HC+T Update

A Short Vacation

2018-09-10T14:46:07Z

Dear Reader:

I hope you're enjoying my newsletter in its new (mostly) daily format. (In case you didn't get the word, you can subscribe to this new email newsletter at https://nuzzel.com/shelholtz.)

I did want to let you know that the absence of a newsletter over the next few days only means that I'm heading off on a real, bona fide vacation (although weather reports suggest we'll spend the first couple days in a tropical storm rather than enjoying a tropical paradise!).

The newsletter will return on Monday, September 17.

Shel Holtz
http://blog.holtz.com

HC+T Update: The New Way to Get This Newsletter

2018-06-22T08:50:29Z

June 22, 2018
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A Special Announcement: My Newsletter is Back...and It's (Pretty Much) Daily

The last time I sent out an HC+T Update was in January. More than six months ago.

It also took me nearly that long to write one single blog post.

Full-time jobs will do that to you.

As many Update readers know, since late October last year I have been director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a San Francisco-based commercial contractor. After 21 years on my own, I was ready for a change. I was more than ready. I was jonesing for a change. After eight months, I have decided it was the right change. The culture here is great, the people are wonderful, the industry is fascinating, and the leaders want what I can bring to the company and are receptive to my plans.

With far less flexibility in my schedule, I had hoped to keep the Update going, along with my blogging and podcasting. The podcast is the only one of those three activities I've managed to maintain. I feel bad about that. I just haven't known what to do about it. It took about six hours each week to produce the Update, six hours I just no longer have.

But I have found a solution. I have to admit, I'm pretty chuffed about it.

Nuzzel's Newsletter Function

For a few months now, I have been reading a daily email newsletter from Francine Hardaway (a really smart serial entrepreneur and communication strategist (and an occasional guest on my podcast). Like my newsletter, her bulletin features summaries of articles she thinks will interest her readers along with her commentary. It goes out daily.

I was awed by Francine's effort and wondered how she manages to pull it off. Then I noticed the newsletter was distributed through Nuzzel. Nuzzel is a news aggregation app (like Flipboard) with a difference: Your primary feed is based on the links shared via social channels by your friends. A secondary feed features articles shared by your friends' friends.

You can also share your own links in the form of a newsletter. There's a field where you can add your commentary. Nuzzel distributes at noon every day to subscribers whatever you have posted in the last 24 hours.

Please Resubscribe!

I'm already saving links to my Tumblr blog as a repository from which I choose stories to cover on the podcast. Sharing stories to Nuzzel will take just a few extra seconds. And just like that, dear readers, I'm back in the game!

There is one task for you. You'll need to subscribe to the new email newsletter, which will come to you from Nuzzel, not from Holtz.com. Just go to the web version of the newsletter at nuzzel.com/shelholtz, choose to subscribe to the newsletter, and you'll be set.

I could have saved you the trouble by exporting the list of subscribers from my mail server and importing it to Nuzzel, but this is also a great opportunity to make sure I'm in compliance with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you are receiving this bulletin, it is because you subscribed -- I never opted anybody in who didn't ask to subscribe -- but because GDPR is a freakin' serious thing, I'm going to ask you to subscribe again.

I have been curating and commenting on content through the Nuzzel platform for a week or so. There may be days when I don't get around to sharing anything. There will undoubtedly be days when I share a lot and days when I share a little. I most likely won't share anything on weekends (or, who knows, maybe I will). However it goes, I hope it approximates (or even exceeds) the value you got out of the old HC+T Update.

Thank you for your support. I apologize for the six-month silence. I look forward to sharing with you again.

Have a great weekend!

Shel Holtz is director of Internal Communications at Webcor in San Francisco. For 21 years, he was principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. He has also held communication leadership positions in two Fortune 400 companies and spend five years working in the communication practices of two global human resources consulting firms. He blogs at blog.holtz.com.

HC+T Briefing: The Update That Wasn't

2018-01-26T21:07:52Z

Sorry, everyone. Between my regular job commitments and a time-consuming training course I'm participating in, I have not had time to assemble this week's Briefing. I plan to be back with the Briefing next Friday.

If you're interested in the repository of stories from which I would have drawn the briefing, please visit my link blog.

Have a great weekend (and be sure to tune in to my podcast, For Immediate Release, which will feature my monthly conversation with Neville Hobson; it will be available on Monday).

Regards,
Shel

HC+T Update: What Visa Sounds Like

2018-01-19T19:28:27Z

The stories I have chosen to include here are drawn from those I saved to my link blog, which you are welcome to follow.

News

TWiT is suing Twitter -- TWiT -- Leo Laporte's podcast network anchored by This Week in Tech -- has filed a lawsuit against Twitter alleging breach of contract and trademark infringement. Laporte says he and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams came to an agreement of Twitter's name based on the fact that Twitter would not venture into TWiT's market. (TWiT existed before Twitter.) But Twitter is now distributing content including video, which Laporte says is a violation of that agreement. Takeaway: Laporte seems to have a solid case and ample documentation, yet it's not likely Twitter will wind up changing its name. More likely: They'll pay Laporte to go away.Read more

The perfect ad to deal with Facebook's News Feed change -- Facebook was clear that the update to its News Feed would hit brands and publishers hard. BuzzFeed responded brilliantly, buying a paid ad on Facebook inviting users to download its own app. "Facebook is breaking up with news," the ad's graphic proclaimed. The text read, "Facebook is taking the news out of your News Feed, but we've got you covered. Download our award-winning app. No word on how many downloads the ad produced. Takeaway: Downloading the native app is the new version of drawing visits to your own website. The ad is great; getting users to regularly open the app will be another challenge altogether. Read more

Facebook, YouTube removing Tide pod challenge videos -- In what may be the stupidest trend ever, people are recording themselves ingesting Tide laundry pods. "Thanks to the #TidePodChallenge, a colossal flow of idiots have willingly ingested these toxic unedibles because someone on the internet passively dared everyone to do it." The trend has led to a surge in calls to poison control centers. Tide threw together a video of an NFL player Rob Gronkowski telling people not to eat the pods. Now, Facebook will remove videos that include the hashtag and YouTube will remove them because they violate policies. Takeaway: I have no words. Read more

CVS will stop airbrushing beauty shots -- The largest drugstore chain in America will stop "materially" retouching photos of models in ads used for its branded beauty products. The president of CVS Pharmacy explained, "The connection between the propagation of unrealistic body images and negative health effects, especially in girls and young women, has been established." Takeaway: This is a tangible example of a company taking action based on its values. There's a direct connection between the value, the action, and the nature of the company's business. Bravo. Read more

Slack introduces private shared channels -- You love Slack within your business but wouldn't it be great if you could use it to engage people in other companies with whom you're working? Such channels exist in Slack but a new update lets you set them to private. Takeaway: Slack aims to be the messaging app of choice for work and features like this make it ever more desirable. Read more

More group chat control coming to WhatsApp -- A feature WhatsApp is testing will let you "dismiss" members of a chat group, effectively demoting them from admin roles. Currently, you have to delete someone from a group altogether. The "dismiss as admin" feature comes as WhatsApp gives more control of chats to admins. Takeaway: Group chats could offer a viable real-time alternative to Facebook and LinkedIn groups for organizations. Read more

Also...

Google will punish site that load slowly on phones -- Google knows people care about how fast a page loads and doesn't want to present links on search result pages to sites that don't meet that criteria. As a result, pages that load slowly will be demoted in search results. Read more Twitter is rejecting claims that its employees monitor users' private data, including their
Direct Messages. The claim was made by right-wing sting operation Project Veritas. Read more
WhatsApp is at work on a feature that will flag spam messages so you can avoid being taken in by them, which is a growing problem. Read more
Following up on last week's report on the dismal state of Snapchat, here's more bad news: App store reviews of the Snapchat redesign are generally awful. Only 17% of reviews of the app since the redesign are five-star. Snapchat is dismissing the complains, arguing that it takes time for people to get accustomed to big changes. (Or, they could not wait to get
Add transparent GIFs to your Instagram Story images -- Giphy is making a library of GIFs without backgrounds available for Instagram users to add to the images they add to their Stories. Take that, Snapchat. Read more
And, as if Instagram isn't eating enough of Snapchat's lunch, Instagram is now adding the ability to let users share text-based clips along with videos and photos. You get several fonts to choose from when you add your text message. Read more
But wait, there's more from Instagram, and it's creepy. Now you can see when your friends were last active on the app. It's a feature that already exists on Facebook's Messenger app. Read more

Trends

Visa has launched a signature sound -- It took a year to come up with three notes users will hear whenever they complete a Visa transaction, in person or online. The recognition that audio is growing in importance is leading a lot of companies to explore sound as a way to connect customers with the brand -- also known as "sonic branding." Visa will unveil its sound during the Winter Olympics. Takeaway: Consider how a sonic brand would work when someone opened a company's Alexa skill, for example. The fact that we're entering the era of the voice-driven user interface means we'll see (or hear) much more of this. Incidentally, I spoke with Gartner's Augie Ray about this for next Monday's FIR podcast.Read more

Investor insists companies contribute to society -- This values-based market is getting more real all the time. The most recent evidence: The Founder and Chief Executive of investment firm BlackRock -- one of the most influential in the business -- sent a letter to the CEOs of the biggest public companies in the world informing them that, in addition to making a profit, they need to contribute to society or support from BlackRock will evaporate. "Society is demanding that companies both public and private serve a social purpose," the letter reads. "To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society." In addition to losing potential BlackRock investment, companies that fail to contribute to society "will ultimately lose the license to operate from key stakeholders." Takeaway: If you cannot communicate openly and authentically about your company's contribution to society, something is amiss in your organization. Communications should serve as the company's conscience. Add this to your to-do list. Read more

How communicators are coping with Facebook's News Feed update -- PRWeek asked a group of communicators how they planned to deal with Facebook's new focus on friends-and-family posts that inspire interation. Responses fell into two general categories. One, create great content that inspires conversation. Two, increase your budget for sponsored content since organic reach has been a futile endeavor anyway. Takeaway: You should employ both strategies, along with drawing visits to your Page as a destination (through Facebook Live and other activities that make a direct visit appealing to your audience. Read more

Research

One-third of humanity uses social media -- One-third of all people worldwide used a social network last year. That's 2.48 billion people. Most of the growth has come from developing countries via mobile devices. Takeaway: Lots of data on worldwide social media use in this eMarketer report, much of which can be used to support plans to use social media that might be running into objections based on the misguided belief that members of the target international audience aren't using this stuff yet.Read more

Growth in time spent on apps slows -- People spent 6% more time on apps in 2017 than in 2016, down from 11% in 2016 over 2015. "The declining growth in session activity means users are reaching a point where they can't give up much more time out of their day to using apps. Instead, they're shifting activity from older apps to newer ones. They're spending time across a diverse variety of apps, too." The use of shopping and media apps grew significantly while lifestyle and gaming apps lost steam. Takeaway: You need a website but you don't necessarily need an app. The decision to deploy an app has to be based on knowing that your audience will want to use it and, in a growing number of cases, they probably won't unless you ride the wave of entertainment or shopping. Read more

Consumers are hard-pressed to name a neutral news source -- In 1984, 58% of Americans believed the news media take care to separate fact from opinion. Today, that number is 32% with 66% believing that most media do a lousy job of letting audiences know what's fact and what's opinion. Forty-five percent find a great deal of bias in news coverage. "With perceptions of bias so pervasive, it is perhaps not surprising that less than a majority of Americans, 44%, say they can think of a news source that reports the news objectively." Takeaway: The results of this Gallup poll are troubling at a fundamental level, but PR practitioners have to address another issue: Will their successful pitches be tainted when they appear in the media because of the heightened bias in the media where they appear? Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, and Smart Audio

AI reads better than people -- For the first time, Artificial Intelligence has outperformed humans at reading comprehension. Given resources like Wikipedia, the algorithm can answer countless questions. Said one scientist involved in the test, "Objective questions such as 'What causes rain' can now be answered with high accuracy by machines." The scientist added that the applications cover tasks like "customer service, museum tutorials and online responses to medical inquiries from patients, decreasing the need for human input in an unprecedented way." Takeaway: Don't anticipate widespread layoffs, since the immediate impact of this technology is shifting human interaction to more judgement-based interactions. That is, the nature of work will leave objective Q&A to machines while people are freed up to address more subjective questions and problems.Read more

AI finds its way into the enterprise -- One in 25 CIOs claims to have AI actively working in their companies, according to data released by Gartner. Tech companies are not surprisingly farthest along in the adoption of AI, but more companies are ready to jump on board: Six in 25 are either piloting AI or have it in their short-term plans, while five in 25 have it in mid-term plans. Takeaway: AI is coming to your organization if it's not already there. This will require considerable communication with employees and customers, especially around ethics concerns. Read more

Bumps in the road to hotel adoption of smart audio -- The utility of Alexa-like smart speakers in hotel rooms is fairly obvious. Getting there is going to be a challenge. Protecting privacy is uppermost in hoteliers' minds, along with the infrastructure to support the devices, among other issues. Takeaway: I'm sure the challenges of adding checkout to TVs was once a challenge, too. As people get more accustomed to these devices, they will be less wary of always-on microphone arrays, too. As these devices come to the workplace, will employees worry that the company is always listening? Can't they already do that with bugs if they want to (as could hotels)? Read more

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

AR as a feature -- Businesses are finding that the best way to apply Augmented Reality is not as the sole purpose of an app, but rather as a feature of an app that serves a larger purpose. Amazon has embraced the idea, adding "AR View" into its primary shopping app so people can see how various products would look in their home (or, you know, wherever). "By adding the AR as a feature, Amazon was able to create a new layer of value to the shopping experience for its customers, without having them leave the app to open a separate tool." Takeaway: Exactly! AR's best use case right now is as a tool, not a toy. AR as a feature should inform everyone's thinking about how to take advantage of the technology today.Read more

StubHub adds AR as a feature -- Ticket reseller StubHub is adding an AR model of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, where the Super Bowl will be played, to its app "to give ticket-buyers a way to better plan their Super Bowl experience well before they ever set foot in Minneapolis." It's StubHub's second AR effort, following an experiment that let app users get a virtual view from their seat before purchasing a ticket. Takeaway: I am no fan of ticket resellers or the whole rancid ecosystem that allows them to exist. But if you're going to make yourself more useful to customers who hold their nose while they do business with you, adding AR as a feature is one way to do it. Read more

Blockchain

IBM, Maersk form blockchain joint venture -- The goal of the business is to create a global trade platform "built on open standards and designed for use by the entire global shipping ecosystem." Takeaway: This kind of disruptive change to the global shipping ecosystem will require a lot of communication, don't you think?Read more

January 5, 2018
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The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

This week's For Immediate Release conversations featured Deirdre Breakenridge on the ROI of ethical behavior and PR's role in serving as the company's conscience, Marshall Kirkpatrick on American's love-hate relationship with social media (as documented in a new Harris Poll), and Phil Gomes on Kodak's announcement that it would introduce a blockchain-based photography registry and a cryptocurrency for purchasing rights to images. Also in this episode: Facebook's latest News Feed update focuses on friends and families to the detriment of brands and publishers; Facebook is also introducing a local news and events section to its mobile apps; Marriott International ran afoul of the Chinese government prompting a shutdown of its website; Snapchat data leaks and it isn't pretty; and a slew of smart audio reports confirm that voice is the new user interface. Listen
What's ahead for B2B sales and marketing in 2018? Justin Shriber, Vice President of Marketing for LinkedIn Sales and Marketing Solutions, put together a series of predictions, and in this discussion he expands upon them and tells of the role that LinkedIn will play. Listen
This week, the Inside PR hosts discuss the approaching deadline to implement the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Pew research on television news consumption, and finding time for creative thinking. Listen
In this week's show, the Digital India crew talked about Facebook's latest news feed algorithm, where Mark shared an open letter. Listen

On the Calendar

I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8. Details
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando. Details
I'll speak again at IABC's World Conference in June on the communication implications of an emerging technology. The conference is scheduled for Montreal from June 3-6. Details

HC+T Update: I Love Social Media! I Hate Social Media!

