LinkedIn has published its “Skills on the Rise” report, which lists the 15 fastest-growing skills in the U.S. job market.
To stay competitive, here’s what professionals should focus on.
The Top 15 Skills In Demand for 2025
AI is driving major workplace changes. LinkedIn predicts that by 2030, about 70% of skills in most jobs will significantly change. A quarter of professionals plan to learn new skills this year.
“AI Literacy” is now the most in-demand skill, reflecting the need for workers who can use AI tools across all industries.
While many list “AI” as a skill, this usually means basic familiarity with tools like ChatGPT rather than in-depth expertise.
The complete list of fastest-growing skills identified by LinkedIn includes:
AI Literacy
Conflict Mitigation
Adaptability
Process Optimization
Innovative Thinking
Public Speaking
Solution-Based Selling
Customer Engagement & Support
Stakeholder Management
Large Language Model (LLM) Development & Application
Budget & Resource Management
Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy
Regulatory Compliance
Growth Strategy
Risk Assessment
The report explains why each skill is gaining importance and the most common job titles and industries where these skills are prevalent.
Soft Skills Gaining Importance
While AI skills are essential, there is a growing need for soft skills. These skills are valuable as organizations address complex workplace issues such as return-to-office policies and managing teams from different generations.
For example, “Conflict Resolution” (ranked #2) is essential for customer service representatives, administrative assistants, and project managers in the technology and internet sectors.
“Adaptability” (ranked #3) is becoming essential for teachers, administrative assistants, and project managers as they face fast technological and economic changes.
Free Learning Resources Available
To help people develop these skills, LinkedIn is offering free access to related LinkedIn Learning courses until April 18. The list includes a link to a recommended course for each skill.
The report also includes in-demand skills lists for 15 job functions and seven additional countries, including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Spain, and the UK.
LinkedIn created a separate list specifically for marketing job functions, as shown below.
Screenshot from: LinkedIn, March 2025.
LinkedIn’s methodology for determining the fastest-growing skills considers three key factors: skill acquisition (the rate at which members add new skills to their profiles), hiring success (the share of a skill possessed by recently hired members), and emerging demand (increased presence of skills in job postings).
The long-brewing conflict between Google and EU regulators has reached a new milestone.
The European Commission has officially issued preliminary findings that Google has violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in two key areas that directly impact digital marketers and app developers.
What’s Happening With Google Search?
Despite Google’s algorithm tweaks over the past year, EU regulators aren’t satisfied. They claim Google still gives preferential treatment to its verticals, such as Google Shopping, Hotels, Flights, and other specialized results.
The Commission called out Google for displaying its services “at the top of Google Search results or on dedicated spaces, with enhanced visual formats and filtering mechanisms” that third-party services don’t enjoy.
If you’ve been wondering why your clients’ listings seem pushed down by Google’s products, EU regulators are validating those concerns.
Google Play Also Under Fire
In a separate finding, the Commission claims Google Play doesn’t allow app developers to freely direct users to alternative channels for better deals or direct purchases.
For marketers working with apps or managing app-based clients, this could eventually lead to new opportunities to reach users outside Google’s ecosystem without the steep Play Store fees.
What This Means For Digital Marketers
If the findings are confirmed and Google is forced to make changes, we could see significant shifts in search visibility and ranking opportunities:
More prominent placement for third-party comparison sites in travel, shopping, and financial verticals
Reduced visual emphasis on Google’s services
Potentially more organic visibility for businesses currently competing with Google’s featured elements
For app marketers, we might see new options for communicating with users about direct purchase options and alternatives to Google Play’s payment system.
Timeline and Next Steps
Google now has the opportunity to respond to these preliminary findings, and the company has consistently maintained that its changes already comply with the DMA.
In previous statements, Google’s EMEA competition director cautioned that further modifications could negatively impact user experience.
The Bigger Picture
This escalation follows the DMA’s implementation in March 2024, which designated Google as a “gatekeeper” alongside other tech giants. The law specifically targets large platforms that serve as critical intermediaries between businesses and consumers.
If Google fails to address the Commission’s concerns, it could face penalties of up to 10% of its global annual revenue. This prospect will likely motivate changes to how search results appear in Europe.
We’ll monitor this situation as it develops and provide updates on how changes might impact your search and app marketing strategies.
Shopify is one of the most impressive internet success stories. According to BuiltWith, the Canadian ecommerce giant now powers almost five million stores worldwide. Merchants choose Shopify for its ease of use, robust features, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. Let’s go over the main reasons for choosing Shopify.
Table of contents
What is Shopify and what does it do?
Shopify is an ecommerce platform that has everything under one roof. It’s a cloud-based solution that lets merchants create, customize, and manage online stores without issues. Shopify focuses heavily on ease of use and functionality, and with the thought of having businesses run an online business without technical expertise.
Shopify has quickly become one of the most popular ecommerce platforms. For instance, Shopify dominates the US market, with a market share of around 30%. It helps by easily serving businesses of all shapes and sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.
Choosing the right ecommerce platform is critical to your online success. There are many good reasons to choose Shopify, as it’s versatile, user-friendly, and scalable. It’s a good solution for most businesses and even comes with tools like Yoast SEO for Shopify that help you with your content marketing and SEO efforts.
Primary features and services of Shopify
One of Shopify’s main features is hosting and scalability. As a managed hosting solution, Shopify offers fast and reliable performance for your pages. Its infrastructure can handle traffic spikes and high-demand sales peaks like those during Black Friday sales.
Next, Shopify is well-known for its template and customization options. The theme store has over 240 themes, all of which are mobile-friendly. You even get a selection of industry-specific themes to help businesses get online quickly.
Another strong aspect of Shopify is its tools section and the way it integrates with nearly everything. The app store has almost any app you need, from Shopify SEO tools like Yoast SEO to inventory management options. This breadth of options is very impressive.
Last but not least, Shopify makes it easy to manage payments and financial transactions. It runs its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments, but it also supports various third-party payment processors.
These options together form a fully formed product that helps merchants with everything from server management to brand building and marketing. No wonder so many merchants choose Shopify as their ecommerce platform.
How does Shopify work?
Shopify’s intuitive platform makes starting and running an ecommerce store very easy. It doesn’t matter if you sell just one product or thousands — the software makes it accessible for every type of merchant.
