores in enclaves where the demographics closely match the offerings on aisles. But in some instances, H Mart itself is luring in other Asian-focused businesses. Almost a third of Paris Baguette’s 191 U.S. cafés are within a half-mile of an H Mart, and about a quarter of all Bb.q Chicken outposts are. Both brands are frequently inside the H Mart food court. (Neither company agreed to comment for this story.) For the brand-new Las Vegas location, formerly a Savers thrift store, H Mart CEO Brian Kwon offered a rare public statement predicting, “H Mart will become a place to experience the best of what communities have to offer, providing a convenient one-stop shopping place for diverse cultures and to the neighborhood, where different ethnicities of friends and neighbors can come, gather, and enjoy.” Already, other Korean establishments are flocking to join H Mart in its shopping plaza. Daeho Kalbijjim, which draws hourlong waits for its short-rib stews in San Francisco, just opened its first Vegas location in the H Mart shopping center. The new location’s manager told local media that the proximity to the grocer “is going to really help us a lot.” Between H Mart carrying good food and his restaurant cooking good food, he said, “we thought the combination was really good.” Even as tariffs threaten costs, H Mart’s real edge might be something much harder to manufacture than a trade war: fierce devotion, tougher to break than any supply chain. View the full article

Russians seeking an online window to the outside world are finding their options rapidly diminishing as Vladimir Putin’s government strips app stores of VPNs. Last week, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s internet authority, ordered three major app stores to remove virtual private networks (VPNs) from public availability. Roughly one in four Russians report using VPNs to avoid detection by Russia’s pervasive internet monitoring tools—systems designed to suppress dissent within the country. The VPN bans are the latest in a long series of similar crackdowns. According to TechRadar, more than 50 VPNs available elsewhere are inaccessible in the Russian Google Play Store. This is despite Google showing more resistance than many other app store providers to Russia’s censorship demands. Still, the trend signals a worrying shift toward sweeping digital restrictions. “Russia’s increasing push to remove VPN apps from major app stores is part of a coordinated strategy to cut citizens off from uncensored information and secure communication tools,” warns Alexey Kozliuk, chair of the VPN Guild, an industry group. According to Yevgeniy Golovchenko, a researcher specializing in online censorship at the University of Copenhagen, Russia’s efforts to block VPNs represent one of the final and most extreme steps in a long campaign to control the internet. He likens online censorship to a ladder, suggesting that the country is now reaching its upper limits in terms of how far it can go to restrict digital freedom. “We’re reaching the top of the censorship ladder,” he says. While this crackdown on VPNs represents the regime’s most aggressive action yet, Golovchenko sees it as part of a long-standing effort by the Kremlin to eliminate online dissent entirely. “The Russian authorities have been trying to establish control over the internet during the last two decades,” he says. That effort intensified after Russia’s spring 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as public discontent over Putin’s decisions grew. The Russian president is determined to extinguish opposition to his actions in Ukraine and prevent any potential uprising. Those most likely to be drafted—and most opposed to the war—tend to be frequent internet users. Thus, controlling the web is viewed as key to maintaining total authority. “The Russian government is definitely trying to splinter the internet,” Golovchenko says. “They’ve been passing the so-called sovereign internet law with a clear goal of trying to splinter the Russian internet.” In this way, Russia is emulating its ally China, Golovchenko says, “not just through censorship, but through efforts to push users away from Western platforms toward Russian platforms that are more likely to comply with Russian law.” Russia’s broader approach to censorship is also telling. The government has allocated 60 billion rubles (around $600 million) in its 2025–2027 budget to expand its censorship infrastructure. This includes the deployment of advanced Deep Packet Inspection systems known as TSPU. “These systems are capable of blocking entire VPN protocols and have been tested during regional internet shutdowns to suppress encrypted traffic,” adds VPN Guild’s Kozliuk, who says that some VPN providers have created robust technologies specifically designed to function in heavily censored countries such as Russia, Belarus, and Iran. However, he notes that the Russian government is increasingly countering these efforts by blocking information about VPNs and pressuring tech companies to halt their distribution. “For ordinary Russians, the consequences are severe,” Kozliuk says. Citizens are increasingly cut off from the outside world, as the tools they once used to circumvent state censorship are being dismantled through tighter enforcement. These actions, he says, mark another step toward a “splinternet,” reflecting the Kremlin’s enduring aim to build a self-contained, tightly regulated Russian web modeled on China’s. “What we’re witnessing is not just censorship, but the systematic construction of digital borders,” he tells Fast Company, “enforced by the state and increasingly by complicit global tech companies.” View the full article

