Impact of Social Media

A ₹22 Lakh job offer. Gone — because of a LinkedIn comment. You didn’t lose the job because you lacked skill. You lost it because your character showed up before you did. An Indian startup had finalized a hire. He passed interviews, impressed the founder, even built a resume using their own tools. But during a final background check, the company found public LinkedIn comments targeting religious communities. The offer was withdrawn. The founder said: “We were okay stretching the budget. But we can’t stretch our values.” What happened next? A flood of opinions. Some people praised the decision. Others called it “too harsh” or “cancel culture.” But here’s what no one can deny: Your digital footprint speaks louder than you think. We spend hours perfecting resumes. Rehearsing interview answers. Polishing our LinkedIn headlines. But forget one thing: The real you is already out there. In your comments. In your replies. In how you treat people online — especially when you think no one’s watching. So here’s the truth: → Talent gets you noticed. → Values decide if you stay. You can’t fake respect. Not in interviews. And definitely not online. Because these days, companies aren’t just hiring skillsets. They’re hiring people they trust to represent their brand — even when they’re not in the room. This isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being mindful. Because sometimes, it’s not your resume that costs you the job. It’s your attitude — left behind in a comment section. Source: https://lnkd.in/g2m6A4Z4 #CareerAdvice #WorkplaceCulture #DigitalFootprint #OnlinePresenceMatters #PersonalBrand #ProfessionalReputation #HiringTrends #LinkedInEtiquette #ValuesMatter #JobSearchTips #CareerGrowth #RespectInTheWorkplace #ModernWorkLife #CharacterCounts #SocialMediaImpact #ProfessionalIdentity #CareerLessons #HiringDecisions #LeadershipCulture #HumanResources

Fractional CFOs and freelance consultants are surprised when I tell them the truth about biz dev on Linkedin. They wonder, “Does having lots of followers and posting content regularly lead to quality consulting and advisory work?” No, and here’s why. When a company partners with an advisor, a CFO, or fractional FP&A, they're looking for someone they know, like, and trust. They're looking for an expert who they can count on for big decisions. They want someone they can partner with who’s a technical guru and a counselor. They're not going to put their company in the hands of a stranger. That’s the way it is offline and it’s no different on a social media. Despite what anyone shares, including me, true expertise can't be conveyed in the content of a carousel post, a cheat sheet, an infographic, or 3-minute videos. But over time, sharing insights to the right people and demonstrating genuine character and mastery leads to comfort and familiarity. Familiarity leads to interaction. And interaction eventually leads to one-on-one calls. For finance experts whose aim is to grow a high-value, high-touch fractional CFO or FP&A practice, the goal shouldn’t be to merely get more active with more followers. The goal is more qualified introductions, referrals, and offline connection. It usually takes months, not days. #seidmanfinancial

By the time you finishing reading this line, six beauty products will have sold on TikTok Shop in the UK. The platform now ranks as the UK’s fourth-largest beauty retailer, behind only Amazon, Boots UK and LOOKFANTASTIC.COM (NielsenIQ). What began as an entertainment platform has evolved into a commercial force redefining how brands launch, market and sell. The UK’s social commerce market is forecast to more than double to £15.7bn by 2028, to account for 11% of online sales according to Retail Economics. Beauty is the crown jewel of social commerce. Our research found that two in five UK social media users have purchased beauty products on social platforms such as TikTok – more than any other category. Its visual, demonstrative nature is perfectly matched to short-form video, where tutorials, transformations and real-world reviews drive discovery and conversion – driven by creators, community and authenticity. Boots UK was one of the first movers with TikTok for Business Video Shopping Ads to make premium beauty more accessible. This closed-loop approach placed shoppable content directly into users’ For You feeds. Now Estée Lauder, owner of Aveda, Bobbi Brown and Clinique, has committed to tripling new product launches on social platforms over the next years. It’s an important reminder of how traditional retailers can embrace new channels by investing, testing and adapting. The rise of social commerce doesn’t stop at beauty. Apparel, home, food and electricals are all fast-growing categories. Younger, affluent shoppers are leading this shift. And if brands want to capture the spend of this core demographic, they need to be where the eyeballs are. Great to discuss this with The Times’ Isabella Fish for their print feature – article linked below. https://lnkd.in/ejSgGAfy   ____________________________________ ⤴ Follow me for weekly retail, consumer and economic insights. ____________________________________

