A Barnes & Noble is coming back to Jenkintown. Years ago, we had one that closed and the space became a CVS. It made me wonder: do “big box” comebacks shift consumer behavior in small towns? Will local bookstores feel an impact?
Nearby Capricorn Books, Open Book Bookstore, and Booked are wonderful little shops, and their foot traffic could potentially be disrupted. Possibly… But the truly devoted customers will probably keep supporting them.
Will I skip local brewery restaurants with a Honeygrow nearby? Doubtful. People form strong allegiances, not just to brands, but to experiences.
The local coffee shop loyalist doesn’t suddenly switch to Wawa because it’s convenient. The indie bookstore browser may see Barnes & Noble as a different experience, not a replacement.
Personally, B&N was formative for me. I used to camp out in their web development section for hours, treating it like a free university library. And that’s something that a local book store doesn’t have: niche sections that are heavy with technology.
For fiction, I will always go to a local shop. And if they don’t have the book, I can order it through them and stop by again.
Many in Philly used the Rittenhouse Square B&N as an urban rest stop. It later doubled as a family-friendly community hub that sold educational toys with sections devoted to Star Wars and Harry Potter. It got bizarre. I’d sip a Starbucks coffee from the in-house shop and then watch my kids as toddlers play with a wooden Thomas The Train set with others.
Big box returns bring the competition, but they also shape local culture. Are big-box revivals more of a threat or opportunity for small towns?
There’s a weird thing that happens sometimes when you post on social media: you throw something up for fun with no big production, no months-long content calendar, and it works better than anything you’ve carefully planned.
That’s what happened with my Sopranos-style Instagram Reel. Instead of Tony driving through New Jersey, it was me driving around Glenside, Pennsylvania, hitting the landmarks that matter to me: the shops, the restaurants, the old bridges with murals, even a donut from Daryl’s Pastries. The whole thing had similar grit, improper lighting, and jerky camera work as the original intro. But, opposed to driving a top tier modern SUV, I was driving a 2007 clunker. And instead of coming home to a McMansion for the finale, I end up at jaded at GIANT (once again) to buy mundane staples.
I figured the Reel might get 20 likes.
Instead, it arrived at:
178k+ views
6,155 likes
7,309 shares
300 comments
Throughout, it kept a steady rate of producing 115 to 125% more shares than likes. In the social media world, that’s like a solar eclipse. It’s rare. In most posts, shares are a fraction of likes. In fact, it’s so unusual that marketers tend to study it the way birdwatchers get excited over a rare warbler sighting.
So why did it take off? A few working theories.
1. A recognizable format with a twist
The Sopranos intro is instantly familiar. You don’t need to explain it. You just recreate it and people get it in the first two seconds. Add a local twist, and suddenly you’re talking to two audiences at once: fans of the show and people with a connection to Glenside.
2. Local details that hit the nostalgia button
This wasn’t just a list of businesses. It had telephone poles with decades of character, cracked concrete bridges painted over with murals, and storefronts that haven’t changed in years. That’s the stuff that sends former residents, even the ones who live in Florida now, into the comments to say it made them homesick.
3. Cross-generational appeal
Here’s the thing: The Sopranos is old enough now that it has two lives. Older viewers remember watching it when it aired. Younger viewers are discovering it on streaming and treating it like retro-cool. That’s possibly why this Reel connected with people in their 20s… and people in their 80s.
4. Perfect timing without trying
I posted it on Saturday morning, July 5th, the day after the Fourth of July. Almost everyone was off work. People were scrolling, possibly hungover and still smelling like fireworks. And I happened to be wearing a Phillies hat with the American flag inside the “P.” Was that planned? No. Did it make it feel seasonally relevant? Absolutely.
5. The “you forgot my spot” phenomenon
Some people pointed out I didn’t include their favorite local attraction. In a 60-second video, you can’t get to everything. But that reaction is actually a win. It means people care enough to want their spot in the spotlight. It also means Part 2 is practically writing itself.
