In this week’s episode, Trust Insights co-founder Christopher S. Penn joins host Shel Holtz to talk about Dark Social and how communicators can take advantage of it. Also in this week’s show:

* IABC is missing in action in a coalition of 43 organizations calling for an investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

* It’s possible (and necessary) to build and maintain customer trust when using Artificial Intelligence

* Podcasting is evolving into a different way to tell a journalistic story — and journalists are figuring out how to do it

* SoundCloud lets you share audio in your Instagram Story

* Alexa for Business works with third-party devices

* The children of Millennials are called Generation Alpha and they’re very, very different

* Visual search is going mainstream

* Dan York reports on IBM’s impending acquisition of Red Hat (the company that distributes a version of Linux), Google’s .new links, Snap’s desktop camera tool, and more.

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

You can find the stories from which FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog.

About Christopher S. Penn

Christopher S. Penn is an authority on analytics, digital marketing, and marketing technology. A recognized thought leader, best-selling author, and keynote speaker, he has shaped four key fields in the marketing industry: Google Analytics adoption, data-driven marketing, modern email marketing, and artificial intelligence/machine learning in marketing. As Chief Innovator of Trust Insights, he is responsible for the creation of products and services, creation and maintenance of all code and intellectual property, technology and marketing strategy, brand awareness, and research & development.

Chris is an IBM Champion in IBM Business Analytics, co-founder of the groundbreaking PodCamp Conference, and co-host of the Marketing Over Coffee marketing podcast. Prior to cofounding Trust Insights, he built the marketing for a series of startups with a 100% successful exit rate in the financial services, SaaS software, and public relations industries.

He’s also a Google Analytics Certified Professional, a Google AdWords Certified Professional, a Google Digital Sales Certified Professional, and a Hubspot Inbound Certified Professional. He is the author of over two dozen marketing books including bestsellers such as AI for Marketers: A Primer and Introduction, Marketing White Belt: Basics for the Digital Marketer, Marketing Red Belt: Connecting With Your Creative Mind, and Marketing Blue Belt: From Data Zero to Marketing Hero, and Leading Innovation.

Links from this week’s episode

* SPJ, coalition of 43 other groups, call for full investigation into Saudi Arabian journalist’s whereabouts

* AI: What It Will Take To Build Trust For Brands

* How 5 Companies Successfully Introduced AI Into the Customer Experience<...