The president of Blackstone films LinkedIn videos while jogging. Not in a conference room. Not with a production crew. Just him, running through Munich, San Francisco, or Sydney, talking to his 266,000+ followers about what he's seeing. For a guy who once "fiercely kept a low profile," Jon Gray is now everywhere. And it's working. He originally recorded these videos to send to his wife and four daughters while traveling, just so they'd remember he existed. Then he thought, "Why not share this on LinkedIn?" The result? One of the most authentic executive presences in finance. No teleprompter. No suit and tie. No sanitized corporate speak. Just a senior executive catching his breath between strides, sharing real thoughts about markets, investments, and what he's learning on the road. And here's the thing for those of us in HNW life insurance and wealth management. Gray is running a $1+ trillion alternative investment firm, yet he's figured out something many financial advisors haven't...people don't connect with polish, they connect with people. The financial services industry is drowning in LinkedIn content that looks like it came from the same template. Perfectly lit headshots. Stock photos of handshakes. Press release language about "being honored" and "excited to announce." Meanwhile, Gray is literally huffing and puffing on camera, talking about pretzels in Germany or San Francisco's comeback, and building deeper relationships with clients and prospects than most advisors do with their carefully crafted carousels. The lesson isn't that you need to start filming yourself mid-workout (though honestly, why not?). It's that authenticity scales better than production value ever will. In a business built on trust, whether you're managing billions in private equity or structuring PPLI for ultra-high-net-worth families, showing up as a real human being is your competitive advantage. So maybe it's time to put down the stock photos and pick up your phone. Your next client might not need another polished pitch deck. They might just want to see that you're a real person, solving real problems, even if you're a little out of breath while you're doing it. https://lnkd.in/ea34fpD2

🚨 New WP "@Grok is this true? LLM-Powered Fact-Checking on Social Media" Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly embedded directly into social media platforms, enabling users to request real-time fact-checks of online content. Using an exhaustive dataset of 1,671,841 English-language fact-checking requests made to Grok and Perplexity on X between February and September 2025, we provide the first large-scale empirical analysis of how LLM-based fact-checking operates in the wild. Fact-checking requests comprise 7.6% of all interactions with the LLM bots, and focus primarily on politics, economics, and current events. We document clear partisan asymmetries in usage. Users requesting fact-checks from Grok are much more likely to be Republican than Democratic, while the opposite is true for fact-check requests from Perplexity -- indicating emerging polarization in attitudes toward specific AI models. At the same time, both Democrats and Republicans are more likely to request fact-checks on posts authored by Republicans, and - consistent with prior work using professional fact-checkers and crowd judgments - posts from Republican-leaning accounts are more likely to be rated as inaccurate by both LLMs. Across posts rated by both LLM bots, evaluations from Grok and Perplexity agree 52.6% of the time and strongly disagree (one party rates a claim as true and the other as false) 13.6% of the time. For a sample of 100 fact-checked posts, 54.5% of Grok bot ratings and 57.7% of Perplexity bot ratings agreed with ratings of human fact-checkers, which is significantly lower than the inter-fact-checker agreement rate of 64.0%; but API-access versions of Grok had higher agreement with fact-checkers that did not significantly differ from inter-fact-checker agreement. Finally, in a preregistered survey experiment with 1,592 U.S. participants, exposure to LLM fact-checks meaningfully shifts belief accuracy, with effect sizes comparable to those observed in studies of professional fact-checking. However, responses to Grok fact-checks are polarized by partisanship when model identity is disclosed, whereas responses to Perplexity are not. Together, these findings show that LLM-based fact-checking is rapidly scaling, is generally informative although far from perfect, while also becoming entangled with polarization and partisanship. Our work highlights both the promise and the risks of integrating AI fact-checking into online public discourse. PDF is here: https://lnkd.in/eMgkjFGV Key figures are in my comment below

