2025 Retrospective
22 Dec 2025 » Opinion
Another year comes to a close. Today is my first day of PTO, so I am still not fully feeling it. I have woken up at the usual time because I have a lot to do in the coming days before I go on a trip. However, it is the perfect moment of the year to reflect and look back.
Life
I think that most of us can agree that the political situation all around the world has seen better days. Most big and influential countries have had their fair share of drama. I have lived in three countries and all three have major issues. While it would be great if I could ignore all those problems, it is impossible, at least for me. I guess I worry too much about what would happen if things go really wrong.
My work at Adobe is going well. Looking back into this year that is ending makes me realize how much I have learned. I feel more and more confident in my role as a manager (part-time), and I like working with my customers, with whom I have a very good working relationship. I still go to the office three days a week, which gives me the opportunity to meet my coworkers.
The most significant change that I have noticed is the continuous disruption caused by AI. I can see how knowing the technology behind AI can have an impact. In fact, I recommend that you learn AI as deeply as you can. I have understood neural networks for many years, but the AI tools we have today go way beyond neural networks. Being an expert in prompt engineering will help you with your day-to-day, but if you want to be more employable you need to understand how LLMs work.
I have some vague knowledge and, to catch up a bit with this technology, I have just purchased a new computer with a powerful enough processor and lots of RAM, so I can play with Ollama and other related tools. I do not think I can ride the AI wave, but at least I will be able to take more advantage of it.
For us working at Adobe, not only do we need to know how to use conversational AI tools, but also know how our own AI tools work: Firefly, AI Assistant for Acrobat Studio, or Adobe Brand Concierge. I have seen parts of the architecture behind the latter and it is anything but simple.
Blog
I always want to talk about my blog, as it is an important part of my life. I usually publish every two weeks. It is a lot of effort. For context, a standard post takes around four hours. If I want to make it more complex, with code examples or steps in the UI, it will take even longer. I wish I had more time to write more often.
Metrics
Let me share a few metrics with you:
I was expecting this drop in numbers, so I am not concerned:
- Most of 2025 was flat, except for something weird around October. This means a steady flow of visits, which is what I would expect.
- The metrics in 2024 showed an increase in traffic that did not make sense.
- We should all expect decreases in organic traffic, as AI becomes more prevalent. My customers have already noticed it.
Countries
The top 5 countries are the same as last year:
- Singapore: 31.3%
- United States: 26.7%
- India: 14.7%
- United Kingdom: 3.4%
- Canada: 3.2%
Surprisingly, Singapore is still at the top. I assume that many people are using a VPN that exits through this country, otherwise I cannot believe that such a small country brings more traffic than the U.S. Where could these visitors come from? China?
Traffic Sources
To me, this is the most interesting report to evaluate in 2025. As I said above, AI is replacing search engines at a slow but steady pace. I can already see it in the traffic sources report:
- Search Engines: 45.9%
- Types/Bookmarked: 40.5%
- Social Networks: 9.4%
- Other Websites: 4.0%
- Conversational AI: 0.3%
These are the OOTB Adobe Analytics classifications and it is important that you understand them:
- Adobe only added “Conversational AI” in the last few months.
- Before adding “Conversational AI”, those tools showed up under “Other Websites”.
- Search engines often show an AI-generated response to your query; if you click on it, the referrer will still be classified as “Search Engine”.
The good news is that conversational AI tools believe that my blog is a reliable source of information.
Looking into 2026
I hope that the new year comes with more positive news. As I said above, I am not very happy with how 2025 has behaved.
For this blog, I will start posting more about AI in relation to Adobe technologies. I need to learn more and, as I do, I will share my knowledge with you. That being said, I want to mention that, in my humble opinion, there has been too much hype around AI, and I am not the only one thinking along these lines.
Happy 2026!
Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash