> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://offthegrid.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 🔗 CLICK THRU 012 : July 2025 - URL: https://offthegrid.ghost.io/click-thru-012-july-2025/ - Published: 2025-07-28T10:05:41.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-15T21:58:15.000Z - Description: be the algorithm you want to see in the world - Author: Amelia Hruby, PhD - Tags: Newsletter, CLICKTHRU, #Migrated-1784129708849, #Import 2026-07-15 10:39 #### Welcome to our social-media-free-online-biz-and-marketing links digest AKA the CLICK THRU! As always, this is a choose-your-own-adventure sort of endeavor, so you’re invited to dip your toe in one link at a time, dive into the deep end and open them all at once, or just hang out in the splash zone of the comments and see what surfaces there. Please remember that I don’t necessarily know the folks who create the things I link to, and I definitely don’t endorse every single thing that every single person I mention writes, says, or shares. 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗 # WHAT’S UP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA & BIG TECH 🚨 I’m definitely alarmed by this news that [**Meta may be training its AI on private photos**](https://futurism.com/meta-sketchy-training-ai-private-photos?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io) from our camera rolls… 🤖 YouTube and Meta are [**cracking down on “unoriginal” content**](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/14/following-youtube-meta-announces-crackdown-on-unoriginal-facebook-content/?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io) as AI slop floods their platforms. 📺 Speaking of AI Slop, [**John Oliver had a great segment on it recently.**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpg1RmzAbc&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io) 🎶 And the AI slop isn’t just for Youtube or Meta, it’s also [**taking over Spotify.**](https://futurism.com/ai-music-lofi-streaming?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io) ✏️ For all the Substackers among us, it might be helpful to note that [**their investors want them to consider ads on the platform**](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/business/substack-fundraising-social-network.html?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.YU8.SpsG.giHdWAwqNM%5FE&smid=url-share&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io). 🏭 I always appreciate [kyla scanlon](https://open.substack.com/users/13311420)’s reporting, and [**this essay on our extractive economy**](https://kyla.substack.com/p/from-dollar-dominance-to-the-slop) is definitely worth reading. [From Dollar Dominance to the Slop MachineThis is Part 2 of a 2 Part series exploring attention as infrastructure and a main source of value creation across politics, markets, and the economy. The audio version of this essay will be up here.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/9a/449ad1a5-0f88-4b95-8768-72c8a12a4ca1/content/images/2026/07/538171b2-1dfc-4483-9389-42422876dbf9_1280x1280-1.png)Kyla’s Newsletter](https://kyla.substack.com/p/from-dollar-dominance-to-the-slop) . # ONLINE BIZ & CONTENT CREATION 💜 Since I shared so much AI news above, it feels important to counter that with [**this essay on loving people more than machines**](https://thewhitepages.net/p/why-write-or-draw-or-build-or-play?r=1lw1xl&utm%5Fcampaign=post&utm%5Fmedium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io). [Why write (or draw or build or play or think) if a robot can do it for you?Last week, I saw an advertisement for a class. Let’s assume (because it beats the alternative) that the woman offering it has a kind heart. Let’s say that she is nice to dogs and remembers birthdays and showers her friends with genuine compliments. If we were to ask her loved ones “what do you think of the lady with the class?” they’d say “oh she’s the …![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/9a/449ad1a5-0f88-4b95-8768-72c8a12a4ca1/content/images/2026/07/28ca5ecc-7df7-4bde-84b9-4c8e8983d7c6_590x590.png)The White Pages](https://thewhitepages.net/p/why-write-or-draw-or-build-or-play?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io) 🎶 And I loved this [**No AI Lo-Fi mix**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5F%5F1uVWUSJe4&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io), where the artists explicitly ask us to support human creativity. 