2018-01-12T23:02:23Z

The stories I have chosen to include here are drawn from those I saved to my link blog, which you are welcome to follow.

News

Facebook News Feed will focus even more on friends and family -- Like it's not hard enough getting your company's posts to appear in a Facebook user's News Feed, the company is introducing "sweeping changes" to what its members see, prioritizing posts and comments from friends and families "while de-emphasizing content from publishers and brands." Takeaway: Later in this update, you'll read that Facebook is the overwhelming preference for people who share their life's moments, and social media is the preferred channel, more than texts, the phone, or face-to-face. You cannot ignore Facebook, but increasingly, you must either make your page or group a destination or pay to be seen.Read more

LinkedIn's newest challenger: tinder -- The group that owns hookup app tinder is taking on LinkedIn with a new professional networking app called Ripple. "With a familiar swiping action and the focus on the person's photo (something LinkedIn has always shrunken down so small you wonder if you're connecting with the right John Smith sometimes), Ripple feels more like a messaging app than LinkedIn as you set up and start using your account. It's linked to your phone number, then your personal profile first and foremost. Only later does your CV come into it, something LinkedIn started with." Takeaway: LinkedIn has held domain over professional networking for years and Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn seemed only to solidify that lead. Maybe it's time for a competitor, though Ripple faces huge challenges (the network is only as good as the number of users it has). I'll give it a try, though. Read more

Users aren't happy with Snapchat redesign -- The changes Snapchat promised last year are rolling out and users are complaining that the redesign has made the app more confusing. "One of the biggest criticisms surrounds the redesign of the old Stories page, which you used to be able to access by swiping left on the main camera screen." Takeaway: Snapchat's stock has already earned some terrible ratings from analysts even as some features continue to prove valuable for brands. The NBC News show on Snapchat's Discovery is attracting a healthy number of views, for example. Still, Snapchat is in trouble and the woes it's racking up will continue to outpace its wins. Read more

Facebook testing local news section -- Facebook is testing a section of its mobile app called "Today In," which will be filled with local news, events, and announcements. The company is employing machine learning to identify content for the section, with local news publishers whose content appears in the feed will be approved and vetted by the Facebook News Partnerships team. Takeaway: If this takes off, the new media relations hack will be pitching news that meets the algorithm's criteria for making it into the section. Read more

The politics of geography can bite you in the ass -- The Chinese government punished Marriott International by shutting down access to its website for a week after the chain listed Tibet and Taiwan as separate countries in a customer questionnaire. Takeaway: I was doing work with an Asian company and found a generic map of Asia to use as a background for a PowerPoint deck. It showed Taiwan as a separate country, and I was called on it. It hadn't even occurred to me to look. If you're working internationally, these kinds of issues should be top of mind. If you're doing business in China, awareness of the political sensitivities around Taiwan and Tibet should never come as a surprise. Read more

A look at secret Snapchat data -- Snapchat keeps most of its data secret, but The Daily Beast has gotten its hands on five months of Daily Active User numbers and the picture isn't pretty. Snapchat is used mostly as a chat app, with the features Snapchat touts (like Snap Maps) failing to get significant uptake; only 11% of the app's DAU base -- 19 million users -- checks Snap Maps daily. Only 20% consumed content from a Discover Edition (where publishers like NBC News post updates) every day. Takeaway: Snapchat's share price reflects disappointment with the app's ability to attract and retain a sizable audience. I'd still recommend some kind of presence if your audience is millennial or Gen Z aged, but really, the outlook is grim. Read more

Also...

Google plans to review top-tier YouTube videos that it includes in bundles for big advertisers, part of an effort to improve brand safety. Read more
An emoji update could let you change the direction an emoji faces. Your car emoji, for instance, could face to the right instead of the left...or two dogs could face each other. Users have been wanting this change for some time. Read more
Twitter is verifying users again. There hasn't been much fanfare over the restart of the process, which was halted after some white nationalists were verified while others couldn't get the coveted blue mark. Read more
Google has bought a UK company that can turn your phone display into a speaker, eliminating the need for small speakers in tablets and smartphones. Read more

Trends

Bringing employees to the Customer Experience -- Too many companies that feel compelled to improve the Customer Experience (CX) are focused on website overhauls, app development, digital marketing, and other customer-facing initiatives. There's much, much more to CX, though, and employees play a big part in most of them. Yet employees are increasingly disengaged, which does more harm to CX efforts than all the predictive analytics in the world. According to one expert, "A business can no longer operate thinking its inner workings will not be exposed to the external world. Your consumers and customers can also easily look inside. They can see your people and how they feel; your processes and whether they are modern and fair; your values and whether you ‘walk the walk’; and your culture – the good, bad and ugly." It is time -- as Edelman CEO Richard Edelman said a year ago -- to put employees at the center of the model -- along with the customer. That is, start thinking in terms of a customer/employee-based integrated experience. Takeaway: Companies that focus on people -- customers and employees as part of an ecosystem -- will win.Read more

10 audio marketing trends -- Audio continues to find a new, higher level in the communication ecosystem. Some of the trends expected to gain traction in the months ahead include "earcons," audio icons that signal an event or relay other types of information. "While most people think of earcons as silly sound effects, they’re becoming an effective branding tool and a replacement for traditional sonic logos." Also: interactive audio, audio-based experiential brand activations, and playlist marketing. Takeaway: I still don't hear communicators talking much about audio, yet as I sit on a BART train at this moment, I see well over half of those on the train with me sporting earbuds or headphones. It's time for somebody to offer a class or conference session on audio that goes beyond podcasting. An audio marketing blog would also be a great idea for somebody to start. Read more

Airlines embrace social media for customer service -- The failure of business to adopt social media channels for customer service is a recurring theme here. Research makes it clear that people want it. Ignoring it is likely to harm your reputation and sales while advantaging your more savvy competitors. At least one industry is figuring it out, though. Given the number of viral videos emerging from airline incidents, airlines have taken to social media to head off fast-spreading hits to their reputations. JetBlue and Virgin America respond to complaints and queries on Twitter in under 5 minutes, Alaska Air in just a bit more than 5 minutes, and Southwest in about 6-1/2 minutes. A United spokesperson said, "We recognize that oftentimes social media is the most convenient way for customers to interact with us and we are continuing to work hard on a daily basis to improve our response time." United, whose response time is over an hour and a half, plans to grow its social media response team by 150%. Takeaway: Why the ubiquitous adoption of social media for rapid customer service response is taking so long to take root baffles me. Read more

Color me surprised -- Did you have any idea at all that adults are spending a growing number of hours coloring on their phones? Coloring apps -- like adult coloring books -- are getting more and more popular, leading brands like Kellogg's to create their own. Takeaway: There could be opportunity here. What does your company make that could be turned into another tool stressed out adults could use to relax? It doesn't have to be product. It could be locations, logos, and more. I wouldn't advise this as a marketing approach for, say, Deloitte, but right now I'm sitting on a BART train. Why not BART trains or the cities it serves? Read more

Research

Do you love your social media channel or wish it would die? -- Social media channels like Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook have legions of fans. They also have legions of haters. A Harris Poll found that while only 11% of Americans are unfamiliar with Twitter, they're fairly evenly split over whether investment should be made in it to help it thrive (43%) or if it should be killed off (46%). Thirty-two percent of Americans harbor ill will for Facebook while 64% want to see it thrive. Takeaway: I talked about this poll with Sprinklr's Marshall Kirkpatrick for Monday's episode of "For Immediate Release." Be sure to listen in. Among other things, Marshall suggested that we, as a society, need to better understand how to use these tools, which would result in more affinity for them.Read more

Is it time to stop pitching TV news? -- When prioritizing whom you'll pitch in hopes of securing earned media coverage, you may want to drop TV news a little further down your list. Pew Research reports that just half of Americans get their news regularly through TV news, down a whopping 7% from a year ago. The biggest drop came in the local TV category (as opposed to national or cable), but local TV news still commands the largest audience. Takeaway: Behaviors are changing rapidly and traditional TV will continue to suffer. It won't vanish, but it needs to find its level. Consider NBC News, which now produces a twice-daily show just for Snapchat's Discover section. Read more

The choice for sharing life's milestone moments: social media -- A survey found that 79% of U.S. consumers prefer to share their life milestone events on social media, while 75% like text and 71% like phones. "Facebook is the platform they use to share these milestones, with 94% of respondents saying it was their preferred platform. Almost all social Americans prefer to share their life updates via social than face-to-face." Takeaway: The opportunities to engage with consumers on a personal, one-on-one level is huge in light of this data, especially if someone mentions your brand (or a similar one) in their post, which about 20% do. Read more

Measuring employee performance works (when done right) -- "Employees who strongly agree that their manager holds them accountable for their performance are 2.5 times more likely to be engaged in their job, according to Gallup research. And employees who feel adequately recognized are half as likely as those who don't to say they'll quit in the next year." If managers do it wrong, though, employees focus on whether their manager can be trusted and is able to assess their performance. Takeaway: Recognition for performance is a vital form of communication and managers are always touted as one of the most critical communication channels in the organization. Getting performance measurement right is important and employee communicators can help. Read more

More evidence supporting the values-driven marketplace -- Two-thirds of consumers want brands to use their influence to shape social and political discussions, with 58% indicating they're most receptive to companies using social media for these conversations. More liberals than conservatives support the idea that brands are credible when they take political stands, but still, nearly half of conservatives agreed with the notion. Nearly 30% of respondents say they applaud brands publicly when they take a stand that aligns with their personal beliefs. Takeaway: If anyone has seen data that supports a counter narrative, please send me a link. This is just the latest in what amounts to dozens, if not hundreds, of data points that create a mandate for companies to stand up for what's they believe is right for society. Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Smart Audio, and Chatbots

You'll read what we want you to read-- An AI-based attack has been developed that targets speech-to-text systems, producing text that says whatever the attacker wants it to regardless of what the audio input was. Takeaway: Don't worry just yet. The attack was created by UC Berkeley computer scientists. But it's another item to add to the AI "worry" column.Read more

Smart speakers now in one out of every six homes -- One in six Americans own a smart speaker, according to updated research from NPR and Edison Research, up 128% from a year ago. Eleven percent own an Amazon Alexa device while 4% own a Google Home product. Sixty-six percent of smart speaker owners use their devices for entertainment, but it's what the devices are replacing that is particularly interesting. Thirty percent of owners say the device is replacing time spent with TV, 34% say it's replacing time spent with a smartphone, and 39% say it's replacing time spent with traditional AM and FM radio. More than half of respondents are using it more than they did during the first month of ownership. Takeaway: Edison has the best research on this subject and the data are compelling. Based on the very few communicators I talk to who are exploring how to use these devices, I plan to continue harping on it. Once again, we are falling behind and will be playing catch-up later while non-communicators start doing this work instead of us. Read more

Facebook introduces Amazon Echo Show competitor -- Facebook is readying a video chat device called "Portal" designed to go head-to-head with Amazon's flagship Alexa video device, "Show." Like the Show, Portal will be controlled with voice commands. It will be Facebook's first hardware device. Takeaway: Whether Facebook can eat into Amazon's commanding voice-appliance lead is an open question, but the fact that Facebook sees a future in voice-controlled devices rather than desktops, laptops, and smartphones is revealing. Read more

Google declares war on Alexa at CES -- The Consumer Electronics Show, by all accounts, was dominated by voice-activated devices. But no company was so gung-ho on the category as Google. In the company's first appearance at CES with a dedicated booth in several years, Google has also bought several large-scale ads around the city to promote its voice products, ranging from Google Assistant (on phones) to Google Home (its appliance), both of which are activated with the words, "Hey, Google." According to one report, "Even within my first six hours of being in Vegas, I saw AI assistants (like Google and Amazon Alexa) packed into what are normally dull household items like smoke alarms, bathroom mirrors, and shower heads." Takeaway: The tipping point for voice-activated devices will come with consumer adoption of these devices, not all of which will flourish. (Voice-activated toilets? Really?) But the tipping point is inevitable sooner rather than later. As the AI behind these systems improves, so will their utility. If you're not already planning communication through such devices, internally or externally, you're already behind the curve. Read more

Amazon introduces Alexa Mobile Accessory Kit -- The software package will make it easier for developers to add Alexa to smart watches, fitness trackers, headphones, and other wearables. "Devices that manufacturers build with the Alexa kit will connect directly to the Alexa Voice Service through the Alexa App for Android and iOS on the customer's mobile device." Developers can get their hands on the kit later this year. Takeaway: I wrote over a year ago that voice will be the interface to everything. This more or less seals that deal. Read more

Also...

Google has sold a Google Home device every second -- Since October 19, the day the Google Home Mini went on sale, Google says it has sold a Google Home device every second, or roughly 7.5 million devices. Google also announced that its voice-activated Google Assistant runs on some 400 million devices. Read more
Starting in the Spring, Microsoft will make an app available for Windows 10 machines that let users access Amazon's Alexa from their computers. The app will only work on computers with microphones that are capable of far-field voice recognition. HP and Lenovo are among those that will bring Alexa to their products. Read more
As I just said, you're behind the curve if you're not planning to produce content for voice devices. Fortunately, the Content Marketing Institute has published a short introductory guide. Read more

Blockchain

Kodak shares soar on blockchain announcement -- Kodak's value leapt nearly half a billion dollars on news that the iconic photography company would create a blockchain based service to give photographers more control over their photos. The distributed ledger will maintain records of ownership and let people pay for the rights to use those photos using KODAKCoin, a cryptocurrency Kodak will offer in partnership with WENN Digital. Takeaway: If you've been wondering how a communicator might use blockchain, here's a completely understandable application. Through a web-based front-end, you'll be able to browser photos and then pay for the one you want to use on your website with KODAKCoin (which you'll buy online and keep in a digital wallet), guaranteeing that the photographer gets the payment. This would eliminate the need for middleman services like Shutterstock and Dreamstime. (Kodak will also rent out coin mining rigs to people who want to make money helping maintain the distributed ledger, but they'll have to pay half their profits to Kodak for the privilege.)Read more

January 12, 2018
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The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

This is a landmark episode of “For Immediate Release.” It’s the first show of 2018, the beginning of our 14th year of podcasting, and the introduction of a new, faster-paced format with a shorter overall runtime. Joining host Shel Holtz for some quick conversation in addition to other stories are Gini Dietrich (on Snapchat’s new feature that lets you embed Snapchat Stories anywhere on the web), Paul Barton (on the increasing focus companies are placing on employee experience, or EX), and Olivier Blanchard (on just how much chatbots and smart audio will become part of our daily lives in 2019). Listen
On Inside PR: The limits we should apply to sponsored content, new models for journalism and the possibility that local journalism may be linked to a more traditional blue collar model than it is to the television-fueled celebrity salaries of recent years. Listen
Digital India begins the new year with its 135th episode: Vloggers – Not just Digital Marketing Vloggers but here are some of the Vloggers you might want to check out. In this week’s podcast Aman, Siddhi, Pooja, and Suresh shared some of the Vloggers you might have to follow. Listen
What’s ahead for B2B sales and marketing in 2018? Justin Shriber, Vice President of Marketing for LinkedIn Sales and Marketing Solutions, put together a series of predictions, and in this discussion he expands upon them and tells of the role that LinkedIn will play. It's all on FIR B2B episode 87. Listen

On the Calendar

I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8. Details
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando. Details
I'll speak again at IABC's World Conference in June on the communication implications of an emerging technology. The conference is scheduled for Montreal from June 3-6. Details

HC+T Update: Stories Everywhere

2018-01-05T14:11:18Z

Happy New Year! The Briefing is back! As usual, the stories I have chosen to include here are drawn from those I saved to my link blog, which you are welcome to follow.