Why more shares than likes matters
Shares are the ultimate “you have to see this” metric. A like is a polite nod; a share is someone walking across the room and saying, “Stop what you’re doing, watch this.” When shares outpace likes, it’s a strong signal you’ve hit something culturally resonant.
For this Reel, shares beat likes by 20%. I rarely see that, and I work in digital marketing for a living. When it does happen, it’s usually because the content triggers identity (“this is so us”), inside jokes, or hometown pride. This one seemed to have all three.
The marketing takeaways
Leverage formats people already know. If they recognize it instantly, they’ll stick around.
Get hyper-specific with details. The texture of a telephone pole can mean more than a skyline shot.
Post in low-noise windows. Holiday weekends, early mornings — times when people have time to scroll.
Don’t fear omissions. The comments section can become your idea bank for sequels.
Measure shares as a top metric. They tell you how far your content travels beyond your own audience.
The next Reel in this series is already underway. I’ll probably get a mix of nostalgia, mild outrage, and “you forgot my place” comments again. But I don’t think it will produce even an eighth of this engagement. But if I can get people to argue about which coffee shop belongs in a Sopranos parody, we’ll see.
Update: One last thing to point out is that platform culture and audience context matter just as much as content. This same Instagram video was posted just minutes apart from TikTok where it hardly performed at all, earning just 30 likes, 1 comment, and 581 views.
The same content that goes viral on one platform can clearly fizzle on another, not because it’s bad, but because the platform’s culture, algorithm, and audience context are completely different. TikTok didn’t have the hyper-local seed audience to get my Sopranos parody going, and the algorithm didn’t know who to show it to. On Instagram, my core community made it fly.
“Memowraith” is a  portmanteau for the words Memory and Wraith, and is the title of my new collection of instrumentals, now available on Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora and all streaming channels.
Memowraithdrifts like a half-remembered dream, an instrumental transmission from somewhere between the past and the afterlife. Warm, warbling analog synths coil around haunting, detuned piano phrases, each note ringing out like a photograph left too long in the sun. The pulse comes from vintage drum machine sounds, tape-saturated, loose, and human, layered with soft hand percussion and glitching accents that feel as if they’ve been lifted from worn cassette recordings.
[ ghost.log ]
> rebooting childhood.exe
> ** MEMOWRAITH **
> arcade whispers // altar boys on ferris wheel
> dial tone... *69... sneaking out back door
> static_hum + petty vandalism + mixtape_hiss
> !!! blow into the nintendo cartridge
> trying for the first time :: scared & alive
> analog ghosts detected...
> END OF TRACE
Every track sways withrhythmic nostalgia: loops that shimmer like old Super 8 film reels, melodies that fade in and out like someone walking through fog. Memory here is not static. It glitches, repeats, and decays, each cycle leaving behind a ghostly trace. Memowraith is a landscape where time folds in on itself, where the familiar becomes strange, and where the ghosts of our own recollections hum quietly in the background, waiting to be heard again.
Hot Take: Instagram Highlights are kind of… useless. At least in their current form. Let me explain 👇
Instagram Highlights still play from oldest Story to newest.
Imagine you’re a prospect clicking on an apartment community’s “Events” highlight. What’s the first thing you see? ➡️ Ribbon-cutting ceremonies ➡️ Empty amenity spaces under construction ➡️ People in hard hats ➡️ Signage unveilings
Meanwhile, the actual selling-point events (such as pool parties, pet parades, and yoga brunches) are buried at the end. This assumes that anyone even makes it that far.
Why does Instagram still force us to scroll through digital cobwebs to find relevant content in Highlights?
The latest stories should play first, especially in industries where timeliness matters. In apartment leasing, for example, prospects may want to revisit a Story they saw 26 hours ago with a temporary link or event details. They’re not here for a nostalgia tour.
