- General Mills outlines marketing spend increase to help return to growth: Cinnamon Toast Crunch’s “Must Cinnadust” campaign generated a 500% increase in social engagement and drove growth, the company reported.
- Best Buy builds retail media chops with in-store takeovers, sports deals: The retailer touted the strength of its advertising services for brand partners during its inaugural Best Buy Ads showcase.
- How Aldi revamped its social media strategy — and why it’s working: The fast-growing company has turned away from posts that just highlight its low prices and toward more playful, culturally relevant content, its marketing director said in an interview.
- Unify Martech and Adtech to drive customer intelligence and unlock full-funnel marketing experiences.
- Warner Bros. Discovery, Nielsen deepen measurement partnership.: Warner Bros. Discovery will continue to lean on Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel and adopt new tools from the firm’s Advanced Audience suite next year.
- No US stores in Forever 21’s comeback plans: The fast-fashion brand, whose U.S. operator went bankrupt this year, has inked three new partnerships for its e-commerce and wholesale businesses.
- J.C. Penney operator names chief wholesale and business development officer: Catalyst Brands has tapped Michael Fernandez, who previously worked at The Levy Group and Perry Ellis International, for the position.
- Amazon adds Walmart, Shopify, Shein to Multi-Channel Fulfillment coverage: The announcement is one of several logistics and fulfillment upgrades for sellers the e-commerce giant revealed Thursday.
- Dallas-area Neiman Marcus store will close after next year: Owner Saks Global continues the renovation of the Neiman Marcus NorthPark anchor and a “potential reimagination” of the downtown store.
- Rent the Runway says its CX efforts are paying off. The financials aren’t as rosy.: The clothing rental company saw active subscriber growth and improved NPS, but reported a net loss of $26.4 million and increased prices for subscriptions.
- Inside the latest e-commerce packaging trends: The need to balance environmental responsibility with practical logistics is reshaping how products reach consumers in the post-pandemic e-commerce landscape. Explore how product packaging is evolving in this Trendline.
- Amazon taps agentic AI to help sellers manage inventory, shipments: An enhanced version of the e-commerce giant’s Seller Assistant tool can flag slow-moving products, product safety violations and compliance requirements.
- Retailers battle the rising costs of medical, liability claims: Second quarter earnings results across the industry showed that heightened claims costs are impacting even the strongest performers.
- The Children’s Advertising Review Unit said MrBeast’s YouTube channel misled kids by blurring ads and content while promoting Feastables chocolate bars, potentially violating US child-privacy law. Mr Beast said the flagged practices were old and have been revised or discontinued.
- 77% of sites lost keyword visibility after Google removed num=100: Google’s removal of the num=100 parameter triggered sharp drops in impressions, rankings, and keyword visibility, a new analysis shows.
- SEO at a crossroads: 9 experts on how AI is changing everything: AI is forcing SEOs to rethink roles and tackle new challenges. Here’s what nine leaders say SEOs must do to thrive in the new era of search.
- Google AI Mode coming to Chrome browser: Plus, while on a website using Chrome, you can ask questions and learn more about your current page with AI Mode.
- Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation helps explain the rise of Positionless Marketing: Assembly-line marketing is obsolete. Positionless Marketing is the disruptive innovation transforming how brands connect with customers in real time.
- Google brings Smart Bidding Exploration to Performance Max: Google’s new Smart Bidding Exploration in Performance Max may boost conversions by easing ROAS limits – at the risk of reduced efficiency.
- Google adds new store widgets for your website: Google added two new options for merchants to add new Google store widgets to their websites.
- The State of Fast Moving Consumer Goods: Consumer behavior is shifting fast. FMCG e-commerce grew 11%, with global traffic hitting 24.7B monthly visits. Behind the momentum lies a bigger story: new channels, new rules, and new opportunities for growth.
- The SEO shift you can’t ignore: Video is becoming source material: Google’s AI Overviews and GEO shift SEO strategy: Video from YouTube, TikTok, and beyond is now core source material for search.
- Elon Musk laid out his vision for xAI in a rare companywide meeting on Wednesday. He told employees that he wants to build systems that are ‘maximally truth seeking’, as forcing AI to lie or believe things that aren’t true creates risks of a dystopian future. He says that xAI can build technology that will eventually help his other businesses. Musk spent most of the summer at xAI’s offices, raising questions about how much time he is spending at his other companies.