News

You'll soon be able to embed Snapchat Stories on your website -- Stories Everywhere is a new program that will let third-party publishers embed Snapchat Stories on their websites. Takeaway: Stories was so massively popular a feature that Instagram copied it, then WhatsApp, then Facebook. Several other apps adopted the feature, too. It wouldn't be hard for the same appropriation to happen with embeddable stories. Whether it's Snapchat or someone else, though, this could be a huge deal. Companies struggling to add fresh content to their websites could now have content that's updated several times a day, offering behind-the-scenes and other images and videos. Gini Dietrich and I talked about this for Monday's "For Immediate Release" podcast.Read more

The battle to reinstate net neutrality is underway -- Since the FCC's repeal of Obama-era net neutrality rules, several efforts are ramping up to resurrect the restrictions on Internet Service Providers that prevented them from blocking, slowing down, or favoring content. These include court challenges, efforts to implement rules at the state level, and Congressional action. Takeaway: Given that three out of four Republicans opposed the FCC decision and grassroots protests are likely, I'm hopeful we haven't seen the end of net neutrality. Read more

ANA acquires WOMMA -- The Association of National Advertisers will acquire the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. WOMMA was a groundbreaking organization when it launched 13 years ago in the early days of social media. ANA's chief executive said the acquisition will enhance the organization's "already robust benefits portfolio. Takeaway: Color me skeptical. Word of mouth is about far more than advertising, but this acquisition strikes me as a way to absorb the concept into a pure-advertising play. It may not work out that way, but I'm sad to see WOMMA lose its independence. It did some great work in its day. Read more

Microsoft will push Stream -- If you're an Office 365 shop and you're looking for an internal YouTube, you may already have it. Stream -- which replaced Office 365 Video -- hasn't gotten a lot of attention and you may not even know you have access to it. That could change. Microsoft's CMO told a podcast he sees Stream as one of the company's "hidden gems." Stream includes an auto-captioning option and will let users search within a video for information like a person's name, then "take the searcher directly to the place in a video where that name is mentioned." Takeaway: The number of Office 365 features that are only sporadically used by employees who chance upon them is undoubtedly huge. Communicators working in Office 365 companies should familiarize themselves will all of these tools and employ those that serve their communication strategies, ensuring they are quickly accessible and that employees are broadly aware of them Read more

Also...

NBC News launched a Snapchat Discovery show, "Stay Tuned," back in August and now has 4 million subscribers. The show airs twice every weekday and once daily on weekends. The show is attracting "tens of millions of unique viewers every month." The show has a staff of 30 producers, writers, editors, and graphics people. Read more
Instagram is testing a feature that lets users post their Instagram Stories directly to WhatsApp as a WhatsApp Status (a similar Snapchat-like feature). Note: I talked about this with Gini Dietrich for Monday's episode of the "For Immediate Release" podcast. Read more

Trends

It pays to oppose sexual harassment -- Not that there are any companies that are pro-sexual harassment, but a study finds that there's value in speaking out against it. More than 62% of survey respondents said they would pay high prices for products and services if they knew the company was taking a strong stand against sexual harassment. Conversely, only 37.5% said they would keep doing business with an organization whose position was unclear, even if its prices were lower. Takeaway: A lot of companies are speaking out internally. The company where I work was vocal in driving employees to complete online harassment training, explaining that nobody here wants to be the cause of the company winding up in the harassment headline hall of shame. I hear fewer companies speaking externally. At the very least, a harassment-free environment should be a highly visible part of your employer branding.Read more

Companies will focus on employee experience -- With 90% of businesses indicating that they compete based on the customer experience, employee experience is going to be a bigger and bigger priority. Too many companies don't really understand what that means but when it's done right, according to research from Jacob Morgan, companies that invested most heavily in employee experience were included 11.5 times as often in Glassdoor's Best Places to work, listed 4.4 times as often in LinkedIn's list of North American's Most In-Demand Employers, 28 times more often listed among Fact Company's Most Innovative Companies, listed 2.1 times as often on the Forbes list of the World's Most Innovative Companies, and twice as often found in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. These companies also earned four times the average profit and twice the average revenue. Takeaway: My new model for employee communication focuses heavily on the employee experience; communicators have a big role to play that goes well beyond simply reporting company news and activities. Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Smart Audio, and Chatbots

Officer Alexa to fight crime -- British police are considering how Amazon's Alexa platform could be used as a crime-fighting tool. Among the tasks the smart speaker could perform: distributing crime bulletins, missing person reports, and wanted suspect lists. Alexa is also being considered for internal use "by blasting out reports of recent offenses, internal briefings, incident alerts in real time, and daily crime logs. Takeaway: Anyone who tells you Augmented Reality goggles are the next big interface needs to see this. I love AR and its potential, but the use cases for the voice interface is much, much bigger. Just consider the next item.Read more

Will this be the year chatbot conversations get real? -- While there are still some obstacles to widespread adoption, "conversational commerce" is coming into its own. It even has a hashtag: #ConvComm. We're still not at the stage of true conversations and the walled-garden ecosystem (similar to the days of AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe as opposed to the open web) will create headaches, but we'll see far more bots that perform better are already in place (even at the Mall of America) and more people are interacting with them. Takeaway: I talked about this for Monday's "For Immediate Release" podcast with analyst Olivier Blanchard, who rolled his eyes at the "2018 is the year of..." bit, but he definitely sees the growing ubiquity of bots over the next three years or so. Read more

Here come voice-interface IoT devices -- The proliferation of Internet of Things devices is underway. These screenless connected devices require an interface and a lot of people (me included) believe voice will be that interface. As if to prove the point, GE is introducing a ceiling light and light switch with a speaker in the middle of the light that supports voice controls for Amazon's Alexa and the Google Assistant platforms. It'll also be able to play music. The in-wall switch includes the same features, along with built-in motion, temperature, and humidity sensors. Takeaway: While the success of this product line -- set for release sometime in 2018 -- is in question, the concept is one we're sure to see repeated in hundreds, maybe thousands, of devices. As a communicator, you could soon be writing interactive scripts for all kinds of devices your company manufactures. Read more

Inevitable advertising coming to Alexa -- Amazon is employing a full-court press to bring advertisers onto the Alexa platform. Initially, it'll be just a few companies. Amazon is talking to Clorox and Proctor & Gamble, for example. Unlike radio or TV commercials, Alexa ads will be subtle and well-targeted. "If you use your Amazon Echo to re-order Clorox brand cleaner, for instance, Alexa could suggest you tack on another Clorox product to your purchase, confirmed with a simple yes or no voice confirmation. If you look for instructions on how to cook a recipe or how to remove a stain from fabric, Alexa could similarly offer suggestions for products you may find helpful. In some cases, Amazon will use your past shopping history to inform what types of ads and products to suggest." Takeaway: Useful advertising is still useful. If Amazon sticks with this approach, it could be a hit rather than the new dose of awfulness so many of us are expecting. Read more

Also...

I know my friend Steve Crescenzo got an Amazon Echo for Christmas. It appears he wasn't alone, with the Amazon Alexa app rising to the top of both the Android and iOS app store download charts in the U.S. Read more

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

TIME magazine publishes an AR issue guest-edited by Bill Gates -- The issue, available on newsstands on January 5 (that's today, folks), features "special AR experiences powered by RYOT Lab, including behind-the-scenes videos, infographics and animations. The cover features an animation narrated by Gates which tells the story of Mohamad Nasir, an Ethiopian boy, who Gates first met shortly after Mohamad’s birth in 2012." The "Optimist" issue also features an AR activation from U2 front man Bono. It works in both Android and iOS using the LIFE VR app. The issue is the first to be guest-edited in TIME's 94-year history. Takeaway: This is why AR will kick VR's ass: Bringing print pages to life with your smartphone is far easier and more accessible than donning a headset for an isolated VR experience. It's not the first time I've seen a magazine with AR functionality, but it's the first created for that purpose targeting a mass audience. The potential for your own organization's print materials should be getting clearer all the time.Read more

Count holograms among AR's capabilities -- Holography as a user interface is already with us in training and customer experience applications (such as IKEA's AR app -- "Why not point your phone at an IKEA shipping box to be holographically guided through the assembly process when it's delivered?"). Our vision of holograms is usually based on an approach using lasers to put an image in front of you. Instead, it's being delivered through smartphones. Takeaway: The key advantages are simplicity and utility. As AR-based holography becomes more common and more vendors deliver the services required to produce it, we'll see prices drop and more holograms created. Not that the laser-based holograms aren't cool, but what you can see on your phone -- or through mixed-reality googles like the Microsoft HoloLens -- is far more useful. Read more

Blockchain

Burger chain stock soars on blockchain announcement -- The company that owns American Burger Co. and Little Big Burger announced a new rewards program in which customers would earn units of a proprietary cryptocurrency for use exclusively on future meals. The program runs on the MobivityMind blockchain platform. The company's stock rose up to 95% before settling back down to 48% over its pre-announcement value. The cryptocurrency will be called Mobivity Merit. The company's CEO said you can "use your Merit mined by eating at Little Big Burger to get a buffalo chicken sandwich at American Burger Co., or trade them with your vegan friend so he can get a veggie burger at BGR. And that's just the beginning." Takeaway: We have gone from "what's that?" to "that's awesome!" with blockchain. And when blockchain comes to burger joint loyalty programs, you just know it's time to start figuring out where your organization's opportunities are.Read more

January 5, 2018
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A New Model for Employee Communication, Part 16: Engaging Managers

Managers are, at best, an inconsistent communication channel. Yet engaging managers are one of the most important drivers of engagement. As a result, it is incumbent on employee communicators to help managers communicate effectively. Read more

The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

Lots of episodes to cover since the break, but no "For Immediate Release," which took the holidays off. The latest episode gets posted on Monday, and it's a whole new format. Among other things, it's way shorter! Please tune in and let me know what you think. Here are other FIR Podcast Network shows to keep you going until then:

So you have an employee advocacy program. Your people are fully engaged and active and they are driving loads of traffic to your social sites, your website and more. What next? What do you do with that traffic so that it has a value-add beyond brand awareness. You need to create leads. Listen in to AMPlify episode #13 as Jason Sibley, CEO and Head of Campaign Strategy at Creation Agency shares five of his top tools to turn traffic into leads. Listen
In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, company reputations are constantly at risk. On episode 28 of "Circle of Fellows," recorded on December 21, four IABC Fellows explored the challenges of managing reputation in social media, the crucial role employees play as reputation ambassadors and the financial value of proactive reputation and risk management. FIR host Shel Holtz moderated the panel featuring Lee Hornick, George McGrath, Barbara Puffer, and Cindy Schmieg. Listen
Employee advocacy is on the rise. But what does that mean for companies like yours and how will it transform the way you work? On episode 14 of AMPlify, Jen McClure, one of the original authorities on digital and social media and CEO of JEM Consulting & Advisory Services, shares insights on the factors that affect the growth of employee advocacy and engagement. Plus, she gives her advice about what it takes to make employee advocacy a core business initiative and get everyone in your company on the same page. Listen
Episode 133 of Digital India focuses on free digital and social tools and resources for business, how effective they are, and why they shouldn't be ignored. Listen
The year-end episode of Digital India is a look back at 2017. Suresh and team highlight the progress that India saw in this sector. We talk about Paytm, Uber-eats, Alexa, Google Tej, and everything that contributed to 2017. The team also discusses what India needs to look forward to in 2018 and how to keep up with the changing trends. Listen
On Inside PR: A Toronto-based marketing firm created a chatbot that led to a partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival. Smart marketing. Listen
Another Inside PR episode: Artificial intelligence was a hot topic amoung communicators in 2017 and it's something to continue watching and exploring in 2018. Read more
In this episode of Thought Leader Life, Mitchell Levy exchanges insights with thought leader Eran Levy, the Executive Director of Connected Futures and the head of Cisco's C-Suite Thought Leadership group. This TLL episode focuses on the importance and impact of thought leadership and thought partnership in today's world. Listen

On the Calendar

I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8. Details
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando. Details
I'll speak again at IABC's World Conference in June on the communication implications of an emerging technology. The conference is scheduled for Montreal from June 3-6. Details

HC+T Briefing: Please Don't Like Or Share This Briefing

2017-12-22T20:44:41Z

The Briefing will take a holiday break, returning on January 5. You're welcome to follow my link blog, which is where I collect the stories from which I choose the contents of the HC+T Briefing.

News

Facebook inks deal with Universal Music Group -- Facebook users will be able to upload videos that include music from Universal Music Group's vast library across Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus as a result of a deal the companies have signed. That'll put Facebook on somewhat equal footing with YouTube, which with has signed similar deals with Universal and Sony. Takeaway: Quite a difference from the days of Napster when the music industry dug in its heels and pretended digitization of music wasn't ever going to be a thing. The challenge for users will be knowing whether they're using Universal music or tunes from a competing other services like Sony Music Entertainment.Read more

IAB releases podcast measurement guidelines -- The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released the final version 2 of its Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines, which (among other things) specify that measurement begins after the graphics/metadata and after a minute of audio has been delivered. "There's also the new specification that the same IP address and user agent...within a 24-hour period is considered the same person, even if they are seen more than once in that time period." Takeaway: The establishment of guidelines means better data for advertisers, who are spending $220 million adding their spots to podcasts. That number will grow as the mainstream adoption of podcasting continues on the same trajectory that we have seen for a decade. Read more

Bloomberg and Twitter launch round-the-clock news coverage -- TicToc is the name of a new streaming news service from Bloomberg offered through Twitter. "The first iteration of TicToc by Bloomberg will feature a mix of live video and reporting from its journalists around the world, as well as breaking news content from consumers, curated and verified by Bloomberg editors with a real-time distillation of the related conversation on Twitter." Takeaway: This is a compelling offering. There are times I'm astounded that, with hundreds of channels available to me via my cable provider, I can't find current news. (CNN has food shows or retrospectives of the 70s, the BBC has a panel discussion, and MSNBC shows prison reality shows, for example.) Knowing I can just open the TicToc account solves that problem. Read more

Facebook drops the hammer on posts that ask for likes and shares -- Facebook posts that solicit likes and shares -- the newest type of clickbait -- will find themselves demoted in the News Feed. "People have told us that they dislike spammy posts...that goad them into interacting with likes, shares, comments, and other actions," according to the Facebook blog. Takeaway: If you were using this dubious tactic, you'd better stop. Read more

Mozilla missteps with Firefox-based promotion -- Some Firefox users found that their browser had installed an add-on without permission. The description of "Looking Glass:" MY REALITY IS JUST DIFFERENT THAN YOURS. It wound up being a promotional tie-in for the TV series Mr. Robot which, ironically, is about vigilante hackers. The add-on was the foundation for an AR game that users can play if they opted in. The company released an update that explained the add-on's purpose and created a support page to further explain it and offered an apology. Takeaway: This is yet another reason to add a step to your communication plan: Close your eyes, project yourself into the post-launch future in which the idea has failed, and ask, "What went wrong?" Read more

Also...

Amazon filed trademark requests for the names "Amazon Tube" and "Open Tube," suggesting the company may be thinking about launching a new service for users to stream their videos in competition with YouTube. Read more
Snapchat is offering a new ad format, letting advertisers animate Sponsored Filters that users can apply to their photos and videos, then share with friends. The first brand to use the animated filter: Dunkin' Donuts. Read more
RIP Amazon MP3 locker -- It used to be the place to store your MP3 files in the cloud. These days, with the likes of Spotify and Google Play Music -- and even Amazon's own streaming music service -- storing MP3s isn't much of a need anymore, so Amazon is shutting down its Amazon Music Storage service. Read more
Create a rabid fan base and you can have a great time on a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). Wendy's has a sparkling reputation for its snarky Twitter account, fans of which were kind and curious when the team (whose identities are a closely guarded secret) took to Reddit for an AMA. Some AMA hosts get blistered. Wendy's was asked about their all-time favorite McDonald's roast, all-time favorite tweet, and the tweet they didn't think got as much attention as it should. Answer: When someone suggested the square Wendy's burger was too artificial looking, the answer was, "Unlike the super natural circle shape that hamburgers come in when you pick them off the vine." Read more
Facebook is introducing a Snooze button that lets you shut people out of your feed for 30 days rather than taking the nuclear option of unfriending. The feature is currently being tested. Read more

Fake News and Hate Speech

Facebook finds a better way to deal with fake news -- Facebook has been adding "disputed" flags to articles people share that have been proven false, but it wasn't working well, so now the company will offer a better version of its related articles feature. Facebook is also demoting posts featuring fake news to the bottom of the feed, which leads to that post losing 80% of its traffic, which reduces the financial incentive to create it in the first place. Takeaway: The most the easy, quick fixes fail, the harder online services will work to find effective solutions. This will eventually get better as long as the purveyors of fake news don't find new ways to game the system.Read more

Google takes a step to stop fake news -- Sites that hide the country from which they originated will be blocked from appearing in Google search results. "By not including websites that mask their country of origin, Google is effectively burying fake news and reducing its chances of spreading." Takeaway: Good move, Google. It won't hurt anybody (except the wallets of those creating this content) if a Russian publication pretending to be a legitimate U.S. news site can't be discovered in a Google search. Read more

Twitter enforcing new rules -- New rules from Twitter address violence (taking into account offline activity), affiliation with organizations that promote violence, and the use of "hateful images or symbols" in user profiles or biographies, any of which can lead to permanent account suspension.