Simple setup process
One of Shopify’s most impressive aspects is the setup. Entrepreneurs can literally launch an online store within a few hours — without prior technical know-how. The platform offers easy-to-use tools that work by simply dragging and dropping elements. In addition, it offers user-friendly walkthroughs to guide merchants through the process. There are pre-built themes to get started with quickly, and buying premium themes from the Shopify Theme Store is also possible.
Effortless management
Shopify has a clearly organized admin dashboard. Store owners can track orders, manage inventory, and check customer data in a single place. Merchants also enjoy the automation features. For instance, it automatically calculates taxes, handles shipping integrations, and manages checkout processes — a huge time saver!
Of course, as we live in the mobile age, Shopify offers mobile app access. Merchants can manage their stores on the go, so they don’t have to miss anything when they are out and about. We’ve already mentioned that Shopify store themes all scale with and perform properly on mobile devices.
All of these possibilities make Shopify a very good solution for most stores. Even a solo entrepreneur can build and manage a professional store without issues. This makes it a far more accessible option than platforms like WooCommerce or Adobe Commerce.
7 Key benefits of choosing Shopify
Shopify’s impressive features, scalability, and customer-centric design stand out. Here are some key reasons merchants choose Shopify as their preferred ecommerce platform.
1. The user-friendly interface
Time and time again, Shopify merchants mention that the clean, intuitive interface is the most important reason for choosing this ecommerce platform. Shopify is one of the most user-friendly e-commerce builders out there, and it’s intuitive for beginners and powerful for experienced users.
Shopify has an innovative drag-and-drop builder that lets merchants customize the store layout and product pages without coding. The admin interface is clearly organized and simple, even for non-developers. Thanks to Shopify’s guided setup and well-designed templates, business owners can quickly move from concept to live store. In addition, the admin panel gives an easy-to-understand overview of the store’s performance so merchants can manage orders and inventory without issues.
Shopify’s easy-to-use interface makes it a joy to work with
2. Shopify AI Magic
One of the newest benefits is Shopify Magic, an AI-powered solution that makes work easier and more fun. For instance, it has an image editor that automatically cleans up and optimizes product images, and a content generation tool that uses generative AI to write FAQs, product descriptions, and blogs. Email improvements also help dynamically tailor email campaigns for higher engagement rates.
Shopify also has Sidekick, an AI assistant that can help you get more done in your store. This chatbot answers all your questions and advises you on your specific situation, as it knows everything about your store. As a result, you have more time to focus on important things like strategy.
3. Flexible and scalable
Another big benefit of choosing Shopify as an ecommerce platform is its flexibility and scalability. Shopify can grow with a merchant and offers options for large and small businesses.
It has an affordable pricing structure. The $29/month plan helps small businesses get online quickly without investing too much. For large businesses, there’s Shopify Plus, which supports global enterprise brands like Heinz and Gymshark. This plan offers advanced features like a multi-store setup, custom checkout-out options, and very high API limits. Shopify is also very proud of its 99.98% uptime guarantee, which keeps stores online even in the busiest seasons.
4. Integrated payment solutions
Another big benefit of Shopify is its ability to simplify payment processes for clients worldwide. It hosts its own payment system, Shopify Payments, a hassle-free payment gateway. Shopify includes this in the subscription costs, and there are no set-up fees, just the going credit card and transaction fees. Shopify also supports over a hundred payment integrations, from Stripe to PayPal.
5. Robust app ecosystem
Shopify is a very extendable ecommerce platform. It has an excellent app store, where developers offer a wide range of good apps that improve and expand what Shopify can do. Currently, over 10,000 apps are available in the app store, and new ones are arriving daily.
Many of these apps integrate deeply with Shopify, allowing marketing automation and personalization that can increase sales. Merchants can install apps to recover abandoned carts, upsell related products, or integrate with CRM and advertising platforms.
Merchants can find apps for nearly everything. Some of the most popular ones are Oberlo for dropshipping, Klaviya and Mailchimp for email marketing, Judge.me and Loox for product and store reviews, and PageFly for building custom landing pages.
This extendability helps merchants scale their work whenever they need it most.
Shopify has over 10.000 apps in its app store
6. Comprehensive support
Running an online store is difficult enough without having to worry about technical issues. Luckily, Shopify helps remove that worry with 24/7 technical and customer support. Merchants can access professional assistance via live chat, email, or phone. In addition, it offers loads of learning material in the form of Shopify Academy, community forums, and tutorials. Business owners can quickly learn to make the most of their online stores.
7. Yoast SEO for Shopify
Shopify comes with all merchants need to run their stores, including tools to improve search engine visibility. While SEO is always in Shopify’s mind, it is good to think beyond the basics that the e-commerce platform offers. Getting traffic is too important to leave it to chance.
Yoast SEO for Shopify is the perfect tool for merchants looking to get that traffic. This Shopify app is built by a team of SEO experts with decades of experience. Yoast SEO has innovative features like real-time SEO suggestions, helping you optimize your pages and products with actionable insights. Or enhanced structured data for your products to make these stand out in Google.
Yoast SEO for Shopify also helps you write better product content. Enter your focus keyword and use the feedback to make your product descriptions stand out. A readability analysis also helps you make the content as readable for your customers as possible. There’s a Semrush integration to get keyword data from the editor and AI-powered features to automate some parts of the optimization process.
Combining Shopify’s framework with Yoast SEO makes your store accessible to search engines and customers.
Optimize your products with Yoast SEO for Shopify to make them stand out
Unique selling points of Shopify
Shopify has a lot going for it as an ecommerce platform, and there are more things it does to stay ahead of the competition.
Multi-channel selling
One reason Shopify could be chosen over the competition is its ability to sell across multiple channels. Multi-channel options allow merchants to sell their products on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, with all the management and insights happening on the main dashboard. Shopify also has point-of-sale options that help merchants offer in-store sales and integrate online and offline.
Shopify can sync listings to third-party platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Google Shopping, increasing merchants’ visibility. The platform also has many more options for going omnichannel with your store, which makes it a great fit for managing everything all at once.