- Google is rolling out Gemini in Chrome on desktop and mobile. The integration will allow users to ask Gemini for help understanding the contents of a particular webpage. It works across tabs and can perform tasks like scheduling meetings or searching YouTube for videos. Gemini in Chrome will integrate deeply with Google apps like Calendar, YouTube, and Maps.
- China has pledged support across research, clinical trials, and commercialization to create a world-class brain-tech cluster. The policy momentum may ease regulatory bottlenecks that create an explosive phase of growth. While the US still holds the lead when it comes to full system-level development, China is catching up quickly – and leading in some areas. China envisions brain interfaces embedded into everyday items such as headphones and glasses, hinting at how the function may become a core tenet of future technology.
- New Zealand plans to eliminate invasive predators by 2050 to give its native birds a chance. This will be the largest invasive species removal project in the world, with millions of animals in line for extermination. The country is using new technology, like automated traps that use artificial intelligence, and is researching ways to potentially stop invasive predators from breeding. The technologies and techniques developed in the program could help other countries deal with their invasive species.
- On Oct 8 in San Francisco, ZenityLabs assembles a community of researchers and security leaders for a full day, multi-track event to share proven defenses for securing AI agents. Hear from experts at EA, Exabeam, Google, OpenAI, ServiceNow, Stanford, Walmart and more and help shape the future of secure AI adoption – and pick up exclusive swag.
- OM1 is a hardware-agnostic, open source, modular agentic OS for robots. It enables developers to prototype, test, and deploy robotics applications without being tied to a specific platform. OM1 agents can process diverse inputs, like web data, social media, camera feeds, and LIDAR, and perform physical actions, including motion, autonomous navigation, and natural conversations. The OM1 project aims to make it easy to create highly capable human-focused robots that are easy to upgrade and reconfigure to accommodate different physical form factors.
- Three new Python type-checking tools have emerged this year, each backed by significant pedigree and resources. While the tools are all built in Rust, they all have different goals and philosophies. The continued shift towards Rust-based implementations promises faster type checking, better IDE integration, and an improved developer experience for large codebases. This post looks at how well the new Python type checkers conform to provide insight into specification compliance. While conformance test coverage is important for specification compliance and handling edge cases, it is not always the best predictor of a type checker’s utility for everyday Python development.
- The scale of opportunity in humanoid robots is unlike anything seen before. Conservative estimates suggest that there could be 100 million to 1 billion humanoid robots deployed globally over the coming decades, translating to $5 trillion to $50 trillion in potential market value. Dropping the costs of labor can increase profits for businesses several times over. General-purpose robots will eventually be as ubiquitous as cars, computers, or phones.
- Cluely Thesis on Virality and Hype: Posts that deserve to go viral will go viral if seen by at least a few thousand people.
- Nvidia buys $5 billion in Intel stock: Nvidia and Intel will jointly develop multiple new generations of x86 products together.
- When Being Incorrect Became the Internet’s Best Business Model: The fastest way to get people’s attention is to be wrong.
- Hype is a Business Tool: It is very likely that there will be a trough of disillusionment with large language models as more and more companies discover how hard it is to make AI projects actually work.
- Sold on Walmart, sent by Amazon: The weird new world of online retail: Amazon now supports orders placed on Walmart.com.
- €8m: The reserve price for a Pablo Picasso painting never seen before.
- 10k ft: How far below the ocean’s surface scientists discovered the bumpy snailfish.
- 86%: The rise in matcha sales in the US.
- 800 years: The age of an ancient oak tree that could help save forests.
- The UK is set to receive a record £150bn investment from the US to create thousands of jobs across the country in future-focused industries.
- Hyde Park’s famous annual Winter Wonderland opens on 14th November. Here’s how you can get tickets for just £1.
- A new report urges a national occupational health service to support employees and reduce work-related illness.
- US President Donald Trump arrived in the UK on Wedesday for his second state visit and met with King Charles and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
- Santiago de Compostela in Spain is experiencing a social media-driven visitor boom, prompting the release of a new guide reminding tourists of courtesies.
- TikTok can continue running in the US after a deal was reached with China.
- A Central Perk coffee shop inspired by the iconic Friends café is set to open in New York City this autumn.
- London Fashion Week has begun and will feature key shows from designers like Erdem, S.S. Daley and Conner Ives over the weekend.
- Bad Bunny leads the 2025 Latin Grammy nominations with 12, including nods for Album, Record and Song of the Year.
