Category: For Immediate Release

POAPs are getting to be a big deal, with Warner Music inking a deal with the organization behind them. Never heard of POAP? It’s the Proof of Attendance Protocol, used to mint a special kind of NFT that serves as proof you were there, whether it’s a concert, a conference, or some other kind of event or activity. Their use by businesses is inevitable. Even internally, companies can award POAPs to employees who attend the town hall, for example, some of which could wind up being highly coveted. In this episode, Neville and Shel break down POAPs and their potential for organizations, especially those looking to engage Gen Z-aged individuals.

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:

• POAP – The Bookmarks of Your Life (official site)
• What is a POAP NFT?
• Warner Music partners with POAP for event NFTs
• POAPs: What Is a Proof of Attendance Protocol?

The post FIR #251: Proof of Attendance appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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.

Neville Hobson joined Shel Holtz for the October edition of the monthly Hobson & Holtz Report. This month’s topics:

• 

  Shel and Neville in November 2014, at Runnymede, site of the signing of the Magna Carta

  Three distinguished PhDs propose a Magna Carta for Artificial Intelligence. Too soon?

• Research establishes a connection between CEOs who mangle English during analyst calls and falling share prices.
• What can PR agencies and associations do to build a reputation of trust in the wake of the Bell Pottinger scandal?
• New data points reinforce the importance of companies taking positions on social and political issues. Most importantly, Edelman’s 2017 Earned Brand study found that 30% of consumers are “belief-driven” buyers.
• In the UK, political activists are using an app to influence party conference votes.
• Two crises — one from Facebook and one from Unilever’s Dove brand — were both completely avoidable.
• Dan York’s tech report covers a women’s boycott of Twitter pushed people to give the Twitter alternative, Mastodon, a try; podcast app Castbox has a new in-audio search function.

Connect with Neville on Twitter at @jangles.

Check out Neville’s Small Data Forum Podcast (available at a new website).

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

About Neville Hobson:

Neville Hobson was co-host of The Hobson & Holtz Report for over 10 years. For over 15 years, Neville has been a voice of experience and influence when it comes to speaking about digital technologies, disruptive change in workplaces and marketplaces, relevant trends to pay close attention to, and what it all means for your business. His experiences embrace deep understanding and subject-matter expertise in contemporary business issues that include social, digital and cognitive technologies, connecting that with a career in traditional public relations, marketing communication, employee compensation and benefits communication, and investor relations. Based in the Thames Valley some 30 miles west of London, Neville works either from his home office or from a client’s location; or from wherever he has a good network connection.

Links from this episode:

• There’s a link between CEOs who torture the English language and poor stock performance
• Post Bell Pottinger, public relations must focus on its own reputation
• Consumers say brands must take the lead in breaking gender stereotypes
• The 2017 Edelman Earned Brand Study
• Momentum’s new activism app could change politics forever
• App brings lets shareholders vote their proxies with a swipe
• Mark Zuckerberg apologies for tone-deaf virtual tour of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico
• Unilver apology fails to quell outrage over Dove’s Facebook ad
• Castbox

The post FIR #109: CEOs Torturing English appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Kami Huyse and Lee Odden joined host Shel Holtz for conversations about these topics:

• The challenges of fake news and trolling during a crisis
• The financial firm behind the “Fearless Girl” Wall Street sculpture will pay $5 million for allegedly underpaying women and minorities
• Cause marketing is on advertisers’ minds as new research reveals the rise of the belief-driven buyer
• Research finds communicators are slow to adopt new technology (and still mostly rely on email to communicate)
• Business blogging leads to more website visitors (and other good outcomes)
• Dan York reports on another data breach (this time it’s Disqus); Yahoo’s data breach, which affects all 3 billion accounts; AOL’s decision to shut down AIM; and Tim O’Reilly’s new book, “WTF: What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us.”

Connect with our guests via Twitter at @KamiChat and @LeeOdden.

Kami’s new podcast, which she co-hosts with Madalyn Sklar, is Communities That Convert.

Open positions at Lee’s company, TopRank Marketing, are listed on TopRank’s website.

