Rand Fishkin

👀 Interesting research from @randfish.bsky.social sharing how AIs are highly inconsistent when recommending brands or products:

Does this means that AI tracking is useless? No! The key is what Rand mentions at the end:

...

Obligatory

It can work but it's a lot of work And 99% of the time the juice ain't worth the squeeze.

Overnight salting in the fridge on the other hand... Ooooo baby

🤜🤛💯

Much appreciated. Andy!

I strongly urge you to read the report! 😅

I mean, they deliver answers every time. It's just a question of whether a randomized list, in a random order , from a set of potential sources is what you're seeking

NEW Research: AIs are highly inconsistent when recommending brands or products; marketers should take care when tracking AI visibility - SparkToro The Problem: For the last few years, companies have been investing inordinate sums into AI tracking and AI visibility for their brands and products.

"AIs almost never give the same list of brands/recs in the same order"... from new research by @randfish.bsky.social "...any tool that gives a “ranking position in AI” is full of baloney": sparktoro.com/blog/new-res...

NEW research: sparktoro.com/blog/new-res...

If you give ChatGPT the same request for product recommendations 100X, will you ever get the same list twice?

And what does that answer mean for folks who try to track their brand presence in AI tools?

Finally, some real answers 🧐

Exactly this. Hypocrisy is one of their most cherished principles.

They somehow do not feel embarrassed or shamed by having different standards for the same act based on who committed it. I'm not sure there is a way to reason with such a proud lack of consistency.

Just keep being you. I want lots of things for this city, but mostly I want people to believe in and trust you as a leader and have the good grace to give you time. I'm certain you'll do great things. 🤜🤛

“Hello, can I interest you in some times?”

“Oh, no thank you. I’ve had enough of these unprecedented times.”

“Don’t, worry, we only provide precedented times.”

“In that case, I’ll take some.”

“Alright then, here are your precedented times. By the way, the precedent is 1933 Germany. No refunds.”

Pricing is marketing and this is excellent marketing.

Read this to my wife over breakfast and we both enjoyed the F out of it

The 5 Big Trends that Will Dominate Marketing in 2026 - SparkToro I find most end-of-year prediction and crystal ball-gazing listicles to be trash. They don't prove their assertions, use anecdotes rather than data at

NEW post: sparktoro.com/blog/the-5-b...

I made 5 predictions for the marketing world in 2026 based on these 5 big trends we're seeing. Feel free to fight with me in the comments AFTER you've read the piece 😉

When someone says they hate your product with a burning passion How to reset the thermostat, and CodeRabbit as a case study

www.getflack.com/p/responding...

Great analogy

"Imagine a thermostat for your credibility. If you’re above their setpoint, people feel you’re overrated and want to bring you down; if you’re below it, people feel you’re underrated and want to build you up."

Tip 50% or better for the next eight days.

Make a reservation for a restaurant in January.

Buy a round for the neighborhood bar.

Be a hero.

"It's Holocaust $#*&"
Exactly. Love these two.

Want a quick way to (potentially) pay for gifts? Take our survey!

We're looking for responses to our 2026 trends report to fully capture the state of the market.

Two responders will be selected for a $500 Amazon gift card. Survey only takes ~3 minutes: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Yes! Hopefully they do it again next year as we're getting close to launch 🤗 thanks Steve

A nonviolent, fascinating, but still a “firearms in America related story.”

Nothing bad happens, but skip it if you don’t want to read about guns.

It starts with trying to legally and ethically dispose of a gun.

You can enjoy whatever it is machines create that mimics art, but we both know it is not the same. And if you don't care, then... you don't get it. Which is fine, you don't have to. There are plenty more important things to worry about.

More Than Skin Deep – A Polemic on the Importance of Beauty The Nuberodesign Blog

www.nubero.ch/blog/017/ never expected to enjoy a piece like this as much as I did (which was a lot!)

Adventure Time Creator on AI: ‘We’re Cooked’ Pendleton Ward sees his fellow Cartoon Network all-stars’ new Adult Swim special, The Elephant, as “the last squirts of human creativity.”

I wonder if younger folks read takes like this and think "I don't care about whether AI or artists made it, just gimme the content,"

aftermath.site/ai-pendleton...

Or are they, too, sad for what we're about to lose.

I'm going to share a dark secret with all of you.

My Kindle reading habits are those of a thirsty, middle-aged white lady who cannot get enough romantasy. And apparently this gentleman is my type?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well deserved! 🤜🤛💯

From the NewsStarWorld community on Reddit: TheStreet: Amazon solves Walmart, Target, and Kroger’s shoplifting problem. Posted by coinfanking - 48 votes and 49 comments

www.reddit.com/r/NewsStarWo...

Seems to me like the solution is what Uniqlo does -- put all the items on the counter and the computer instantly tells you how much you owe and what you're buying. No need to scan.

@markjohnstone.bsky.social - feel like this is up your alley

Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023 - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023

A new study of the last 50 years of US pop music shows “a significant increase in stress-related language, alongside declines in positive sentiment and lyrical complexity.”

This "generation" (an arbitrary set of birth years which the media has labeled with a catchy name despite no evidence of statistical differences between them and the years preceding or following) sucks