Is there any industry where it makes sense to show the oldest Highlights first?
You may never need to jump to a Google search result source again. With the current AI Assistant in place, most of your questions get answered and then some. Now with AI Mode, you can engage in follow-up questions and get everything you need answered all in one location within Google Search. I haven’t seen any ads / sponsorship sections of the AI Mode yet. For now, it’s a super clean experience without any clutter from various Google tools (like Maps, Reviews, Display Ads etc.) peppered into the experience.
The deep tissue massage ended and I was escorted to the spa’s Brine Room. If it wasn’t for the gift card, I wouldn’t have even been there. But there I was, sitting in a bath robe on an Adirondack chair, smelling like lavender oil.
I enjoyed the microscopic salt particles floating in the air, along with ambient drone music and the gentle light therapy. This halotherapy session was the grand finale, a place to get some peace with both body and mind.
Some in the room sipped on complimentary champagne or water, nibbling on cheese and fruit. It was a soothing end to the unknotting of bodies before they braced the harsh sunlight in the parking lot.
A guy sat next to me and whipped out his phone. Varying lights emitted from his phone as his thumb swiped on the glass. His wife sat next to him and did the same thing. The phone glow was distracting, but I closed my eyes and tried to relax, not wanting to snoop.
The locker rooms had signs reminding all to detach, to leave your phone locked up and silenced. I figured these people were dedicated employees, maybe entrepreneurs, and needed to check their emails. I’ve been there, and understood that sometimes it’s hard to mentally check out. I thought further: Maybe they had a family emergency and were trying get updates? Or maybe they were wealthy and this was just a typical Friday for them, the whole experience so dull and mundane that they needed to digitally escape. Maybe the Brine Room to them was the drab equivalent to me standing at the Glenside train station, waiting for the SEPTA regional train.
Chuckles ensued and I glanced over. The familiar thumbing ensued, both of them looking at their Instagram feeds, pausing at certain moments. The user interface and fixed icons at the bottom were clear to me. (But, why couldn’t they have been using Dark Mode?)
And that’s what I realized how it’s such an amazing, opportunistic time to be a social content creator. You’re tossing your vertical video content in the roulette wheel of potential viewers on Instagram and TikTok. You’re feeding the dopamine cravings of many throughout the day, whether it’s doomscrolling or joyscrolling—many are diving into a deep scroll hole and getting blissed out and blacking out on “For You” content.
As a content creator, you’re vying for everyone’s attention, hoping you’ve checked all the boxes for the ever-morphing algorithm that nobody fully understands. Everyone has a chance to cook up that viral video, following alleged recipes that make it tight like Walter White’s “blue” stuff.
Public social scrolling in supermarket lines is commonplace, but I’ve also seen it happening at funeral homes and at the theater during the first scene of an IMAX movie. Sure, I know people like to watch streaming shows at home and scroll on the couch arm, but a theater?
So, is there any place sacred where a phone can’t be these days?
I don’t think so.
From date nights at a table for two to the dreadful waiting in the dentist lobby, pregnant pauses of life yield scrolling like thistle weeds.
And this is another win for the social content creator—there’s no wrong place or environment to scroll in. The public are making that clear. It’s normal to see people scrolling as they walk through a busy intersection as they hope the white blinking walk light guides them safely across the street.
What is the strangest place you’ve seen someone scrolling, as they cannot bear to coexist without the augmentation of social or AI? Are public micro-scroll moments healthy? Are these “digital breathers” feeding a dopamine addition or are they just relaxing the mind, allowing escape from reality.
Typing (keyboarding) is the most important tech skill that I’ve learned. But is it taught in school anymore?
That 7th grade typing class I took enabled me to type with rapid precision without looking at keys. This seems trivial these days. I never put my average words-per-minute score on a resume to get a job. It was just assumed that you could belt out 70+ words with ease if you used a computer at all.