- Many UK workers are uneasy about using AI at work according to a new report, despite government efforts to encourage its uptake.
- Every song ever recorded could be stored on a synthetic DNA cassette tape developed by scientists, offering a new approach to data preservation.
- British pilot Laura Marie is among six volunteers training for NASA’s 378-day Mars mission simulation at Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
- The Royal Observatory Greenwich announced the winners of its 2025 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest, showcasing stunning celestial imagery.
- Plans for the world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are moving forward with new support.
- To celebrate 90 years of Monopoly – and the legendary living-room showdowns – a limited edition collectible coin is being released.
- Snapchat Users Took a Trillion Selfies Last Year: “Every Snap is a moment for self-expression, connection with friends, or sharing something that matters. In 2024, that self-expression reached new heights: Snapchatters created well over one trillion selfie Snaps, a testament to how our global community of over 930 million use our camera to communicate, play, and feel closer together.”
- After logo backlash, Cracker Barrel turns to loyalty members for feedback: The restaurant chain’s rewards members can now comment on their experience after every visit through the Front Porch Feedback feature.
- Shoppers are embracing AI but want guardrails, research finds: Forty percent of respondents to a survey conducted by PwC said they expect to use the tech to help them find and compare products within the next five years.
- LinkedIn has introduced Dynamic UTM parameter building within Campaign Manager, allowing marketers to set tracking parameters at the account level, streamlining campaign setup and reducing manual errors.
- Gemini Adds Shareable Custom Gems: Gemini has introduced a feature allowing users to share their custom Gems—specialized tools built to streamline tasks—with others. Whether it’s a tailored vacation planner, creative story‑partner, or meal planner, these Gems can be shared via the web‑based Gem manager, using permissions so recipients can view or edit as needed. This update makes collaboration easier and helps users spend less time prompting and more time creating.
- Google Expands Discover With More Content From Instagram and YouTube: Google is rolling out updates to Discover, aimed at making it a more personalized hub for catching up on favorite creators and publishers. Users will start seeing a broader mix of content, including social posts from platforms like X, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts, alongside traditional news articles. A new follow option allows people to subscribe to specific publishers and creators, with dedicated spaces showing their latest content. The changes are designed to make Discover a more useful starting point for exploring the web and staying connected with trusted voices.
- Reddit Ranks #2 in U.S. Web Traffic: Reddit has become the second most visited website in the United States and third in Canada, based on the latest Semrush traffic data. The platform continues to expand its influence with over 415 million global weekly active users engaging in communities that span nearly every topic imaginable.
- Reddit Introduces 6-Second Engaged Video View Optimization for Advertisers: Unlike traditional 2-second view goals, this new optimization targets users more likely to watch videos to completion or at least six seconds, ensuring deeper engagement. Early testing showed dramatic improvements in completion rates, engagement, and cost efficiency. Advertisers can access the new option in Ads Manager within Video Views campaigns, choosing between Lowest Cost and Cost Cap bidding strategies to better align spend with performance goals.
- Threads Opens DMs to All Users: Threads is expanding its direct messaging capabilities by allowing users to receive DM requests from anyone on the app. This update introduces a new setting to activate open message requests, along with a dedicated inbox to manage them. The move marks a shift from Threads’ initial policy, which restricted DMs to mutual followers over 18. As private messaging becomes more central to user interaction on social platforms, Threads is adapting to facilitate broader personal and professional connections.
- YouTube Rolls Out Collaborations, A/B Title Testing, and New Creative Tools: YouTube announced a series of creator-focused updates, including a new Collaborations feature that lets creators tag and showcase up to five collaborators per video, increasing visibility across multiple audiences. Title A/B testing is being expanded, allowing creators to test different titles and thumbnails to optimize viewer engagement. Shorts are also gaining AI and image stickers for more creative flexibility, while vertical livestreams now support customizable live sticker polls.
- Meta Ray-Ban Display: Are $799 Smart Glasses Ready for the Mainstream? Meta has just announced the eagerly-anticipated Meta Ray-Ban Display AI glasses and accompanying Meta Neural Band, and on paper at least it looks like it might just have nailed it.
- DJI Mini 5 Pro: One-inch Sensor, Better Gimbal, & More.
- Adobe Firefly Adds Luma AI’s Ray3 Video Model.
TLDR: Social Media Headlines – 19 September 2025
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