Travel Expected to Reach Record Highs

Drivers across?the United States?are no strangers to traffic congestion, though?recent?studies indicate that some cities may?bear the brunt of it more than others (New York City, for instance,?was recently ranked?the world’s worst city?for time spent in traffic, trailed by Mexico City, London, Paris, and Chicago).??

?And with?the week of July 4th upon us, travel records will once again be broken—and no doubt contribute to the congestion on roads across the country.?Trending on LinkedIn? is the?American Automobile Association's annual forecast?that 70.9 million people are expected to hit the roads for the holiday, a 5% increase from last year and 8% increase from pre-pandemic numbers.?

?It is anticipated that over 60 million?Americans?will be traveling by car, and?a record 5.4 million?are expected to head to their destinations by plane.?The holiday travel stats may tell a story about how workplaces are changing, too, because even though many companies continue?to push?for?a return to the office, others?have made flexible or totally remote options for their employees?permanent, a likely?contributing factor?to the sheer number of travelers this year.?

?Users online are already posting content pertaining to preparations for the long weekend, including?outfit inspiration,?patriotically themed snacks, and bringing back?trending sounds?for the day (#4thOfJuly?on TikTok – 1.7M posts).?It also seems that?some may ditch grilling outdoors as?record high temperatures?hit the Southwest and?storms?bombard the heartland.?

?What it means for brands:?The halfway point to summer marks a peak moment when consumers are active, booked, and busy, especially with gas around the Fourth?predicted?to be the lowest holiday price since 2021. Many will likely engage in some last-minute shopping over the next few days, stocking up on food or supplies to survive the extreme weather conditions, making it the perfect opportunity for brands to push social activations that target key audiences during this time.???

Other news and trends?

• The Supreme Court.?The highest court in the land made headlines this past week for several of its votes, including its decision to?expandpresidential immunity?as Donald Trump faces charges for?election interference. However, another noteworthy decision involves the fundamental rights in content creation and moderation on social media. The court?issued decisions?for?Moody v. NetChoice?and?NetChoice v. Paxton?on Monday, cases pertaining to laws in Florida and Texas that govern how much control large social media companies have in moderating content on their platforms. The court?ultimately ruled in their favor, extending First Amendment protections that freely allow them to organize, curate, and moderate their feeds.?

• Meta AI updates.?Meta's AI research team has?developed?a new system that creates or retextures 3D objects based on a text prompt.?Their paper claims?that the system is much faster than ever before and is preferred by professionals over other alternative models such as CSM, Rodin, or Meshy. Generating several views of an object in under a minute,?Meta 3D Gen?"reconstructs colors, metallicity, and roughness in 3D, training the reconstruction network via a deferred shading loss."??

• In related news: AI labels.?After?receiving backlash?from photographers about its "Made with AI" label, Meta?announced?that it would be making updates that would better differentiate between content modified by AI versus content that is completely AI-generated. in the announcement,?the company stated?that the label would be swapped to instead say "AI Info," which users can then tap on to understand exactly how AI was used in a given post.?Read our POV on Meta’s labeling here.?

• TikTok Shop appeals to businesses.?In spite of?a looming ban threat, TikTok is attempting to encourage more small businesses to join TikTok Shop, having?launched a program?called Supporting Our Artisans and Retailers Together. The program is designed to provide resources and support for entrepreneurs of all backgrounds to scale their businesses on the platform by?end, TikTok debuted the?Women-Owned TikTok Shop Accelerator, a six-week program for businesswomen, and?partnered with StartOut?to provide 30 LGBTIA+ businesses in the U.S. with scholarships through StartOut's Founders Program.?partnered with StartOut?to provide 30 LGBTIA+ businesses in the U.S. with scholarships through StartOut's Founders Program.?

Contributors: Head of Social Content and Engagement Strategy Cristina Lawrence, Senior Vice President Jerry Lawrence, Group Vice President Andrew McKernan, and Senior Vice President Tammy Pepito. At Razorfish, we help brands define their higher purpose—the emotional reason why they belong in people’s lives. Ready to find your purpose? Learn more here.

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