Whether you're building your personal brand or running social media marketing for a business, choosing the right social media platforms matters. It’s not just about being where everyone is — it’s about being where your audience already shows up. That’s why we put together this guide: a look at the top social media platforms in 2025, ranked by monthly active users and updated with insights on what each platform is best for. From familiar giants like Facebook and Instagram to rising players like Threads and Bluesky, this list will help you make smarter decisions about where to show up and what kind of content to create. And remember: you don’t need to be on every social media site to grow a strong social media presence. A focused strategy that aligns with your target audience, content strengths, and available time will always beat being spread too thin. But first, an overview of the most popular social media platforms Platform Monthly Active Users (MAU) Top Content Formats Best For Facebook 3.07B Text, Images, Video, Reels, Stories, Groups General brand presence YouTube 2.53B Long-form video, Shorts, Live Video content & SEO WhatsApp 2B Messaging, Voice notes, Product catalogues Customer support & updates Instagram 2B Reels, Stories, Posts, Lives Visual storytelling TikTok 1.59B Short-form video, Duets, Lives Short-form video & trends WeChat 1.38B Messaging, Mini apps, Payment Chinese market reach Telegram 950M Channels, Chats, Bots Broadcast and private messaging Snapchat 850M Snaps, Stories, AR filters, Spotlight Direct engagement with Gen Z Douyin 766M Short videos, Livestream, In-app shopping Short-form video + E-commerce Kuaishou 700M Short/long video, Livestream Live commerce & rural China Reddit 632M Text, Links, Comments Community insights & trends Weibo 598M Images, Hashtags, Stories Trend-driven content in China Pinterest 570M Pins, Boards, Idea Pins Product discovery & planning QQ 554M Chat, Games, Avatars File sharing, messaging LinkedIn 350-400M Articles, Carousels, Video, Posts B2B marketing & personal brand Threads 350M Text, Carousels, Links, Images Conversational, casual posting X (Twitter) 335.7M Text, Images, Video Real-time updates & engagement Quora 300M Q&A, Text, Links Educational content & SEO RedNote (Xiaohongshu) 300M+ Photos, Mini vlogs, Captions Reviews & lifestyle content Twitch 240M Live video, Chat, Replays Livestream entertainment Discord 150M Text, Voice, Video, Channels Private communities Tumblr 135M Text, GIFs, Images, Audio Creative self-expression Bluesky 30M (total users) Text posts, Replies, Reposts Decentralized social networking Mastodon 8.1M (total users) Text, Media, Audio Federated communities 💡Source: StatistaJump to a social media platform: Jump to a section: 1. Facebook 2. WhatsApp 3. YouTube 4. Instagram 5. TikTok 6. WeChat 7. Telegram 8. Snapchat 9. Douyin 10. Kuaishou 11. Reddit 12. Weibo 13. Pinterest 14. QQ 15. LinkedIn 16. Threads 17. X (Twitter) 18. Quora 19. RedNote (Xiaohongshu) 20. Twitch 21. Discord 22. Tumblr 23. Bluesky 24. Mastodon The top 24 social media apps and platforms for 2025This list is ranked by the latest data on monthly active users (MAUs)*. While it's useful to see the sheer volume of users each site has, it doesn't necessarily mean the one with the biggest user base is the best for your brand. If your target audience is not active there, the platform isn't worth the time and effort it will take to manage it. Start your social media marketing strategy by pinpointing where your ideal customers are active to get the best return on investment (ROI) for your business. 1. Facebook3.065 billion MAU Source: MetaFacebook remains the largest social media platform in the world, with more than 3 billion monthly active users — that’s over one-third of the global population. It continues to be a core part of most social media marketing strategies, thanks to its broad audience reach and support for nearly every type of content format. More than 200 million businesses use Facebook’s tools, and over seven million brands advertise on the platform — making it one of the most popular social media sites for business. Why Facebook still matters: Works well for text, images, video content, stories, and live streamsFeatures like Facebook Groups and Facebook Messenger allow deeper community building and customer engagementFacebook Ads Manager gives precise targeting for paid social media campaignsPro tip: Here’s how to grow your Facebook following and make the most of the algorithm — it rewards content that sparks conversations between friends, families, and communities. ⚡Best time to post on Facebook: We analyzed 1 million+ posts to help you find the best times for engagement.2. WhatsApp2.95 billion MAU WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app, used in over 180 countries and by nearly 3 billion people every month. Originally built for personal messaging, it has since evolved into a valuable social media platform for customer service, community updates, and business marketing. Why use WhatsApp: WhatsApp is designed for small businesses to share updates, showcase products, and answer questions directlyLarger teams can use the WhatsApp Business app to automate responses and integrate customer communication at scaleWhether you're updating customers on orders, offering real-time support, or broadcasting limited-time deals, WhatsApp is a great platform to reach users where they're most engaged, especially in regions where text messaging is the primary form of communication. WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption and no-algorithm feed make it ideal for direct communication, not discovery. But when used well, it builds trust and loyalty with your target audience. 3. YouTube2.5 billion MAU YouTube is more than a video sharing platform — it’s the second-largest search engine in the world (after Google, its parent company). With users watching over a billion hours of video daily, it’s a must-have platform for any brand investing in video content. Why YouTube matters for your marketing strategy: Supports both long-form and short-form videos (including YouTube Shorts)Great for evergreen content, tutorials, behind-the-scenes, and storytellingWorks well for search-driven discovery and subscriber growthSEO plays a huge role in visibility here. Optimizing your videos with the right keywords, thumbnails, and engagement strategies can help your content reach the right viewers over time. Whether you’re new to YouTube or refining your current presence, here’s how to grow on YouTube and start building a community through content. Learn more about YouTube SEO, the YouTube algorithm, and how to grow your audience. ⚡Best time to post on YouTube: We analyzed over 1 million videos to find the best publishing times.4. Instagram2.04 billion MAU Source: MetaInstagram is one of the most visual social media platforms, built for sharing photos, videos, Stories, and short-form video content like Reels. With over 2 billion monthly active users, it’s especially popular with millennials and Gen Z — making it a top choice for brands looking to connect through visual storytelling. Why brands love Instagram: A wide range of formats — including Reels, Stories, and Live video — keeps content freshStrong discovery tools like the Explore tab and hashtags help grow reachEncourages user-generated content through mentions, tags, and branded campaignsYou can switch to an Instagram business profile to unlock in-depth analytics and scheduling tools. It’s also easy to cross-post to Facebook, Threads, and Messenger since they’re all part of the Meta family of platforms. Want to grow? The Instagram algorithm favors content that gets quick engagement — likes, saves, shares, and comments. Here’s a complete guide to Instagram growth in 2025. ⚡Best time to post on Instagram: Based on 5 million posts, we found the times most likely to drive engagement.5. TikTok1.5 billion MAU TikTok has quickly become the go-to short-form video content platform, especially among younger audiences. With 1.5 billion monthly active users and a global reach, it’s one of the most engaging social media platforms out there — and a top choice for creators, small businesses, and brands looking to show up in a more personal, creative way. What makes TikTok unique: Users can create videos up to 10 minutes long (which we’ve found get more views) with built-in music, voice effects, and editing toolsThe algorithm is laser-focused on user behavior — meaning anyone can go viralChallenges, duets, and trends help brands participate in culture, not just broadcast messagesIf your target demographic includes Gen Z or younger millennials, TikTok can be a powerful place to connect through authentic, fast-moving content. Concerned about the TikTok ban? We’ve got you covered — here’s everything we know about the potential TikTok ban in the U.S., and how to prepare just in case. Want to grow? Learn how the TikTok algorithm works and how to get more followers — from content hooks to posting strategy. ⚡Best time to post on TikTok: Our research breaks down the best posting windows for reach and engagement.6. WeChat1.34 billion MAU Interested in expanding your social media presence internationally? WeChat could be your gateway to one of the largest online markets in the world. WeChat, developed by Chinese tech giant Tencent, is one of the most versatile social media platforms in the world — especially across China and parts of Asia. Originally a messaging app, WeChat has grown into an all-in-one platform where users can send messages, make payments, shop online, book rides, and more. Why WeChat stands out: One of the only major social networking sites not blocked in ChinaOffers branded WeChat Official Accounts for businesses, which act like mini-websitesEnables businesses to run ads, build mini-programs (apps within WeChat), and reach audiences directly through WeChat MomentsIf you’re trying to reach users in China — where platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram are restricted — WeChat is the dominant option for both personal and business communication. You can also partner with Chinese influencers to promote your brand through stories and content within the WeChat ecosystem. 7. Telegram900 million MAU Telegram is a fast-growing messaging app known for its privacy-first approach and flexibility. While it started as a simple chat tool, it’s evolved into a full-fledged social media platform with channels, communities, bots, and broadcast tools — all of which make it a powerful option for creators and brands. What sets Telegram apart: End-to-end encryption for messages and filesMassive group and channel support — with channels accommodating up to 200,000 subscribersBots and automation for delivering content, collecting feedback, or even processing purchasesBecause of its minimal algorithmic interference, Telegram is ideal for direct audience communication — perfect for newsletters, product updates, and community building without the noise. While not designed for discovery like TikTok or Instagram, Telegram excels at deepening engagement with an already interested target audience. You can even build mini ecosystems on Telegram using its bots and API integrations — useful for tech-savvy brands and creators. 8. Snapchat800 million MAU Source: The VergeSnapchat pioneered the idea of disappearing content and vertical video — both of which have become staples across other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. With 800 million monthly active users globally, Snapchat remains a powerful messaging app and visual content platform, especially among younger audiences. Why Snapchat should have a place in your strategy: Strong engagement with Gen Z and U.S. teens (nearly 70% use the app)Features like Lenses, Bitmoji, and private Stories make it highly interactiveNewer tools like My AI and Spotlight aim to keep users engaged and creators supportedWhile Snapchat may not be as central to social media marketing strategy as Instagram or TikTok, it still plays a key role in reaching specific target demographics — especially if your brand skews younger or lifestyle-driven. 9. Douyin (TikTok China)766.5 million monthly active users Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok — developed by ByteDance and launched before its global counterpart. While they share the same interface and video-first format, Douyin operates separately from TikTok and has its own ecosystem, rules, and user behavior. With around 766 million monthly active users, Douyin is a leading social media platform in China and a powerhouse in short-form video content and social commerce. Why Douyin stands out: Advanced in-video e-commerce integrations — users can buy directly from videos and livestreamsRich data and AI-driven recommendations for hyper-personalized feedsPopular for tutorials, product reviews, behind-the-scenes content, and shopping haulsFor brands and creators targeting the Chinese market, Douyin offers a highly engaged, transaction-friendly audience — and a glimpse into the future of video-led commerce. 💡While access for international brands may require local partnerships or agencies, understanding Douyin could be the key to understanding where TikTok may be headed.10. Kuaishou735.6 million MAU Kuaishou is one of China’s largest video-focused social media platforms, and a key competitor to TikTok (known as Douyin in China). With around 735 million monthly active users, it’s especially popular in lower-tier cities and rural regions of China — offering a unique space for creators and brands to reach underserved audiences. What makes Kuaishou different: Strong emphasis on authentic, everyday storytelling over high-gloss trendsSupports long-form video, short-form content, and live streamingLeans heavily on e-commerce revenue, with built-in tools for product discovery and purchasingKuaishou has a reputation for being more community-driven and less algorithmically intense than TikTok or Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. This gives smaller creators more room to grow and makes the platform an interesting option for social commerce. If you’re targeting the Chinese market or exploring cross-border e-commerce, Kuaishou is worth exploring as part of a broader social media marketing strategy. 11. Reddit632 million MAU Source: TechCrunchReddit is a hybrid discussion platform and social network made up of thousands of niche communities called subreddits. With 632 million monthly active users, it’s a go-to platform for in-depth conversations, advice, crowd-sourced knowledge, and cultural commentary. Why Reddit is different: Forums exist for virtually every topic — from skincare to startups to AISocial media users engage anonymously, which encourages honest discussionSubreddits like r/beauty or r/entrepreneur are hubs of trusted peer insightReddit isn’t about polished content — it’s about showing up with value. That makes it ideal for brands and creators who want to listen before posting and engage with communities thoughtfully. Keep in mind that most subreddits don’t allow blatant self-promotion. Your best bet for success on the platform is to offer insights, ask smart questions, and share content that’s genuinely useful to your target audience. 💡Learn how to find content ideas from Reddit trends.12. Sina Weibo590 million MAU Sina Weibo is a Chinese microblogging platform that combines features of Twitter and Instagram. With about 590 million monthly active users, Weibo remains one of the largest social networking sites in China and a powerful channel for trend discovery, influencer marketing, and brand visibility. Why Weibo is a top choice: Content includes images, videos, Stories, live streams, and hashtagsHighly active around entertainment, news, beauty, fashion, and techOffers official and verified business accounts, plus ad placementsCompared to WeChat, Weibo’s audience is younger and more trend-focused. It’s the platform where many viral movements and conversations start — and where brands can join cultural conversations in real time. Interested in going viral in China? The New York Times once called Weibo “the place to be” — and for good reason. 13. Pinterest570 million MAU Pinterest is where inspiration meets action. With 570 million monthly active users, it’s a visual social media platform that functions more like a discovery engine than a traditional feed. Users “pin” images and videos linked to blogs, products, and landing pages — making it a strong driver of traffic and purchases. Why Pinterest works for brands: Pinterest users are 7x more likely to purchase products they’ve savedEspecially popular for niches like fashion, home decor, wellness, DIY, and foodIdeal for user-generated content and evergreen posts with long shelf livesWhether you’re promoting blog content, e-commerce listings, or tutorials, Pinterest helps you show up when people are actively searching for ideas — making it a valuable addition to your social media marketing strategy. 💡Just getting started? Here’s how to use Pinterest for business and grow your following from zero.14. QQ554 million MAU QQ, also developed by Tencent, was once China’s top instant messaging app before WeChat took the lead. Today, with over 550 million monthly active users, QQ still holds strong — especially among younger users, gamers, and professionals looking for lightweight communication and file sharing. Why QQ has a loyal user base: Popular for its desktop-friendly interface and ability to transfer large files (over 25 MB)Offers a social feed, avatar customization, and built-in online gamesDoesn’t require a phone number to sign up — appealing to students and users without smartphonesQQ is more than a messaging tool — it’s a full social experience, especially in China’s youth culture. For brands targeting the Chinese workforce or teen audience, QQ can be a lower-pressure alternative to flashier social media platforms like WeChat or Douyin. While it’s not a major channel for global marketing, QQ is still a key part of China's broader social media landscape — and a reminder that different markets often respond to very different tools. 15. LinkedIn~350-400 million MAU LinkedIn is the leading professional networking platform, originally built for job seekers and recruiters — but now just as valuable for creators, small business owners, and brands. With between 350-400 million monthly active users, LinkedIn has become a hub for sharing ideas, building authority, and nurturing your personal brand. Why LinkedIn is a must for professionals and brands: Ideal for B2B marketing, industry insights, and employer brandingA powerful space to establish thought leadership through articles, carousels, and video contentThe algorithm rewards consistency and meaningful engagement (especially comments)Whether you're building a business presence or growing as a solo creator, LinkedIn offers one of the highest ROIs for content visibility — especially if your target audience includes decision-makers or professionals. Learn how the LinkedIn algorithm works, how to grow your followers, and how to build a standout personal brand. ⚡Best time to post on LinkedIn: Our data shows the top times for engagement and visibility based on millions of posts.16. Threads350 million MAU Source: CNN BusinessThreads, developed by Meta as a companion to Instagram, launched in mid-2023 and quickly became one of the fastest-growing social media apps in history — reaching 100 million sign-ups in just a few days. As of early 2025, it now has over 350 million monthly active users. What makes Threads different: A text-first platform for short-form updates, commentary, and casual conversationIntegrated with Instagram — your username, following, and cross-posting carry overAn alternative to its counterpart X, with regular feature rolloutsThreads is still evolving, but it’s quickly become a space for creators, founders, and brands to build connections through short-form content without pressure. Many use it for behind-the-scenes updates, audience questions, and less polished thoughts. Want to grow on Threads? We broke down the platform’s best features and how to use them to build community and brand visibility. 💡Pro tip: If you’re already active on Instagram, Threads offers a natural extension to reach your target audience through quick, conversational content.17. X (formerly Twitter)335.7 million MAU X, formerly known as Twitter, continues to be a major player in social media, with over 335 million monthly active users. While the platform has undergone significant changes since its rebrand in 2023, it still thrives on real-time audience interaction, trending topics, and short-form updates. What makes X unique: Emphasis on timely content — from breaking news to live commentaryA home for text-first content, making it ideal for thought leadership, humor, and hot takesStill a powerful customer service channel, used by brands for fast, public supportDespite fluctuating user trust and platform changes, X remains useful for brands with a fast-moving content strategy or a desire to connect directly with niche communities. Learn how the X algorithm works and how to grow your following on X, whether you’re building a personal brand or managing a business account. ⚡Best time to post on X: Our analysis of millions of posts shows when engagement is highest.18. Quora400 million MAU Quora is a discussion platform built around questions and answers — where users share knowledge, give advice, and rank responses through upvotes and views. With 400 million monthly active users, Quora continues to be a valuable space for brands and creators to build trust and reach users during the research phase of decision-making. Why Quora works: High intent audience — many users are actively researching purchases or trying to solve a problemEvergreen visibility — a great answer can rank in Google search and stay visible for yearsA space to showcase subject-matter expertise and link back to your site, product, or contentAs part of your social media marketing strategy, Quora can help you reach your target audience with content that feels helpful, not promotional. You can answer industry-relevant questions, create a Quora page for your business, or even run ads through Quora’s ad platform. 💡Pro tip: Use employee advocates or founders to answer questions on behalf of your brand — it adds a personal touch and builds credibility.19. RedNote (Xiaohongshu/Little Red Book)300+ million MAU Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote or Little Red Book, is a fast-growing social media platform based in China that blends lifestyle content, product discovery, and e-commerce. With over 300 million monthly active users, it’s often described as a hybrid of Instagram, Pinterest, and Amazon reviews — especially popular among Gen Z and Millennial women. Why RedNote is a rising star: Combines user-generated content with product recommendations, tutorials, and reviewsBuilt-in shopping and affiliate links allow for seamless conversion from content to purchaseEspecially influential in beauty, fashion, wellness, travel, and luxury nichesRedNote has gained international attention in light of uncertainty around platforms like TikTok, with some creators exploring it as a new content channel. It’s also one of the most trusted sources of peer-to-peer product reviews in China. If you’re targeting the Chinese market or exploring social commerce trends, RedNote is a platform to watch closely. 20. Twitch240 million monthly active users Twitch is the world’s leading live streaming platform, best known for gaming but increasingly home to creators in music, art, tech, fitness, and more. With 240 million monthly active users, Twitch enables direct, real-time audience interaction through live chat and subscriber communities. Why Twitch works for brands and creators: Live content builds strong viewer relationships through real-time engagementMonetization options include subscriptions, donations, sponsorships, and adsA dedicated culture around creators, from emotes to channel raids to “Just Chatting” streamsIf your brand or product fits naturally into entertainment, gaming, education, or behind-the-scenes content, Twitch can be a powerful space to grow your presence with video content that feels personal and participatory. 💡For creators and businesses new to live streaming, Twitch offers a loyal audience, but it’s best approached with consistency and interaction in mind.21. Discord200 million monthly active users Discord started as a communication platform for gamers — but today, it powers communities across everything from entrepreneurship and crypto to education and creator spaces. With 200 million monthly active users, Discord offers real-time messaging, voice chat, video calls, and deep customization for brands looking to build close-knit audiences. Why Discord stands out: Fully customizable servers with private and public channelsGreat for building a sense of belonging through shared spaces, events, and exclusive contentCan be used for product feedback, customer support, or behind-the-scenes accessWhile not a traditional social media platform, Discord is increasingly used by creators, businesses, and brands to deepen their social media presence through community-led conversations. 💡Buffer runs a Discord community where creators and marketers connect — proof that it's not just for gamers anymore.22. Tumblr191 million monthly website visits Tumblr is a long-running microblogging platform known for its creative freedom, highly engaged subcultures, and customizable blog layouts. With 191 million monthly website visits, Tumblr has maintained a loyal community — particularly among artists, writers, fandoms, and younger users seeking a more expressive online space. Why Tumblr still resonates: Supports nearly every media format: text, images, GIFs, video, audio, and linksAllows deep blog customization — many users treat their Tumblr as a personal website or aesthetic diaryIdeal for moodboarding, visual storytelling, and niche interests that don’t always fit mainstream platformsTumblr isn’t a must-use for every brand — but for those in creative industries or with strong visual and cultural identities, it can be a low-pressure way to build a unique social media presence. 💡Curious how Tumblr works today? Here’s a guide to get started and navigate the platform’s current ecosystem.23. Bluesky30 million total users Bluesky is a decentralized social media platform originally incubated by Twitter and launched as an independent app in 2023. With a focus on transparency and user control, Bluesky reached over 30 million total users by the end of 2024 — and continues to attract tech-savvy creators, developers, and community builders. Learn how to get started here. What makes Bluesky unique: Built on the AT Protocol — an open-source network that allows users to control their data and algorithmsFeels familiar to X/Twitter, with posts, replies, reposts, and likesAttracts a niche but growing user base interested in decentralization, creator ownership, and moderation transparencyBluesky is still in early stages and not yet a mainstream platform, but it holds promise for creators and brands who want to engage in smaller, values-aligned communities or experiment with new distribution models. 💡Here’s what I learned after six months on Bluesky — and how to decide if it’s right for your target audience.24. Mastodon8.1 million total users Mastodon is a decentralized, open-source social media platform that gained traction in late 2022 as an alternative to mainstream networks. With around 8.1 million total users, Mastodon is organized around independently hosted servers — or “instances” — that interconnect to form a broader network known as the Fediverse. Why Mastodon appeals to niche audiences: No central authority — users join or create communities based on shared interests or valuesPrioritizes privacy, moderation transparency, and algorithm-free feedsPosts can be up to 5,000 characters and include images, video, or audioMastodon isn’t built for mass appeal — it’s designed for intentional communities and slower, more thoughtful real-time audience interaction. If your brand leans toward transparency, activism, or ethical tech, it could be a good fit for reputation-building. 💡Want to explore decentralized networks? Here’s a beginner’s guide to Mastodon and how to decide whether to build a presence there.Be selective with your social media presenceWith so many social media platforms out there, it can be tempting to try them all — but the most effective social media marketing strategy isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about showing up intentionally, where your target audience already spends time, and where your content performs best. Instead of managing five or six platforms halfway, pick two or three that align with your strengths, your goals, and your audience — then commit to showing up consistently and experimenting over time. And if you’re managing multiple platforms, Buffer makes it easier to plan content, track performance, and stay organized — no matter how many accounts you run. FAQs about social media platformsWhat are social media platforms?Social media platforms are online networks or apps where users create and share content, connect with others, and engage in communities. They range from messaging apps like WhatsApp to visual platforms like Instagram and video-sharing platforms like YouTube. What are the top 5 social media platforms?As of 2025, the top 5 social media platforms by monthly active users are: Facebook – 3.07 billion MAUsYouTube – 2.5 billion MAUsWhatsApp – 2 billion MAUsInstagram – 2 billion MAUsTikTok – 1.59 billion MAUsThese platforms offer the widest reach and broadest social media usage globally. What are the top 5 popular apps in social media?The most popular social media apps right now are: TikTok (short-form video)Instagram (visual storytelling)YouTube (long-form and short-form video)Facebook (broad content sharing and community)Threads (fast-growing text-first app from Meta)Popularity can depend on audience age, region, and content format — so consider where your target audience is most active. What is the hottest social media right now?TikTok continues to dominate short-form video and cultural trends. But Threads and Xiaohongshu (RedNote) are quickly gaining traction in 2025, with younger audiences and creators exploring new ways to share, connect, and monetize. Unless otherwise stated, these numbers are from Statista's report, 'Most popular social networks worldwide as of October 2024'. View the full article