Links to content addressed during the show appear at the end of this post.

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

About today’s guest co-hosts:

Kami Huyse is the founder of Zoetica Media. She writes an award-winning blog, Zoetica Talks, on the topic of public relations and social media strategy. Kami is a national leader in the use of social media for public relations. She speaks at social media events and conferences all over the country and her work in social media has earned her the SNCR’s 2008 Reputation Management award and IABC’s 2009 Gold Quill of Excellence Award. Kami was a 2010 fellow of the Society for New Communications Research where she pursued a study on how cause marketing in social communities can benefit companies. She is also the co-founder and organizer of the Social Media Breakfast Houston and serves on the board of CiviliNation.

Cited by the Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Forbes for his marketing expertise, Lee Odden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing, an internationally respected digital marketing agency that provides consulting for some of the most successful companies in the world. Lee’s evangelism for an integrated approach to search, social media, influencer and content marketing has extended over 100 events in 12 different countries. He blogs at marketingblog.com and is the author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing. Lee is least known for founding “Marketers with Beards” the most infamous Facebook group dedicated to marketers with beards.

Links from this episode:

• Las Vegas shooting: Hoaxes spread on social media, amplified by Facebook, Google
• In wake of Las Vegas shooting, fake news on social media takes personal toll
• Financial Firm Behind ‘Fearless Girl’ Will Pay $5 Million for Allegedly Underpaying Women and Minorities
• Company behind ‘Fearless Girl’ statue owes $5 million for underpaying black and female execs
• Bowing to the Inevitable, Advertisers Embrace Advocate Role
• This college dropout turned a class project into a $20 million company to help kids with cancer
• We Can Control Our Communications Technology Destiny
• Study Shows Business Blogging Leads to 55% More Website Visitors
• Disqus Blog: Security Alert: User Info Breach
• Every single Yahoo account was hacked – 3 billion in all
• AOL Instant Messenger is shutting down after 20 years
• Tim O’Reilly: Algorithms Have Already Gone Rogue
• What’s the Future and Why it’s Up to Us, the new book by Tim O’Reilly

The post FIR #108: Communicators’ Steep Technology Adoption Curve appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Deirdre Breakenridge and Elizabeth Sosnow joined host Shel Holtz for conversations about these topics:

• Twitter is doubling the character count for a tweet from 140 to 280. Not surprisingly, opinions vary on whether this is a good idea.
• Rather than touting the benefits Artificial Intelligence can bring to their products and services, companies are simply saying, “We’ve got AI!” The AI-washing needs to stop.
• Citibank has a music strategy for its latest ad campaign. Does the focus on music mean words are on the wane?
• Most communicators still haven’t heard of blockchain, but there are those who are already having to navigate its complicated world.
• A study finds that publishers who pivoted to video have suffered massive declines in page views. Wasn’t everything supposed to be pivoting to video?
• Dan York reports on developments in the world of live streaming video along with an update on the WordPress editor, Gutenberg.

Connect with our guests via Twitter at @debreakenridge and @ElizabethSosnow.

Beginning with this episode, we will post links to content addressed during the show directly in the show notes. They appear at the end of the post.

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

FIR is recorded with Zencastr.

About today’s guest co-hosts:

Deirdre Breakenridge is the CEO of Pure Performance Communications. A 25+ year veteran in PR and marketing, she is the author of six business books with her newest book, Answers for Modern Communicators to be published by Routledge in the fall 2017. Her other recent titles include, Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional,” “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” and “PR 2.0, New Media, New Tools, New Audiences.” Breakenridge speaks nationally and internationally on the topics of PR, marketing, branding and social media. She is an adjunct professor at UMASS at Amherst, and an online instructor for Rutgers University. She is also a LinkedIn video instructor with three PR courses published in 2015 and 2016 and two more marketing courses to be published in 2017. Breakenridge hosts the podcast show, Women Worldwide and is a blogger at PR Expanded. She was named by Traackr as one of the top Social Media Engagers in 2014, awarded the Best 50 Women in Business by NJBIZ in 2015, and recognized on the Richtopia 250 Most Influential Women Leaders in the World List in 2016 and 2017.