Twitter will explain why content was blocked -- If a tweet was blocked, twitter will display a message to let you know if compliance with local laws or court orders were the reasons. "Country Withheld Content" includes things like Nazi symbols in Germany, where they are banned. Similar messages will be shown on accounts that have been completely blocked. "All interstitials will link to information about Twitter's policies." Takeaway: Gradually, online services are addressing the content that not only adds a stink to the content they host but also keeps prospective new customers away. For an even more interesting retreat from completely open speech, see the next item. Read more

Twitter can't stand up for all speech -- In 2012, a Twitter executive described the company as "the free-speech wing of the free-speech party." Times have changed. Now another executive says it is "no longer possible to stand up for all speech." She told British politicians that "We do have to take steps to limit the visibility of hateful symbols, to ban people from the platform who affiliate with violent groups -- that's the journey we're on." Takeaway: Idealism is hard when faced with the harsh truths. As the exec said, the company hoped that society would improve as racism, homophobia, and extremism would be challenged through free speech. Any new public service to arise with a free-speech claim will run into the same issues. Read more

Trends

Customers want to get service via social media -- Consider this a non-trend among businesses. Despite the fact that nearly 70% of consumers said in 2013 that they have used social media to resolve customer service issues, and more recent research finds that 33% of people prefer to get in touch with brands via social media, and 64% of Millennials believe social media is an effective customer service channel, companies still aren't rising to the challenge. Twitter found that customer service conversations have increased by 250% in the past two years and that 60% of consumers expect brands to respond to queries within an hour. Despite all this, 60% of companies are not formally supporting social customer care. That's nuts, given that 88% of consumers are less likely to buy from companies who don't respond to social media complaints and a failure to respond can lead to a 15% increase in churn rate among existing customers. Let's go further: It costs $1 to respond to an interaction in a social channel, $6 via the phone and about from $2.50 to $5 for email. Takeaway: Looking for a competitive edge? Promote your social media customer support. Get testimonials from customers who have used it. And show how truly awful your competitors are at it.Read more

It's getting harder to find good free third-party content hosting services -- Storify's shutdown made my heart ache. It was a great service with a fantastic interface. It was used by journalists and regular folk alike. But as Stephen Waddington points out, its demise is emblematic of a larger problem: free (and even commercial) social media services as a place to host your content or curation is dicey. Others that have shut down include Posterous (which I also used), Orkut, Google Buzz, and FriendFeed. Takeaway: Stephen says it better than I can: Even though using third-party services is a requirement these days, "we stress the importance of owned channels at the heart of an organisation’s communication. Build your own website, blog, image platform and newsroom. Avoid using rented services for these critical functions and if you do, ensure that you have the ability to export your content and host it elsewhere." Read more

Employers are designing courses for employees -- Tuition reimbursement is a popular employee benefit, but increasingly companies are finding that schools and other education providers don't have the courses their employees need. Instead of waiting in hopes that they'll introduce those courses, companies are creating their own. "Microsoft, Linux and other employers have teamed up with edX, a collaboration started by Harvard and MIT to provide online education that is much easier than brick-and-mortar programs to keep up to date and to disseminate to vast numbers of students simultaneously." Other companies are bypassing schools altogether, working with education-focused companies "to offer training for technology jobs to prospective employees." Takeaway: This is an untapped opportunity for educators not affiliated with a school to create services that can rapidly provide learning opportunities with university-grade rigor that keeps up with technology. Read more

Also...

Snapchat is still the network of choice for teens in the U.S., with 79% of 13-to-18-year olds maintaining a Snapchat account. 73% have an Instagram account and only 57% say they're on Facebook. If they were stranded on a deserted island, 44% said they'd prefer to have Snapchat with them compared to 24% who picked Instagram. Teens still use the app mainly for messaging, suggesting Stories are more popular with older users. Read more
The Henn-Na Hotel in Nagasaki, Japan, is staffed almost completely by robots. It's a vision of what you'll find in most hotels (well, maybe without velocioraptor bellhops) in the future. Automation includes the vacuum cleaners and gardeners, eye-recognition technology instead of room keys, a bedside table butler, and robot-controlled light switches "which track your movements...before clicking on and off and when you need them). Read more

Research

It's almost Christmas, yet you're reading this -- That makes you part of the 22% of workers who plan to take a vacation during the holidays but stay connected with work via email and other means, according to Gallup. Or you're part of the 57% that isn't taking any vacation. Takeaway: The compulsion to stay in touch even when away may be troubling, but it's also an opportunity for communicators to craft messages that make it quicker and easier for employees to touch base...or encourage employees to log off.Read more

Email isn't going anywhere anytime soon -- A study finds that email continues to be essential, important, and entrenched in our daily lives, with 74% of people surveyed choosing email as their preferred communication method for companies or brands to interact with them. And if you think it's just older users who prefer email, consider that 83% of Generation Z respondents believe their email usage will either stay the same or increase in the next five years. The same is true for a majority of Millennials and Gen X respondents. Email is also the overwhelming preference for B2C interactions. Takeaway: Can you hear me sighing? There are more efficient means of communication. We have even made fewer phone calls as texting has become more efficient. But email just. Won't. Die. I have to come to terms with this and figure out how to use it better on the job. Read more

Not much news makes it into your Facebook News Feed -- Half of a group surveyed about their News Feeds saw no news at all in their first 10 posts, not even celebrity gossip of sports scores. Another 23% saw just one news item in those first 10 posts. "Of the 384 total news-related posts that surfaced in my sample, half were shared by someone other than the original publisher, whether by friends or a non-news page (e.g., by a friend in a Deplorables Facebook group, or by a Buffalo Bills fan page). Only 4 percent of the news posts in our sample came directly from publishers, though the range of publishers represented was pretty wide." Takeaway: This is bad news for news organizations but also for companies and agencies still relying primarily on traditional earned media. We know from other research that people increasingly get their news through their feeds. Even someone interested in your organization is unlikely to get stories about you through their feeds. Earned media is still important, but it's time to expand the scope of where you earn that coverage. Getting ambassadors and influencers to share your content, for example, is just a new form of earned media. Read more

Brands are nuts for not delivering customer service via social media -- This CustomerThink article is a wealth of data that should convince the most resistant leaders that social media should be employed for customer service. Just a few data points from the piece: As long ago as 2013, 67% of consumers were using social media for their customer service issues. Nielson found that 33% of customers prefer to contact brands via social media over the phone or email. Microsoft’s 2016 State of Global Customer Service Report found that 64% percent of millennials believe social media is an effective customer service channel. Twitter says customer service conversations had increased by 2.5x in the past two years. Still, most brands don't offer customer service via social media, a decision with consequences. Conversocial research found that 88% of consumers are less likely to buy from companies who leave complaints unattended and Gartner found that failure to respond via social channels can lead to a 15% increase in churn rate for existing customers. But wait! There's more! Gartner also found that dealing with a customer service issue on social media costs less than $1 per interaction, versus $6 per phone call and $2.50-$5 for email. Takeaway: Resistance is futile. If there is any case that can be made for social media, it is for its use as a customer service channel. Read more

Influencer marketing gets complicated -- Millennial trust in influencers is on the wane. Influencer marketing platform Dealspotr also found the demographic is getting more sophisticated in their evaluation of influencers, paying virtually no attention to how many followers the influencer has. Still, they rely more "than ever on lifestyle influencers for fashion ideas and inspiration," more than friends and family. Takeaway: If follower counts helped determine the influencers you targeted, you'll have to get more nuanced. It's not that follower counts don't help identify influencers; you'll just have to go further to identify those who wield genuine influence. Read more

Business gets busy on Messenger -- Two billion messages are being sent each month between businesses and consumers on Facebook's Messenger app. "Businesses are particularly popular with Messenger users in the US, Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, and Vietnam, and Messenger is most popular with businesses in the professional services, retail, local entertainment, public good and media industries." There are currently more than 200,000 chatbots on Messenger, double the number from April (which was when Messenger launched its Discover tab to make it easier for people to find bots and businesses). Takeaway: It has gotten to the point that is irresponsible to not offer customer service via social media and messaging apps are fast becoming the preferred means of accessing social media for most people. Bots are becoming a common way to address some of those inquiries. Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Smart Audio, and Chatbots

Alexa could make meetings better -- It's all just speculation at this point, but with Amazon introducing Alexa for Business, the day could come when participants in a meeting trying to schedule their next meeting could simply say, "Alexa, when is the next time that the four of us can meet for 30 minutes?" The same could happen with Google Home or any of the voice-enabled smart assistants. Such functionality could also eliminate the need for people to bring laptops to meetings, making those meetings more productive. Takeaway: It goes further than this article suggests. Smart audio appliances will eventually eliminate the need for phones and even much of what we rely on intranets to deliver. An employee could say, "Alexa, how many vacation days do I have left?" or "Alexa, what's the top company news today?" Imagine employee communication departments recording a flash news briefing just like NPR, available whenever an employee asks for it. Mark my words: Smart audio is going to be huge in the workplace. Read more

Facebook AI will find you in untagged photos -- Your handsome or lovely mug could be in photos all over Facebook, but you'd never know if someone didn't share it with you. Now, Facebook will use the same AI technology that suggests friends you may want to tag in images you upload to find you in photos even if you haven't been tagged in them. Photo Review won't notify you unless you're in the "intended audience" of the photo. Takeaway: Visual recognition is a growing AI application that could have utility in several businesses that haven't yet given it any thought. How could your business or its customer benefit from being able to find something in particular in a broad range of images? Read more

Get ready for a flood of smart speakers -- Amazon has priced its Echo Dot at $30 (it used to be $50). The pricing made it the best-selling product on Amazon.com over Thanksgiving weekend, but it's also pressuring the competition to lower their prices, too. Takeaway: People who avoided nearly $200 for an Echo are much more inclined to give smart audio a try at $30, which means more people will get accustomed to using them. Ubiquity will be on us soon. Read more

Also...

Campbell's Soup is refining its ad targeting through IBM Watson, delivering ads with soup recipe recommendations between 3-5 p.m. (when people are considering what to have for dinner) based not only on the weather but the location. Dips in temperature in warmer climates prompt interest in soup, but it takes a snowstorm in typically colder places to "put people in a soup mood." Watson also gets to know the user. If, for instance, someone only looks at vegetarian soups, Watson will start offering only vegetarian recipes. Read more
Here's a partnership I didn't see coming for a use I hadn't considered: Microsoft is using AI to improve search results from Bing smarter but is also partnering with Reddit to surface results from the site more effectively. Read more
AI-driven smart assistants are mostly used on smartphones, according to Pew Research Center data. Forty-two percent of those who use a virtual assistant do it on a smartphone. Desktops and laptops come in second at 14% and smart audio devices like the Amazon Echo are third at 8%. Read more

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Google kills Tango -- Google has been active in the VR space for some time with its Project Tango. In response to Apple's ARKit, though, Google introduce ARCore. The focus on ARCore has led the company to end support for Tango on March 1. Takeaway: Too bad, since Tango had greater functionality, using your phone's camera "to map out a 3D approximation for an area to create a game world based on your real confines." that's so much cooler than the AR stickers you get out of ARCore (so far).Read more

Magic Leap has an actual product, sort of -- Magic Leap, the AR startup that has attracted more than $1.5 billion in funding, has offered a first look at the Magic Leap One headset, a developer version with no price or release date yet. Its features are not unlike those found in Microsoft's HoloLens, though it is cooler looking (sort of futuristic steampunk). "The device promises to bring new ways to game in your immediate physical space, the ability to fill your surroundings with displays, remote connection with others through hologram-like avatars, new ways to create, etc. But much of the Magic Leap One’s success at doing any of those things will depend on what developers cook up when they finally get there hands on an actual device." Takeaway: With the hype around Magic Leap and a development kit promised for early 2018, Microsoft will want to accelerate its HoloLens efforts. Shrinking the size of the headset would be a good place to start, given the much more compact size of the Magic Leap One. In any case, Mixed Reality is on its way. Read more

Cordless VR is coming -- Using Virtual Reality right now means snapping a smartphone into a headset (which cannot deliver the high-end, processing-intensive experience of more costly systems) or wearing a headset tethered to a computer. That could change as a company called Amimon, which has unveiled a video transmitting solution for Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality with nearly zero latency. While there are wireless solutions (including the recently-announced Oculus Go), this technology would enable the highest-end experiences without wires. Takeaway: One technology not mentioned in this article is Microsoft's Hololens, the headset for which is a Windows 10 computer built right into the hardware. The less complicated headsets get, the more adoption will accelerate. Also needed: lower prices and less cumbersome headsets. Read more

AR could be coming to a hospital near you -- Google Glass has now been used in 15 cardiac surgeries and has been proven feasible, safe, and it "does not interfere with the routine activities performed in the catheterization laboratory by operations." The risk of an adverse event (e.g., a heart attack) is unchanged whether or not Google Glass is used. The surgeon behind the procedure has been invited to speak at multiple conferences, where reaction from others is "curiosity and positivity." Takeaway: I have long maintained that AR will have its biggest initial surge in the workplace. I just never suspected it would be the long-chided Google Glass -- generally considered a failure -- that would make inroads in medicine. Read more

Blockchain

UPS bets big on blockchain -- UPS will join the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, "a forum for the development of blockchain technology standards and education for the freight industry." UPS "wants to be part of the revolution. They want to plan an instrumental role in developing the smart logistics network of the future. And they recognize that if they don't get their foot in the door, someone else will." Not a bad idea given the industry's "crumbling infrastructure prone to systematic inefficiencies and rampant fraud" and intermediaries who drive up the price of shipping. Blockchain "promises to deliver a cheaper and more efficient system of managing logistics." Takeaway: Seriously? UPS? If your organization isn't looking at blockchain, you'll end up being the one that suffers when "someone else" gets their foot in the door. Communicators must get up to speed as you'll be communicating the drastic change blockchain brings to both employees and customers.Read more

Concert ticket sales move to blockchain -- CEEK VR has been around since 2015, selling access to sold-out concerts through its live streaming VR platform. Now the company will offer CEEK tokens to fans so they can see their favorite artists, who will have "the ability to sell unlimited virtual tickets and digital merchandise, creating a...'decentralized VR entertainment Metaverse.'" Takeaway: You just new a mashup of VR and blockchain was inevitable, didn't you? Read more

December 22, 2017
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The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

Neville Hobson joined me for the monthly installment of “The Hobson & Holtz Report” to discuss a group of UK newspapers using robots to help write stories; research that found higher engagement for tweets that took advantage of the new 280 character count; Adobe’s announcement that Storify will shut down; how GoFundMe is changing the shape of disaster relief; the flooding of the FCC’s comment server with fake comments; and whether that Netflix was really all that creepy. Dan York reports on Twitter’s new tweetstorm tool, the new ability to follow hashtags on Instagram, and Facebook opening its AR studio to more people. Listen
On Passport episode #15: Interview with Leah Shah from Visit Houston and Melvin Tennant from Meet Minneapolis about the planning and execution that goes into hosting the Super Bowl. Houston hosted the Super Bowl in 2017 and Minneapolis will host the Super Bowl in 2018. Listen
Can Snapchat be fixed? And when isn’t an apology good enough? Find out on the latest episode of Inside PR. Listen
This week's Digital India Podcast had the staff of WMA engage in a discussion / debate about the relevance and importance of certifications. While we shared our thoughts and experiences about how certifications did or did not help us, we also discussed why certifications in digital marketing? Are they really important? Do they justify your skills? Should you take them? Listen
In the latest episode of Thought Leader Life, Mitchell and Teresa discuss how thought leaders can make this world a better place by thinking of new ideas and ways to do things. Not everyone is comfortable with change, which is why effective thought leaders need to constantly learn and develop themselves in order to be more influential in their space. Listen An EE Voice listener and friend Laura Field had a terrific suggestion: Pull our top guest tips into one podcast. So here it is. Listen

On the Calendar

I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8. Details
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando. Details
I'll speak again at IABC's World Conference in June on the communication implications of an emerging technology. The conference is scheduled for Montreal from June 3-6. Details

HC+T Update: RIP Storify

2017-12-15T10:31:53Z

You're welcome to follow my link blog, which is where I collect the stories from which I choose the contents of the HC+T Briefing.