“Follow your dreams.” It’s the first piece of advice most of us are ever given: as kids in the classroom, as students on campus, as graduates preparing to enter the workforce, and as working adults. We are told that jobs are for pursuing passions, not just paychecks. If we do what we love, money and success will follow. If we love what we do, we’ll never work a day in our lives. And the corollary to all that dreaminess? If we don’t find employment doing whatever we find most fulfilling, we’re somehow failures. We don’t have to follow our dreams to end up with our dream jobs. In fact, I’d argue the opposite. When it comes to careers, “follow your dreams” can be nightmare advice. That’s because most of us enter the working world without knowing what those dreams are. Instead, I’d suggest it’s better to follow your opportunities. A culture of dreams We might think we know what our dreams are. We might even feel certain of them. After all, Americans are spoon-fed a diet high in dreams. They’re the cornerstone of our cultural canon, the basis of fairy tales, superhero stories, and countless Disney and DreamWorks movies. And they aren’t just relegated to fiction and fantasy. Phrases like “I’m living the dream,” “It’s a dream come true,” “The man (or woman) of my dreams,” and “Beyond my wildest dreams” are part of our lexicon. Athletes say these words in post-game interviews after winning big and making it to the finals. Actors repeat them in acceptance speeches as they clutch a shiny statuette. Even contestants on dating shows utter them after receiving a rose and surviving for another week. From our youngest years, we are asked about our career dreams: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Obviously, we have no experience at being anything other than a kid. So why not aspire to be a pro athlete or a pop star? A grab bag of options As we get older and prepare to enter the workplace, some of us still hold on to our childhood or teenage dreams, or we find new ones. Certainly, we are more mature and thoughtful at age twenty-two than we were at age five or fifteen. The sources influencing us are likely to be more logical: our favorite course in college, the recruiter we talked to at an on-campus career fair, or a summer internship that stimulated us intellectually or socially. But like our younger selves, we’re still picking from a grab bag of options largely chosen for us by others or offered from limited experiences. Even if we have a better understanding of what work is, our understanding of who we are is still limited. Consequently, most of us don’t have a clear idea of what we truly want to be when we grow up—especially not at the start of our careers. And that’s a cause for celebration! The point of living is to learn as we go (and grow). That should be the point of working, too: to try new things, to meet different people, to understand ourselves better—what we like and what we can’t stand, what excites us and what bores us, what fills us with joy on a Monday morning and what fills us with dread on a Sunday night. We spend a third of our lives on the job. It just makes sense that whatever we fantasized about doing while dozing off in Econ 101 probably isn’t what we’ll want to be doing thirty years later. But instead of understanding how lucky this makes us, how much freedom we have, all too often we just feel lost. Because we’ve been taught to find direction in our dreams—that they should be like a North Star to guide us. We may feel envious of people who seem to have a fixed dream to follow to help them on their way. Missed opportunities Here’s the thing: Professional dreams can be incredibly limiting. When we enter the workplace convinced that we already know what we want to do—and are committed to doing it at all costs—what we’re saying, in essence, is that there’s nothing left for us to learn or be curious about, nothing that could change our minds, nothing else that would make us happier or more fulfilled. We’re saying that even though our careers are only just beginning, we already know what we want out of them. With that mindset, we risk sleepwalking through life and hitting snooze on a host of bigger, better opportunities that come our way, opportunities that we never could have dreamed up. Just like we can’t be what we can’t see, we can’t dream what we don’t know. So, at any one time, our wants and wishes for the future have a near-infinite number of blind spots. They include every industry we haven’t yet worked in, every company we haven’t yet encountered, and every job we haven’t tried doing ourselves. Unfamiliar territory The world of “I don’t know” is big and always getting bigger. New industries emerge all the time. New companies launch every day. The newer they are, the less likely we are to know about them. Even if we do, the more entrenched we are in our dreams, the less likely we are to want to step foot on unfamiliar territory. Instead, we live in the comfort of a decision we made years ago. But what feels like a seatbelt keeping us secure can also be a trap confining us. Those of us who aren’t committed to a specific dream, on the other hand, have the opportunity to follow new opportunities. Where the dreamers close themselves off, the non-dreamers stay open. Our culture likes to think of them—of us—as lost, but the best way to make one’s way has always been to stay alert and be willing to turn left, right, or back to try a new route when necessary. We can’t do that when our eyes are closed and we are dreaming about something else. Possessing dreams versus allowing them to possess us Does that mean we should discard dreams wholesale? Of course not. There’s nothing wrong with having them and holding on to them, even when they seem unlikely, and the odds are stacked against them coming true. Dreams can motivate us, guide us, and serve as reminders of what’s most important to us. And achieving them feels great in a way that’s hard to top. But there’s a difference between possessing dreams and allowing dreams to possess us. There’s a difference between keeping a dream alive while remaining open to other opportunities and closing ourselves off to everything other than our capital-D dream. All of us—and all our careers—would be better off if we did way more of the former and way less of the latter. Life’s most exciting and least expected adventures are found when we refuse to be restricted and restrained by what we’ve previously imagined. Maybe the random opportunity we say yes to gets us nowhere. Or maybe we’re great at it. Maybe it makes us truly happy. Maybe it ends up exceeding our wildest dreams. Maybe it becomes our wildest dream. Only now, unlike our childhood fantasies, we’ll be equipped with a real understanding of what it entails, what it requires of us, and whether we’re up for it—which makes it a whole lot more likely to become our reality and, quite literally, a dream come true. Excerpted with permission from 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work. Copyright @ 2025 by Bonnie Hammer. Reproduced by permission of Simon Element, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved. View the full article

