The Year of the Splinter 🐀 continues (more of a decade, maybe an era).

Relevant headlines:

The top 10% of Americans account for nearly half of consumer spending

highlighting the growing divide between high-income earners and middle/lower-income earners

Over half of consumers consider grocery prices a ‘major stress’

Nearly 9 in 10 US adults (88%) are stressed about grocery prices—including 53% who say food costs are a major source of stress

Gen Z holiday spending tanks in 2025

See also:

Holiday spending among US consumers is expected to decrease by 22.5% for Gen Z in 2025, while other generations show slight increases.

Plants need water to grow.

But they also need periods without water.
Watering everyday has the same end as never watering.

Algorithms want you to water your audience daily. Because it benefits them.

What is the right cadence for the results you want?


Beware your metrics: Google capped search results at 10 / page. No more 100 results on a page.

A lot of rankings tools are reporting issues and I’m noticing improved reported average ranks across Google Search Console accounts, likely from deep page data loss.

How are ChatGPT results changing?


TikTok is (reportedly) getting its green card.

Oracle and friends are buying the app with ByteDance retaining a 20% stake.

But what about The Algorithm™️?

The new ownership group will license it from ByteDance.


People want novelty in a familiar package.

A study finds that people are more open to plant-based eggs when they’re part of familiar foods, like pancakes, rather than served plain.

via Science Daily