Strong security and reliability
Trust is an important aspect of ecommerce. Merchants need to trust ecommerce platforms with their data and trust that they keep it safe and sound. Luckily, Shopify is working hard to provide store owners with a secure shopping environment. Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI-DSS compliant, the highest level of payment security standard, which helps protect customer data. It also has built-in fraud detection features that minimize the risk of chargeback.
Compared to hosted platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify automatically handles almost every security aspect. This gives merchants peace of mind that their customer’s data is safe.
Considerations before choosing Shopify
Shopify is an all-around great ecommerce platform, but there are some things to remember when merchants choose between the many other options. For one, Shopify’s pricing is decent, with basic monthly plans starting at $29. Still, the cost can add up when you want to add apps, third-party integrations, or want to have a custom theme developed. However, Shopify is often easier to set up and cheaper to run compared to platforms like Adobe Commerce.
Another consideration is the platform’s limitations. Shopify is closed software, so store owners have limited code access. WordPress solutions like WooCommerce might be better if openness is an issue.
These are the main reasons to choose Shopify
Shopify provides a great combination of ease of use, scalability, and features that help merchants thrive. It doesn’t matter if you run a simple store with a small budget or juggle millions of dollars; Shopify has the necessary solutions. It grows with your needs and offers you many options and possibilities to make the most of your business. Moreover, if you add Yoast SEO for Shopify to your store, you can boost visibility on Google, hopefully translating to more traffic and business growth.
So, why wait? Sign up for a free trial with Shopify, add Yoast SEO to your store, and get your business on the road!
Edwin is an experienced strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he worked for a top-tier web design magazine, where he developed a keen understanding of how to create great content.
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When it comes to luxury fashion, the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Gucci are among the most well-known, and rightfully so. These three alone are valued at over $87 billion.
Over the last decade and a half, I have had the opportunity to work extensively within this market.
Managing PPC in this space is super interesting as it requires a shift in thinking away from cookie-cutter ecommerce PPC strategies.
It’s not just a case of the product value being above average, leading to longer, more considered decision-making processes.
Luxury audiences are unique. They differ by brand, and finding success with PPC requires careful consideration and a holistic understanding of digital performance – not just the data within the accounts.
Understanding The Luxury Fashion Consumer
Luxury consumers have unique characteristics and behaviors that mold their purchase motivations and preferences.
You may be thinking through a lens of tactical management and day-to-day operations, “But how does this really impact PPC?”
But it really does.
Broadly speaking, luxury fashion consumers can be divided into three groups:
Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals (UHNWI): Buyers with plenty of disposable income who frequently purchase luxury fashion without too much consideration for price.
Aspirational Consumers: Middle- to high-income buyers who occasionally purchase within their budget to match their lifestyle.
New Luxury Shoppers: Younger buyers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, who engage with luxury brands online and purchase more infrequently, likely to have more of an affiliation with pre-loved luxury.
From a motivational perspective, elements such as social standing, quality, heritage, and storytelling play an important role. They can feed into ad copy and/or landing page messaging to test the impact on PPC.
Let’s say a brand is only bidding on new customers through Google Ads with a basic strategy of “brand keywords” (e.g. “louis vuitton”) and “generic keywords” (e.g. “luxury handbags”).
Focussing on generic keywords, these three audience groupings have to be considered – and segmentation is absolutely essential – as they all search using the same queries and are served the same SERP:
Screenshot from search for [buy luxury handbags], Google, February 2025
It differs on a case-by-case basis, but the customer lifetime value (CLV) of a “New Luxury Shopper” will likely be vastly different from users in the “UHNWI” grouping.
Aspirational buyers now make up 18% of the luxury fashion market across key economies. By 2030, Gen Z is projected to contribute 25-30% of luxury market purchases, with Millennials making up the majority at 50-55%.
There are plenty of opportunities for brands to benefit from when scaling up their PPC spend.
Segment performance data, get a clear view of which grouping demands the highest portion of media spend, and ask yourself whether this can be improved and how this data can be used to drive better results.
The Complexity Of Luxury Purchase Paths
Deliberated decision-making is a key element to consider when measuring PPC performance in luxury fashion.
A study found that two-thirds of Chinese luxury goods consumers undertake thorough product research before making luxury purchases, with over 40% of the respondents sharing that they used photos and pricing comparisons and compared to similar products before making the purchase.
Reporting week-to-week on ROAS/CAC may not be enough, and if decisions are made using windows that are too short/long, optimizations won’t align with the overarching goal.
I’ve seen growth stunted because of this, and access to purchase path data is a must.
The journey to purchasing luxury as a whole (not even considering the three audience groupings) involves many interactions.
A consumer insights study from NP Digital found that as the price point grew, the number of touchpoints for B2C increased.
For example, from $100 or less to $10,000+, the number of touch points moved from 8 to 23, and while price point doesn’t necessarily mean luxury, it shows a strong correlation.
This, combined with 80% of all luxury sales being digitally influenced, shows the importance of having connected data that can be fed into PPC strategies.
Take a scenario where a brand’s new customer acquisition through PPC is bulletproof, but social content is thin, and lead nurturing is non-existent.
This fractures the decision-making process, which ultimately impacts the results driven through PPC as demand will stay consistent and budget will be spent.
Still, the needs of the consumer are not met, which would mean fewer sales, a lower conversion rate, and declining efficiency.
A long-term view is essential for both reporting and optimization, and the necessity for brands to adopt an integrated marketing strategy has never been more critical.
The Influence Of Trends And Tradition
A survey found that 70% of consumers identify as trend-focused, and 77% value tradition.
Trend-focused consumers are driven by the latest movements in luxury fashion, whether this is the latest collab, a change in leadership, or a trending style – all of this will influence PPC.
These trends can occur steadily over time or, in some cases, emerge overnight due to the media, social influence, etc.
Depending on how an account is set up, the flow of search queries over time for “brand” keywords, “brand + product,” “product,” and “generics” will experience ebbs and flows based on a wealth of factors.
Knowing why certain products become more popular than others and being able to pull this data out of the accounts to share with the wider team is essential.
This should be reported as frequently as platform ROAS or blended CAC, not just on an ad hoc basis.
This can be done a few ways, one being to group search queries together, categorize them, and report using an index vs. the average, for example:
Automate the export of all search queries on a daily basis (or longer, depending on the size of the brand and budget) with a date stamp.
