Christian Rawson

I’m at my best building teams, developing smart strategies, and seeing great ideas through from concept to results. My background in SEO, social media, and broadcast helps me create brands and campaigns that actually connect. I’ve partnered with startups, regional powerhouses, and global brands to help them find their voice—and amplify it in meaningful ways.







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BookCon 2026: 'Heat Rivalry' author Rachel Reid on navigating the internet and maintaining normalcy

On April 12, I attended the PWHL game at TD Garden in Boston between the Boston Fleet and the Montreal Victoire. The Heated Rivalry effect was inescapable. It was an opportunity for hockey fans to turn out their favorite merch — someone in my row excitedly ran toward the crowd cameras to show off her 'I'm coming to the cottage' T-shirt. Heated Rivalry actor Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova was in the crowd, and the cheers that ensued when she appeared on the screen made you think one of the teams had s...
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Spotify reveals most-streamed artists, songs, and albums of past 20 years

To celebrate 20 years of streaming, Spotify just released lists of the most-streamed artists, albums, songs, podcasts, and audiobooks on the app. Popular artists, rappers, and bands like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, and Coldplay appear repeatedly on the "Spotify at 20" lists, with Swift nabbing the title of most-streamed Spotify artist of all time.

In a blog post, Spotify said it was the first time they had ever revealed the all-time top performers on the platform.

While the top artists are mostly...
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What it's like to attend BookCon: Where fandom can shine and the lines are long

Walking through BookCon was a sort of literary haven. As I approached the exhibition floor, a string ensemble filled the Javits Center as if we'd been dropped into an episode of Bridgerton. The show floor was packed with exhibits from the big five to indie publishers, as attendees hoped to get their hands on a sought-after advanced copy. Before the event even began, as I approached the convention center nearly two hours before its start, the line stretched around several city blocks.

Yet on the...
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BookCon 2026: Veronica Roth on how her new romantic dystopian fantasy led her back to 'Divergent'

On Jan. 13, 2026, Veronica Roth published a newsletter entitled "Do I Like It? Reflecting on Divergent After 15 Years," in which she addresses just how she feels about her bestselling Divergent series. Despite selling over 32 million copies worldwide and launching a series of film adaptations, the negative reception often rings loudest. The series ending is divisive among fans, and as Roth aptly says on Substack, "Your brain is good at keeping you safe by storing negative experiences."

And desp...
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BookCon 2026: Andy Weir and Emily St. John Mandel talk maintaining the spirit of a page to screen adaptation

For book fans, book-to-screen adaptations can be a sore subject of changed endings and miscastings. But authors aren't as precious about them. In the final panel of BookCon 2026, authors Andy Weir (Project Hail Mary, The Martian), Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven), May Cobb (The Hunting Wives), and Robinne Lee (The Idea of You) were joined by moderator Jason Blitman (host and producer of the Gays Reading podcast) to discuss the the joys and limitations of bringing a book to the screen.

Cut...
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BookCon 2026: 'Heated Rivalry' author Rachel Reid and show creator Jacob Tierney are in conversation for the first time

The first panel at BookCon drew lines of fans an hour before its start. Fans have shown up in style. I spotted dozens of iterations of t-shirts with the faces of actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storie plastered on them. Boston Raiders, Montreal Metros, and New York Admirals jerseys are in abundance, too. 3,000 fans are here, waiting to see Rachel Reid and Jacob Tierney in conversation for the first time.

But while this may be the first public conversation between the Heated Rivalry author and...
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Starbucks partners with ChatGPT, allowing AI to suggest drinks and arrange orders

Starbucks is fully embracing AI, launching a beta app in ChatGPT this week that lets a chatbot choose your latte or refresher.

Users on ChatGPT can access the app by starting a prompt with "@Starbucks." They can then describe the mood they're in or want to be in — energetic, cozy, etc. — or simply ask the AI to pick something that matches their tastes, like non-dairy drinks or less caffeinated beverages.

