#authenticity

#authenticity

To be honest, people are saying "honestly" all the time. According to the Corpus of Historical American English, a database that measures word usage over time, the use of "honestly" has skyrocketed over the last 25 years. Not just in casual conversation: It's a signifier of online authenticity. "Honestly" is the name of the podcast by CBS News' new editor Bari Weiss, the title of a 2022 studio album by Drake, the name of a new AI journaling app and appended to a number of popular TikTok and Instagram accounts.

As automation and artificial intelligence processes accelerate, many brands are convincing themselves that A.I. can replace the strategic and creative work of social media professionals. It's a decision often driven by budget cuts and misconceptions on what social media managers actually do, the skills they have and what truly makes social media marketing effective. A recent survey revealed that 39 percent of CMOs and brand marketing executives plan to reduce labor costs as they adopt A.I. and other automation tools.

While there are many reasons for Zohran Mamdani's success, the New York City mayor-elect's meteoric rise was in no small part down to his campaign's blazing social media game. Across TikTok, Instagram and X, his ads have racked up tens of millions of views, turning his charismatic potential into an electoral earthquake that has shaken the foundations of the Democratic party. Many politicians on both sides of the Atlantic will be asking: what is his secret formula? For me, the answer is clear.

Our north star is deceptively simple: make great games that are authentic to Marvel, whether it's on console, PC, mobile or VR. The challenge is more complex: authenticity doesn't necessarily mean one-to-one fidelity to source or reference material, whether it's comics or animation or movies. It's much deeper in that we allow our collaborating teams to reimagine "familiar yet original" incarnations of our characters based on their own creative DNA, whether it's Insomniac Games with Marvel's Spider-Man or Marvel's Wolverine, NetEase with Marvel Rivals,

Blogs, the dusty digital diaries of the early 2000s, were once places where individuals shared their thoughts, passions, and stories with the world. Back then, blogs were hubs of navel-gazing, authenticity, creativity, and personal connection. These online journals were also a breath of fresh air, offering a glimpse into the lives and minds of everyday people. But today, sadly, their purpose and function have become muddled.

"What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering." ~Don Miguel Ruiz For most of my life, I didn't fully understand what projection was. I just knew I kept becoming the problem. I was "too much." Too intense. Too emotional. Thought too deeply. Spoke too plainly.

According to the 2025 Bentley University-Gallup poll published in May of this year, 51% of U.S. adults now believe companies should take a public stance on current social and political issues, a significant jump from just 38% in 2024. This is an interesting development at a time when companies face heightened scrutiny around sustainability and social commitments. However, a SmartNews survey released earlier this year shows that 90% of respondents question corporate messaging at least some of the time and 36% think company statements feel inauthentic.

Culture is how people connect. And as brands work to be seen as relevant, to build relationships with their communities, and to ride the visibility wave of trending topics, engaging in culture feels like a natural way to get in front of consumers. The problem? Not every brand gets it right. Even though participating in, and especially shaping culture, can be powerful when done well, the way brands show up doesn't always deliver the impact they intend.

Cooking meat over fire is a primal act that is as old as time itself. The notion of Korean BBQ simply brings more communal fervor to this concept. At Korean BBQ, diners can cook the meat themselves to their tastes. It makes dinner an interactive experience as you grill, flip, and stuff thinly sliced meats into lettuce and savor your handiwork along with a wide assortment of banchan or side dishes.

To some, being authentic and having an online presence may sound like paradoxical concepts. Those who have found success on the internet, however, know that showing up as your true, unfiltered self is often one of the best ways to build an audience. In a social media landscape that's endlessly abundant with content, posting in a way that's genuine may actually be the key to standing out. In other words: sincerity is in.

Well, the answer does depend on the person and the circumstances of the dates. Dates are, in essence, experimental samples of what the person may be really like. Naturally, the more samples you have, the more accurate picture you'll have. At the same time, each date does come with a cost in time, effort, and faith in humanity. Therefore, you don't necessarily want to be saying,

Selling autographed merchandise has become so lucrative that celebrities and athletes are told not to sign anything with blue ink because it's believed that this makes their John Hancock easier to scan and forge. It's true that if you don't actually see someone sign something in front of you, it's pretty difficult to verify if a signature is legitimate, so it's good to be cautious when buying signed merchandise from a third party.

Live video has quickly become one of the most powerful ways for businesses to connect with audiences, build trust and showcase the people behind the brand. Yet for many business owners, it's also one of the trickiest formats to get right. The camera captures everything-not only confidence, clarity and culture, but also hesitation, over-preparation and mixed messaging. The difference between a live video that inspires and one that falls flat often comes down to avoidable missteps,

"AI won't change the fact that audiences reward consistency, transparency and real commitment," she says. "What it will change is the signal-to-noise ratio. Purpose-driven communication that is truly lived out by a company will stand out even more because people will crave rare authenticity amidst a flood of optimized narratives."