I've been reflecting on one major trend from last year that I feel will be hard to ignore in 2025: Gen Z’s relationship with brands and social media. This generation doesn’t just consume content, they drive it. And they do so with a level of authenticity and transparency that demands our attention. For Gen Z, brand loyalty isn’t built on flashy ads or influencer endorsements alone. It’s about values. It’s about knowing what the brand stands for and aligning with causes they care about: be it sustainability, inclusivity, or social justice. Here’s how I’ve been thinking about this shift as an entrepreneur: For Gen Z, being true to themselves is really important. They want brands that embrace uniqueness and support personal expression. To connect with them, we need to be authentic and offer products and messages that let them express who they really are. Social Media is the New Word of Mouth: If you’re not engaging in the conversations Gen Z is having on social media, you’re missing out. They trust their peers and online communities more than traditional advertising, and their feedback is immediate and powerful. Experience Over Projection: For this generation, it’s not just about seeing an ad but engaging with a brand in a meaningful way. Whether through personalized experiences, interactive campaigns, or exclusive content, creating a connection is more valuable than ever. Gen Z is not just shaping the future of business but is redefining what it means to build loyalty and trust. Is your brand ready for this shift?

People aren’t just searching on Google anymore. They’re searching on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube—and that shift is redefining SEO in 2026. In this video, I break down how social platforms have become the new search engines, how discovery now starts in the feed, and why creators and brands must optimize for social search to stay visible. You’ll learn which platforms matter most for B2B vs B2C, how people actually search using full questions (not keywords), how to structure content so algorithms can index it, and why on-platform actions like saves, DMs, and native checkout now influence reach and rankings. If you want to be found where attention actually lives, this is the complete playbook.

TikTok Shop emerges as a beauty powerhouse: here’s what’s driving sales TikTok Shop has rapidly become the eighth-largest beauty retailer in the US, trailing only Ulta Beauty, according to NielsenIQ. In May alone, Tarte Cosmetics led the platform with $4.9 million in sales, per Charm.io data, while K-beauty brands like Medicube ($4.1M) and Anua ($2.4M) solidified their dominance with hero skincare sets. What’s fueling this growth? A mix of influencer-driven virality and strategic exclusives. Maybelline’s Colossal Bubble Mascara accounted for 91% of its $2.3M TikTok Shop sales, while L’Oréal Paris saw over 60,000 units sold of its Infallible Setting Spray. Even legacy brands like Anastasia Beverly Hills are prioritizing TikTok launches, debuting products days ahead of other channels. With nearly $2bn in US beauty sales since 2024 TikTok remains a critical launchpad. But with regulatory risks in play, the smartest brands are balancing short-term gains with long-term diversification like Experiment Beauty which now directs 20% of sales to the platform but recently expanded to Amazon.

No one really tells this, but your digital presence builds trust before you ever get in the room.   Long before the first meeting, the handshake, or even the first call, people already have a sense of who you are. Not from your resume or pitch deck, but from what you share on your handles- what you share, how you think, and where you choose to engage. Social media has slowly turned into a lens, where ideas form, people connect, and first impressions often take shape.   Honestly, I didn’t expect it to play such a big role in how I hire, lead, learn, or build. But it does, every day.   There was a time your work did the talking. Now, your feed does. And in a world moving faster than ever, being visible gives you your velocity.   Especially on platforms like LinkedIn, where your ideas often travel further than your title ever could. One thoughtful post, one honest comment, or one unexpected connection. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.   #SocialMediaDay

How TikTok is winning eCommerce ad spend from Meta For years, Meta dominated social ad budgets. But TikTok has been quietly (and quickly) shifting that balance, especially for eCommerce brands. Why TikTok is winning Discovery over intent: TikTok thrives on impulse and product discovery, turning unknown brands into viral hits. Creative-first ads: Success is driven by authentic, short-form video, not polished carousels or static images. Lower costs (for now): CPMs and CPCs are often cheaper than Meta, giving brands more efficient reach. Commerce integrations: TikTok Shop is closing the gap between discovery and purchase inside the app. What this means for eCommerce marketers TikTok is not just for awareness. Done right, it can be a performance channel. Creative testing is non-negotiable. One winning video can outperform dozens of average ads. Brands that adapt to the platform’s culture - raw, entertaining, native content - will see results faster. Meta is still powerful, but TikTok is becoming the growth channel for brands who are willing to test, learn and scale. Question: Are you shifting part of your paid social budget into TikTok yet, or still relying mainly on Meta? #ecommerce #ppc #digitalmarketing