In the announcement on Starbucks' website, the coffee chain also suggested users upload a...
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What to expect at BookCon 2026: The convention is back after 6 years

For the first time in six years, BookCon is back. Celebrating the book industry and its fans, BookCon returns to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on April 18 and 19. The two-day convention is jam-packed with panels, author signings, and a robust show floor, and Mashable will be on the ground at the event, covering every must-see moment.

The event follows a big year for books. Heated Rivalry, based on Rachel Reid's bestselling series, has everyone headed to the cottage, and the movie adapta...
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I used AI to role play 'The Great Gatsby' fan fiction

"Don't read books. Play them," says AI-powered role play platform Character.AI in a promo for its latest simulation feature: Books.

If you were as alarmed as I was at that first line (we are in a literacy crisis!), let me explain. The new feature feeds public domain titles — classics like The Great Gatsby, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Pride & Prejudice, and Frankenstein — into the platform's AI so that users can play as characters within the stories themselves. Users can "remix" the tales,...
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Character.AI 'Books' lets users role-play classic novels

The artificial intelligence entertainment platform Character.AI introduced on Thursday a feature allowing users to role-play in more than 20 classic books, including Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby.

"Books" lets Character.AI users engage in open-ended chats based on these and other famous titles in the public domain. Users can participate as a character from the book or as the "character" they've created on the platform.

Users can either follow the book's ori...
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BookTok is not happy about Patrick Schwarzenegger's 'Beach Read' casting

TikTok is in mourning over Gus Everett.

After news broke that Patrick Schwarzenegger had been cast opposite Phoebe Dynevor in the film adaptation of Emily Henry's Beach Read, readers immediately flooded TikTok with reactions ranging from confusion to outright despair. "#NotMyGus" became a common refrain on the app. Others seemed certain that the adaptation had already been ruined before filming even started.

Their main argument? The vibes are off. Sure, Schwarzenegger doesn't look like the lit...
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Did Lena Dunham just confirm the internet's Lorde/Jack Antonoff conspiracy?

I can't quite figure out what year we are living in.

Let me more clear. I can't pin down what year the chronically online are living in. We are in an unprecedented time of tech advancement, what with artificial intelligence taking over our lives and astronauts literally going back to the moon. But everywhere I turn, I see remnants of the past: People are yearning for 2010s hipster aesthetics. Avatar: The Last Airbender fan cams are all over my FYP. Celebrities are skeletally thin again, and thi...
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Creator Gigi Bello on the simple gear setup she relies on for capturing content

In 2025, content creator Gigi Bello (@okaycoolgigi) took her audience on a journey. She was determined to fix the “landlord special” — a peephole on the door of her New York City apartment that had long been painted shut. The video (and its subsequent follow-ups) went viral, landing the 28-year-old CPA a feature in People and a slew of new followers.

“Content creation kind of happened by accident after a few videos went viral, but I fell in love with it,” Bello says.

Bello's account has otherw...
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Parents are turning their teens' texts into AI emo songs

Parents have long turned to social media to unload about the tiny indignities of raising teenagers. The difference now is that they can feed those texts into AI and turn them into pop-punk songs that sound like they were ripped from a 2007 Warped Tour compilation.

Across TikTok and Instagram, parents are using AI music tools like Suno to transform everyday texts from their kids into emo anthems. (Whether all of these creators are actually parents of teenagers is another question.) One moment, i...
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AI bots are coming for us! The story behind the New Yorker's scary new cover

The cover of the Future Issue of The New Yorker, dated April 13, 2026, depicts terrifying days ahead.

Created by artist Christoph Niemann, "New Horizon" features a red sky and giant AI bots menacing a clueless human; the bots' eyes pointedly match the bloody-hued background. New Yorker covers can certainly get dark, but "New Horizon" looks like a horror-movie poster, symbolizing the prevailing view among creators about the advent of artificial intelligence.

