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Plus: 🥶 Arctic freeze, incoming! It’s Tuesday, Boston. 📚🍂 Need a new addition to your TBR? Look no further than Boston.com’s new cozy books quiz that’ll match you with the perfect * read. And yes, there IS a “Gilmore Girls”-style fall romance. 👀What’s on tap today: Arctic freeze, incoming! A new City Council president? The sweetest advent calendar Up first… CULTURE Out: IG. In: Strava. Image: Camille MacMillin for the Boston Globe; Adobe stock. Illustration: Gia Orsino. Fed up with your FYP of IG baddies? Missing the social part of social media? You’re not alone. And lucky for you, there are plenty of options, according to a recent Globe story. Here’s what to know: 📲 Social media apps for niche hobbies are having a moment. Think: Strava for running, Letterboxd for movies, and Beli for restaurants, cafes, and bars. While Strava and Letterboxd have been around for over a decade, their user base has grown sharply in recent years. Data from the analytics firm Sensor Tower show at least a 50% (!) jump in usage for Strava, Letterboxd, Beli, and book-focused StoryGraph since the start of last year. 📕 People often treat these apps like a diary … that everyone can see. Whether that’s keeping track of the movies they’re watching or the restaurants they’re visiting. But there’s also a social element that’s become much more appealing as larger social platforms like Facebook, X, and Instagram have increasingly become less social. 🏃 That was the case for 23-year-old Rita Alan. She first used Strava as a personal log during marathon training. But when a follow request from her college crush popped up on her phone (tea!), she discovered the social side of the app. While there’s no love story to report, she did stick with Strava, which helped her “dive head first into not only the Boston running community, but the Boston community as a whole,” Alan said. 🍽️ A big part of the appeal? The focus on one topic. In Beli’s case, that’s trying new restaurants and reviewing them on the app. 21-year-old Aayushi Patel said that posting on Beli feels so much more authentic than using Instagram, where posting can often feel “performative.” “I can just openly be myself on [Beli] compared to Instagram, where there’s such a broad audience,” Patel said. 📚 Plus, they’re not designed to keep you doomscrolling. What a concept! They require people to go read a book, go for a run, or watch a movie, and then bring those experiences back online — things that can actually spark real-world conversations and bring people together. “You’re not just on there because you want to be an influencer,” 33-year-old Chen Cao told the Globe, “you actually just truly want to be like a curator of experiences or show your progress.” TOGETHER WITH SNOWBOUND EXPO Get winter-ready in just three days ❄️ 🏂 Consider this your annual reminder that ski season doesn’t start on the mountain — it starts at Snowbound Expo (Nov. 14–16). With 250+ gear brands, speaker sessions with guests like Zeb Powell and Amie Engerbretson, and demos that make you think “yeah, I could land that,” it’s the hype-builder you need before snow hits. Three-day passes are usually $32 — but you can get them for just $5 now with code BSIDE5 (but hurry! This offer only lasts 24 hours). Start gearing up now! CITY Quick & dirty headlines Image: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe 🥶 Heads up: Winter is coming … like … today. If you haven’t turned your heat on yet, this week might be the time because a blast of Arctic air is set to knock Boston’s temperatures into the 20s and 30s. Tuesday will likely be the worst of it, with the wind chill driving morning wind chills into the teens, 30 to 40 mph winds in the afternoon, and, yes, even the possibility of some flurries (!). While things should get a little warmer after Tuesday, don’t put away your winter coat just yet — temps likely won’t crack 50 for several days. Keep up with the latest here. 🗳️ Boston’s new City Council prez is (probably) Gabriela Coletta Zapata. Though the official vote isn’t until January, Zapata (who reps the North End, Charlestown, and Eastie) *says* she’s secured enough votes from her fellow councilors to succeed Ruthzee Louijeune. But not everyone is happy about it. Councilors traditionally negotiate who gets the top spot behind closed doors, but this year, at-large councilor Julia Mejia took the unusual step of campaigning on social media, where she called out the council for its non-democratic process. Tea! 🎁 Bostonians are bracing for holiday sticker shock. That’s according to a new survey by Deloitte, which shows that Boston shoppers are planning to slightly pull back on holiday spending due to economic uncertainty and rising prices. The firm predicts the average Bostonian will spend $1,893 this holiday season, down 3% from last year. But one thing Bostonians are willing to pay for: Experiential gifts like gift cards, event tickets, or activities, which are up 14% YOY (must’ve surveyed some B-Siders). Dive into all the data here. 👎 Mass.’ economy basically failed the vibe check. Translation: 55% of Mass. residents would rate the state’s economy as “fair” or “poor,” and 58% see their own financial status that way, per a new UMass/WCVB poll. Similarly, for the first time since 2020, a plurality of Mass. residents (43%) say the state is on the “wrong track.” These grim numbers could = bad news for the state’s Democratic incumbents in 2026 (if Republicans play their cards right), but ultimately, it’ll come down to whether voters blame the feds or their local officials, experts say. This Veterans Day, a local tradition gives back. You may know Globe Santa as the Globe Foundation program that makes the holidays brighter for kids, but did you know Globe Santa is also helping local veterans and their families? We can’t recommend the stories enough — very moving, and very Boston. Take a minute to read how this longtime Globe tradition is stepping up for those who’ve served in our armed forces. ONE LAST THING The sweetest advent calendar Illustration: Gia Orsino BREAKING: The Gracie’s Ice Cream advent calendar is BACK. And yes, it’s as amazing as it sounds. Last year, the Somerville ice cream shop (famous for its toasted fluff cones and wacky flavors) dropped an ice cream advent calendar to celebrate its 10th b-day, complete with 24 scoops of different flavors, little envelopes with a daily task meant to spark joy and gratitude, plus a few surprises. Long story short, it was wildly successful, so this year, they’re running it back. “I love community and creativity and the idea of a good amount of people all doing the same thing on the same day because they paid an ice cream shop to give them the idea,” they wrote. Grab one here! — Written by Gia Orsino, Emily Schario, and Aidan Ryan 🍦 Thanks for reading! *Adds to cart* 💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Snowbound Expo, for supporting local journalism and already getting us hyped for winter.