I've been teaching yoga for more than eight years, and practicing for many more. I teach strong, fast-paced formats as well as restorative ones. My classes are consistently full, and I know my students leave feeling stronger, challenged, and centered. But after a recent yoga teaching evaluation at a chain yoga studio, I walked out feeling the opposite: not strong, not capable, not enough.

Diane Keaton had been an icon since before I was even born; who was I to direct her? To fill her head with my dialogue? To give her a note, suggesting: It might be even funnier if you tried ? And yet, as she towered over me in sky-high Gucci platform booties, she never made me feel even one inch less tall as I guided her through what would wind up being her final film.

With so much AI-generated content flooding the internet, a new question has surfaced: Does authenticity still matter? On The Intersect with Cory Corrine, host Cory Corrine digs into this exact topic with Caroline Giegerich, the vice president of AI at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. From AI-generated billboards that leave people unsettled to synthetic influencers gaining millions of followers, the line between what's real and what's not is getting harder to see. But as Giegerich points out, that very confusion might be what makes authentic, human-driven creativity even more valuable than ever.

Dive bars are the ultimate modern contradiction. The whole idea of a dive bar is that it should be unappealing, maybe vulgar, crass, and downright unpleasant for everyone except a few die-hard loyalists who keep it in business. Usually dirt cheap, it should be dark, dirty, and dingy. The counters should be sticky, the bathrooms should have broken tile, and the location should be somewhere that has never seen the light of day.

We firmly believe that there's a perfect pizza out there for everyone. Versatility is one of the things that makes pizza beautiful, and if you're the type that subscribes to the theory that more sauce and a thick crust makes a better pizza, Detroit-style might be for you. It might be as close to perfection as we get in our 21st-century world.

Variety's Future of Brand Summit, presented by Acxiom, gathered the industry's top executives, marketers, creatives and cultural leaders on Wednesday in New York for an event that explored how companies are fueling their brands with creativity, culture and community.

Pitchfork: I think the silences and background chatter on sleep with a cane trip me out sometimes. It's almost like I'm listening to someone listen to the album, which makes it feel realistic and dreamy at the same time. Is that intentional? Klein: It's like that newer Top Boy. When Drake took over, one of the main things I didn't like was the lack of a score, but upon watching it again it kind of works.

Only two and a half years passed between the day Young Thug and his YSL crew were indicted on RICO charges and the day he was released, but in that time the world underwent a massive transformation. Streamers started acting as reporters; TikTok and Instagram Reels became the way the average young person got their news; candidates on the 2024 presidential ballot appealed to their base by doing bits on podcasts.

As well as being agreeable, I'm very authentic! Look at this body! All made to measure. Almond-shaped eyes: 80,000 pesetas[$566 or 480]. Nose: 200,000 [$1418 or 1200]. A waste of money. Another beating the following year left it looking like this. It gives me character, but if I'd known I wouldn't have touched it. She continues: Tits two, because I'm no monster 70,000 [$495 or 420] each. But I've more than earned that back.

Why do we care about who we are? After all, as I argue in my latest book, there's not much we can do about it. No matter how much we try to modify our behaviors and habits, and whether we succeed, we will still inevitably end up being us, even if that comes with the capacity to feel that we are not being ourselves, that we are changing, or becoming a better version of ourselves.

And there is certainly truth to that, but it is only part of the picture. The real value of connecting with others does not lie in how many business cards you collect or how many LinkedIn connections you can boast about. It lies in the depth of those relationships, in the human bonds you create when you meet someone without a hidden agenda.

I explained it to them like I was a superhero. The first slide on my little PowerPoint for the kids said Malcolm 'The Machine' Wellmaker, and I told them my superhero name was 'The Machine,'

Imagine sitting at home getting ready for a first date or your first day at a new job and wanting your first impression to be perfect. The pressure in that situation can be immense. You sit there, trying to hide your quirks, and carefully consider what to say first, so it doesn't come out awkwardly or embarrassingly. This is something that everybody has gone through.

Our world is obsessed with authenticity. As I illustrate in my latest book, we want authentic brands, authentic leaders, authentic influencers, and authentic products. "Authenticity" is slapped on labels from organic food to handmade soap to political campaigns. On social media, being "raw" or "real" is the ultimate currency. Even at work, organizations urge us to "bring our whole selves" to the office, as though that were always desirable for anyone involved.

[Your] ads don't need to win some contest or something, just not [be] jarring and ugly, [because] I have a personal aversion to jarring and ugly ads. And I'd actually rather make less money than have strident and ugly ads in the system.