We asked Niemann, a celebrated artis...
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Justin Bieber's Coachella set was deeply online in the best way

Justin Bieber did not spend his Coachella headlining set pretending the past was behind him. Instead, he opened a laptop, pulled up YouTube, and sang directly to it.

Midway through his 90-minute set on Saturday, the Day Two headliner began streaming old clips of himself performing snippets of songs like "Baby," "Favorite Girl," "Never Say Never," and "Beauty and a Beat," duetting with the floppy-haired, younger version of himself that first made him famous. "I feel like we gotta take you guys o...
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What is the viral Needoh toy, and why is it out of stock everywhere?

NeeDoh toys first came to my attention in 2024 when my wife, a teacher, was stocking their classroom with fidget toys to keep high schoolers focused and off their phones. We bought a couple of NeeDoh Nice Cubes for our house too, which quickly became coveted fidgets among our friends for their pleasing, pliable feel. So imagine my surprise when the fidget toy that's been a mainstay on our coffee table for two years has suddenly gone viral, causing chaos among children and parents across the coun...
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Musician Leith Ross is taking a year without screens

Between "friction-maxxing" and the discussions regarding "social media addiction," it's safe to say that we're ambivalent about our lives online. We'd love to "touch grass," yet the bright colors of Instagram Reels lure us into remaining on our phones.

Some people, though, are making concerted efforts to decrease their screentime. But musician Leith Ross is taking it a step further: They're not looking at screens for a full year.

Not literally — they will go see a movie in the theater or borro...
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BTS' 'Hot Ones' episode included milk, screaming, and a 'Digimon' singalong

Some things can feel so specific, so perfectly engineered in a lab to appeal directly to me. Today, that thing is the members of BTS singing "Butter-Fly" by Kōji Wada, the iconic opening theme to Digimon Adventure, during an appearance on Hot Ones.

The members approached the hot wings challenge with wildly different strategies. V called it quits a few wings in — smart! — and spent the rest of the episode slamming pints of milk. Jin attempted to expel the chili demons from his body through a ser...
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Kindle owners are furious over Amazon's plan to end support for older devices

Amazon is facing backlash from Kindle owners after notifying users this week that support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier will end on May 20.

The email sparked immediate panic online, with many readers initially fearing their beloved e-readers were about to stop working entirely — and others expressing frustration that devices they have used for more than a decade are effectively being pushed toward obsolescence.

Much of the frustration seems less about the devices themselves an...
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Help us choose the Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators here

At Mashable, we spend a ridiculous amount of time scrolling through social media — and we know you do the same.

You might say we're a bit obsessed.

In 2025, we were excited to launch The Mashable 101, our essential guide to the creators who made the internet interesting that year.

Well we’re doing it all again in 2026, except this time, we’re inviting you to nominate the content creators you think should be on our list.

We're looking for the digital voices carving out a niche for themselves...
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Remi Cruz Parsons has been online for over a decade. Here's what she's learned.

Remi Cruz Parsons has spent more than a decade inviting viewers into her life. What began with room makeovers and lifestyle vlogs has evolved into a deeply loyal audience of millions that has followed her through every era, from YouTube uploads filmed in her parents' house to podcasts, live tours, and now, her first cookbook.

With her new cookbook, Let's Get Cooking: Everyday Meals, Tipsy Favorites and Comfort Food Cravings, the 31-year-old creator is bringing one of the most beloved parts of h...
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Jimmy Kimmel mocks Trump griping about Biden to children at Easter Egg Roll

Jimmy Kimmel has returned from a one-week break, diving straight back into our ongoing hellscape by addressing President Donald Trump's behaviour during the Easter holiday. On Easter Sunday, Trump published a post on Truth Social threatening a large-scale attack on Iran's power plants and bridges this Tuesday. He subsequently followed it up with a post that simply read, "Tuesday, 8 P.M. Eastern Time!"

"He's the only president who teases a bombing the same way ABC promotes new episodes of Will T...
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