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After years of AI disrupting industries and streamlining repetitive workflows, the technology is now poised to transform animation. In 2024, director and writer Tom Paton’s AiMation Studios released Where the Robots Grow, a fully AI-animated feature film. Everything from animation and voice acting to music was generated using AI, at a cost of just $8,000 per minute—totaling around $700,000 for the 87-minute production. While IMDB reviewers criticized the film as “soulless and uninspired,” it proved that AI can deliver full-length animated features at a fraction of traditional budgets. But it’s not just filmmakers driving this shift. Indie game developers want to prototype characters and worlds in hours, not weeks. TikTok and social media creators are looking to animate original characters without studio resources. Major brands, too, seek emotionally resonant storytelling without monthslong timelines or ballooning 3D animation costs. The challenge: most 3D animation tools are still slow, technical, and expensive. Hoping to remove these barriers, a team of developers from OpenAI, Google, Pixar, and Riot Games launched Cartwheel, an AI-powered 3D animation platform. Cartwheel promises to make high-quality 3D character animation 100 times faster, simpler, and more affordable. Users can record motion with a smartphone, describe a scene with a text prompt, or pull from a library of expressive 3D movements. The platform’s AI transforms input into production-ready animations. Artists can refine them in Cartwheel or export into tools like Unity, Unreal Engine, Maya, or Blender—without disrupting their pipeline. The startup was cofounded by Andrew Carr, a former OpenAI scientist who helped develop Codex and ChatGPT’s code generation, and Jonathan Jarvis, former creative director at Google Creative Lab and founder of the animation studio Universal Patterns. The two met after OpenAI, intrigued by Jarvis’s concept for a generative animation tool, introduced him to Carr, who had just left the company to explore how AI could make animation more accessible. “I had a unique job, where I used animation to share complex research concepts clearly within Google, and make prototypes that couldn’t yet be built by software. Andrew always wanted to animate, and later invented a way to ‘talk’ to Blender, a popular open-source 3D software, with computer code,” says Jarvis. “We always wanted to build tools to help others get ideas moving and sensed the potential to animate in new ways using gen AI, that it would be centered around creative control.” After two years in stealth, Cartwheel is gaining traction. The company recently closed a $10 million funding round led by Craft Ventures, with support from WndrCo (Jeffrey Katzenberg), Khosla Ventures, Accel, Runway, and Tirta Ventures (Ben Feder), bringing total funding to $15.6 million. Over 60,000 animators, developers, and storytellers joined Cartwheel’s wait-list during stealth. Early adopters from DreamWorks, Duolingo, and Roblox are already using the platform. “All of our AI models are developed in-house. Behind the scenes, we’ve employed careful software engineering to ensure that all the pieces of our system work together in a way that can be plugged into existing animation pipelines,” Carr says. “Ensuring that the generated animation is properly scaled, moves naturally, and remains consistent throughout has been one of our biggest challenges.” A Creator-First AI Animation ToolWhile the generative AI field is increasingly crowded, Cartwheel positions itself differently: not as a replacement for artists, but as a tool that amplifies their creativity. “Animators and creatives don’t care if motion is generated, done by hand, motion-captured, or drawn from a library. They just want it to move to tell their story, make their game, or get their job done,” Jarvis says. “Our motion models can generate a lot of useful animation quickly, but they can’t do everything. That’s why we love a hybrid approach. Computers are great at finding patterns, but it’s the artist who brings the soul.” A key differentiator for Cartwheel is its team. Carr and Jarvis are joined by industry veterans with experience in film, games, and interactive design. Catherine “Cat” Hicks, former Pixar animation director on Coco, Inside Out, and Toy Story 3, serves as head of Animation Innovation. Neil Helm, head of Interactive Animation, worked on crowd systems at Pixar for Turning Red, Lightyear, Up, and Inside Out 2. The platform’s design is shaped by Steven Ziadie, former Sony and Riot designer, while production is led by Buthaina Mahmud, who helped define Unity’s real-time animation workflows and developed shaders used in the Spider-Verse films. “We reached out, and some reached out to us. Over time, we realized we all shared the goal to make storytelling faster, easier, and more powerful,” Carr and Jarvis tell Fast Company. “Culture is being shaped in increasingly dynamic, interactive, and immersive spaces like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox—all animation-driven experiences. We’re building tools for where animation is headed, and that’s resonating with industry veterans.” User feedback has helped shape Cartwheel’s interface. “We began with a focus on text to animation. In beta, we learned that while that’s compelling in many situations, often folks want to browse motions for inspiration, use video reference, or act out the motion themselves—so we’ve moved to a multimodal interface,” Carr says. What’s Next for Cartwheel?High-quality animation data remains scarce, with most data sets proprietary or lacking in diversity and detail. To address this, Cartwheel is using synthetic data—AI-generated animations that mimic real-world motion—to train and refine its models. “The next generation of AI companies has to find and curate the hard data types, and do the hard work to refine it and make it useful to people in that field. That’s where the value is,” Carr says. “While at OpenAI, I worked on the science of data quality and was able to generate millions of dollars of model improvements with just a few lines of code. We are following the same path at Cartwheel to ensure we produce the styles, qualities, and delightfulness in our motion data that artists need.” With fresh funding, Cartwheel plans to deepen R&D, grow its team, and bring its platform to broader markets. “Over the next 12 months, we aim to be a catalyst, enabling both large and small animation projects to flourish,” Jarvis says. “Ensuring ethically sourced data that empowers artists is fundamental to our approach. We are a team of artists building tools for artists.” View the full article