Without typing, I couldn’t have sustained any job that I’ve ever had, aside from being a caddie. The skill enabled me to quickly write term papers in college, newspaper articles, technical manuals, code in HTML and CSS, craft fiction, pound out countless emails, and, lately, serve up ChatGPT queries. Maybe I wouldn’t have had that first date with my wife if I hadn’t responded so quickly when online dating.
I saw my 7th grade typing teacher at a friend’s engagement party once. I gave her a big hug and thanked her, and probably frightened her a bit. But her class was the only one that provided a future-proof skill, well over Trigonometry.
But are kids being taught typing today? Do kids wonder why the QWERTY keyboard exists on their phones?
My 7th grade son has a school Chromebook but he isn’t taught how to type. He uses his own homegrown two finger method and somehow seems to be getting by. He seems fine texting on an iPhone or entering in Nintendo Switch codes. He can tap out a Wawa hoagie order on a touchscreen with ease. But does he know that you should use your left pinky to tap on the letter Z?
To navigate the digital world, typing seems absolutely essential.
Many students start typing on computers and cell phones before they are in school. Is it assumed they are proficient, and that speech-to-text dictation functionality is the future?
With typing not being a skill that’s tested on standardized tests, I can see why it would be removed from the equation. STEM based curriculum has an emphasis on coding and digital literacy, but wouldn’t typing better expedite these skills?
Is it assumed that typing is akin to walking, eating and personal hygiene, and that they should just learn it at home?
Is typing a part of your school district’s offerings?
I drive an 18-year-old car. There’s no AI functionality built into it, at least that I’ve discovered.
The high beams produce about 1,700 lumens per halogen bulb. Newer cars with LED bulbs produce about 3,500 lumens for their standard beams.
So, my high beams are actually dimmer than the standard beams of modern cars.
Driving through hilly suburbia at night makes this apparent. The yellowish tinge of the halogen bulbs is no match for the piercing bluish LED light and it’s many reflective glares.
If you have astigmatism, night driving is even more challenging. Halos, streaks and blurry vision come into play.
At times, it seems safer to wear my prescription sunglasses at night. Luckily, night driving glasses exist with amber tinted lenses that are designed to filter out the LED blue light.
For some, wearing geeky glasses is not enough. Soft Lights Foundation advocates for regulations on LED lights, with an emphasis on protecting potential health harms such as migraines, seizures, and neurological issues.
Even if you have a modern car, the oncoming headlights are getting too bright. It’s a battle of LED lights.
Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) headlights seems like the answer, and were approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2022 in the U.S. (The EU approved them in 2006.) This AI technology uses sensors and cameras to adjust the shape and brightness of the headlight, improving road safety and comfort.
For certain cars manufactured since 2022, the ADB option is there. But what about my 18-year-old car? That’s where I need to adapt as well and buy a new vehicle.
My car’s high beams vs. new car standard beams are like 2010 AI vs. ChatGPT — one tries its best but struggles in the dark, the other sees everything, maybe a little too well.
As writers, we live in our imaginations, carefully crafting every detail of our story’s world and the people who inhabit it. But translating these vivid visions into something readers can immediately see is often a challenge—especially in the visually driven culture of Instagram. This is where DALL-E, a cutting-edge AI image generator, can be a game-changer.
Whether you’re introducing readers to the eerie vibe of a dystopian cityscape, the warmth of a quaint small-town diner, or the complex personalities of your characters, DALL-E empowers you to create images that capture the essence of your story. Let’s explore how this tool can be an asset, particularly for creating Instagram carousel posts that draw readers into your novel’s world.
Step 1: Fine-Tuning the Vision for Your Setting
Your story’s setting is more than just a backdrop—it’s a character in itself. To use DALL-E effectively, start by defining what makes your setting unique. For example:
Is it hauntingly dystopian, with crumbling skyscrapers and neon lights flickering in the mist?
Does it evoke the idyllic warmth of a sleepy winter town, with snow-laden rooftops and strings of lights twinkling in every window?
