April 2022 archive

Nissan and Toyota are entering the metaverse, one with a focus on employees and the other targeting consumers. They join some other auto manufacturers that have already established a metaverse presence. Fidelity Investments is also setting up shop, as is Vanity Fair. And these are a drop in the bucket among the businesses staking metaverse claims.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, May 23, 2022. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will be available several times each week.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode:

• Nissan and Toyota Enter The Metaverse —With Two Different Approaches
• Fidelity attracts investors through the metaverse
• Vanity Fair introduces new metaverse project

The post FIR #250: Go for a Drive in the Metaverse appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

For those who are weary of the staged, curated images people share on social networks like Instagram (as if their lives were truly that enviable), BeReal wants to be the antidote. It is finding favor with the college-aged crowd but there could be untapped opportunities for businesses to participate, too.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, May 23, 2022. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will be available several times each week.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode:

• BeReal
• BeReal, an app that focuses on authenticity, is surging
• BeReal Dares You to Be More Authentic on Social Media
• I tried BeReal, the ‘anti-social media’ app that gives users 2 minutes a day to post candid and unfiltered photos, and discovered I like it more than Instagram
• BeReal: the saviour of social media, or a dystopian nightmare?

The post FIR #249: Getting Authentic with BeReal appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Cross-posting your social media posts is a great way to extend reach and get more bang for your image/video/text buck. It can also backfire when not done well and some platforms actively discourage it. Neville and Shel share some thoughts on cross-posting in this episode.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, May 23, 2022. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will be available several times each week.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode:

• Cross-Posting in 2022: What It Is & Why You Should Use It

The post FIR #248: Cross-Posting Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Mining big data is a routine activity among many organizations. That’s exactly what a company called Hiq was doing with data it obtained from public LinkedIn pages. LinkedIn sued and now an appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling determining that such web scraping is legal.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, May 23, 2022. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will be available several times each week.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode:

• Web scraping is legal, US appeals court reaffirms

The post FIR #247: Permission to Scrape appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

In the April edition of The Hobson and Holtz Report, Neville and Shel discuss these stories:

• The advertising industry weighs in on an Ogilvy policy banning influencers from photoshopping their images
• A metaverse company plans to offer a form of immortality with its “Live Forever” mode
• Coca-Cola is offering a limited-edition drink that tastes like pixels and includes a Fortnite code
• Corporate America seemed bound for a more purposeful existence. Has it all fallen by the wayside?
• Elon Musk believes in unfettered free speech, a key reason he wants to buy Twitter. Is it a good thing?
• Research reveals consumers care more about how a company donates than how much

Dan York’s Tech Report covers how the Russian war against Ukraine is splintering the Internet (along with other tech-related fallout from the invasion); Wikipedia’s decision to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations; how much Jack Dorsey’s first tweet — initially purchased as an NFT for $48 million — attracted in an auction; the state of the Ethereum merge; TikTok’s rollout of AR capabilities; Spotify’s rebranding of its Clubhouse clone; and more.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, May 23, 2022. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will be available several times each week.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from this episode:

• Industry weighs in on Ogilvy’s influencer editing policy
• Ogilvy will no longer work with influencers who edit their bodies or faces for ads
• Metaverse Company to Offer Immortality Through ‘Live Forever’ Mode
• A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What It Says?
• Coca-Cola’s new limited-edition drink tastes like ‘pixels’ and comes with a Fortnite code
• Coca-Cola’s tweet announcing limited-edition drink
• Nifty News: Meta wants 50% of NFT sales, Coke’s Metaverse flavor, and more
• Coca-Cola animation detailing its metaverse promotion
• Virtual Thirst Winner Announced (YouTube video of Coca-Cola’s 2007 Second Life promotion)
• Is corporate America no longer interested in purposeful business?
• Disney shareholder tells CEO Chapek to stop wasting money on ‘political crusades’
• Disney Fans Want Companies To Oppose ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill—But Not Take Drastic Measures, Poll Finds
• Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store
• How Free Speech Absolutist Elon Musk Would Transform Twitter
• Elon Musk talks Twitter, Tesla and how his brain works — live at TED2022
• Elon Musk Demonstrates How Little He Understands About Content Moderation
• Giving Back: Consumers Care More About How Companies Donate Than How Much

Links from Dan York’s Tech Report

• What Is the Splinternet? And Why You Should Be Paying Attention
• TikTok created an alternate universe just for Russia
• U.S. and Ukrainian Groups Pierce Putin’s Propaganda Bubble
• Russia VPN usage continues to soar
• Russia Is Leaking Data Like a Sieve
• Wikipedia community votes to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations
• Wikipedia editors don’t want your bitcoin
• ‘Jack Dorsey’s First Tweet’ NFT Went on Sale for $48M. It Ended With a Top Bid of Just $280
• Ethereum Merge No Longer Expected in June
• TikTok is rolling out Effect House, which lets creators make AR effects that others can use in videos, to all users after a closed beta test last fall
• TikTok is testing a “dislike” button in comments
• Instagram upgrades its DM inbox with music sharing, statuses, polls, silent messages and more
• Spotify rebrands companion app Spotify Greenroom as Spotify Live and integrates its live audio capabilities in the main app minus the interactive features

The post FIR #246: Who Wants to Live Forever? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.