PPC is getting pricier and harder to measure. With branded search now key to media effectiveness, this piece outlines how to shift your strategy accordingly. The post Why Brand Advertising Matters For Paid Media Performance appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Ma Yansong is gesturing at a spiraling staircase inside the atrium of a building. The founder of MAD Architects—the Chinese firm behind the soon-to-open Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles—is in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to inaugurate the opening of his first museum in Europe, and he is talking about movement. Of forms, yes, but mostly of people. The museum, called Fenix, sits on the edge of Rotterdam’s historic port, which was also the first Chinatown in continental Europe. It was here, from the banks of the River Maas, where millions of emigrants—Albert Einstein included—boarded ships toward North America in search of better opportunities. And it is here, in the building that once housed the world’s largest harbor storage warehouse for the Holland America Line, that Yansong has come to reflect on the meaning of migration. Fenix is likely the first art museum in the world dedicated to the politically loaded theme of migration. Exhibitions stretch across two long, airy floors inside a century-old warehouse that was purchased by local art and culture foundation Droom en Daad in 2018, then restored by local architects from the design firm Bureau Polderman. MAD’s tangled staircase connects both floors, then swoops out through the roof into a panoramic platform that offers sprawling views of the city. “I think it’s an architectural element, but it’s also a metaphor; it has a storytelling function,” Yansong says. “It’s not about numbers” Fenix is opening at a time in which migrants around the world are being vilified, humiliated, deported. The EU has been hardening its migration policy for years, and hard-right parties are fast gaining ground—in the Netherlands as well. Since President Donald The President took office, he has shifted nearly every aspect of U.S immigration policy to constrict regular immigration pathways, deport primarily black and brown immigrants living in the U.S. regardless of their legal status or criminal history, and instill fear among those who remain. By comparison, the team behind Fenix is approaching migration with empathy. “We show that migration is not about numbers or facts, but it’s really about people,” says Anne Kremers, director of Fenix. “There’s a migration story to tell in every family, so that really is our angle: to show that we’re all human.” The underlying theme is perhaps best illustrated by a giant sculpture of a sun hanging over the lobby, which is here to suggest that we all live under the same sun. The galleries showcase personal histories of identity and migration from around the world: a Chinese talisman from a queer man who fled his native China for the Netherlands, and a life-size MTA bus with various characters made of wood. One exhibition makes the argument that we are all one big family of migrants. Another lets you journey through a labyrinth of 2,000 suitcases collected from across the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada. A metaphor for migration In the atrium, Yansong has articulated his own interpretation of migration in the form of a loopy, sinuous stairway that has been dubbed Tornado. This star attraction is actually two staircases that meet at two separate junctions before ushering visitors onto the roof. For Yansong, these junctions are symbolic of the journey a migrant takes. “You have to choose,” he says. In pure Rotterdam style, the stairs were craned into place after being transported by barge. The structure is clad in 297 highly polished, stainless steel panels—each a different size and made in Groningen, in northern Netherlands. The steps themselves are made of a Norwegian wood called Kebony, which develops a natural silver-gray patina over time and resembles the wood on a ship deck. On the roof, when you lean over the balustrade, you can almost feel the flurry of emotions that emigrants must have felt when waving to their loved ones, themselves standing on the nearby “pier of tears.” (A pill-shaped elevator encased in a glass cylinder provides an accessible route and culminates to a similar experience when you emerge onto the roof.) Sometimes, architects designing art museums choose to scale back the architecture in order to let the art speak for itself. Here, Yansong opted for a design that bolsters it. Some will inevitably find the steel too impersonal in a museum that is filled with such intimate, vulnerable stories. But as visitors walk around the atrium and climb up the steps, they will see one another reflected in the mirrored surface, which—smudges be damned—is designed to reinforce the shared experience of the moment. Designing with emotion MAD is no stranger to cultural buildings, among them the Harbin Opera House in the province of Heilongjiang and the China Philharmonic Concert Hall in Beijing. But Fenix is the studio’s first cultural project in Europe, and the first European museum designed by a Chinese firm—an achievement that Yansong has long yearned for. “I always wanted this opportunity,” he says of the chance to design a museum in Europe. “It’s a journey for me, you know, to understand other people. I think that’s the most exciting part, for I go to a different place and try to understand.” Yansong grew up in Beijing, in the traditional hutong alleyways that would later be demolished as part of the country’s rush to modernize. During his early 20s, he studied at Yale, then worked in London (under Zaha Hadid) before returning to his native country. Since then, Yansong has become part of the second generation of Chinese architects revolutionizing architecture after the country opened up to private practice in the 1990s. In 2012, he gained international fame with his curvaceous “Marilyn Monroe Towers” in Mississauga, Canada, which led to other international commissions like an apartment complex in Paris, or most recently the One River North apartment block in Denver. But his Chinese background never seems to stray too far. “I think the fundamental difference between China and the Western world is the Chinese use more emotion,” he told me. In Fenix, like with every building, Yansong began with a hand sketch. “You capture an emotion at one moment,” he says, “and I try to keep that until the end—not to change it or make it perfect.” To him, the museum is a poetic interpretation of the migration that his own people have experienced—”the Chinese go everywhere,” he says—but also of migration as a whole. “Movement is universal.” View the full article

A century ago, Guccio Gucci opened a boutique in Florence, Italy, that sold high-end leather luggage to well-heeled travelers. He infused his brand with all kinds of unique design elements that would become iconic, including the double-G insignia and bamboo handles. Guccio’s oldest son, Aldo, would go on to transform the label into one of the best-known luxury brands in the world, alongside Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Prada. Aldo’s granddaughter, Alexandra Gucci Zarini, heard a lot about the origins of her family’s business around the dining table when she was growing up. She wanted to follow in her great-grandfather’s footsteps by becoming a fashion designer. But by the time she was in design school, the Guccis no longer controlled their namesake brand. In 1993, the family sold its stake to a Bahrain-based company that took it public. By 1999, the French luxury conglomerate Kering (formerly Pinault-Printemps-Redoute) had acquired a controlling 42% stake in Gucci for $3 billion. Within five years, that stake grew to 99.4%. “I wanted to be just like my grandfather,” Zarini says. “I wanted to create something long-lasting and meaningful. But my family wasn’t involved in the company anymore and so I went on with my life.” Zarini went on to do other things, including working at a family office and an art gallery, before becoming a stay-at-home mother. But two years ago, Zarini decided it was finally time for her to rekindle her dream: She cofounded her own handbag brand, called AGCF (which stands for Alexandra Gucci Creative Framework) with her husband, Josef Zarini. It produces luxury handbags priced between $1,000 and $3,000, along with small leather goods and jewelry. She launched her newest handbag collection, which features structured silhouettes that are subtly reminiscent of her great-grandfather’s original designs, earlier this spring. In many ways, the past two years have been a chance for Zarini and her husband to test the waters with their nascent brand—and now they’re ready to scale. They’re beginning to explore partnerships with department stores and other retailers around the world. Zarini’s goal is to appeal to a new kind of luxury customer, one who prefers quiet luxury to big brands. But there are also some customers who long for the old Gucci and are drawn to AGCF’s design language. “There’s a little hint of Gucci there, but it’s also a distinctly different brand,” Zarini says. “It’s a brand reimagined for today.” And indeed, AGCF provides luxury shoppers an alternative to Gucci, which is currently on a downward spiral. Last year, Gucci revenue declined by 23% from the year before to $8.6 billion. This weakened Kering’s earnings, which were down 12% to $17.8 billion. This year, Gucci’s first-quarter sales continued to tumble by 25%. In March, Gucci announced that it had appointed Demna, the creative director of Balenciaga for the past 10 years, to become its new artistic director, starting in July 2025. Given that Demna is known for pursuing the avant-garde, rather than the traditional, AGCF may offer a compelling option to fans of old-school Gucci. A 21st-Century Label Over the decades, there were others in the Gucci family who launched their own fashion lines, including two of Aldo’s sons, Giorgio and Paolo, in the 1960s and 1970s. (Those brands were ultimately absorbed into the Gucci Group and acquired by Kering.) But Zarini’s vision for her brand is different from those of her uncles. Zarini realized she had the opportunity to think about what would be different if Guccio Gucci had founded his brand today, and recognizes that the 21st-century consumer expects different things from luxury brands. For one thing, the planet wasn’t in crisis a century ago, so Gucci wasn’t built on sustainable principles. Conversely, Zarini has built AGCF with a focus on more eco-friendly materials and manufacturing processes. The brand sources its leather from a tannery in Florence that is audited by the Leather Working Group, and its small jewelry collection is made using recycled metals and lab-grown diamonds. We also live in an era of fast fashion, where trends shift quickly, creating a culture of overconsumption that is bad for the environment. Even luxury brands are guilty of cultivating trends to encourage people to buy more and more. Zarini has focused on designing bags that are minimal and classic, so they don’t go out of style. “Even the colors are going to stay the same,” she says. “Our goal is to create products that could have been worn 30 years ago and you’ll still wear 30 years from now.” More importantly, Zarini wants her brand to be associated with a social cause. She has spent her life focused on fighting against the exploitation of children. Zarini herself is a survivor. In 2020, she brought a lawsuit against three of her family members, describing years of sexual abuse perpetrated by her former stepfather, Joseph Ruffal, and complicity from her mother and grandmother. Zarini wants to use AGCF as a platform for raising awareness about child abuse. AGCF was founded as a B Corporation, and it donates 20% of its profits to support grassroots charitable organizations that are committed to advocating for children. She believes a fashion brand is a particularly good vehicle for telling this story because it’s also part of an industry that exploits children. “We know that the fashion industry relies on child labor,” she says. “And young models are taken advantage of.” Paying Homage to Aldo Gucci Zarini is building a luxury brand for the 21st century. Even so, she’s still deeply inspired by her great-grandfather’s work, and her products have silhouettes and motifs that are distantly related to the Gucci archives. AGCF seems designed to appeal to Gucci fans who are more drawn to the brand’s heritage than to what it has become in recent years. “There’s a subtle hint of heritage there,” Zarini says. “It ties back to my grandfather.” Zarini has created simple, structured silhouettes for her bags, some of which are reminiscent of classic Gucci pieces. The rounded shape of the Ascot bag, for instance, is similar to Gucci’s bamboo handle bag that was launched in 1947. The Chelsea crossbody bag has a trapezoid shape that is similar to the Gucci horsebit bag that came out in 1955. “If you look from afar, you might see the Gucci vibe,” she says. “But I’m interested in bringing in that heritage without too closely mimicking it, because I don’t want to ride the coattails of the Gucci name.” AGCF launched quietly two years ago. It sells its products online and from a storefront on Rodeo Drive. This is also a tribute to her grandfather, who first opened a store there in 1968. This was an important step for Gucci because it introduced Hollywood stars to the label, helping turn the brand into a global sensation. “Aldo Gucci was one of the first to open a store on Rodeo Drive, and turn the street into what it is today,” says Josef Zarini. “I think it’s important to remember him because he is a Gucci that the world doesn’t know very well.” View the full article

There’s a cost to bots crawling your websites and there’s a social contract between search engines and website owners, where search engines add value by sending referral traffic to websites. This is what keeps most websites from blocking search engines…Read more ›View the full article