By being specific about the atmosphere, era, and details, you can guide DALL-E to generate images that align closely with your vision. Imagine a carousel post starting with a wide shot of your novel’s world, followed by close-ups of key locations where the story unfolds. Each image can be accompanied by a caption that teases a plot element or describes the mood.
Step 2: Breathing Life into Your Characters
DALL-E can help you visualize characters with stunning precision. Here’s how to bring them to life:
Start with Personality Traits: Is your protagonist a brooding antihero with a shadowed face and piercing eyes? Or a quirky, vibrant artist whose colorful attire matches their exuberance?
Define Physical Features: Input key traits like hair color, build, clothing style, and expressions. For example, Garvey from Blizzard 96 could be visualized as a scruffy college senior in a thrift-store jacket, his eyes reflecting both determination and uncertainty.
Emphasize Themes: If your novel’s themes are dark and suspenseful, use moody lighting and shadowy backdrops to amplify the tone.
The beauty of Instagram carousels is their ability to showcase multiple facets of a character. You can use one image for their exterior appearance, another for their inner struggles, and perhaps a third for a moment of transformation in the story.
Step 3: Captivating Your Audience with Subtitles and Captions
Pairing your visuals with compelling text is key to engaging readers. Use subtitles to frame each slide:
“A Blizzard’s Grip: The Hotel That Holds Them Hostage”
“Garvey: The Reluctant Leader”
“The Cop Who Brings the Storm Inside”
Each subtitle can hook the audience into the story while keeping the carousel cohesive. Use captions to deepen their understanding of the narrative, describing what’s happening or sharing a snippet of dialogue.
Step 4: Building Anticipation and Community
By sharing these images and insights into your creative process, you’re not just promoting your book—you’re inviting readers into your world. You can even encourage fan interaction:
Ask them to guess plot twists based on the images.
Hold polls to decide between alternative visuals.
Share behind-the-scenes commentary on how the images came to life.
Why DALL-E and Instagram are the Perfect Pair
Instagram thrives on stunning visuals, and DALL-E allows you to deliver exactly that. Each image is a reflection of your creative intent, designed to spark curiosity and emotional connection. By combining this technology with Instagram’s carousel format, you can craft a multi-layered, immersive introduction to your novel that lingers in readers’ minds.
With Blizzard 96, I’ve used these tools to capture the stark beauty of a snow-buried hotel, the contrasting personalities of Garvey and Wyatt, and the sinister undercurrents of the blizzard-stricken town. Every post becomes a piece of the puzzle, urging readers to dive into the story and discover how it all fits together.
So, if you’re an author looking to bring your story’s visuals to life, give DALL-E a try and see how it transforms your marketing—and your connection with future readers.
What scenes or characters would you want to bring to life for your own story?
Here is an example of imagery created in DALL-E, utilizing the Dystopian prompt:
Never a big drinker, I enjoy ales socially and love supporting local breweries. The buzz after three 6.5% IPA draughts at a bar with friends is a golden moment peak. It’s been a mainstay session.
“Strong Beer / Strong Coffee” lived in my Instagram profile for years. Seasonal beers were irresistible unicorns to behold. Trips to Big Top Beverage led to lengthy stays in the aisles, examining the elaborate case and label designs. Liquor and wine meant nothing to me.
Beer was a social pillar for me since I first cracked open my first Milwaukee’s “Beast” in college. Recently, I wanted to explore what a long period of time would feel like, for my mind and body, with zero booze. I went on and off for a couple years. The longest I went without a sip was 6 months. Big whoop, I know. Here’s some observations:
Better Sleep
Sleep become more even-keeled, deeper, and uninterrupted. Even just 6 hours of sleeps did the trick.
When drunk, the reduced REM sleep and deep sleeps are unattainable. I’d often wake up at 3am and have to watch TV to fall back asleep, or just stare at the ceiling for hours. And then the next day, hungover, I’d be exhausted.