Create a script (or use Python/equivalent) – or find a partner to build one for you – to categorize these queries into groupings, or do this manually to get started.
Build a dashboard that maps the groupings over time and benchmarks vs. the average to provide a clear view of increases/decreases in demand, sales, cost, etc.
Map an index to each category and rank these based on the average.
It may take some work, but it is definitely worth it, considering how often trends and seasons change in luxury fashion.
With this data, brands can look at trends over time and react much quicker than simply seeing a better or worse ROAS one week vs. the previous week.
From a holistic perspective, this data can be shared across channels (e.g., SEO, PR, and content) and with the wider team, such as buyers, to share insights ahead of time on what users are searching for and why.
Holistic Performance Measurement
A robust measurement strategy is paramount when managing PPC in any capacity, and even more so for luxury fashion.
Gone are the days when teams were asked, “How much did we put in and how much did we get back?” at an ad platform level (well, almost gone).
Luxury brands are leaning into smart attribution modeling, focusing on CLV and personalization, to find the true value of their PPC activity.
This goes much further than an out-of-the-box attribution solution.
Unified Data Collection
Luxury brands spend millions annually on advertising, with 33% of this cost allocated to digital.
Measuring PPC performance through one or two lenses isn’t enough as it influences (and is influenced) by all other channels.
Stores, pop-ups, and events are incredibly important for luxury fashion brands, and being able to target new and returning users at key touchpoints through PPC is a must.
Pulling together online and offline data across multiple markets, channels, and sources requires robust processes, ownership, and consistency.
And, as easy as it is for me to write this, it most likely isn’t a quick task and will take considerable time and resources, but the payoff is certainly worth it to have a clear view of PPC performance.
Attribution Modeling
In this day and age, models such as “last click” are a touchy subject, and with good reason.
Consider all the touchpoints, advertising channels, and budget invested in delivering great customer journeys that luxury buyers experience for billion-dollar brands to then turn around and say the last click before the sale gets 100% of the credit.
In-platform, brands use multi-touch attribution (such as Google data-driven attribution or DDA), which is the best of the bunch, but still very limiting.
To begin to bridge the gap between online and offline, Louis Vuitton and Gucci invested heavily in omnichannel data platforms that allow them to connect in-store activity with digital interactions.
Another way brands are moving towards a more connected view of performance is through Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM), a methodology that was first used in the 1950s.
This takes attribution a step further by measuring the impact of PPC (for example) on the broader marketing ecosystem, quantifying PPC’s role within the entire marketing mix.
The complex decision-making process for luxury fashion makes having this connected data a non-negotiable for effective PPC budgeting, optimization, and growth.
Customer Lifetime Value
This metric refers to the total profit a customer is expected to drive over the duration of their relationship with a brand.
New customer acquisition through PPC is often measured through in-platform/blended ROAS and CACs, both serving a purpose when analyzing platform performance.
However, luxury brands that adopt CLV are able to identify which customer segments are the most profitable and take a longer-term view of acquiring high-value customers while tailoring strategies to audiences that aren’t as profitable to them.
Let’s look at an example of Brand A, who sells luxury handbags:
Current KPI for paid search: Account-wide Google Ads in-platform ROAS >5.
Brand A runs a data analysis project to find CLV by user segment and discovers that Audience 1 spends $11,000 over their lifecycle with the brand, and Audience 2 spends $4,000.
Their new KPIs would look vastly different, which feeds into budgeting, setting bidding strategy targets, promotions, and more.
Looking at the longer term, having this data gives luxury brands the benchmarks to work from to improve CLV numbers, which will, in turn, allow more freedom for scaling PPC spend.
Bringing It All Together
PPC doesn’t exist in isolation for any brand.
It’s influenced by many factors, and looking at one metric or platform for the answers isn’t enough.
Luxury fashion operates differently from a standard ecommerce retailer with unique audience profiles, extended decision-making processes, and an ever-moving flow of trends and traditions.
I’ve seen luxury brands dive headfirst into advanced data modeling, then go back to the drawing board to set accurate KPIs that fuel the fire of scaling media spend on PPC.
At the same time, plenty of luxury fashion brands use arbitrary in-platform modeling (e.g., last click) as the source of truth.
Aside from the obvious (cost, time, resource, etc.), there are only benefits from digging into the data to improve PPC performance from one end (e.g., setting bids, messaging, etc.) to the other (e.g., budgeting, market/network expansion).
Social commerce for marketers has become a strategic growth lever, evolving from a customer retention and engagement channel to a source of revenue generation.
Social media sales defy traditional ecommerce with the entire shopping journey taking place in just a few clicks and in one platform, making online shopping more simple than ever.
Social media users simply see a product they want to purchase, make a few clicks, and the item is ready to be shipped.
The purchase experience has certainly been redefined with the rise of social commerce, and more consumers are eager than ever to make a purchase through a social media platform.
In fact, over half (53%) of Gen Z say they’ve clicked “buy” buttons on social networks. One-third (30%) of shoppers find new products or brands on social media, further highlighting the social commerce opportunity for businesses.
Simply put, if your retail business has a presence on social media and isn’t tapping into the potential of generating sales directly from these platforms, you are missing out.
For marketers, now is the time to take advantage of social commerce and use it to your benefit. It serves as not only an opportunity to connect with your target audience, but also boost your business’s bottom line.
By creating engaging and personalized shopping experiences, businesses benefit from yet another channel to grow their sales and improve customer experiences.
In this post, we’ll explore how marketers can capitalize on this evolving trend and explore innovative approaches that go beyond the traditional playbook.
Let’s first dig into how social media usage went from seeking likes to craving purchases.
The Evolution Of Social Commerce
When social media first hit the scene in the early 2000s, it was primarily used to keep in touch with friends and family. Users could share photos, personal sentiment, and interact with other user’s content.
Over time, social media has grown to be so much more than a medium for connection but rather an outlet for making purchases.
There are several factors that have contributed to the social commerce transformation. To start, making online purchases is now more seamless than ever.
Credit card information can be seamlessly stored on sites, payment integration is simple, and consumers are more comfortable and trusting with making online purchases.
Social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook have native checkout solutions, allowing customers to quickly and with minimal effort buy products without even having to visit the retailer’s website.