News

Storify is shutting down -- Storify, the curation tool that made it drop-dead easy to curate content around breaking news or issues, will shut down permanently on May 16. Users can still access Storify 2 if they pay for a Livefyre license. Takeaway: While I haven't used it in a while, Storify was my main curation tool for a couple years. It never took off the way it should have (though it was front-and-center in a couple breaking news situations), but its purchase by Livefyre was followed by Livefyre's acquisition by Adobe. In addition to lamenting Storify's demise, its shutdown is yet another object lesson in relying on a technology you don't own.Read more

Facebook pushes back against allegations it's destroying society -- An early Facebook executive claimed "the short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we've created are destroying how society works." Facebook's PR department pushed back noting the time that has passed since the exec left the company. "Facebook was a very different company back then, and as we have grown, we have realized how our responsibilities have grown too. We take our role very seriously and we are working hard to improve." Takeaway: It is interesting that Facebook is not denying any of the former executive's allegations and the executive in question later claimed he was talking about "the long-term effects of social media in general," not just Facebook. Read more

Twitter launches "threads" for posting tweetstorms -- Twitter's iOS and Android apps now include "threads," which lets you tap a plus ("+") button to enter the next section of your tweetstorm. You can include up to 280 characters in each segment and add the same amount and type of media (images, videos, etc.) to any tweet in the thread. You can also go back and edit any tweet in the thread. When you're done, tap "Tweet all" at the top. You can also add new tweets to the thread later. The current limit: 25 entries in a thread. Takeaway: Making it easier to send tweetstorms should encourage more people to create them. Expect a lot of fun twists on tweetstorms, especially from clever brands. Read more

Instagram adds ability to follow hashtags -- Now you can follow a hashtag on Instagram; it'll show up along with the posts and Stories in your feed. Advertisers won't have access to the hashtag-following feature for now, but Instagram "could sell brands on paying to have their posts inserted into a hashtag's feed or Story." Brands might also be able to create hashtags people could opt to follow. Hashtag hijacking could also become an issue, although Instagram is adding a "Don't Show for This Hashtag" option you can use if you find irrelevant or inappropriate hashtag-related content. Takeaway: Letting people find content by topic rather than person makes great sense to me. Brands don't have to sponsor a hashtag if they adopt one that pulls great content not just from their own feed but from others sharing similarly-themed posts. Whether brands use it or not, a lot of people are likely to follow hashtags related to topics they care about, which means brands should start paying attention to those hashtags people are following and add related content. Read more

Apple introduces new podcast analytics -- iTunes is still the top podcast source and to accommodate desire for better analytics as podcasts become mainstream, Apple has rolled out a beta of its new podcast analytics service. The tool lets podcasters "track unique devices and playback metrics for their podcasts, including when listeners drop off in the middle of a show." Takeaway: As podcasting becomes big business, better analytics are in demand for setting advertising rates and determining whether a show should be renewed, among other decisions. Read more

Ephemeral storytelling comes to Imgur -- The wildly popular photo and GIF-sharing site is "the latest to board the ephemeral storytelling train." Instagram was the first to copy the Snapchat feature, which has since become a staple on multiple apps and sites. Imgur's take -- called "Snacks" -- is available on Imgur's mobile app -- lets users watch a steady stream of GIFs. "The result is something that is similar to Vine." Takeaway: Stories are eating the world. Imgur's version is created by Imgur, not users, which further opens the door to brands adopting a similar feature on their apps and possibly even websites. Read more

Reddit gets friendlier with brands -- "Brands can now use Sprinklr to publish comments to Reddit's topic- based forums, or 'subreddits,' as well as to manage the private messages they receive from Reddit's users." Takeaway: Parts of Reddit are a cesspool, but the community is large and diverse. Reddit is also a bellwether for what could explode on the net, making it an appealing venue for companies to engage with people participating in very specific subreddits. If you use Sprinklr as your social media management system, you might want to take a closer look. Read more

Also...

Apple has acquired Shazam, the app that tells you what song you're listening to and gives you options for buying it. There could be several reason Apple is interested in Shazam, including a competitive edge for iTunes in its battle with the likes of Spotify and Google Play Music. Read more
Facebook is testing a privacy setting that lets you write a reply to a thread that can be seen only by pre- approved individuals. Read more
Google is "appsperimenting" with new ways to use its smartphone camera. Three free apps offer different ways to use images. The apps include a photo booth with pose-detecting powers (Selfissimo!), a way to remix videos like a DJ (Scrubbies), and a tool for turning any mundane adventure into a comic book panel (Storyboard). The apps are available for Android only. Read more
If you like metrics, you'll like the new Twitter feature that lets you see how many views a video on Twitter has received. Read more
Facebook has released " exclusive audio tracks and sound effects that can be used for videos uploaded to the network. They're all free and cleared for sharing only on Facebook and Instagram (read: not YouTube)." Read more
WhatsApp could introduce a standalone business app to make it easier for brands to communicate with customers. The app will also feature tools that let users control the experience, block business accounts, and report spam. I'm interested to see how they'll make the app and appealing download for consumers. Read more
Facebook is adding six-second pre-roll ads to dedicated video tabs, like Watch, but not to videos appearing in your News Feed. However, in another change, Facebook's algorithm is getting an update that will push videos from "publishers and creators that people actively want to watch" to the top of the News Feed. Read more

Research

Twitter's 280-character count is a hit -- Twitter's decision to double the character count for a tweet has taken a lot of criticism but the data suggests the critics are just a bunch of whiners. A study of 30,000 tweets found longer tweets were retweeted and liked more than those 140 characters or less. Takeaway: we may or may not be attention-challenged, but we like longer tweets. As long as you're not padding a tweet just to make it longer, having something to say with a little more substance could earn you higher levels of engagement.Read more

Journalists challenged by social media requirements -- New research from the Public Relations Global Network found that half of journalists worldwide say they have to produce video and create content for Facebook and Twitter in addition to doing their traditional jobs. Takeaway: For those of you working in media relations, this is useful knowledge. If your pitch can include the offer of ready-made video and Facebook/Twitter content, you may increase the likelihood of the reporter taking you up on the story. Read more

Distrust is costly -- Poor personalization and lack of trust in companies by consumers cost U.S. enterprises $756 billion last year, according to an analysis by Accenture, which also reported that 41% of consumers switched companies. Takeaway: Building trust with consumers should be a key objective of any reputation strategy. And study of the Edelman Trust Barometer should become a requirement. Read more

Google Analytics delivers more insights into customers -- Google Analytics is one of the best free measurement resources available for analyzing web activity. Google has announced four new features that deliver greater ability to measure the customer journey. Standard reporting will include "Users" instead of just "Sessions," reframing the data for ongoing engagement focus, "especially for instances where users visit multiple times, as opposed to just a total number of sessions." User Explorer lets you view the lifetime metrics and dimensions at the user level. Audience reporting lets you see a cross-channel view of audiences, just as you can create and publish Audiences to other platforms (like AdWords). Conversion Probability looks at data from past transactions to determine the likelihood that a user will convert in the future. Takeaway: Analytics just gets better and better, and Google offers outstanding free resources for you to get trained (and even certified) with Analytics. As communication becomes more data-driven, it would be worth your while to take the course. (I'm about halfway through it.) Read more

Trends

The return of sneakernet -- It's not a trend yet but it will be a big one if the FCC's vote repealing net neutrality is upheld (lawsuits to challenge it are no doubt being prepared). The ambiguity over the kind of traffic users will be permitted across provider networks will lead many to return to the days before the modern internet when we passed content around on discs. Imagine if you pay Netflix for a subscription but also have to pay AT&T or Comcast to deliver it. Prepare for everyone to figure out how to use VPNs, WiFi meshes, supernodes, and intelligent distributed cloud services. Just one example: "Imagine, for example, that you have an Amazon Fire TV, Roku, or Apple TV box in your living room. Instead of it being a strictly streaming device, it or your internet gateway device (router, etc) could have a large flash drive. That flash drive might not be able to store all of Amazon's, Apple's or Netflix's content, but it could easily cache the top 5 or 10 percent of it. And if you were to group a hundred or a thousand households together, virtually all of the content could be distributed across the nodes. You would simply need a cloud service to actually keep track of where the bits are located -- just as the way BitTorrent works. Data could be transmitted within the provider network without jumping onto the internet at all, and it could be done during off-hours, such as late at night when network utilization is low to make the use of network resources most effectively. Takeaway: None of this will happen overnight and there is still a chance the courts could continue to mandate net neutrality. If not, the internet as we know it will slowly vanish. It's not too soon to begin unpacking the consequences for the way your organization delivers content and consider alternatives.Read more

GoFundMe is redefining disaster relief -- Disaster victims have typically relied on the government, Red Cross, and insurance to deal with the immediate impact and long-term challenges of a disaster, such as the recent fires and hurricanes. GoFundMe has emerged as an alternative. "In the two months following Hurricane Harvey, GoFundMe and its sister site, CrowdRise, managed to funnel $65 million to victims and charities. (The Red Cross, by way of comparison, authorized $190 million in direct financial assistance over roughly the same time frame.)" Takeaway: Crowdsourcing has been around as an online activity about as long as social media but hasn't gotten the same attention. If it can change the face of disaster relief, though, where else could it be used to change the current way of doing things? Read more

Web design trends for 2018 -- If you're planning on launching or redesigning a website this coming year, it's worth your while to look at the trends Design Shack anticipates will infuse sites. These include asymmetrical grids (splitting visual elements with a more asymmetrical grid pattern), more bright color, bottom sticky elements (the tiny ads at the bottom of apps will show up at the bottom of web pages), voice and natural language search, fluid shapes, subtle animation, the adoption of SVG images, split-screen design patterns, scrolling animations, and white space without minimalism. Takeaway: As always, avoid employing any of these just because it showed up on a list. Some could be single-year trends. But as you explore approaches for your site, keep these in mind should any of them serve your goals. Read more

Video chats on Messenger take off -- The number of video chats conducted on Facebook's Messenger app doubled to 17 billion in 2017. Emoji and GIF use also surged (with 500 billion emojis and 18 billion GIFs shared) and group chats have gone mainstream. Takeaway: Have you started cobbling together a messaging strategy? If these numbers don't convince you that messaging adoption is no fluke or short-term trend, nothing will. Read more

Sounds of airplanes affect the taste of food -- More industries and companies are coming to terms with the importance of audio. It's not as sexy as AR, chatbots, or Alexa skills, but it matters. The latest to figure this out: the airline industry. Research found that blistering decibels of noise on airplanes dulls certain tastes, such as sweetness. But oddly, they discovered that umami, the savory taste, didn't just seem to be immune to heightened noise levels. Umami flavor may be enhanced by loud background noises. It's perhaps why tomato juice constitutes 27% of all drink orders on airplanes; people crave the umami-rich beverage on flights despite not drinking it elsewhere." Takeaway: It seems counterintuitive to wonder about the impact audio could have on your business, but it could be a worthwhile exercise. Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Smart Audio, and Chatbots

Nearly half of us use digital voice assistants -- Forty-six percent of U.S. adults say they are using voice-controlled digital assistants to interact with smartphones and other appliances (like the Amazon Alexa suite of products). The smartphone is the most common way Americans use these tools; 42% said they use them this way. Eight percent use voice assistants on a stand-alone device like the Amazon Echo or Google Home. The main reason people use these tools? "These applications allow them to interact with their devices without using their hands." Takeaway: Voice will be the new interface to everything. As I noted in a webinar panel yesterday, I fear communicators will, once again, be the last to adopt this technology. Marketers and advertisers are already working to figure out where it fits for them.Read more

Mall of America launches chatbot, Alexa skill for the holidays -- Malls are dying everywhere, but the iconic Mall of America could attract business through a couple AI-driven technologies designed to help shoppers plan a visit. The chatbot works across multiple platforms, including the mall's website, mobile app, and Facebook page. The bot is also accessible through the family of Amazon Echo products so you can interact by voice instead of keypad. Takeaway: People will be far more inclined to simply ask a question than to search a website for an answer. The fact that Mall of America integrated the bot into an Alexa skill -- rather than create a separate, discrete skill -- is smart, providing access to conversation-driven information across multiple platforms. Read more

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Mozilla launches AR app -- The iOS WebXR Viewer from the folks behind the Firefox browser includes several programs; you can also use it to view content your create for using the WebXR standard, "which is yet to take root in the web development community." Takeaway: The more platforms, the better, since they will compete to make it easier "to build browser-based AR experiences, which would see them shift to the desktop from the smartphone." Anyone skilled in JavaScript with the Firefox browser on their PC could create their own AR apps.Read more

Facebook opens AR platform to developers -- Facebook is letting any developer to build AR experiences for Facebook Camera that parallel the Snapchat experience. The offering includes "World Effects," similar to Snapchat's World Lenses, which augment scenes beyond selfies. Takeaway: Given the larger population of Facebook users, this could give a lift to AR, especially if developers come up with some nifty augmentations. It's free, so if you have access to a developer, you might want to try an experiment or two. Read more

Snapchat rolls out Lens Studio -- As Facebook opened up its AR platform, Snapchat also unveiled the ability for anyone to create AR Lenses. Lens Studio is a downloadable tool that lets creative types develop AR apps. Takeaway: See the takeaway above. Ditto. Read more

Google introduces AR Stickers (for Pixel Phone only) -- This looks truly cool. With AR Stickers, you choose from the stickers available (they are characters and objects from popular culture, like Star Wars and Stranger Things), put them on the camera screen where you want them to appear, then take the picture. The resulting photo looks like the object actually exists in that space. The Stickers aren't a discrete app; they're built into the Pixel and Pixel 2 camera app. Takeaway: Should these take off (and expand to other phones), it's easy to see how marketers beyond those working in movies and TV could take advantage of it. Just imagine adding Chester Cheetah to a photo you're taking, for example. You'd share that, wouldn't you? Read more

Blockchain

Blockchain as a human rights tool -- Denmark is exploring blockchain as a tool for use in humanitarian aid that could be used to move funds via cryptocurrencies. As a donor country, Denmark is looking at transferring money faster to areas where it's needed, eliminating middlemen and fees. Legal papers that are part of the process can be digitized "to combat corruption and ensure a more effective development aid and better protection of the rights of marginalized groups." Takeaway: With the number of blockchain startups that emerged in 2017, expect 2018 to bring us a surge of adoption. Ensuring aid money goes where it's supposed to is one outstanding use. I expect the World Bank, the International Monetary Funds, and other such organizations are considering blockchain as a way to ensure money goes to projects and not into the pockets of politicians.Read more

December 15, 2017
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The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

Doug Haslam and Ike Pigott joined me for this week's FIR podcast to talk about a study that finds most employees don't think their real-world job experience matches their employers' brands; a small craft brewer called a new beer Dilly Dilly and got a special cease-and-desist from Bud Light; LinkedIn is letting Slideshare fall into obscurity, YouTube's algorithm for finding objectionable content is sweeping up innocent creators; and brands are secretly buying their way into posts on sites that use contributor networks. Dan York reports on a Mars Edit update, a keyboard data breach, Apple's latest acquisition, and a blockchain-based encyclopedia. Listen
On the latest episode of Inside PR, Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley and Martin Waxman talk about the dominance of Facebook and Google, their centrality as media platforms and the importance of maintaining the threat of legislative and regulatory action to ensure that they operate in the interest of the public as well as their shareholders. Listen
Paul and David see numerous surveys, especially at this time of year. Many are just deleted because they aren't newsworthy or have one or more serious flaws. So we put together this quick podcast that can help you craft better surveys and hopefully get the media's attention for next year's roundups. It's on episode #86 of FIR B2B. Listen
In the latest episode of Young PR Pros, the hosts discuss the benefits of big data and uncover when is the best time to use data, and when is the best time to trust your gut. Listen
In this week's Digital India, Suresh had three gentlemen from Nagpur on the podcast to discuss their journey to Digital Marketing.Listen

On the Calendar

I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8.
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando.
My proposal to speak at the 2018 IABC World Conference has been accepted. As usual, I'll talk about the communication implications of a new, emerging technology. The date isn't set yet, but the conference will run from June 3-6 in Montreal.