Tightened Stomach?
This was just a bonus, but belly fat reduced rather quickly. What changed? Well, with even a modest buzz, I’d engage in a midnight 4th meal of the day and then feel that I deserved a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich from a heated lamp at Wawa the next day, just to take the edge of. Without this intake, and without the calories of double-IPAs, weight loss just happened.
Fitness Focused
I don’t go to a gym. Swaying free weights in the basement, doing planks and yoga in the family room, and biking around town are enough for me. But while drinking, the next day created those “off” sensations where you couldn’t do anything but watch streaming shows under a blanket. Without the booze, my fitness routine was always welcoming, unhindered.
Work Day Focus
Whether working from home or in the office, the focus throughout the day became better maintained. Any “brain fog” or dire 3pm crashes were no longer there. With sleep quality strengthened, work day attentiveness didn’t drag.
Money Savings
Cases of locally crafted IPAs are expensive. This was a monthly budget line item that I could remove. Whatever your liquor or beer choices are, you’ll save money without having to restock your supply. You’ll also never have to use Uber or Lyft and deal with having to retrieve your car from a vacant parking lot the following day.
Hobbies Accomplished
More attuned all day, I had more dedicated time for hobbies and projects that I was working on around the house. The passions in my life outside of marketing became easily reached and more was accomplished.
Energy & Emotions
The days-long hangover malaise and alcohol-induced mood disruption were not missed. They weren’t there to destroy my energy or alter my emotions. Having Gilbert Syndrome, my hangovers were often devastating.
If you Google the benefits that your organs experience from abstaining from alcohol, it’s nothing but good news. For brain health alone, decisions making is improved, anxiety is reduced, mood swings are lessened, cognitive function is improved. These all felt achieved. But are the enzymes level of my liver increased? No idea.
Face Time
The typical old man bags under my eyes are never going away, but the extended bags, combined with bloodshot blue eyes, were never present. My skin seemed to look a bit healthier as well, but maybe it’s just that gifted shea butter I received? Not sure.
Bar Scene
My initial concern was that I’d be given a hard time for being a teetotaler sipping on a virgin Moscow Mule. But, out and about, nobody cared. Most didn’t even ask what I was drinking. Whether I was out watching the Phillies, at an industry conference, or at my own 50th birthday party, nobody was concerned at what I was drinking or what level of drunkenness I was at. It’s all about being present and having fun together, which leads me to…
Necessary Good Times Elixir?
With so many “crazy nights” tagged over the years, I wondered if alcohol was a necessary component of socializing in a boisterous, crowded bar. Did I need it to be witty and fun? Absolutely not. And I never have issues talking with strangers filter-free, so that 7.8% ABV lubricant isn’t needed. I didn’t require 2 drinks just to calm down or loosen up.
NA Options
I’ve never dabbled with non-alcoholic beers aside from Heineken 0.0 and O’Doul’s Premium, both of which taste awful to me. Athletic Brewing Company, from Connecticut, which you’ll find in big box stores and more often at bars, has two IPAs that actually taste great. I realized that I missed the aromatic smattering of hops such as Citra, Simcoe and Chinook, and these beers allowed me to enjoy the taste and fragrance. My favorite NA beers are from Illinois-based Go Brewing, which boast bold, unique can design.
Local to the Philly area, there is a store in Ardmore, PA called Wallace Dry Goods that holds NA events, such as zero-proof cocktail workshops. They also sell glassware and gift sets, along with NA spirits, beer, cider and wine. This Hosting Essentials mix six-pack lets you try six different brands.
Shame Free
The awful shame of being hungover around my kids no longer existed. And the late night act of coffee and a cake based dessert at a restaurant to help “sober up”, in the hopes of driving home safely, was obviously no longer there either.
Go Brewing makes delicious beers, from IPAs, pilsners, sours, porters, gluten free beers and more.
