Category: For Immediate Release

FIR #281: Advertising and Marketing in the Metaverse

Advertising on the Web is two-dimensional, with a consumer on the outside looking in. In the Metaverse, consumers will be active participants in virtual worlds, participating directly with virtual objects and one another. That opens the door for entirely new forms of advertising. In this short mid-week episode, Neville and Shel discuss what advertising might look like in virtual worlds and some of the technical, ethical, and legal challenges that organizations will face selling their wares to denizens of these immersive spaces.


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop sometime in late September. Neville and Shel will be together in the UK and plan to record face-to-face. Watch for more information as our plans firm up.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #281: Advertising and Marketing in the Metaverse appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #280: What’s Behind the “Quiet Quitting” Trend?

“Quiet quitting” is all over TikTok, with mostly Gen Zers talking about their disdain for going “above and beyond” at work. Is this really anything new, or is it just the first time a generation has used a label to share their feelings online? Or, as some suggest, is it that most Gen Zers entered the workforce during the pandemic when the boundaries between work and life were not clear and now that companies are getting back to what executives perceive as normal, they don’t agree with the expectations the company has of them? Is this even confined to Gen Z? Neville and Shel look at “quiet quitting” in today’s short mid-week episode.


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop sometime in late September. Neville and Shel will be together in the UK and plan to record face-to-face. Watch for more information as our plans firm up.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #280: What’s Behind the “Quiet Quitting” Trend? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #279: Business Buys Into the Metaverse

According to a new PwC survey of 1,000 senior U.S. business leaders from across industry sectors, businesses have bought into the inevitability and utility of the metaverse. The study also surveyed 5,000 U.S. consumers who are less aware and enthusiastic than executives are. Also in this monthly long-form episode of “For Immediate Release”:

  • Gartner has released ins 2022 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies.
  • Consumer trend experts anticipate the impact web3 will have on consumer trends.
  • Ukraine has perfect the art of advertising in support of its resistance to Russia’s invasion.
  • Each quarter, Microsoft adjusts the language it uses to advise the investment world of its ambitions.
  • One CEO who had to lay off staff took to LinkedIn to explain how hard it was on him, including a selfie of him weeping over it. Was it effective?

In his Tech Report, Dan York recounts his experience with Reddit’s new social audio tool, looks at “snipping,” a new Twitter Spaces feature, and explains a Google update designed to elevate “helpful content.”


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 22. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

Links from Dan York’s Report:

The post FIR #279: Business Buys Into the Metaverse appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #278: For Every News Outlet: Churn, Churn, Churn

As news media outlets that traffic in the written word — print and online — economic pressures have led to more repurposed content and less original material. What impact does this have on trust in these media sources, and is there a role businesses and their communication teams can play?


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 22. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #278: For Every News Outlet: Churn, Churn, Churn appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #277: Do Graphic Designers Have A Future?

More and more people are experimenting with a growing collection of Artificial Intelligence-based graphics tools. Some of these tools produce stunning images in a variety of artistic styles, leading some to wonder if art directors will generate their own images rather than continue to pay for graphic design services. Neville and Shel discuss the possibilities in this short mid-week episode.

Some examples that Shel created, first from Midjourney, with a prompt that instructed the AI to produce an image of “a grey-bearded wizard using a wand to assemble a futuristic skyscraper in an ocean in outer space.”

And this, from the Dream app (on Android), with a prompt to produce an image of “a race car driver on a tricycle on the surface of Mars.”


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 22. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #277: Do Graphic Designers Have A Future? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #276: Should I Tay Or Should I Go?

Remember Microsoft Tay? The 2016 Twitter chatbot suffered from a concerted effort to teach it all manner of vile things, prompting Microsoft to withdraw the service and apologize. That experience is top of mind for pretty much everyone talking about Meta’s new chatbot, now available in public testing in the U.S. The developers behind BlenderBot 3 insist that they, too, had the Tay experiment in mind when they developed the process for teaching this new chatbot to behave. In fact, the beta is designed so people can report when it says something inappropriate that it may have learned from another user. That information is used to teach it what is not appropriate. Will it work?


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 22. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #276: Should I Tay Or Should I Go? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #275: Will You Have An NFT With Your Coffee?

Brands have been tripping over themselves to jump on the Web3/metaverse/NFT bandwagon, but few have articulated a strategic and comprehensive approach at the level Starbucks has. In this short mid-week FIR episode, Neville and Shel look at how Starbucks plans to build loyalty and community using these emerging tools, along with some other organizations that are starting to give Web3 similarly serious looks.


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #275: Will You Have An NFT With Your Coffee? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #274: Is Unbranded Unethical?

According to one definition, unbranded content “isn’t specifically about your company but is relevant to your industry or product in some way.” There are unbranded videos like this one from WREN, an online clothing retailer. Released in 2014, it’s a film in which the filmmakers asked 20 couples who had never met to kiss. The only reference to WREN is at the very beginning of the video, “WREN Presents.” There isn’t even a link to the retailer in the film or on its YouTube page.

And there are entire unbranded websites. We even interviewed Ike Pigott from Alabama Power about Alabama News Center, where Alabama Power’s involvement is barely noticeable.

There are sound reasons for brands to produce unbranded content. From the perspective of the audience reading or viewing the content, is it underhanded? A failure to disclose? Does it matter? Neville and Shel have differing points of view in this short mid-week episode of For Immediate Release.


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #274: Is Unbranded Unethical? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #273: What Is The Metaverse? It’s A Network

If you peruse search results for “the metaverse,” it will seem like half the content you find focuses on defining it. At Nvidia, executive Richard Kerris thinks it’s pretty easy to define. “The metaverse is not a place,” he says. “It’s the network for the next version of the Web.” Neville and Shel explore that definition and related developments in this short midweek FIR episode.


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #273: What Is The Metaverse? It’s A Network appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #272: Tick Tick Tick Tick Search

Research conducted by Google found that nearly 40 percent of Gen Z are using Tik Tok and Instagram for search instead of Google. It’s a real-world example of significant shifts exhibited by this group of 10-to-22-year-olds. By 2025, they will represent 30 percent of the workforce and be a considerable presence in the consumer marketplace.


The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, August 15. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will appear once or twice weekly.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email 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. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.

Links from this episode:

The post FIR #272: Tick Tick Tick Tick Search appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.