HC+T Update: Does your employer brand align with reality?

2017-12-08T10:10:02Z

You're welcome to follow my link blog, which is where I collect the stories from which I choose the contents of the HC+T Briefing.

News

Video game aims to replace prescription medications -- An ungodly number of children take medications for ADHD but the developers of a video game have demonstrated that playing it delivers the same benefits without the side effects. "In a study of 348 children between the ages of 8 and 12 diagnosed with ADHD, those who played Akili’s action-packed game on a tablet over four weeks saw statistically significant improvements on metrics of attention and inhibitory control, compared to children who were given a different action-driven video game designed as a placebo. The company plans next year to file for approval with the Food and Drug Administration." Takeaway: The idea of a video game getting FDA approval as treatment for a medical condition is mind-blowing. It's also not the only game being put to this purpose. A VR game in a winter-like landscape has been shown to give relief to burn victims. Once these treatments go mainstream, expect more to follow.Read more

YouTube reveals four-step plan for providing brand safety -- After a host of companies suspended YouTube advertising after their ads were published alongside pedophile-friendly videos, the company announced a four-step action plan for ensuring brand safety. "The action plan includes hiring more people to review content, expanding its use of machine learning to vet content, creating a regular report that will provide more transparency around how it goes about removing videos and comments that violate its policies, and implementing stricter advertising criteria to give marketers more peace of mind about where their ads are running." Takeaway: One hopes this is just the beginning. Companies selling advertising by algorithm will face increased scrutiny from companies concerned about their reputations. If your company advertises online and hasn't looked into where your ads are showing up, now's the time. Read more

Walmart drops "Stores" and hyphen from its name -- Effective February 1, Wal-Mart Stores will officially be just plain old Walmart. The legal company name is only used in a few places, but the decision to formalize the Walmart name is based on the increasing volume of business the company does online. Takeaway: Renaming to expand the definition of what a company does is nothing new. AARP used to stand for American Association of Retired Persons, but with memberships available to anybody 50 and over, the organization serves a lot more than just retirees. My own company recently dropped "Builders" from its name; it's just Webcor, leaving room to engage in related activities beyond just construction. Read more

Facebook introduces messaging app for kids -- Messenger Kids is for the under-13 set, letting them text, send videos and photos, draw on pictures and add stickers. Parents have to okay whom kids engage with and Facebook swears data collection will be limited and kids won't be advertised to. The company worked with children's advocacy organizations (among others) to develop the app. Takeaway: Like it or not, kids under 13 are using apps of all kinds and knowing how to engage online is a skill they should have in hand by the time they reach that age. Parents should take a very active role in their kids' messaging activities, but banning it outright just doesn't make sense anymore. Read more

Instagram is moving Direct messaging to a separate app -- A new standalone app from Instagram will separate Direct Messages from the main app. Users in six countries will participate in a test, including Chile, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, and Uruguay. The app has a heavy Snapchat vibe: "When users open it, the camera pane will open, emphasising the app's focus on creating new material (photos and videos) to share." Takeaway: This app adds a third messaging app to Facebook's Messenger and WhatsApp. You might be inclined to think that Facebook recognizes the shift to messaging is a big deal. Read more

Also...

Google has withdrawn support for YouTube on Amazon streaming-media devices like the Echo Show and the Amazon Fire TV. It's retaliation for Amazon's decision to include the YouTube app you find on Amazon devices aren't made by Google and Amazon doesn't sell some Google products like the Chromecast or Google Home. Read more
Stories Highlights is a new Instagram feature that lets users showcase collections of their old Stories on their profile pages. The new feature will show up in a horizontal carousel near the top of your profile page. "There is no limit on how many Stories Highlights can be displayed on an account's profile page." Read more
Facebook has a test running in several countries allowing people to log in using a QR code. Read more

Trends

Hollywood is using promoted tweets to link to earned content -- Marketers have used an interesting technique to promote new movies: They're promoting tweets from the studios, but rather than link to a ticket-buying site, they link to articles about the movie. The promoted tweet for "The Disaster Artist" links to a Variety cover story; the one for "Lady Bird" links to a Glamour piece. "Using earned media coverage in paid ad campaigns has grown in popularity over the last few years." Takeaway: Why aren't more PR people doing this?? The "P" in PESO (paid, earned, shared, and owned media) can be applied brilliantly by drawing attention to the credible reporting of mainstream media about your company or product.Read more

Research

Think employee communication is working? Think again -- Only 19% of employees worldwide believe that their life at work is aligned with the picture the company paints. A Weber Shandwick report paints a dismal picture that could affect reputation, the employer brand, and the ability to recruit and retain key staff. There is good news in the report, though. Seventy-four percent of employees report "marginal alignment" between their employers' branding and their real-world experiences while only 7% said there is no alignment at all. Takeaway: There's room for improvement in these numbers, but clearly internal communicators need to take action to move the needle. What we've been doing up until now is not producing the kind of results our companies need.Read more

Don't read internal communication and drive -- More than 40% of drivers admit they use their phones while driving and the reason is often the need to consume and respond to company communication. An employee who is in an accident because they're on the phone for work could lead the company to be named in legal action. Takmisalieaway: If we claim to value employees' health and safety, we need to make sure they understand that the company expects them to put the phone down while they're driving. That sounds like a communication campaign to me, which should also include managers who need to know that calling or texting employees when they might be in the car is a really bad idea. Read more

Disney rethinks marketing based on research about dads -- Media and advertising portray dads as hapless, overworked, and absent. Research found differently, that dads play an important role in the family. The fact that Disney's marketing was out of whack with dads' perceptions of their role has led The Walt Disney Company to realign its advertising and marketing to recognize that role. Disney is also urging other companies to follow suit. Takeaway: It will be heartening to dads everywhere to see a more positive image conveyed in marketing, which could deliver greater revenue. I'm more impressed by the fact that Disney is sharing those research results with other companies (including competitors) as a way to address an inequity. Unilever did the same with research into gender stereotyping in advertising. More companies behaving this way could result in serious shifts to more positive public perceptions across the board. Since the research was done in Europe and Asia -- and explained by Disney's chief marketer in the UK -- I can only hope that the North American operations get the message. Read more

What do first-time Internet users do? -- Twelve percent of American adults still haven't connected to the Net. So what do they do when they first get online? In addition to taking the Pew Research survey that brought them there, 33% played games, 26% got news, another 26% took pictures or videos, 21% used an app, and 19% browsed the internet. That means access did not generally lead people to do more online exploration. Takeaway: First-time internet users are an interesting group to consider attracting. If you can target messaging that will get them online in the first place, your content could be the first thing they see, just as Pew's survey was the first thing this group did. Read more

Also...

Nearly 40% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets next year. Only 5% say they're reducing influencer marketing budgets. Of those marketers who currently use influencer marketing (86% of those surveyed), 92% found it effective. Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Smart Audio, and Chatbots

Pinterest has a chatbot on Messenger -- Messenger users can search Pinterest for specific pins without having to leave Messenger. You'll be able to pick a category and see a carousel of related pins or type a search query as a message to the bot. Additionally, if you click on a pin sent through Messenger, that pin will now open in Messenger rather than open a Pinterest session. Currently, people share about 1 million pins weekly from Pinterest to Messenger. Takeaway: It is increasingly evident that you'll be able to do pretty much anything you want from within messaging apps, with chatbots providing much of the functionality. There is word that Facebook is also working on an Alexa competitor, which means you'll be able to interact with Messenger simply by talking, with visual responses sent to your phone. The transition to a whole new interface to data and information is well underway.Read more

Most Messenger bots suck, but... -- Only 4% of people who engage with a Messenger bot are still engaging with it a week later. Blame a lot of bots that were rushed without a strategy just so a company could claim to have a bot. It doesn't have to be that way. A DIY site for homeowners called Hometalk delivers a home improvement idea weekly (more if you want). You're invited to connect with the bot when you visit the company's Facebook page. The bot's one-week retention rate is a jaw-dropping 83.61%; after a month, 46.62% of users are still sticking with it. The secret really isn't a secret, according to the company's CEO: Deliver high quality content that people find interesting and compelling. Takeaway: The disappointment over the early batch of bots shouldn't surprise anyone. After all, how many awful websites are there? A good chatbot will attract and retain users who engage with your brand one-to-one. Read more

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Bitmoji from McDonald's steals a McCafe -- Bitmojis (animated personal emojis) are hot. McDonald's has jumped into the bitmoji world with the first use of the fad on Snapchat. The AR feature is designed to push McCafe products. Users can have the bitmoji avatar they've created sneak onto the screen and steal a cup of McCafe coffee. Takeaway: Another example of worlds colliding: bitmoji and Augmented Reality. We'll see lots more of these mashups as the various consumer-focused technologies get more and more common. George Carlin once said that if you nail together two things that have never been nailed together before, some schmuck will buy it. Be the first to mash two technologies together as McDonald's has and you'll get some serious first-move attention.Read more

Also...

A Snapchat AR lens like the one employed by McDonald's (mentioned above) costs between $500,000 and $1 million per day. Read more

December 8, 2017
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The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

David Spark and Ryan Williams joined me for this week’s FIR podcast to talk about a few of Henry Blodget’s 14 predictions about the future of media; a few of David Spark’s list of 10 ways companies annoy us that they don’t know about (or do they?); whether internal communicators still need to keep proving their value; how one media company managed its digital transformation by recognizing that being digital means giving people a voice; and what Salesforce is up to bringing high-profile speakers to Dreamforce who have nothing to say about CRM. In his Tech Report, Dan York reports on Snapchat’s new design, Twitter’s introduction of Twitter Lite, and Mozilla’s annual report (and its focus on its work for an open Internet). Listen
On episode 85 of FIR B2B, Ray Grady, President of CloudCraze, discusses findings from his company’s recent survey that found that B2B organizations are significantly growing their e-commerce presences and expect online sales to be the principal driver of future growth. Listen
You will not be the digital marketer in 2018 if you still follow the same old methodology. Google, Facebook, Amazon are already using AI and Machine learning in their day to day operations and activities. Get the story on this week's Digital India. Listen

On the Calendar

I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8.
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando.

HC+T Briefing: Splitting social from media

2017-12-03T20:55:00Z

The Wrap was delayed again this week as I settle into my full-time job. Thanks for your patience. You're welcome to follow my link blog, which is where I collect the stories from which I choose the contents of the HC+T Briefing.

The Wrap was delayed again this week as I settle into my full-time job. Thanks for your patience.

News

It's YouTube's turn to introduce Stories -- Whether Snapchat stands or falls, it should be remembered for launching the Stories trend. YouTube is the latest to adopt the wildly popular feature with "Reels," currently undergoing a test, is "YouTube’s spin on the popular 'stories' format, but designed specifically for YouTube creators," according to a senior product manager. Creators will be able to pick which of their videos to make available for 24-hours through Reels. Takeaway: Is your company producing Stories anywhere yet? Given their popularity, coming up with a Stories plan isn't a bad idea.Read more

End of net neutrality rules will hit marketing -- One expert says the impact of the FCC ending the definition of internet providers as common carriers will be "profound." One example: freemium marketing has been built on the idea of uniform availability. Everyone who found your company could sign up as part of their modest monthly internet fee. Without net neutrality, however, some companies may find themselves blocked because they compete with a similar offering from the blocking ISP. Or they may have to pay an access fee to reach potential customers, thus boosting the price of freemium’s formerly low-cost strategy. Or some customers may have to pay a lot more to use the free product, especially if it involves video." Takeaway: And that's just one likely effect. Others affect inbound marketing and content marketing. There is still time to voice your support for net neutrality. Read more

Bots invade FCC's comment system -- Just as bots were employed in efforts to influence voters in the 2016 elections in the U.S., the comment system used for public feedback on FCC proposals has been infiltrated. More than 1 million comments in favor of repealing net neutrality rules originated from spambots. Takeaway: Elections were just the beginning. Any organization soliciting public input needs to be vigilant for automated attempts to game the system. Read more

YouTube ads appear near pedophile comments -- Brand safety was front and center in the news again as advertisers suspended their YouTube advertising after learning their ads had been placed alongside videos that seemed to attract pedophile viewers. Mars, Adidas, and Diageo were among those who stopped advertising on YouTube. Takeaway: It's another example of introducing a technology and dealing with its shortcomings later. It's also an opportunity for other media -- from traditional channels to companies selling sponsored content, to tout their advantages. Read more

Facebook suspends ad targeting used to discriminate -- It has been possible to use Facebook's audience targeting to exclude people based on race. The company said it will investigate how the feature could be used to discriminate and how it can prevent the practice. Takeaway: In the tech world, the pace of innovation has led to an implement-first mentality. Once issues like this are identified, tech companies need to fix them quickly before more damage is done. Read more

Snapchat rolls out major redesign -- Snapchat's new design simplifies the platform with three main windows (camera, friends page, and Discover page) that separate social interactions from content produced by media organizations and verified celebrities. "the new Snapchat separates all interactions with friends in a section of the app to the left of the camera. That includes messaging threads and so-called Stories — photos and videos someone shares, shown in chronological order, that disappear in 24 hours." Takeaway: I have heard from many people that they favor Instagram because it's easier to figure out. Finally giving in to the feed idea could bring some new users to Snapchat (and bring some defectors back). The question is whether Snapchat is now too much like competitors to offer anything compelling enough for people to abandon their existing networks. If the move pays off, it will be in large part because of the content play rather than the social media features. Read more

Viral grassroots protest plays out on Reddit -- When big news breaks, it's not unusual for Reddit's home page to be swamped with posts about it emerging from bit subreddits. But the swarm of posts calling out U.S. Senators who took donations from big telecom companies and remained silent on the FCC's net neutrality plans emerged from smaller communities. Most began with words to the effect of "This is my representative, and they sold out this nation to the telecom lobby for _____ dollars." Takeaway: Pay attention to this aside from the net neutrality debate. Aggregation of protests from smaller venues could add a powerful voice to public issues. Either Reddit will need to become more mainstream or the Facebooks and Twitters of the world will provide the aggregation before "aggregate protest" becomes a thing. Read more

Snickers "Hungerithm" comes to America -- After a successful run in Australia, Snickers' "Hungerithm" is being introduced to Americans. "The algorithm checks social media posts in real time against a list of 3,000 commonly used words and phrases, including slang, to determine sentiment and capture a snapshot of how people are feeling. It also generates prices for Snickers bars that vary according to the internet's mood." Takeaway: I don't usually post items about ad campaigns, but Snickers' use of data to produce a real-time dashboard of sorts is a demonstration of what we can do with data. It requires a new way of thinking as well as new skills. Read more

Also...

