No newsletter from me next Monday—I’ll be soaking up the season and hope you will be too!  

Thank you for making time to read this newsletter each week. Whether you dive into every word or just catch the highlights, knowing I can be a resource for you in my geek-level obsession with social media and personal branding means the world to me, and I’m so grateful to be part of your journey.

Take a moment to pause—I know I am. Reflect on all you’ve achieved, celebrate your progress, and let the new year bring new energy and exciting opportunities.

You’ve got this. See you in 2025, ready to tackle what’s next! Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. 

BLUESKY: A platform that is news and journalist-friendly.

• How Bluesky hopes to win over publishers (and users) [Digiday]

INSTAGRAM: Just in time for those year look-back posts.

• Instagram Adds New Features for the Holidays [SocialMediaToday]

LINKEDIN: “68% of SMB decision makers say spending time on LinkedIn feels like an investment in their business.”

• This Week in Marketing: Brand Personality [LinkedIn]

LINKEDIN: Get used to the terms agentics (I had to google this one) and AI agents as we’re going to be hearing them more and more in 2025.

• Connecting members to opportunity in an agentic world [@Mohak Shroff via LinkedIn]

LINKEDIN: An incredible tool for helping to build your personal brand.

• LinkedIn Tests Paid Boosting for Personal Updates [SocialMediaToday]
   

SNAPCHAT: Sports are key on Snap.

• 2024 in a Snap [Snap Inc.]

SOCIAL MEDIA: You can also search for the top trending searches by your zip code.

• Discover the top trending searches of 2024 [Google]

SOCIAL MEDIA: There are a lot of predictions here. My favorite: “Personal brands will take higher priority than company brands on LinkedIn, to the point that corporate comms teams will be reorganized to take over executive’s profiles and executive storytelling.” – Alvaro Bendrell

• 2025 social media predictions from comms pros [PR Daily]

SOCIAL MEDIA: The most-used platforms by teens.

• Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024 [Pew Research Center]

SOCIAL MEDIA: “‘I think it’s communication, I think it’s production and I think it’s business.’” – Kate Stewart

• Social media influencer is a growing career choice. Colleges have noticed [The Hill]

SOCIAL MEDIA: I think there will be more states that do something similar to come.

• California could become the first state to require social media warning labels [The Verge]

TIKTOK: A reminder, if you use CapCut, it’s not necessarily safe from the potential ban either. 

• ByteDance’s web of apps could get tangled up in TikTok ban [Axios]