Since 1996, Elizabeth Sosnow has been part of the management team responsible for the Bliss Integrated Communication‘s overall operations and strategic direction. As Managing Partner and co-owner, she creates and oversees integrated marketing strategy and execution for large professional and financial services accounts. Elizabeth directs the firm’s digital activities, helping major clients and colleagues assess and maximize audience engagement via evolving communications tools. She oversees the firm’s award-winning company blog, The Blend, and has her own vlog, Marketing Espresso Shots. Elizabeth is the past Chair of the Digital Practice for Worldcom’s Global Board of Directors and previously held that position for the Americas region Board of Directors. Her own guest blog posts have appeared in Convince and Convert, PR Daily, Content Marketing Institute, and Communications Conversations, among many others. She was recently named one of “50 Game Changers of PR” by PR News.

Links for this episode:

• Twitter trials an expansion beyond 140 characters
• Twitter testing 280-character tweets
• 140-characters, the defining quirk of Twitter, becomes a relic of the past
• Twitter gives brands space to run, brands run badly
• Twitter users respond to 280-character limit – mostly in 140 characters
• Of course brands are already joking about Twitter’s new 280-character limit
• Twitter’s 280-character tweets are fine
• Companies need to stop AI-washing their products
• AI will turn PR people into superheroes within one year
• PR firms start using AI for mundane tasks
• Why you’ll recognize the tunes in Citi’s new campaign
• Comms pros navigate the complex world of blockchain
• The secret cost of pivoting to video

Links from Dan York’s report:

• Relicensing React, Jest, Flow, and Immutable.js
• Vimeo Live is here
• Big news: Vimeo goes life
• Vimeo acquires Livestream, launches its own live video product
• Introducing Cloudflare Stream: Fixing the Streaming Video Market
• How Cloudflare Streams
• Cloudflare Stream

The post FIR #107: Words and Music appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Melissa Agnes and Dave Fleet joined host Shel Holtz for conversations about these topics:

• The FTC reached a settlement with social media influencers who failed to disclose their relationship with the brand that paid them, sending a signal that the regulator will no longer confine its actions to the brands.
• Some content creators have seen their advertising revenues plummet in the wake of YouTube’s use of Artificial Intelligence to prevent advertising from being injected into potentially offensive content. Most of them aren’t producing offensive content.
• The New York Yankees’ response to a young girl in the stands who injured by a line-drive foul ball was terrible.
• Brands have been communicating their efforts to assist in relief efforts after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. One PR commentator thinks they should just keep their mouths closed.
• Equifax doesn’t seem capable of taking a single right step in its post-breach communication. Now, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has disclosed a breach of its own with a lengthy, bureaucratic statement. Is the public being desensitized to data breaches that can harm them?

Connect with our guests via Twitter at @Melissa_Agnes and @DaveFleet.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

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

FIR is recorded with Zencastr.

About today’s guest co-hosts:

Melissa Agnes is a founding partner of Agnes+Day, a crisis intelligence firm. In her role, Melissa is a crisis management consultant and keynote speaker, has developed an international reputation for crisis management, planning and training by helping large global brands prevent and manage a wide range of corporate issues and crises. Her client list includes government agencies, cities and municipalities, healthcare organizations, energy companies, global non-profits, financial organizations, the public and private sectors and many others. Melissa is an international and sought-after keynote speaker and guest lecturer.

Dave Fleet is Executive Vice President and National Practice Lead, Digital, in Edelman‘s Toronto office. An award-winning communications professional with both public and private-sector experience, Dave is responsible for developing and implementing digital engagement strategies for some of the world’s best-known brands across consumer, corporate, technology, corporate and public affairs verticals. Before joining Edelman, Dave launched and built the digital communications practice at Thornley Fallis. Before that, he spent five years working in the public sector in progressive strategic communications positions. In 2008, Dave was presented with the Amethyst Award, the highest award available to Ontario public service staff.

The post FIR #106: Toot Your Own Horn appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.