A study found that nearly 80% of American customers say fast, simple interactions and transactions are the most important customer experience element and shape their impression of the business.
U.S. consumers are increasingly embracing social media as a shopping channel, with nearly half (47%) having made a purchase through these platforms and another 39% expressing willingness to do so again.
YouTube leads the pack in terms of the most trusted social network to find and buy products in the U.S., with 61% of consumers stating they found this channel trustworthy for social commerce. Facebook and Instagram came in a close second and third place at 51% and 45%, respectively.
The same study found TikTok to be in a distant last place at 35%, which comes as no surprise given the recent apprehension and possible removal of the platform from U.S. app stores in the near future.
The Role Of AI In Social Commerce
Artificial intelligence (AI) has also played a key role in increasing social commerce by tailoring personalization.
AI is powerful enough to sift through vast amounts of data, deciphering exactly what types of products and solutions consumers are most interested in.
In turn, social media feeds highlight products that align closely with consumer needs and preferences. This level of personalization plays a critical role in shaping consumer behavior and encouraging engagement.
Thanks to AI, customers feel more seen and heard, promoting trust with businesses and social media platforms alike.
When customers feel truly heard and seen, they are more likely to take meaningful action.
Consider this surprising statistic: almost all consumers (92%) interested in product personalization are willing to share personal data to allow a business to tailor and personalize a product.
With privacy being a key concern for many consumers, their willingness to share personal information in exchange for personalized product recommendations holds immense weight.
How To Maximize Social Commerce Marketing Efforts
Whether you’re just getting started with social commerce or have been onboard the train for a while, the opportunity for optimization is always there. However, they require diverse strategies.
For those just getting started with social commerce, the following framework can help you get your efforts started on the right foot.
The Social Commerce Framework For Beginners
There are various best practices for ensuring you kickstart your campaign off right. To start, I recommend using the following framework:
Research Your Audience
As with any marketing effort, it’s essential to truly understand your audience. Consider answering the following questions:
Which platforms do they spend most of their time on?
What types of content formats resonate with them most?
What products are they most interested in?
What time of day are they on social media?
What is the average order value from social commerce?
Answering these questions will help you to determine which platforms to allocate efforts towards, what products might be worth putting money behind for promotion and retargeting, when to post, and what types of content formats to invest in (written, graphics, video, etc.).
Social media platforms and other technology can provide these insights, shedding light on consumer preferences to better inform your strategy.
Test The Waters
Before investing too much time and energy into social commerce, it can be beneficial to start small. Try one shoppable post on the platform where your audience spends most of their time.
By showcasing your products directly in your posts, you can see how your audience reacts to and engages with this sort of content while reducing the burden of effort on your team, as this requires a lower lift.
Partner With Influencers
If your budget allows, working with influencers can help elevate your brand presence and build trust with a new audience.
Influencers have an established audience of loyal followers who many trust with product recommendations.
In turn, this untapped audience may feel compelled to give your product a shot with the influencer’s stamp of approval.
Additionally, many influencers only trust products they believe in further amplifying your brand’s relevance and reputation.
Be Authentic
Consumers can sniff out disingenuous or self-serving content. In today’s era, where customers are highly intuitive and crave authenticity, it’s crucial to create content that resonates with them.
Focus on creating compelling stories and narratives that align with common pain points they may be experiencing.
Show how your product helps people in real life through videos and pictures that are unaltered and unfiltered.
Encourage influencers you work with to post their genuine thoughts and feedback rather than sticking to a strict script.
Keep A Pulse On Performance
Tracking and understanding how your social commerce efforts are performing is integral to learning and growing your revenue through this channel.
Data-driven insights help guide your marketing strategy, ensuring each of your efforts contributes to the business’s bottom line and enhances the customer experience.
Regularly monitor your product post-related engagement (shares, comments, likes, clicks) and conversions. Be sure to have a proper attribution model in place to be able to tie social commerce to sales.
Maximizing Social Commerce Impact
For those who have already invested in taking advantage of social commerce for their businesses, there are several strategies to consider that can help level up your efforts.
Expand Your Platform Presence
Perhaps you’ve already gotten started with social commerce on one platform but haven’t yet dipped your toe into the other platforms available to you.
While each platform requires its own distinct approach, it can be beneficial to expand your portfolio and leverage other commerce opportunities available to you.
Before making the leap to a new platform, make sure it’s worth your investment. This can be accomplished by assessing your target audience and having an understanding of which platforms they tend to be on.
Research the platform and its target audience first to ensure it’s the right fit to maximize your efforts.
Take Advantage Of Personalization
Consumers have come to expect personalized content as it’s become embedded in every aspect of their lives – from being shown what shows to watch on Netflix or what to buy on Amazon based on previous consumption patterns.
Social commerce should mirror this pattern, delivering hyper-targeted ads and product recommendations based on consumers’ browsing and purchasing habits.
If your business already isn’t investing in AI-powered tools to assist with your personalization efforts, now is the time to integrate this advanced technology into your tech stack.
Make It Mobile-Friendly
Every aspect of your customer experience must be mobile-friendly, as consumers spend a large portion of their day on their phones.
Similarweb’s data indicates that mobile devices account for over half (57.8%) of the traffic market share in the U.S., highlighting the preference for mobile browsing in online engagement.
Knowing potential customers are likely coming to your website via their mobile device, it’s crucial to ensure your content is optimized for mobile devices and your mobile checkout is a seamless process.
Show how your product works, monitor your comments, and respond to customer questions.
For example, a beauty brand might show what a new bronzer looks like on multiple different skin tones, enabling live show viewers to see how the product would match their unique skin tone.
Expand Your Retention Efforts
While attracting new customers is always a must, you should also prioritize previous customers who are already familiar with your business.
Many retail businesses offer customer loyalty programs, sharing exclusive offers and promotions with repeat customers. Building an engaged community of loyal customers can:
Boost average order values.
Encourage word-of-mouth marketing.
Increase organic reviews and engagement on social posts.
Create a highly motivated community of like-minded customers.
Drive repeat sales.
Turn a one-time customer into a brand advocate.
Encourage User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is perhaps the easiest way to share authentic and unbiased feedback about your company.
When customers organically share their experiences with your business, consumers are more likely to trust what they have to say.