Facebook is testing a Messenger tool that will "that businesses would be able to use to send message blasts to people who had conversed with their accounts." Read more
Amazon has introduced a new suite of five video processing tools, part of AWS Media Services, designed to help any organization with or considering video services build, service and monetize video streams. Read more
Vine could be making a comeback. Its founder says he's working on a follow-up to Vine, which will probably include many of the features developers and viewers loved about the original, including the six-second limit. Read more
Facebook has published an ad policy manifesto designed to ensure that (as COO Sheryl Sandberg put it) "our platforms (are) a place where people connect with the businesses they care about in safe and meaningful ways." Read more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is concerned about a growing number of reports of deleted negative reviewed on TripAdvisor. Read more
Responding to a request from Congress, Facebook will introduce a tool to its online support center that will show people which Russian propaganda pages and accounts they have followed and liked. Read more

Trends

What's the future of media? -- Henry Blodget, Business Insider CEO and former head of Merrill Lynch's internet research team, unveiled "14 things you'll want to know about the future of media." Among them: there's not much more time people can spend with media (daily media and tech consumption will only grow 18 minutes over the next five years), ad spending on podcasts is accelerating, the idea that a "pivot to video" will save traditional publishers "is nuts," smart speakers and autonomous vehicles won't account for a lot more media consumption, Augmented Reality will be bigger than Virtual Reality, and "social stories" represent an area for significant growth. Takeaway: Good insights with a lot of detail in a 49-page deck on the big changes happening in media. The potential for growth of "social stories" suggests communicators who have figured out the "paid" part of the PESO model could get some serious support that used to go to traditional advertising.Read more

Companies are renewing the podcasts they sponsor -- Content renewal overall is about 40%, but companies are renewing the podcasts they pay for at a much higher rate. Branded shows produced by podcast production companies like Gimlet Creative and Pacific Content are being green-lit for new seasons by companies like Tinder, McAfee, Prudential, and Slack. Companies are spending as much as $1 million for a season of shows designed to reach niche audiences that often have a reach only in the high five figures. Takeaway: Podcasting has always been about reaching niches, just as micro-influencers -- a current favorite marketing channel -- wield greater influence over smaller groups of followers. Read more

Companies embrace Instagram business profiles -- A business profile is to Instagram what a Page is to Facebook, and 10 million of them have been established since July, bringing the total to about 25 million. "Eighty percent of Instagram’s 800 million monthly users follow a business, and roughly 40 percent of the 500 million people who check Instagram daily view at least one business’s profile." Takeaway: Instagram is also the platform of choice for influencers. Given the struggles to attain reach on Facebook, maybe some of those resources would be better invested in Instagram. Read more

Amazon's influencer network is struggling -- Amazon Spark seemed like such a good idea, a social network that paired influencers with retailers. Launched in July, the network hasn't attracted people recognized as influencers, with 74% responding to a query reporting that they were unsure whether they'd have a presence on Spark during the 2017 holiday season. Only 22% plan to be on the network. Takeaway: I'm not sure this isn't just a slow-growth channel. It's too soon to write off Amazon's Spark, but Instagram remains the clear choice and Spark has to offer a reason for influencers to change or spend extra time on one more network. Read more

Research

Celebrities don't impress Millennials -- A survey of millennial internet users found that they were either indifferent to celebrity endorsements or saw them negatively. An earlier survey found that only 22.1% of adult internet users could be influenced to buy from an unknown brand from a celebrity. Takeaway: If your organization is thinking of spending money on a celebrity endorser, you may want to reconsider. Celebrity endorsements will never vanish but may be in decline.Read more

Also...

Facebook owns four of the top five downloaded apps in the third quarter. Only Snapchat wasn't a Facebook property. The others: Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Smart Audio, and Chatbots

Alexa goes to work -- Amazon has introduced Alexa for Business, which will let companies build their own skills and integrations. The conference room is the first target for Alexa for Business, which is working with big-name audio conferencing providers like Polycom. "There are also more practical uses for Alexa in a work setting, such as changing the temperature in a particular conference room or turning the lights on and off. Plus, Alexa for Business has all the same capabilities as a regular old Echo, letting users get information about news, weather, set timers and alarms, and ask questions." Takeaway: Not to mention that the "drop-in" feature would let anybody call anybody else in the company simply by saying, "Drop in on Bob." With the addition of a few more features (like the ability to leave a voice mail), smart speakers could make the office phone obsolete.Read more

Voice is the key disruption -- With the announcement of Alexa for Business, Amazon has planted a flag on the future of voice. The company's CTO "described a future that isn't as distant as it once was, where surgeons can talk to equipment while performing surgery, or parents can 'scream' at their devices while dealing with a busy schedule." Takeaway: Start planning for voice technology. Ignoring smart audio now is like ignoring the web in 1998. It will be the interface to much of the AI and other technologies that are becoming central to communications. Read more

Also...

Starting in early 2018, developers will be able to build Alexa skills that recognize unique human voices. Echo devices will be able to deliver tailored information based on knowing whose voice in the household (and eventually the office) it's hearing. Read more
"The CMO's Guide to AI's marketing impact for 2018" offers steps to help get ready for the proliferation of AI tools in the marketing space. Read more

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

1 million VR headsets ship in one quarter -- It's a milestone: a million VR headsets were shipped in 2017's third quarter, a first for the product category. Sony was at the top of the heap, shipping 490,000 of its Playstation VR product. Oculus shipped 210,000 headsets and HTC's Vive accounted for 160,000. Takeaway: VR is gaining a strong foothold in Japan, which is often a harbinger of tech trends in the west. I still think it's appeal will largely be in niches (especially gaming and training), but that doesn't mean it won't become a staple of those niches. More VR now also means greater receptivity to Mixed Reality when headsets become available to consumers.Read more

Amazon launches browser tool for building AR, VR experiences -- Sumerian is an in-browser tool developers can use "to put 3D models together in scenes for use in VR and AR applications. It includes an object library full of models that people can put to use." Takeaway: The easier it gets to create AR and VR experiences, the more (and more variety) we'll see, giving people more reasons to use it. Communicators would be wise to identify developers who know how to use these tools, especially since access to tools like this should drive down the cost of development. Read more

Blockchain

Blockchain pets -- Cryptokitties lets you buy, breed, and sell a virtual cat whose lineage is maintained on a blockchain. Takeaway: The fact that somebody may be set to make money from a frivolous use of blockchain technology suggests it's getting more mainstream. At some point, the product will matter more than the fact that it's using blockchain, which will just become infrastructure.Read more

Report introduces "asset chains" -- A report from the Blockchain Research Institute has identified a huge opportunity for the technology to overhaul the way supply chains work, removing "non-value adding" intermediaries that exist to establish trust between organizations that trade with each other. "These new supply chains are autonomous, distributed, and cognitive," the report predicts, based on a foundation of "'asset chains,' which provide a framework for machines to participate autonomously in supply chains and the markets they serve." Takeaway: These intermediaries include some big companies. Communicators need to be ready to explain the threat and what the company is doing to address it. Read more Also...

A cryptocurrency startup has partnered with more than 20 companies, including Microsoft and Fujitsu, "to launch the first publicly accessible data marketplace for the Internet of Things." The marketplace will be powered by a blockchain. Read more
Blockchain can have an impact on newsrooms, "making sure that rights are obeyed, authors get fair payment, and that content is distributed as widely as possible, should be taken off their hands," and leaving media organizations free to focus on "recognising and commissioning talent, being an editorial brain through directing coverage, and aggregating different types of content into a package." Read more

December 4, 2017
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The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

Jennifer Zingsheim Phillips and Lynette Young joined me for last week’'s FIR podcast to talk about when to send your Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotional emails if you want customers to actually open them; whether Google and Twitter (or media outlets) could introduce provenance to facts in order to help readers know when what they are reading is true; the growing importance of “brand safety” to chief marketing officers; how Honda is using Facebook ad targeting for something other than selling cars; and the success of some new digital ad formats — including VR, AR, 360-degree video, and interactive content. Dan York’s tech report covers new data breaches, the latest update to the Gutenberg editor (which will be part of Wordpress 5.0), another Facebook appropriation of a SnapChat feature (this time it’s streaks), and the FCC’s plan to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules. Listen
On the latest Digital India, Suresh talks about how they come up with content for the Web Marketing Academy, discussing the WMA's failures, what worked and didn’t work, and why they choose not to have PowerPoint decks their classes or have an online course, along with why they don't do webinars. Listen
Sherrilynne Starkie, host of The Voice, chats with Annie Marsolais, BDC's marcoms vice president, following her recent presentation to IABC Ottawa. In this episode, we learn how BDC -- Canada's only bank devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs -- is transforming perceptions about its brand. Listen
In the latest episode of Thought Leader Life, Mitchell Levy exchanges insights with Robert Clancy (@GuideToSoul), the co-founder and managing partner of Spiral Design and bestselling author of "Soul Cyphers." Listen

On the Calendar

I'm in Boston as I type this. I'll deliver a pre-conference session tomorrow and a conference session on Tuesday at Ragan's intranet conference at IBM Watson's Boston offices.
I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8.
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando.

blog.holtz.com.

HC+T Briefing: Using ad targeting for good instead of evil

2017-11-22T09:53:16Z

There was no Briefing last Friday and you won't get one this coming Friday. (Tomorrow begins the four-day Thanksgiving weekend when nobody in the U.S. should be reading work-related email. Work-related email on a four-day holiday weekend is not one of the things for which you should be thankful! Instead, I'm combining the two Briefings into this special (extra-long) Wednesday edition. You're welcome to follow my link blog, which is where I collect the stories from which I choose the contents of the HC+T Briefing.

News

CompuServe's forums are shutting down -- A long time ago, I was an assistant sysop on CompuServe's PR & Marketing Forum (PRSIG). I even remember my CompuServe ID (76346,627). My memories of CompuServe -- even when it was all text -- are still good ones. There was a real community in the PRSIG, with real collaboration and genuine sharing. Of course, CompuServe is a footnote in the history of the digital world and its forums have been gone for all practical purposes for a long time. However, it turns out that the forums still existed in some format as part of Verizon (which acquired AOL, which had acquired CompuServe back in 1998, long after I'd stopped using it). Now, though, Verizon will eradicate those forums once and for all on December 15. Takeaway: I shall shed a tear. The world has moved on from CompuServe and its primitive interface, but there has been little to emulate the forums since. It was likely the fact that there were no alternatives back in the day, which brought everybody who had figured out the value of online communication before 1990 and wanted to connect with others on business topics to this one gathering place. The range of options and tools that have followed are breathtaking and wonderful, but we pay a price for all that choice. Farewell, PRSIG.Read more

The end of Net neutrality -- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing to end Title II regulations on the Internet, returning it to an information service classification as opposed to a telecommunications one. The move opens the door for service providers to create “fast lanes,” delivering content faster for companies that pay for it and throttling the speeds of that that don’t (as long as they disclose it). Takeaway: This is a political football, but the simple fact is that companies like Google and Facebook may never have achieved their current levels of success if they had been subject to large fees in their early years just to have their content prioritized over the bigger companies (like Yahoo) who had the resources to afford it. Net neutrality ensures all content is treated the same—including your little startup that would struggle to find users frustrated by the slow speeds they’ll experience unless you pay up. Read more

Honda finds a non-ad use for audience targeting and it's brilliant -- More than 10 million vehicles in the U.S. haven't had repairs made that are necessary in the wake of the Takata air bag scandal. To reach owners of its vehicles that need fixing who haven't responded to recall notices, Honda plans to use Facebook's custom audience tool, usually used for selling stuff to people. Honda will use the tool "to match encrypted email addresses associated with recalled vehicle identification numbers to Facebook users." Takeaway: Who knew Facebook's advertising tools could be used for social good? Well, a lot of people, and it has been used to encourage people to register to vote, among other things, but this is the first time I have heard of a brand using it for something like this. I hope other companies are inspired to find their own non-commercial uses for audience targeting. Read more

Mixed messages around a Hannity boycott -- At first, brands seemed to be uniting around calls for a boycott of Fox News's Sean Hannity over his support of Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. But after tweeting their endorsement of the boycott (including plans to remove advertising from Hannity's show), some clarified their original messages and others deleted their tweets, especially after backlash aimed at Keurig in which Hannity fans shared videos of themselves destroying their Keurig devices. Takeaway: Where to begin? First, deleting a tweet does not mean nobody will see what you tweeted. Second, joining in a boycott is not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Brands need to consider the consequences and decide whether the decision is aligned with their values. Changing your mind at the first sign of disagreement will be worse than doing nothing, since those customers who care about what you stand for will now see you as opportunistic and uncommitted. Read more

Twitter's verification conundrum -- The blue mark that indicates Twitter has verified a user is something of a mystery, from how you get one to what it means. On its face, it seems like a simple enough concept. When you're verified, it means Twitter knows that you are who you say you are. But now, to fight online harassment, Twitter says it will remove verification badges from users who break its rules based on the notion that verification is more of an endorsement. Takeaway: Addressing harassment is a good thing, but I'm not sure messing with verification -- already confusing -- is the way to go about it, nor am I sure it will actually have the desired effect. It strikes me as another sign of Twitter's fumbling about for solutions to its many problems. In any case, the confusion has led Twitter to suspend issuing verifications. Read more

Twitter is testing a tweetstorm feature -- Twitter is testing a feature to let you create "tweetstorms" easily. Used to overcome Twitter's character count limit -- even 280 characters isn't enough for some diatribes -- the feature has its own interface for composing tweets one by one, then published as a tweetstorm by pressing a "Tweet All" button. Takeaway: Some tweetstorms represent some of the most entertaining content on Twitter. Making it easier to employ the workaround to crank out longer-form content could lead more people to use the format. That could be great or awful. Here's hoping communicators use it effectively, should it ever be released to everyone. Read more

TripAdvisor adds badge to hotels with reports on sexual assaults -- A new badge appears on TripAdvisor hotel listings where sexual assaults have been reported. The move comes in the wake of reports that the site deleted posts about such crimes against tourists in Mexico. The red banner will stretch across the top of the listings alerting tourists that a case has been reported and recommending travelers conduct some research. The badges will vanish after three months if new issues don't arise. Takeaway: It's a sign of the times. Hotels won't be happy but it should raise the level of trust and comfort for travelers who rely on TripAdvisor for hotel recommendations. Read more

Facebook Stories will invade your News Feed -- Facebook Stories haven't gained the kind of traction that Snapchat and Instagram Stories have, but Facebook is introducing new features it hopes will change that. You'll be able to tie Stories to specific Pages, events, and Groups. Stories from Instagram and Messenger will also appear at the top of your News Feed. While some people may hate that, it could lead others to start using Facebook Stories Takeaway: While I still haven't used Stories on any social platform personally, I'm all about Stories for marketing and communications. Adding your Stories to your company Page seems like a no-brainer, especially if you want to make that page a destination. Stories are immensely popular (just not on Facebook yet), and easy enough to maintain with low risk (since those images are ephemeral). Why more companies aren't using Stories eludes me.s Read more

Tech giants join Trust Project to fight fake news -- The Trust Project is a non-partisan effort that hopes to help users distinguish between reliable journalism and fake news. Facebook, Google, Bing, and Twitter have signed on, with "Trust Indicator" icons appearing on Facebook, giving users easy insight into the ethics and practices of a news organization whose content is shared on the social network. Takeaway: Whether users will click those links -- or trust what they see when they do -- remains to be seen. Every experiment produces insights, though, that hopefully will be used to produce something that makes a real difference. Read more

Pinterest introduces a proprietary QR code -- Pinterest is rolling out its own version of QR codes for retailers and brands to add to signs and displays. Open your Pinterest app and point it at a sign in a store in order to go directly to the associated pinboard. "It's another way of reducing friction to getting to the content from those brand or retailers on Pinterest." Takeaway: Remember everyone who said QR codes would never take off, that they're dead? Their utility is only continuing to explode, especially as it becomes easier for people to use their phones to connect with digital content from the physical world. Read more

Facebook livestreamers get new tools -- Facebook has unveiled new tools to help livestreaming creators manage, improve, and grow their presence. The iOS version of the Facebook Creator app is now available with an Android version to follow. The Facebook for Creators site is available now to everyone. The site offers tips on creating videos, connecting with fans, and growing on Facebook. The app lets users create videos, go live with exclusive features, and connect with their community from their smartphones. Takeaway: Live streaming is a huge part of Facebook's video strategy. Anything that makes it easier for people to stream great content benefits the creator and Facebook. Data supports the move: People are watching live-streaming video, which should be the focus of a strategy for many organizations. Read more

Also...