Spring is officially here. It’s beautiful outside, and let me guess: You are spending all of your time indoors. Don’t worry, you’re in good company. On average people spend 90% of their time indoors. Not to mention that the other 10% is probably mostly spent in cars or other built environments. Workers in cubicles spend eight hours every day in a small gray box, separated from human interaction, marinating in stagnant air and fluorescent lighting. It’s cramped, uncomfortable, and unhealthy. One 2018 study found that workers in cubicles were 31.83% less active and reported being 9.10% more stressed at the office compared with workers in open bench seating. Not to mention that over time, chronic stress can lead to a host of negative health effects such as weight gain, trouble concentrating, irritability, lower rates of healing, and high blood pressure. In contrast, the field of biophilic design aims to create spaces that optimize productivity and well-being. In the roughly 300,000 years humans have been on Earth, offices have only really been around the past few hundred years. Biophilic architecture is based on the concept that humans evolved in natural environments, and because of this, we feel the best when these factors are mimicked. Incorporation or mimicry of the natural world into our built spaces can greatly improve peoples’ health, happiness, and productivity. Researchers have found that harnessing biophilic design can lead to powerful effects, such as buildings that make employees more productive, hospitals that heal people faster, and apartment complexes that reduce crime. However, you don’t need to invest billions of dollars to access the benefits of biophilic design—research has found that even small changes can have big impacts. Here are a few simple ways that you can leverage biophilic design in your workspaces to improve your well-being and productivity. Unsplash Start bringing plants to work The first step to creating a more biophilic workplace can be as simple as bringing a few plants to work. According to a field study published in the Frontiers in Psychology journal in 2023, adding plants into workplaces without views of greenery significantly increased employee workplace satisfaction and sense of privacy, modulated humidity, and improved opinions on workplace attractiveness, while decreasing health-related complaints. According to biophilic design consultant Sonja Bochart, “Even the smallest plant can make a difference.” In fact, according to a 2020 study, researchers found that 27% of participants saw a significant reduction of pulse rate when staring at a small plant on their desk, in comparison to a blank desktop monitor during breaks. Bochart especially recommends bringing in plants in an array of sizes, which “provides variety and is very pleasing to the mind and to the brain.” Research from NASA has also found that low-light and low-maintenance house plants, such as snake plants and spider plants, are great at producing oxygen and cleaning air pollutants. Unsplash Prioritize natural lighting Consistent exposure to natural sunlight can have a powerful impact on people’s health and productivity. One study found that workers in offices lit by sunlight reported an 84% decrease in symptoms such as headaches, eyestrain, and blurred vision. Bochart says that the benefits of sunlight exposure can also follow you home. Sunlight helps set people’s “circadian rhythms, which help our mood, help our development, and help our sleep and wake cycles,” she says. If you have some control over the design of your workplace, Ryan Mullenix, a partner at the international architecture and design firm NBBJ, recommends taking “opportunities to control one’s environment by adding dimmers to lighting and taking advantage of cross-ventilation [if there are operable windows] when the weather is nice.” Bochart also recommends working near windows as much as possible, which provides sunlight while also allowing people to connect with “nonrhythmic, sensory stimulation” happening outside, such as the weather, change of seasons, and animal activity. “That stimulation sensory system is really rich,” she says. If it isn’t possible to work near a window, Bochart recommends to “try to take frequent breaks and go outside, or spend time in a break room or other space with a window.” Unsplash Consider swapping pop radio for nature sounds According to a report by sustainability consulting firm Terrapin Bright Green, “office noise, especially prevalent within open-plan offices, is reportedly the factor that is most disruptive to indoor environmental quality and has been shown to increase stress and presenteeism.” Listening to nature noises could be a handy solution. One study found that listening to nature sounds after completing stressful tasks led to a 9% to 37% decrease in one’s skin conductance level, a measure of the body’s stress response. Unsplash Embrace natural patterns and decor Bochart recommends seeking out natural fractal patterns for decor, which are “patterns within nature that are repeated on different scales . . . found in almost in every natural item.” “Science is telling us that when we’re exposed to a multitude of fractal patterns, especially at a medium density, we get positive stimulation . . . so we’re able to process information faster and in a more relaxed way,” she says. “I even have some seashells within my environment.” Mullenix recommends considering hanging up some “nature-inspired art—photos or paintings that show green forests, waterfalls, flowering plants, etc., and are rotated each season. Even images of nature can provide a boost when the real thing is hard to come by.” Unsplash Build movement into your day Humans are not built to sit all the time. Lora Cavuoto, head of the University at Buffalo’s Ergonomics and Biomechanics Lab, says that staying seated at a desk for hours at a time without breaks can lead to problems like muscles, tendons, and ligaments wearing down. Cavuoto recommends building in regular breaks to “get up and go get water.” It allows you to stay hydrated, she says, “but it also gets you out of your seat. Get up and go to the bathroom or get coffee.” View the full article

Diversity training is more effective when it’s personalized, according to my new research in the peer-reviewed journal Applied Psychology. As a professor of management, I partnered with Andrew Bryant, who studies social marketing, to develop an algorithm that identifies people’s “personas,” or psychological profiles, as they participate in diversity training in real time. We embedded this algorithm into a training system that dynamically assigned participants to tailored versions of the training based on their personas. We found that this personalized approach worked especially well for one particular group: the “skeptics.” When skeptics received training tailored to them, they responded more positively—and expressed a stronger desire to support their organizations’ diversity efforts—than those who received the same training as everyone else. In the age of social media, where just about everything is customized and personalized, this sounds like a no-brainer. But with diversity training, where the one-size-fits-all approach still rules, this is radical. In most diversity trainings, all participants hear the same message, regardless of their preexisting beliefs and attitudes toward diversity. Why would we assume that this would work? Thankfully, the field is realizing the importance of a learner-centric approach. Researchers have theorized that several diversity trainee personas exist. These include the resistant trainee, who feels defensive; the overzealous trainee, who is hyper-engaged; and the anxious trainee, who is uncomfortable with diversity topics. Our algorithm, based on real-world data, identified two personas with empirical backing: skeptics and believers. This is proof of concept that trainee personas aren’t just theoretical—they’re real, and we can detect them in real time. But identifying personas is just the beginning. What comes next is tailoring the message. To learn more about tailoring, we looked to the theory of jujitsu persuasion. In jujitsu, fighters don’t strike. They use their opponent’s energy to win. Similarly, in jujitsu persuasion, you yield to the audience, not challenge it. You use the audience’s beliefs, knowledge, and values as leverage to make change. In terms of diversity training, this doesn’t mean changing what the message is. It means changing how the message is framed. For example, the skeptics in our study still learned about the devastating harms of workplace bias. But they were more persuaded when the message was framed as a “business case” for diversity rather than a “moral justice” message. The “business case” message is tailored to skeptics’ practical orientation. If diversity training researchers and practitioners embrace tailoring diversity training to different trainee personas, more creative approaches to tailoring will surely be designed. Why it matters The The President administration is leading a backlash against diversity initiatives, and a backlash to that backlash is emerging. This isn’t entirely new: Diversity has long been a contentious issue. Organizations like the Pew Research Center, the United Nations, and others have consistently reported a conservative-liberal split, as well as a male-female split, around diversity. Diversity training has done little to bridge these gaps. For one, diversity training is often ineffective at reducing bias and improving diversity metrics in organizations. Many organizations treat diversity training efforts as a box-checking exercise. Worse, it’s not unusual for such efforts to backfire. Our research offers a solution: Identify the trainee personas represented in your audience and customize your training accordingly. This is what social media platforms like Facebook do: They learn about people in real time and then tailor the content they see. To illustrate the importance of tailoring diversity training specifically, consider how differently skeptics and believers think. One skeptic in our study—which focused on gender diversity training—said: “The issue isn’t as great as feminists try to force us to believe. Women simply focus on other things in life; men focus on career first.” In contrast, a believer said: “In my own organization, all CEOs and managers are men. Women are not respected or promoted very often, if at all.” Clearly, trainees are different. Tailoring the training to different personas, jujitsu style, may be how we change hearts and minds. What still isn’t known Algorithms are only as good as the data they rely on. Our algorithm identified personas based on information the trainees reported about themselves. More objective data, such as data culled from human resources systems, may identify personas more reliably. Algorithms also improve as they learn over time. As artificial intelligence tools become more widely used in HR, persona-identifying algorithms will get smarter and faster. The training itself needs to get smarter. A onetime training session, even a tailored one, stands less of a chance at long-term change compared with periodic nudges. Nudges are bite-sized interventions that are unobtrusively delivered over time. Now, think about tailored nudges. They could be a game changer. The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work. Radostina Purvanova is a professor of management and organizational leadership at Drake University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Google's AIO is wiping out mid-funnel user behavior data. Here are effective responses to zero-click SERPs for SEO. The post 30-Year SEO Pro Shows How To Adapt To Google’s Zero-Click Search appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