A Rio SEO study found that 41% of consumers said online reviews and personal recommendations are equally trustworthy.
Encourage customers to share user-generated content after they make a purchase.
To help boost UGC efforts, run a contest on your social media channels asking your followers to share their experience with your business for the chance to win a free product or some other type of reward for their time.
Embracing The Future Of Marketing Products With Social Commerce
The future of shopping is looking to be more social, as more consumers continue to crave the simplicity social media shopping brings.
The ease of seeing a product on a post, clicking the product desired, and checking out an all-in-one platform has revolutionized the shopping experience.
It’s also brought about yet another avenue for marketers to leverage to drive sales and highlights why retail businesses should be taking advantage of the wealth of features available to them.
Whether you’re just getting started with social commerce or you’re a seasoned professional, the key lies in understanding your target audience and what motivates them to take action.
As social commerce continues to grow and expand, marketers must stay agile and arm their teams with strategies for success.
By embracing social commerce, businesses can stay attuned with the ways customers prefer to engage and shop, and also uncover new routes to drive more digital conversions.
Last Wednesday, Google made a somewhat surprising announcement. It launched a version of its AI model, Gemini, that can do things not just in the digital realm of chatbots and internet search but out here in the physical world, via robots.
Gemini Robotics fuses the power of large language models with spatial reasoning, allowing you to tell a robotic arm to do something like “put the grapes in the clear glass bowl.” These commands get filtered by the LLM, which identifies intentions from what you’re saying and then breaks them down into commands that the robot can carry out. For more details about how it all works, read the full story from my colleague Scott Mulligan.
You might be wondering if this means your home or workplace might one day be filled with robots you can bark orders at. More on that soon.
But first, where did this come from? Google has not made big waves in the world of robotics so far. Alphabet acquired some robotics startups over the past decade, but in 2023 it shut down a unit working on robots to solve practical tasks like cleaning up trash.
Despite that, the company’s move to bring AI into the physical world via robots is following the exact precedent set by other companies in the past two years (something that, I must humbly point out, MIT Technology Reviewhaslongseencoming).
In short, two trends are converging from opposite directions: Robotics companies are increasingly leveraging AI, and AI giants are now building robots.OpenAI, for example, which shuttered its robotics team in 2021, started a new effort to build humanoid robots this year. In October, the chip giant Nvidia declared the next wave of artificial intelligence to be “physical AI.”
There are lots of ways to incorporate AI into robots, starting with improving how they are trained to do tasks. But using large language models to give instructions, as Google has done, is particularly interesting.
It’s not the first. The robotics startup Figure went viral a year ago for a video in which humans gave instructions to a humanoid on how to put dishes away. Around the same time, a startup spun off from OpenAI, called Covariant, built something similar for robotic arms in warehouses. I saw a demo where you could give the robot instructions via images, text, or video to do things like “move the tennis balls from this bin to that one.” Covariant was acquired by Amazon just five months later.
When you see such demos, you can’t help but wonder: When are these robots going to come to our workplaces? What about our homes?
If Figure’s plans offer a clue, the answer to the first question is soon. The company announced on Saturday that it is building a high-volume manufacturing facility set to manufacture 12,000 humanoid robots per year. But training and testing robots, especially to ensure they’re safe in places where they work near humans, still takes a long time.
For example, Figure’s rival Agility Robotics claims it’s the only company in the US with paying customers for its humanoids. But industry safety standards for humanoids working alongside people aren’t fully formed yet, so the company’s robots have to work in separate areas.
This is why, despite recent progress, our homes will be the last frontier. Compared with factory floors, our homes are chaotic and unpredictable. Everyone’s crammed into relatively close quarters. Even impressive AI models like Gemini Robotics will still need to go through lots of tests both in the real world and in simulation, just like self-driving cars. This testing might happen in warehouses, hotels, and hospitals, where the robots may still receive help from remote human operators. It will take a long time before they’re given the privilege of putting away our dishes.
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
When you might start speaking to robots
Last week, Google made a somewhat surprising announcement. It launched a version of its AI model, Gemini, that can do things not just in the digital realm of chatbots and internet search but out here in the physical world, via robots.
Gemini Robotics fuses the power of large language models with spatial reasoning, allowing you to tell a robotic arm to do something like “put the grapes in the clear glass bowl.” These verbal commands get filtered by the LLM, which identifies intentions from what you’re saying and then breaks them down into commands that the robot can carry out.
You might be wondering if this means your home or workplace might one day be filled with robots you can bark orders at. Read our story to find out.
—James O’Donnell
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.
And to read more about how AI is making robots smarter, check out:
+ What’s next for robots in 2025. With tests of humanoid bots and new developments in military applications, the next year will intrigue even the skeptics. Read the full story.
+ “Robot utility models” sidestep the need to tweak the data used to train robots every time they try to do something in unfamiliar settings. Read the full story.
+ Is robotics about to have its own ChatGPT moment? Researchers are using generative AI and other techniques to teach robots new skills—including tasks they could perform in homes. Read the full story.
Job titles of the future: Pharmaceutical-grade mushroom grower
Studies have indicated that psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin and MDMA, have swift-acting and enduring antidepressant effects. Though the US Food and Drug Administration denied the first application for medical treatments involving psychedelics (an MDMA-based therapy) last August, these drugs appear to be on the road to mainstream medicine.
Research into psilocybin has been slowed in part by the complexity of the trials, but the data already shows promise for the psychedelic compound within so-called magic mushrooms. Eventually, the FDA will decide whether to approve it to treat depression. If and when it does—a move that would open up a vast legal medical market—who will grow the mushrooms?
Scott Marshall already is. The head of mycology at the drug manufacturer Optimi Health in British Columbia, Canada, he is one of a very small number of licensed psilocybin mushroom cultivators in North America. Read the full story.
—Mattha Busby
This story is from the latest edition of our print magazine, which is all about relationships. Subscribe now to receive future editions once they land—subscriptions are currently 25% off the usual price!