KFC follows up its 11 herbs and spices gag -- You no doubt remember the brilliant KFC ploy, following all five Spice Girls and five random guys named Herb on Twitter and waiting for someone to notice. The tweet from the guy who did went viral and led to all kinds of media attention. KFC has followed up by sending that guy a painting of Colonel Sanders carrying him on his back through an iconic American landscape. These guys are geniuses. Read more
Twitter increases username length -- You can now have a username of up to 50 characters. Some people actually have long names they'd like to use. For the rest of us, we can now add all the emojis we like to our Twitter usernames. Read more
Facebook hides ability to delete posts from some users -- We're not sure why, but some Facebook users can no longer find the ability to delete a post in their drop-down menu. To delete a post, they had to visit their activity log. Read more
Snapchat introduces audience targeting for filters -- Those filters Snapchat users overlay on their snaps can now target specific audiences. Brands sponsoring filters can make sure they're available based on location, interest, age, and time of day. Read more
LinkedIn expands lead generation forms to Sponsored InMail -- Lead generation forms are already available for sponsored posts. Now, you can add them to sponsored InMails, sending one-on-one messages to LinkedIn users with the form that collects data like names, email addresses, job titles, and other fields from their public profiles. Read more
Instagram may let you follow hashtags -- Right now, it's just a test, but some Instagram users are able to search for a hashtag and then follow it. Given the popularity of hashtags on Instagram, I suspect this will be a big hit if it goes beyond the test phase. Read more
Pinterest lets you create sections on boards -- Finally responding to its most-requested feature of all time, Pinterest has introduced the ability to create multiple sections within a single board. "You could have a single 'living room' board with separate sections for furniture, artwork, and lighting, rather than lumping them all in together or having to keep track of multiple boards." Read more

Trends

Facial recognition poised to change marketing -- The new iPhone features facial recognition as an identity verification mechanism. Down the road, consumers willing to share their facial expressions in response to brand messaging could find convenience improved, better targeted messaging, and even rewards for sharing the feelings revealed by their faces. Takeaway: We've all heard that 90% of communication is non-verbal and marketers would love to tap into all that non-verbal data. Thanks to AI, it looks like a distinct possibility.Read more

Snapchat gets more Facebook-like -- A redesign includes a personalized feed. Like Facebook (and, more recently, Twitter), Snap will use algorithms to populate the feed with relevant stories. And that's just one change Snapchat is making to mirror Facebook, which has suffered from poor stock performance as Facebook (and Facebook's Instagram) clone Snapchat's most popular features and siphon off users who prefer the less confusing interface of familiar apps. On the plus side, Snapchat's model prevented Russian hackers from exploiting it during the U.S. presidential election. Takeaway: You have to wonder how Snapchat's most fervent users -- teens -- will feel when it transforms into something more and more Facebook-like. I remain unconvinced that Snapchat will survive in the long run. That wouldn't prevent me from using it now as a marketing channel, especially if I'm trying to reach its biggest base of users. Read more

Research

Social media can drive long-term brand impact -- A study from multiple academic institutions found that brands that communicate via social media, "using human language, tapping into people's emotions and avoiding more functional words and phrases, tend to perform better in advertising effectiveness, on brand metrics such as aided brand awareness, ad awareness, and aided product awareness." Takeaway: Your social media campaign may not generate immediate sales, but your combined social media efforts can make sure people are aware of you.Read more

Instagram blows away the competition as influencers' preferred network -- A survey of influencers found that 93% find Instagram to be the social network where they've focused their attention in 2017; 82% expect to focus on it next year. YouTube is getting some attention, with only 3.2% focused on it this year but 12.2% planning to tap into it in 2018. Facebook is losing favor as an influencer venue, falling from 2.7% this year to 1.7% in 2018. Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest barely register among influencers, and Periscope didn't get a single mention. Takeaway: With influencers focused almost exclusively on Instagram, do you need any more evidence that your company should be taking your account more seriously? On the other hand, if your audience is elsewhere and influencer marketing is on your to-do list, you will need to find influencers who have juice in those alternate platforms. Read more

Quick response to a crisis maintains long-term reputation -- We knew this intuitively, but it's always nice when there's some data to support it, even if the data is a bit dodgy. B2B ratings and reviews firm Clutch established a relationship between how companies respond to crises and their ability to retain a strong brand reputation in the long term. A survey of 500 consumers familiar with crises that afflicted Pepsi, United Airlines, and Uber found that those that wait to respond to bad PR are more likely to lose customers. Newer companies can also lose customers in a crisis even if they respond quickly, mainly because their customer base is limited during their formative years. Takeaway: Respond quickly. Always. As a communicator, you know this. If you need to convince your leadership, this data could help. No CEO wants to lose customers. Read more

People don't trust Google Snippets -- When you search Google, you may get a summarized response to a query that appears above the list of results. A HubSpot survey finds only 7% of respondents consistently trust the featured snippet results. Twenty-one percent never trust them and 36% are neutral about them. The distrust is likely the result of snippets delivering information that only partially answers the query -- or doesn't answer it at all. Takeaway: Not that there's anything you can do about it if information from your website turns up in a snippet. Consider this a Google feature that needs some work. Read more

Also...

What's the perfect headline count? -- Between 90 and 99 characters, according to a study from Polar, a branded content technology company. That produces the best click-through rate (which is still just .43%). "Performance trended upward as the number of characters increased. Titles between 10 and 19 characters had the lowest CTR, which was .12%" Read more
Time spent on Facebook drops -- Facebook users are spending less time on the social network. It's still the king of social networks, attracting more visits and more time spent than any other platform, but the number of visits and the time spent per visit is dropping, according to a number of studies. Read more

Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality

Facebook News Feed now hosts VR content -- Brands are injecting VR-enabled posts into the Facebook News Feed. Using Facebook's React VR web development framework, Sony has produce a VR film to promote its upcoming "Jumanji" movie. The UK's National Gallery posted an interactive virtual tour of a new museum wing, with users able to click or tap on individual paintings to reveal information about them. The capability is currently open only to a few companies. Takeaway: The fact that you can interact with this content on the screen without a headset -- or put on a headset and get the full effect -- could move some people further down the VR funnel. "I gotta try this with a headset" could be the reaction that pushes some people into making the headset purchase.Read more

AR will transform city life -- The indexing of the real world, and making it available so all you have to do is point your phone to get information on what's nearby, will change what it means to live in (or visit) a city. The impact will be felt on everything from commutes to dealing with the variety of languages that co-exist in big cities. Takeaway: For an early example, read the next item. Read more

Visiting Houston made easy, thanks to AR -- The Visit Houston AR app delivers information about businesses nearby overlaid on the live video your phone's camera sees. Right now, it shows eateries, lodging, and tourist spots, but more is coming. The takeaway: I'd be surprised if it takes more than a year or two for every major city -- and some second-tier cities -- to have such VR apps for smartphones and headsets. Of course, as the article notes, Yelp's Monocle tool has been doing the same thing for years. Read more

AR is struggling to scale -- As noted above, AR is bound to become commonplace but for the time being, it's not taking off, especially in retail where it was thought to make a big impact. IKEA and a few others have bought in, but for many retailers, the initial investment and the inability to demonstrate ROI are barriers. It's also new enough that it's hard to figure out where it fits in strategically. Again, there are exceptions, like Sephora's Virtual Artist app, "which lets customers try on different makeups and colors prior to buying them...[providing] actual value to customers who can pick and choose based on broader product knowledge. It also saves Sephora associates time." Takeaway: Don't let AR's early struggles fool you, but you may want to wait until it has found its place in our mobile infrastructure before making an investment for your brand. At the very least, come up with a strategic plan (like Sephora did) rather than simply succumbing to AR's novelty. Read more

Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots, and Smart Audio

How's your chatbot doing? -- Chatbase can help you figure that out. Opened to developers by Google, Chatbase is a dashboard that "pulls together data from several reporting options that track user growth, engagement, and retention and measure(s) results across platforms...Chatbase can help to identify consumer requests that are not handled well." It's free and works with any platform or type of bot. Takeaway: Measuring the effectiveness of a bot will lead to improvements to existing bots and will entice others to give them a try. Given how easy they have become to build, we should be at the beginning of another surge of new chatbots.Read more

New voice app tools from Google -- Google has unveiled some features to make it easier for developers to create voice apps for Google's AI assistant, including Implicit Discovery, which lets you say something like, "I need to book a flight," to which Google would respond with the best flight-booking tool (like Kayak). "I need a ride" could connect you instantly with Uber or Lyft. (Amazon's Alexa platform already does this.) Other enhancements include categories (such as "Order Food") and new badges in the app store that show whether a voice app is family friendly or supports non-English languages. Takeaway: Catching up with Alexa will be vital if Google hopes to compete (which it clearly does). Expansion into languages like Portuguese and Spanish will help boost Google's footprint in the smart audio space. Both Amazon and Google recognize that smart audio is vital as more and more people interact with devices that have no visual interface. Read more

Amazon joins open-source AI effort -- By introduce a way to import Open Neural Network Exchange deep learning models into Apache, Amazon has signaled it's joining Facebook and Microsoft in their efforts to make AI an open-source resource. "Basically, this allows AI developers to keep models but switch networks, as opposed to starting from scratch," according to a TNW article. Google and Apple have yet to get on the open-source train, however. Takeaway: As the article notes, startups and universities creating machine learning technology need to be able to share their work unencumbered by incompatible formats. The open-source effort means these technologies will advance faster and become part of our lives sooner. Read more

Also... Broadcast a message to every Google Home in the house -- A new Google Home feature will let you broadcast a message to all of the Google Home smart audio devices in your house but saying, "Ok, Google, broadcast..." It's great for letting everyone know you're on your way home or asking if someone could check to make sure the oven is off (for instance). If you say, "Ok, Google, it's dinner time," a dinner bill will ring, one of several "delightful sounds.)" Read more

Blockchain

Blockchain's role in the future of digital marketing -- Bots are behind half of all digital ad traffic, but the ability of those ads to lead to sales will increase when marketers can target an ad to an individual, which blockchain and smart contracts will enable. With users deciding just how much data to release to advertisers -- in exchange for a micropayment for an advertiser using that data -- the advertiser can then send an ad to that user based on the information the user has provided. Takeaway: That's just one way marketers can use blockchain. Influencers represent another, with the smart contract withholding payment if a blogger hasn't yet written about the company.Read more

American Express blockchain "corridor" speeds trans-Atlantic payments -- American Express has opened a "payments corridor" that lets payments between the UK and the U.S. occur in a few seconds, dramatically reducing the current transaction time of a day or two while improving the transaction's security. Takeaway: Disintermediated from the transaction is Belgium-based Swift, which 11,000 financial institutions in 200 countries use to handle financial communications between institutions. Blockchain will render Swift useless. It's far from the only organization that blockchain will disrupt. Read more

Fujitsu opens tech to facilitate transactions between blockchains -- It was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to get different blockchains to work together. Fujitsu has introduced ConnectionChain, designed to handle financial transactions between blockchains. Takeaway: There is undoubtedly utility in inter-blockchain transactions beyond money -- Fujitsu already says it will expand the tech "beyond currency exchange to areas such as high-trust data exchanges between companies" -- but what's important here is that this will speed blockchain's adoption for financial activities. Communicators working in financial services need to get ready to communicate about the disruption the industry is facing. Read more

92% of blockchain projects launched last year are dead -- According to Deloitte, only 8% of the 26,000 blockchain-based projects launched in 2016 remain active. Takeaway: Don't take this as a sign of blockchain failure. These are open-source projects which have a ridiculously high rate of abandonment across all kinds of projects and, as Deloitte notice, "blockchain is not immune to this reality." On the other hand, don't get too excited if you read about an open-source blockchain project that seems perfect for your needs. Wait to see if it scales. In the meantime, keep an eye on the startups in the space. With venture capital or other investments, they're more likely to stick around. Read more

Also...

Blockchain holds promise, pitfalls for CSR -- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a hot topic these days; you just have to look at the Edelman Trust Barometer to figure out why. Blockchain could help, creating an immutable record of a company's behaviors (such as verification that no companies in its supply chain use child labor or products harvested from the rain forest). Read more

Cool Stuff

Twitter bot colorizes black-and-white photos -- Colorise Bot transforms black and white pictures you tweet to it into color photos in a matter of seconds (using Artificial Intelligence, of course). Read more

Email bot wastes scammers' time -- New Zealand's online safety organization has created a tool called Re:scam that "engages with scammers in mindless, never-ending conversation, full of unrelated questions that waste their time." Recipients of scam emails just forward them to me@rescam.org, which will keep replying to the scammer until the scammer stops replying. Read more

November 22, 2017
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The latest from the FIR Podcast Network

There have been two (count 'em, two) episodes of "For Immediate Release" since the last briefing. On November 13, Neville Hobson and I recorded the November episode of "The Hobson & Holtz Report." We talked about Twitter’s new 280-character limit, how Uber’s new CEO crowdsourced a new set of corporate values, a survey finds members of the traditional media think the fake news problem is elevating trust in traditional media, pregnant moms engaged with social media on an informational website are more likely to have their kids vaccinated, a start wants to change employment with blockchain-based CVs, and Taylor Swift’s lawyers created a completely avoidable PR mess. Dan York reports on a variety of Twitter issues. Listen
Earlier this week, Chris Christensen and Christopher Penn joined me to talk about Todd Defren’s departure from SHIFT Communications, the newly-identified podcast “super listener,” the rise of the travel podcast category, whether you should turn your Instagram account over to a bot, AI as the “new electricity,” United Airlines’ auction of hardware from a Boeing 747 to MileagePlus members, and the importance of addressing a crisis quickly. Dan York reports on the evolution of Facebook Stories, Facebook’s rebranding of its “Mentions” app, and Google’s crackdown on AMP users who create teaser pages. Listen
Ethan McCarty can freak you out, particularly if you’re an internal communications professional. For example, he recently wrote a blog entitled, “Don’t Measure Internal Communications.” Wait … what? The Sharons talk with Ethan on the latest episode of "EE Voice." Listen
On the latest episode of "Inside PR," Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley talk about transparency and disclosure. Wayne and Schuster anyone? Listen
Two episodes of Digital India have aired since the last Briefing. Episode #127 takes a look at the Amazon Echo in India. Listen
Episode #128 of Digital India features a group of developers and programmers from Synup, a local marketing software company in Bangalore. Synup offers a single dashboard to make local marketing easier, with all your listings, reviews and keyword rankings all on one platform. Listen
The November episode of "Circle of Fellows" features four IABC Fellows (moderated by Fellow Brad Whitworth) discussing the convergence trend and what it means for the practices of public relations, corporate communications, and employee communications. Listen
Podcasting expert Seth Greene tells "Inside PR" hosts Paul Gillin and David Strom how businesses of all sizes can benefit from time-tested direct response marketing methods anchored by podcasts. Listen

On the Calendar

On December 4, I'll be in Cambridge, MA, speaking at an Intranet Best Practices conferences at IBM's offices. I'm doing a pre-conference session on December 4 and a breakout session on December 5. There's still time to Register
I'm delivering the closing keynote talk at Ragan's 2018 Internal Communications and Culture Conference in Chicago on March 8.
On March 14, I'll speak at Ragan's annual social media conference in Orlando.