News

CNN introduces studio to make news-like content for advertisers -- Cable news giant CNN has launched an in-house study to produce content that mirrors CNN news reports on behalf of advertisers. Other publishers have gone down this path -- notably BuzzFeed, Atlantic, and The New York Times -- but this is the first cable news operation to make the leap. The unit, named Courageous, will create and distribute native ads across CNN's various properties, including its cable news operations and its website. Read more

What HuffPo did for blogging it wants to do for video -- The Huffington Post expects half of its content will be video within the next year thanks to a new network of video creators. HuffPo has inked a deal with BroadbandTV -- a digital video network -- to create a network of citizen video journalists. Dubbed Outspeak, the network will let people who join crate and upload their own news videos, which will be distributed on the Posts' site and YouTube. The notion of citizen journalism exploded with HuffPo's blogger program, and founder/editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington plans to invest $1 million in Outspeak in hopes it will have the same effect. Read more

Mobile and Wearables

A tough road ahead for Meerkat and Periscope -- Only 21% of respondents to a poll said they had used or were even interested in using the live mobile video streaming apps Meerkat or Periscope. The younger the respondents the more interest they showed, with half of millennials saying they'd use the apps, dipping to 7% for those 65 or older. Only 9% of Internet users had heard of Meerkat and 6% were aware of Periscope. Considering Meerkat, the older of the apps, has been around since only February, neither should be too worried. Read more

Social sharing buttons on mobile pages don't deliver -- You know those social sharing buttons on your website? The ones that let people share your page to Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere? When users see them on their mobile devices, they don't use them. (Or maybe they just don't see them.) In any case, a study found only 0.2% of users on mobile devices ever click those buttons (or, viewed another way, 99.8% don't share via those buttons). When they do share, they share via Facebook three times more than they do through Twitter. Users are 115 times more likely to tap an advertisement (you know, the ones Apple and British mobile carriers want to block) than tap a social sharing button. On desktops, the buttons do a better job, with users 35% more likely to click one than mobile users. Read more

Trends

Dallas Cowboys training will go virtual -- The NFL franchise Dallas Cowboys have dedicated a room in their training facility to virtual reality. Players will use an Oculus rift or other headset to watch scrimmages recorded by 360-degree cameras installed on players' helmets. One coach said the VR "allows you to get a little closer (to the action) so you can coach better." One can only wonder how long it will be before similar VR implementations find their way into workplace training. Read more

YouTube viewers abandon stars for newer stars -- Michelle Phan was an early YouTube star, building a beauty empire that includes her own makeup brand, a beauty products sample subscription service, and other properties. But her audience is drifting away, with newer beauty bloggers earning twice the views Phan has been getting. They're fickle, those YouTube fans, and brands should respond by avoiding getting too entrenched with a single star. Read more

Real-time marketing isn't easy -- Every brand, it seems, wants to engage in real-time, latching onto breaking news in order to leverage interest in the story to its own advantage. Among 200 top-level marketers, though, only 4% are set up to respond within a minute. Eight percent can do it within 5-8 hours, 13% with 1-4 hours, 22% within 31-59 minutes, 25% in 1-15 minutes, and 26% in 16-30 minutes. Forty percent aren't even trying. Read more

Research

Journalists don't trust PR -- And they have good reason, if the data are correct. Ninety percent of journalists responding to a survey from video communications firm DS Simon Productions said they have been misled by PR practitioners; 25% said it happens all the time. The biggest problem appears to be PR's failure to include proper disclosure in the content they pitch. Read more

Survey says: Social media is intrusive and can't be measured -- Company use of social media can be seen as disruptive according to 55% of senior marketing executives and 52% of consumers, according to a survey commissioned by Marketing Executives networking Group. But wait, there's more. Senior marketing executives also believe the data generated by social media activity isn't actionable; 39% say the data from social media isn't useful to them. One exec says it's still difficult to integrate social media into an communications ecosystem and measure it as part of the whole, not just within its own silo. Read more

Tools and Resources

My Album enables visual stories packed with data -- My Album is a web app that lets you create visual stories from photos and videos that weave in data and original design. Upload your photos and videos and the app's algorithm will pick the best ones. Next, "enrich" the collection with text, maps, the weather at the time you took the picture, tourist information, and more from among the tools built into the app. The stories created in My Album are designed for sharing with a smaller, defined audience. Read more

Have your mind blown by Google's Project Soli -- It's only in the research phase right now, but early demos of Google's Project Soli are stunning. The idea is to interact with a sensor using radar technology that tracks your movement. With your fingers near a device (a smartwatch, for example, or a Bluetooth speaker) to scroll through menus or adjust volume. You have to see the short videos to believe what Google has in store for us. Read more

This week on the FIR Podcast Network

• All Things IC host Rachel Miller joined me for episode 811 of The Hobson & Holtz Report (while Neville enjoys his month-long sabbatical). We talked about the state of internal communications, as well as the future of the manel (that's an all-male conference panel), results from Social Media Examiner's 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, the BBC's inadvertent tweet about Queen Elizabeth's health, JPMorgan's decision to do away with voicemail, reputations at risk following an amusement park roller coaster crash, and the FTC's new native advertising focus. Dan York reports, as well. Listen
• On FIR B2B #28, Paul Gillin and Eric Schwartzman talk about the role of data in marketing, and interview Mike moran, an IBM Distinguished Engineer who is also a content marketer. Listen
• Host Mitchell Levy and guest co-host Martin Jones talk with Steven Aldrich about tools and tips for small businesses. Listen
• Digital India debuts on the FIR Podcast network, with host Suresh Babu and his faculty and students discussing a Nestle PR disaster, content generation, and start-ups in India. Listen
• Mitchell Levy and Cox Communications' Martin Jones wrap up Martin's month-long co-hosting gig on Thought Leader Life with a discussion about small business marketing. Listen
• Robert Phillips believes PR is dead. He says as much in the title of his new book, Trust Me, PR is Dead. I don't think so, and explain why in this FIR Book Review. Listen
• On episode 411 of Inside PR, Gini, Joe and Martin discuss what happens we we try to communiate with people in distinctively different cultures. Listen

• I'm speaking twice at the IABC World Conference in San Francisco in June. (Information and registration are here)
• I'll present at the Intranet Global Forum in Los Angeles early next month. Details
• I'm presenting a half-day workshop on strategic social and digital media for Owens Corning in Chicago next month.
• In June, I make my annual trek to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for three days of instruction for senior communicators, part of the ABERJE/Syracuse Univesity certificate course in executive communications.
• Also in June, I'll deliver another precon at another Ragan Visual Communications Summit, this time in Denver.
• In July, Ann Wylie and I co-present our writing workshop for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.
• On August 6 (my birthday), I'm presenting a pre-conference session in Chicago at Ragan Communications' Visual Communications Summit.
• In September, I travel to the U.K. to teach a two-day social/digital media workshop for the International School of Communication.
• I'm delivering the opening keynote at a joint session of CorpComm Expo and EduComm Expo in Atlanta in early October.
• In October, I'll speak to the Association of Public Relations Professionals of Puerto Rico at their conference in San Juan.

It's not too late to join veteran communicators this Sunday as they share insights at IABC's Circles of Wisdom

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