📩 Please let me invite you to [**be your own algorithm**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdj14%5FjdumI&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io). ⚡️ I keep thinking about this piece on [**the rise of the designer as influencer**](https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/elizabeth-goodspeed-the-rise-of-designer-as-influencer-creative-industry-020725?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io). 🎨 Relatedly: [**more brands are becoming their own influencers**](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/style/brand-content-marketing-videos-influencers.html?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.U08.EkfF.doyTa45gWnfD&smid=url-share&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io). **📍** Great thoughts from [PHONE TIME](https://open.substack.com/users/3692223) on [**if your Instagram grid still matters**](https://www.phonetime.news/p/does-your-instagram-grid-still-matter?utm%5Fcampaign=post&utm%5Fmedium=web&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io). [Does your Instagram grid still matter?This issue of PHONE TIME includes: a short history of the Instagram grid and a look at whether it still matters, featuring thoughts from social media manager Bonnie Azoulay and pop culture creator Hannah Zook. Plus, a recap of NEW INC’S DEMO2025.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/9a/449ad1a5-0f88-4b95-8768-72c8a12a4ca1/content/images/2026/07/90efbcff-f2d0-433a-9fd4-1229ee05cad1_1280x1280.png)PHONE TIME](https://www.phonetime.news/p/does-your-instagram-grid-still-matter?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io) 📲 If you (like me) are resisting the pivot to video, [**this piece is for you**](https://www.vox.com/technology/419430/ai-tiktok-youtube-shorts-instagram-reels?utm%5Fsource=substack&utm%5Fmedium=email). 🧠 As someone who could never stick with a second brain system, I felt so much relief watching [**this video**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjSWwmg-JRM&t=1s&ref=offthegrid.ghost.io). 🫂 For anybody else out there preparing to launch, I highly recommend reading [**this list**](https://open.substack.com/pub/jencarrington/p/a-list-of-pre-launch-feelings-and?r=1lw1xl&utm%5Fcampaign=post&utm%5Fmedium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false) from [Jen Carrington](https://open.substack.com/users/7520544). [A list of pre-launch feelings and thoughts Photo credit: Unsplash![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/9a/449ad1a5-0f88-4b95-8768-72c8a12a4ca1/content/images/2026/07/3cc3444e-a7ca-4342-88ba-2b32f36b2aac_1282x1284-jpeg.jpg)Conversations I Have With Myself](https://jencarrington.substack.com/p/a-list-of-pre-launch-feelings-and) . # And finally… # BABES LEAVING SOCIAL MEDIA You know I absolutely *love* to see more and more folks interrogating social media, and of course I bookmark it every time I clock it. This section is where I share those pieces for boosts of encouragement to make changes you might be desiring. 🎶 First up for inspiration: I love this list of [**50 ways to market your music off social media**](https://openchordcreative.ca/50ways?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io) from Sophie of Open Chord! 🎤 And relatedly: [**Hearing Time quit Spotify**](https://www.hearingthings.co/why-we-quit-spotify/?ref=offthegrid.ghost.io), and I loved reading about it. 💜 Then an essay from [Rae Serafina Barker](https://open.substack.com/users/351105968) on leaving Facebook, and great advice from [Deedi Reads](https://open.substack.com/users/2238605) on exiting the Kindle ecosystem! [a broken spellI left facebook a week and a half ago, and while I know that’s not a long stretch of time, it sort of is in online terms.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/9a/449ad1a5-0f88-4b95-8768-72c8a12a4ca1/content/images/2026/07/8d331c28-367d-4bab-a495-86dab2e9185b_600x600.png)Roots & Stars](https://raeserafinabarker.substack.com/p/a-broken-spell) [How to Break Up With the Kindle EcosystemHi, friends.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/44/9a/449ad1a5-0f88-4b95-8768-72c8a12a4ca1/content/images/2026/07/956b2669-20ce-46fc-9b54-df40da3fadab_500x500.png)Deedi Reads](https://deedireads.substack.com/p/how-to-break-up-with-the-kindle-ecosystem) . #### OK that’s it for CLICK THRU 012, my friends! There will be no CLICK THRU next month, because I’ve got some other fun things up my proverbial sleeve! xoxo, Amelia --- ####