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 BYD’s new EV can charge in just five minutes Which could help attract customers previously put off by long charging times. (Bloomberg $) + The company also announced plans to build a charging network in China. (The Guardian) + The world’s first consumer sodium-ion battery power bank has been announced. (The Verge) + BYD is one of MIT Technology Review’s Climate Tech Companies to Watch. (MIT Technology Review)
2 NASA’s stranded astronauts have begun their return to Earth Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have spent nine long months in space. (CNN) + The pair kept busy by exercising for two hours a day. (BBC)
3 How Elon Musk’s ties to China could warp American polic Tesla’s value is heavily dependent on him maintaining a cordial relationship with the CCP. (Vox) + Musk’s companies are extremely valuable targets. (The Hill) + If relations sour with China, Musk may look to expand more aggressively in India. (Rest of World)
4 Microsoft is developing an AI model that simulates our brains’ reasoning The goal is for it to learn from real-world experience, instead of just data. (FT $) + AI reasoning models can cheat to win chess games. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Alphabet has agreed to buy cybersecurity startup Wiz At $32 billion, it’s the biggest acquisition the company has ever made. (FT $)
6 Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon And if you opt out, Alexa won’t work anymore. (Ars Technica) + But Amazon denies that ending on-device processing will harm user privacy. (The Register)
7 US funding cuts could undo decades of progress fighting HIV Experts are rushing to get drugs to vulnerable communities while they still can.(The Guardian) + Eight countries are likely to run out of treatments soon. (Reuters) + This annual shot might protect against HIV infections. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Donald Trump is convinced that Joe Biden used an autopen The President alleges that aides used the gadget to duplicate Biden’s signature. (WP $) + However, Trump has not provided any evidence to back up his allegations. (BBC)
9 Big Tech is competing with your need to sleep There’s only so many hours in the day to consume content, after all. (Insider $) + I tried to hack my insomnia with technology. Here’s what worked. (MIT Technology Review)
10 Thank goodness for Facebook Marketplace It feels like the last bastion of fully human interaction on social media. (NYT $)
Quote of the day
“It’s been a roller coaster for them, probably a little bit more so than for us.”
—Astronaut Suni Williams, who has spent nine months living on the International Space Station, says she’s looking forward to returning to her family once she touches back down on Earth, Reuters reports.
The big story
Exosomes are touted as a trendy cure-all. We don’t know if they work.
October 2024
There’s a trendy new cure-all in town: exosomes. They’re being touted as a miraculous treatment for hair loss, aging skin, acne, eczema, pain conditions, long covid, and even neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. That’s, of course, if you can afford the price tag—which can stretch to thousands of dollars.
But there’s a big problem with these big promises: We don’t fully understand how exosomes work—or what they even really are. Read our story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ This destructive little otter is a menace, but still very cute. + Here’s how to make the perfect tomato soup: complete with a surprise twist. + London’s fanciest bars are going all out to outfit themself with hi-fi listening systems. + A word of warning—these books are dangerous.
In the ever-evolving world of health care, the role of technology is becoming increasingly crucial. From improving patient outcomes to streamlining administrative processes, digital technologies are changing the face of the industry. However, for startups developing health tech solutions, breaking into the market and scaling their products can be a challenging journey, requiring access to resources, expertise, and a network they might not have. This is where health tech accelerator programs come in.
Health tech accelerator programs are designed to support early-stage startups in the health technology space, providing them with the resources, mentorship, and funding they need to grow and succeed. These programs are often highly competitive, and startups that are selected gain access to a wealth of opportunities that can significantly accelerate their development. In this article, we’ll explore five key benefits of participating in a health tech accelerator program.
1. Access to mentorship and expertise
One of the most valuable aspects of health tech accelerator programs is the access they provide to experienced mentors and industry experts. Health tech startups often face unique challenges, such as navigating complex health-care regulations, developing scalable technologies, and understanding the intricacies of health systems. Having mentors who have firsthand experience in these areas can provide critical guidance.
These mentors often include clinicians, informaticists, investors, health-care professionals, and thought leaders. Their insights can help startups refine their business strategies, optimize their digital health solutions, and navigate the health-care landscape. With this guidance, startups are better positioned to make informed decisions, avoid common pitfalls, and accelerate their growth.
2. Funding and investment opportunities
For many startups, securing funding is one of the biggest hurdles they face. Health tech innovation can be expensive, especially in the early stages when startups are working on solution development, regulatory approvals, and pilot testing. Accelerator programs often provide startups with seed funding, as well as the opportunity to connect with venture capitalists, angel investors, and other potential backers.
Many accelerator programs culminate in a “demo day,” where startups pitch their solutions to a room full of investors and other key decision-makers. These events can be crucial in securing the funding necessary to scale a digital health solution or product. Beyond initial funding, the exposure gained from being part of a well-known accelerator program can lead to additional investment opportunities down the road.
3. Networking and industry connections
The health-care industry is notoriously complex and fragmented, making it difficult for new players to break in without the right connections. Health tech accelerator programs offer startups the opportunity to network with key leaders in the health-care and technology ecosystems, including clinicians, payers, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and potential customers.
Through structured networking events, mentorship sessions, and partnerships with established organizations, startups gain access to a wide range of stakeholders who can help substantiate their products, open doors to new markets, and provide feedback that can be used to refine their offerings. In the health tech space, strong industry connections are often critical to gaining traction and scaling successfully.
4. Market validation and credibility
The health tech industry is highly regulated and risk-averse, meaning that customers and investors are often wary of new technologies. Participating in an accelerator program can serve as a form of market validation, signaling that a startup’s offering has been vetted by experts and has the potential for success.
The credibility gained from being accepted into a prestigious accelerator program can be a game-changer. It provides startups with a level of legitimacy that can help them stand out in a crowded and competitive market. Whether it’s attracting investors, forging partnerships, or securing early customers, the reputation of the accelerator can give a startup a significant boost.
Additionally, accelerator programs often have ties to major health-care institutions and organizations. This can provide startups with opportunities to pilot their products in real-world health-care settings, which can serve as both a test of the product’s viability and a powerful proof of concept for future customers and investors.
5. Access to resources and infrastructure
Another significant benefit of accelerators is the access to resources and infrastructure that startups might not obtain otherwise. These resources can include everything from access to clinical data for model building and testing, legal and regulatory support, and technology infrastructure to deploy and scale. For early-stage health tech companies, these resources can be a game-changer.
Conclusion
Health tech startups are at the forefront of transforming health care, but navigating the challenges of innovation, regulation, and market entry can be daunting. Health tech accelerator programs offer invaluable support by providing startups with the mentorship, funding, networking opportunities, credibility, and resources they need to succeed.