The buzz in Silicon Valley around AI agents has many asking: What’s real and what’s hype? Box’s cofounder and CEO, Aaron Levie, helps decipher between fact and fiction, breaking down the fast-paced evolution of agents and their impact on the future of enterprise AI. Plus, Levie unpacks how AI is really being adopted in the workplace and what it takes to legitimately build an AI-first organization. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. I talked with Marc Benioff at Salesforce several months ago about his embrace of AI agents, but the use of his agents hasn’t quite taken off the way he hoped. I know you launched Box AI Studio to help organizations build their own custom AI agents. I’m curious how that’s going. So far, it’s either at or exceeding our expectations on all the use cases that customers are coming up with. So we’re pretty blown away about what we’re starting to see. We’re still very early days to be clear, but the rate of adoption is going fairly exponential, and the imagination that customers now have on this is blowing us away. I’ve rarely been in a customer conversation, either one-on-one or at a dinner, where I’m not hearing about a new idea that the customer has for Box AI that we did not already have on a whiteboard. And what’s exciting—and this is counterintuitive, I think, to a lot of folks outside of AI—you initially sort of see AI in sci-fi and sometimes in news headlines, The New York Times or whatever, as like, “Okay, it’s going after jobs. It’s going to replace these types of work.” From my anecdotes, I’ve had at least 100 interactions with customers in the first quarter of this year, the vast majority, 80%, I’m guessing, the bulk of the time of AI use case kind of conversation was spent on things that the company didn’t do before AI. So it wasn’t, “Hey, I want to take this type of work, and I want AI to go replace it.” There’s a type of work that we never get around to in our company. I want AI to go and do that, because finally, it’s affordable for me to deploy AI agents at the kind of work that we could not fund before. It’s opening up people’s imagination to, “Hey, I’m like sitting on 50,000 customer contracts. What if I could have an AI agent go around all those customer contracts, and figure out which customers have the highest propensity to buy this next product from me?” And this is not something that they would have people ever do. So it’s not replacing anybody’s job. They never said, “Oh, let’s have 50 people go read all the contracts again.” It just never happened. But now, if it only costs them $5,000 for an AI agent to go do that, they would do that all day long. And then guess what? When they get those insights, they’re probably going to now have more work for the humans in their business to go and do as a result of this, that hopefully, if it’s effective, drives more growth in their business—which then causes even more productivity, and then ultimately hiring and growth. And so it’s not kind of everybody’s first instinct, but most of the use cases that we’re hearing about are things where, “Because it is now affordable to deploy AI at a problem, I’m actually expanding the set of things my company can go do, and then the work that we can now execute on.” And that’s not only very, I think, exciting, but I think it’s going to be the default case for most AI adoption in the enterprise. In some of the conversations that I have, it feels almost like some of the businesses and leaders, they don’t really know what they’re looking for from AI. And hearing you, it sounds a little bit like you have to think about your mindset on it a little differently to open up and find those things that are most valuable to you. Yes. Yeah, every business is going to be different because some of the upside is a virtue of your business model. What are the core parts of your business model that, as a result of access to information, can change or be modified or improved? If I am a law firm, I could either reduce my cost, because now AI is going to do more of the, let’s say, paralegal work, or I could expand my service offerings, because now, all of a sudden, my team can venture into more domains because they can take their expertise and use AI to augment that. The default assumption is, “Oh, no, it’s going to go after the hours of a law firm.” But once this technology hits an individual business, they can actually decide to expand their customer base. They can go after, previously, customers that would’ve been unprofitable for them to serve. So these industries are not as static and zero-sum. The software industry . . . on one hand, everybody says, “Okay, if AI can do coding, then will we hire fewer engineers?” And in general, my argument is that we’ll probably hire as many—if not more—engineers if AI can get really good at coding, because what will happen is the productivity rate of our engineer goes up, which means that we can then ascribe a higher degree of value per engineer in the company. So your ROI is even better on each of those positions? Exactly. And take something like sales. If we can make a sales rep able to sell 5% more, because we give them better data, and they can prepare for a customer meeting that much better, or they can understand exactly the best pitch because they have access to all of Box’s data and they can ask it questions, I’m not going to just bank that as 5% more profit. Because what will happen is we’re going to internally, in some planning session, we’re going to get greedy, and we’re going to say, “Wait a second, that 5% gain that we just got in sales productivity, what if we reinvested that back into the sales team to grow even faster and get that much more market share?” And so you have an entire economy of companies making those individual decisions of, “Do you bank the profit, or do you use it to go and accelerate growth?” And what we tend to know from history is that the companies that get too greedy on the profit side, you just end up leaving yourself vulnerable to being outflanked by competitors. So capitalism has a pretty convenient way of almost driving the sort of productivity gains of these types of innovations to get reinvested back into the business. You’ve been talking about running Box in an AI-first way, and encouraging other leaders to do it. Are you like Shopify and Duolingo, who’ve announced that staffers have to justify anything that’s not AI-produced? What does AI-first mean? Yeah. So for us, AI-first means that we want to use AI as a means of driving an acceleration of the customer outcome, an acceleration of decision-making, an acceleration of building new features. So just think about it as mostly a metric of speed. On one hand, you could think about AI as going after like a massive work, and you could say AI is going to remove some part of that massive work and do it instantly, so the massive work goes down, or think about work as a timeline, and not a mass. All we’re doing is trying to get through each step so that way, we can get to the next step and so on. And everything’s faster. And everything’s faster. So I want to have us use AI to move faster down the timeline, not just purely to reduce the total mass of work that we’re doing. There’s probably one pronounced difference versus, let’s say, the Duolingo memo. There’s some emerging idea, which is sort of you have to prove that AI can’t do this thing for you to get then head count, and our general instinct is actually the opposite. If you can prove that you can use AI, then that’s actually when you will get head count, because what we want is we want the dollars of the business to go back into the areas that are the increasing areas of productivity gain, because those areas will then be higher ROI for us over time. View the full article

Disruption to widely used markets data service disrupts auction of UK government debtView the full article

People often think of disasters as great equalizers. After all, a tornado, wildfire, or hurricane doesn’t discriminate against those in its path. But the consequences for those affected are not “one-size-fits-all.” That’s evident in recent storms, and in the U.S. Census Bureau’s national household surveys showing who is displaced by disasters. Overall, the Census Bureau estimates that more than 4.3 million Americans had to leave their homes because of disasters in 2024, whether for a short period or much longer. It was the fourth-costliest year on record for disasters. However, a closer look at demographics in the survey reveals much more about disaster risk in America and who is vulnerable. It suggests, as researchers have also found, that people with the fewest resources, as well as those who have disabilities or have been marginalized, were more likely to be displaced from their homes by disasters than other people. Decades of disaster research, including from our team at the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center, make at least two things crystal clear: First, people’s social circumstances—such as the resources available to them, how much they can rely on others for help, and challenges they face in their daily life—can lead them to experience disasters differently compared to others affected by the same event. And second, disasters exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. This research also shows how disaster recovery is a social process. Recovery is not a “thing,” but rather it is linked to how we talk about recovery, make decisions about recovery, and prioritize some activities over others. Lessons from past disasters Sixty years ago, the recovery period after the destructive 1964 Alaskan earthquake was driven by a range of economic and political interests, not simply technical factors or on need. That kind of influence continues in disaster recovery today. Even disaster buyout programs can be based on economic considerations that burden under-resourced communities. This recovery process is made even more difficult because policymakers often underappreciate the immense difficulties residents face during recovery. Following Hurricane Katrina, sociologist Alexis Merdjanoff found that property ownership status affected psychological distress and displacement, with displaced renters showing higher levels of emotional distress than homeowners. Lack of autonomy in decisions about how to repair or rebuild can play a role, further highlighting disparate experiences during disaster recovery. What the census shows about vulnerability U.S. Census data for 2023 and 2024 consistently showed that socially vulnerable groups reported being displaced from their homes at higher rates than other groups. People with less high school education had a higher rate of displacement than those with more education. So did those with low household incomes or who were struggling with employment, compared to other groups. While the Census Bureau describes the data as experimental and notes that some sample sizes are small, the differences stand out and are consistent with what researchers have found. For example, research has long pointed to how communities composed predominantly of Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander residents have disproportionately worse recovery trajectories after a disaster, often linked to aspects such as housing tenure and land-use policies. Though reporting individual experiences, the Census Bureau’s findings are consistent with this research, noting a higher rate of displacement for these groups. Low-income and marginalized communities are often in areas at higher risk of flooding from storms or may lack investment in storm protection measures. The morass of bureaucracy and conflicting information can also be a barrier to a swift recovery. After Hurricane Sandy, people in New Jersey complained about complex paperwork and what felt to them like ever-changing rules. They bemoaned their housing recovery as, in researchers’ words, a “muddled, inconsistent experience that lacked discernible rationale.” Residents who don’t know how to find information about disaster recovery assistance or can’t take time away from work to accumulate the necessary documents and meet with agency representatives can have a harder time getting quick help from federal and state agencies. Disabilities also affect displacement. Of those people who were displaced for some length of time in 2023 and 2024, those with significant difficulty hearing, seeing, or walking reported being displaced at higher rates than those without disabilities. Prolonged loss of electricity or water due to an ice storm, wildfire, or grid overload during a heat emergency can force those with medical conditions to leave even if their neighbors are able to stay. That can also create challenges for their recovery. Displacement can leave vulnerable disaster survivors isolated from their usual support systems and healthcare providers. It can also isolate those with limited mobility from disaster assistance. Helping communities build resilience Crucial research efforts are underway to better help people who may be struggling the most after disasters. For example, our center was part of an interdisciplinary team that developed a framework to predict community resilience after disasters and help identify investments that could be made to bolster resilience. It outlines ways to identify gaps in community functioning, like healthcare and transportation, before disaster strikes. And it helps determine recovery strategies that would have the most impact. Shifts in weather and climate and a mobile population mean that people’s exposure to hazards are constantly shifting and often increasing. The Coastal Hazard, Equity, Economic Prosperity, and Resilience Hub, which our center is also part of, is developing tools to help communities best ensure resilience and strong economic conditions for all residents without shortchanging the need to prioritize equity and well-being. We believe that when communities experience disasters, they should not have to choose among thriving economically, ensuring all residents can recover, and reducing risk of future threats. There must be a way to account for all three. Understanding that disasters affect people in different ways is only a first step toward ensuring that the most vulnerable residents receive the support they need. Involving community members from disproportionately vulnerable groups to identify challenges is another. But those, alone, are not enough. If we as a society care about those who contribute to our communities, we must find the political and organizational will to act to reduce the challenges reflected in the census and disaster research. This article, originally published March 4, 2024, has been updated with latest severe storms and 2024 census data. Tricia Wachtendorf is a professor of sociology and director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware. James Kendra is the director of the Disaster Research Center and a professor of public policy & administration at the University of Delaware. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

