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:
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
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Does the visitor that landed on your homepage know what you do yet?
Video helps. Especially if you start right before you get eaten by the bear.
Have a high price, high quality product? Lean into emotional ads.
Have a low price, low quality product? Focus on informational ads.
Emotional ads draw interest, informational ads close sales.
Both are needed. The mix is based on how short the path to purchase is.
via Science Says
Science Says a logo icon related to your offering is rated “more positively, authentic and warm, regardless of how much they liked the logos’ visuals.”
Why?
Descriptive logos are easier to process so we immediately understand what the brand is about.
They also help us more easily associate the brand with the product.
This makes us think the brand is more honest and transparent.
I wonder how this will change post-AI image generation. Will unrelated icons become a signifier of human input? Are LLMs better at non-obvious icon development?