Mayo Clinic Platform_Accelerate is a 30-week accelerator program from Mayo Clinic Platform focused on helping startups with digital technologies advance their solution development and get to market faster. Learn more about the program and the access it provides to clinical data, Mayo Clinic experts, technical resources, investors, and more at https://www.mayoclinicplatform.org/accelerate/.
This content was produced by Mayo Clinic Platform. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff.
Around 1,400 infants are being infected by HIV every day as a result of the new US administration’s cuts to funding to AIDS organizations, new modeling suggests.
In an executive order issued January 20, President Donald Trump paused new foreign aid funding to global health programs, and four days later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop-work order on existing foreign aid assistance. Surveys suggest that these changes forced more than a third of global organizations that provide essential HIV services to close within days of the announcements.
Hundreds of thousands of people are losing access to HIV treatments as a result. Women and girls are missing out on cervical cancer screening and services for gender-based violence, too. A waiver Rubio later issued in an attempt to restore lifesaving services has had very little impact.
“We are in a crisis,” said Jennifer Sherwood, director of research, public policy, at amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, at a data-sharing event on March 17 at Columbia University in New York. “Even funds that had already been appropriated, that were in the field, in people’s bank accounts, [were] frozen.”
Rubio approved a waiver for “life-saving” humanitarian assistance on January 28. “This resumption is temporary in nature, and with limited exceptions as needed to continue life-saving humanitarian assistance programs, no new contracts shall be entered into,” he said in a statement at the time.
The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which invests millions of dollars in the global AIDS response every year, was also granted a waiver February 1 to continue “life-saving” work.
Despite this waiver, there have been devastating reports of the impact on health programs across the many low-income countries that relied on the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which oversees PEPFAR, for funding. To get a better sense of the overall impact, amfAR conducted two surveys looking at more than 150 organizations that rely on PEPFAR funding in more than 26 countries.
“We found really severe disruptions to HIV services,” said Sherwood, who presented the findings at Columbia. “About 90% of our participants said [the cuts] had severely limited their ability to deliver HIV services.” Specifically, 94% of follow-up services designed to monitor people’s progress were either canceled or disrupted. There were similarly dramatic disruptions to services for HIV testing, treatment, and prevention, and 92% of services for gender-based violence were canceled or disrupted.
The cuts have plunged organizations into a “deep financial crisis,” said Sherwood. Almost two-thirds of respondents said community-based staff were laid off before the end of January. When the team asked these organizations how long they could stay open without US funding, 36% said they had already closed. “Only 14% said that they were able to stay open longer than a month,” said Sherwood. “And … this data was collected longer than a month ago.”
The organizations said tens of thousands of the people they serve would lose HIV treatment within a month. For some organizations, that figure was over 100,000, said Sherwood.
Part of the problem is that the stop-work order came at a time when these organizations were already experiencing “shortages in commodities,” Sherwood said. Typically, centers might give a person a six-month supply of antiretroviral drugs. Before the stop-work order, many organizations were only giving one-month supplies. “Almost all of their clients are due to come back and pick up [more] treatments in this 90-day freeze,” she said. “You can really see the panic this has caused.”
The waiver for “life-saving” treatment didn’t do much to remedy this situation. Only 5% of the organizations received funds under the waiver, while the vast majority either were told they didn’t qualify or had not been told they could restart services. “While the waiver might be one important avenue to restart some services, it cannot, on the whole, save the US HIV program,” says Sherwood. “It is very limited in scope, and it has not been widely communicated to the field.”
AmfAR isn’t the only organization tracking the impact of US funding cuts. At the same event, Sara Casey, assistant professor of population and family health at Columbia, presented results of a survey of 101 people who work in organizations reliant on US aid. They reported seeing disruptions to services in humanitarian responses, gender-based violence, mental health, infectious diseases, essential medicines and vaccines, and more. “Many of these should have been eligible for the ‘life-saving’ waivers,” Casey said.
Casey and her colleagues have also been interviewing people in Colombia, Kenya, and Nepal. In those countries, women of reproductive age, newborns and children, people living with HIV, members of the LGBTQI+ community, and migrants are among those most affected by the cuts, she said, and health workers, who are primarily women, are losing their livelihoods.
“There will be really disproportionate impacts on the world’s most vulnerable,” said Sherwood. Women make up 67% of the health-care workforce, according to the World Health Organization. They also make up 63% of PEPFAR clients. PEPFAR has supported gender equality and services for gender-based violence. “We don’t know if other countries or other donors … can or will pick up these types of programs, especially in the face of competing priorities about keeping people on treatment and keeping people alive,” said Sherwood.
Sherwood and her colleagues at amfAR have also done some modeling work to determine the potential impact of cuts to PEPFAR on women and girls, using data from last year to create their estimates. “Each day that the stop-work order is in place, we estimate that there are 1,400 new HIV infections among infants,” she said. And every day, over 7,000 women stand to miss out on cervical cancer screenings.
The funding cuts have also had a dramatic effect on mental-health services, said Farah Arabe, who serves on the advisory board of the Global Mental Health Action Network. Arabe presented the preliminary findings of an ongoing survey of mental-health organizations from 29 countries that receive US aid. “Unfortunately, this is a very grim picture,” she said. “Only 5% of individuals who were receiving services in 2024 will be able to receive services in 2025.”
The same goes for children and adolescents. “This is a particularly sad picture because children … are going through brain development,” she said. “Impacts … at this early stage of life have lifelong impacts on academic achievement, economic productivity, mental health, physical health … even the ability to parent the next generation.”
For now, nonprofits and aid and research organizations are scrambling to try to understand, and potentially limit, the impact of the cuts. Some are hoping to locate new sources of funding, independent of the US.
“I am deeply concerned that progress in disease eradication, poverty reduction, and gender equality is at risk of being reversed,” said Thoai Ngo of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, who chaired the event. “Without urgent action, preventable deaths will rise, more people will fall into poverty, and as always, women and girls will bear the heaviest burden.”
On March 10, Rubio announced the results of his department’s review of USAID. “After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID,” he shared via the social media platform X.
Screenshot from: LinkedIn, March 2025.