If you’ve ever been passed over for a promotion, you may have questioned the quality of your work. The other candidate probably had better experience, right? But what if the answer is that you simply weren’t top of mind. Instead of focusing exclusively on building a résumé, how much time do you focus on how you’re perceived? “A lot of people think that heads-down good work will speak for itself,” says Lorraine K. Lee, author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career. “Then there are people who are thoughtful about how they’re seen, but they’re not being seen by the right people in the right places.” Both can be career killers. Lee says she struggled with this earlier in her career. “I worked on really high-profile projects,” she says. “I was well liked by my peers. As hard as I pushed, I could not figure out how to get promoted and how to get seen as a leader.” What was missing was presence, Lee says. “A lot of things compete for our attention. In order to stand out, we have to be unforgettable. We have to be really intentional with our presence.” Lee started paying attention to how and where she was seen. She became more thoughtful about how she led meetings, communicated on Slack and Teams, and showed up in a room or on video. “All these different factors are what make you unforgettable,” she says. “It’s not just about having certain charisma or gravitas; it’s how you can optimize each of those things.” An Unforgettable Brand Being memorable starts with your personal brand. “When people think ‘personal brand,’ they often think, ‘That makes me feel slimy’ or ‘I’m not a company,’ ” says Lee, who is an instructor for Stanford Continuing Studies and LinkedIn Learning. “We already have a brand, and our brand is essentially our reputation.” A brand is made up of four key factors, which Lee calls your EPIC framework—experiences, personality, identity, and community. First, consider personal and professional life experiences that make you who you are today. This includes any life events that have influenced you and that make your story memorable and unique. Your personality also factors into your brand. For example, Lee says her brand includes the fact that she’s introverted. “Some might be more serious, some more playful,” she explains. “Different aspects of our personality make us ‘us.’ ” Next is your identity, which consists of your cultural background and the values that you live by when you work, Lee says. “For example, I am someone who really values relationships. I’m also someone who wants to be known for following through on what I say I’m going to do,” she adds. “My Asian American cultural background is also a part of my identity.” Finally, the fourth piece is your community. “A lot of people forget about or don’t think about community,” Lee says. “You can think you have the best brand in the world, but if others are not seeing you as a leader or not seeing you as ready to get that promotion, there’s a disconnect.” Mentors and sponsors are an important part of your community. Mentors will coach you and share their own experiences, while sponsors advocate for you. “Sponsors say your name when you’re not in the room,” explains Lee. “They open doors for you. Finding a sponsor who can help lift you up and carry you along with them as they ascend in a company is really critical. A lot of us get over-mentored and under-sponsored.” An Unforgettable Introduction Once you’re intentional about your brand, showcase it by having a unique and powerful introduction, or UPI. Lee noticed that people often introduce themselves at meetings or on calls by saying their name, job title, and company. “Introductions are one of the most important situations in which we can create a strong impression and presence, but so many people let this opportunity pass them by,” Lee says. “You want your introduction to be a launching point for someone to learn more about you or know how they can turn to you in the future.” For example, when Lee worked at Prezi, she would introduce herself by saying, “Hi, I’m Lorraine. I lead the editorial team at Prezi.” A unique and powerful introduction expands that information, giving the other person a more holistic understanding of the value you provide. It can include your target audience, success metrics and goals, a fun fact, or a high-level view of what you do day-to-day. Depending on the person she’s meeting and the context of the interaction, Lee might introduce herself by saying, “I’m Lorraine. I lead the editorial team at Prezi. What that means is that I collaborate with business leaders and keynote speakers to create educational content for hundreds of thousands of business professionals.” “Even that little tweak with a little bit more information gives the person I’m speaking to a better understanding of what it is I do,” Lee says. “I come across as more authoritative and confident as well. Being intentional about our introductions and including a little bit more information than what we are normally accustomed to goes a long way.” Not paying attention to presence can stall a career, Lee adds. “You stay stuck with where you are. If someone’s not looking to advance, it may be fine at that point in their career. But for the people who do want to reach that next level, it’s really hard if you aren’t intentional about your presence.” View the full article

How then shall we live?View the full article

A viral clip of a woman scrolling on a completely clear phone with no user interface briefly confused—and amused—the internet. But the truth turned out to be far more literal than most expected. Originally posted to TikTok by user CatGPT, the video quickly racked up over 52.9 million views. In the comments, some speculated it was a Nokia model; others guessed it came from the Nickelodeon show Henry Danger. “This looks like a social commentary or a walking art exhibit. I’m too uncultured to understand,” one user commented. “It’s from a Black Mirror episode,” another wrote. Turns out, it was none of the above. Just a piece of plastic. The woman seen in line is also the one who uploaded the clip. In a follow-up video posted days later, she shared the “true story.” “This is a Methaphone,” she explains. “It is exactly what it looks like, a clear piece of acrylic shaped like an iPhone.” The “device” was invented by her friend as a response to phone addiction. “He told me that what he wanted to test was, if we’re all so addicted to our phones, then could you potentially curb somebody’s addiction by replacing the feeling of having a phone in your pocket with something that feels exactly the same?” she continued. “This little piece of acrylic feels like a physical artifact that directly responds to this collective tension we all feel about how our devices, which are meant to make us more connected, are actually having the exact opposite effect.” A 2023 study by Reviews.org found that nearly 57% of Americans reported feeling addicted to their phones. Some admitted to checking their phones over 100 times a day, and 75% said they feel uneasy when they realize they’ve left their phone at home. In the comments, many questioned whether pretending to scroll on a chunk of plastic could actually help with phone addiction. “This sounds like [an] SNL sketch,” one user wrote. “What stage of capitalism is this?” another asked. Some were simply disappointed it wasn’t a real phone. Despite the skepticism, the Methaphone raised $1,100 on Indiegogo. The campaign has since closed, though the creator says more may be produced if demand is high. Priced at $20, with a neon pink version going for $25, the Methaphone “looks like a simple acrylic slab—and it is,” the page reads. “But it’s also a stand-in, a totem, and an alibi. It’s the first step on the road to freedom.” View the full article

Michael Long is not the typical neuroscience guy. He was trained as a physicist, but is primarily a writer. He coauthored the international bestseller The Molecule of More. As a speechwriter, he has written for members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, presidential candidates, and Fortune 10 CEOs. His screenplays have been performed on most New York stages. He teaches writing at Georgetown University. What’s the big idea? Dopamine is to blame for a lot of your misery. It compels us to endlessly chase more, better, and greater—even when our dreams have come true. Thanks to dopamine, we often feel restless and hopeless. So no, maybe it’s not quite accurate to call it the “happiness” molecule, but it has gifted humans some amazing powers. Dopamine is the source of imagination, creativity, and ingenuity. There are practical ways to harness the strengths of our dopamine drives while protecting and nurturing a life of consistent joy. Below, Michael shares five key insights from his new book, Taming the Molecule of More: A Step-by-Step Guide to Make Dopamine Work for You. Listen to the audio version—read by Michael himself—in the Next Big Idea App. 1. Dopamine is not the brain chemical that makes you happy. Dopamine makes you curious and imaginative. It can even make you successful, but a lot of times it just makes you miserable. That’s because dopamine motivates you to chase every new possibility, even if you already have everything you want. It turns out that brain evolution hasn’t caught up with the evolution of the world. For early humans, dopamine ensured our survival by alerting us to anything new or unusual. In a world with danger around every corner and resources hard to acquire, we needed an early warning system to motivate us even more. Dopamine made us believe that once we got the thing we were chasing, we’d be safer, happier, or more satisfied. That served humans well, until it didn’t. Now that we’ve tamed the world, we don’t need to explore every new thing, but dopamine is still on duty, and it works way out of proportion to the needs of the modern world. Since self-discipline has a short shelf life, I share proven techniques that don’t rely on willpower alone. 2. Dopamine often promises more than reality can deliver. When we have problems obsessing with social media or the news, or when we’re doing excessive shopping, we feel edgy and restless. This is because dopamine floods us with anticipation and urgency. We desperately scroll for the next hit, searching for the latest story or watching the porch for that next Amazon package. As this anticipation becomes a normal way of living, the rest of life starts to feel dull and flat. That restarts the cycle of chasing what we think will make us happy. Then we get it, and when it doesn’t make us happy, we experience a letdown, and that makes us restless all over again. Here’s how that works for love and romance. When we go on date after date and can’t find the right person, or a long-term relationship gets stale, we start to feel hopeless. The dopamine chase has so raised our expectations about reality that we no longer enjoy the ordinary. Now we’re expecting some perfect partner, and we won’t find them because they don’t exist. Fight back with three strategies: Rewire your habits to ditch the chase. Redirect your focus to the here and now. Rebuild meaning so life feels more like it matters. I describe specific ways to do this through simple planning, relying more on friendships, and doing a particular kind of personal assessment. And there’s even a little technology involved that you wouldn’t expect. 3. Dopamine is the source of imagination. The dopamine system has three circuits. The first has only a little to do with behavior and feeling, so we’ll set that one aside. The second circuit (that early warning system) is called the desire dopamine system because it plays on our desires. The third system is very different. It’s called the control system, and it gives us an ability straight out of science fiction: mental time travel. You can create in your mind any possible future in as much detail as you like and investigate the results without lifting a finger. We do this all the time without realizing that’s what it is. Little things like figuring out where to go for lunch: We factor in traffic, how long we’ll have to wait for a table and think over the menu, and game it all out to decide where to go. But this system also lets us imagine far more consequential mental time travel, figuring out the best way to build a building, design an engine, or travel to the moon. “Dopamine really is the source of creativity and analytical power that allows us to create the future.” The dopamine control circuit lets us think in abstractions and play out various plans using only our minds. That means not only can we imagine a particular future, but we can also imagine entire abstract disciplines, come to understand them, and make use of them in the real world based on what we thought about. Fields like chemistry, quantum mechanics, and number theory exist because of controlled dopamine. Dopamine really is the source of creativity and analytical power that allows us to create the future. Dopamine brings a lot of dissatisfaction to the modern world, but we wouldn’t have the modern world without dopamine. 4. You’re missing out on the little things. When my best friend died at age 39, the speaker at his funeral said, “You may not remember much of what you did with Kent, but it’s okay, because it happened.” I did not know what that could mean, but years later, while writing this book, I got it. We don’t live life just to look back on it. The here and now ought to be fun. You may not remember it all, but while it’s happening, enjoy it. That requires fighting back against dopamine because it’s always saying: Never mind what’s in front of you; think about what might be. When Warren Zevon was at the end of his life, David Letterman asked him what he’d learned. Warren said, “Enjoy every sandwich.” 5. A satisfying life requires meaning, and there’s a practical way to find it. Even if you fix every dopamine-driven problem in your life, you may still feel like something is missing. To find a satisfying balance between working for the future and enjoying the here and now, we must choose a meaning for life and work toward it as we go. “If you’re making life better for others with something you do well and enjoy, the days feel brighter and life acquires purpose.” Is it possible to live in the moment, anticipate the future, and have it add up to something? The psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said we need to look beyond ourselves, because that’s where a sense of purpose begins. Aristotle gave us a simple formula for taking pleasure in the present, finding a healthy anticipation for the future, and creating meaning. He said it’s found where three things intersect: what we like to do, what we’re good at, and what builds up the world beyond ourselves. Things like working for justice, making good use of knowledge, or simply living a life of kindness and grace. What you do with your life doesn’t have to set off fireworks, and you don’t have to make history. You can be a plumber, a mail carrier, or an accountant. I’m a writer. I like what I do. I seem to be pretty good at it, and it helps people. The same can be true if you repair the highway, fix cars, or serve lunch in a school cafeteria. If you’re making life better for others with something you do well and enjoy, the days feel brighter and life acquires purpose. Life needs meaning, and that’s the last piece of the puzzle in dealing with dopamine and taming the molecule of more. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission. View the full article