The final episode of 2018 — and the end of our 14th consecutive year of podcasting — features two conversations: Frank Eliason joins host Shel Holtz to talk about customer retention vs. new-customer acquisition; then Mark Story (aptly) chats with Shel about the rise of Stories. Also in this episode:

* Some businesspeople are defending Facebook

* Journalists are ditching press releases (but that doesn’t mean PR people should)

* More of the Internet is fake than you may have thought

* Brands are finding ways to combat ad blockers

* 2019 predictions from PR pros

* Dan York’s Tech Report covers Jetpack 6.8, Netflix’s interactive Black Mirror movie, Netflix’s decision to no longer bill through iTunes, the malware that interrupted newspaper printing across the country, 99 good news stories you may have missed in 2o18, and Dan’s plan to spend more time on Mastodon (and why you should try new social media platforms).

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 our guests

Frank Eliason is a renowned customer experience leader who introduces disruptive and transformative strategies to revolutionize businesses. Working for Comcast, he was recognized by BusinessWeek as “the most famous customer service manager in the U.S., possibly in the world.” At Citi he was recognized as one of the most innovative people in banking, not once, but twice by Bank Technology News. He drives the right behaviors at all levels by bringing focus to the customer and their story. Besides working for Comcast, Citi and Vanguard Investments, he has advised many Fortune 500 companies. He is the author of “@YourService” (Wiley, 2012).

Mark Story is a one-time contributor to FIR. Mark currently works director of strategic communications at American University. He has also served as communication counsel and social media lead for the National Cancer Institute, and he was director of International Corporate Affairs for the Alibaba Group in Hong Kong and the first-ever director of New Media for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mark also put in time on the agency side as a senior VP for Fleishman-Hillard and a vice president at APCO Worldwide. Mark is also the author of the book, “Starting Your Career as a Social Media Manager,” which was published in 2012. Mark also teaches at Johns Hopkins University.

Links from this episode

* Amid Criticism For Facebook’s Data Scandal, Business Pros Offer Support

* Report: Journalists are ditching the press release

* How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually.

* Here’s How Brands like KFC Are Combating Ad Blockers

* Why You Should Be Focusing on Customer Retention, Not Acquisition

* To stem falling sales, Blue Apron is pivoting to a more flexible distribution model

* PR predictions for 2019: 11 industry pros weigh in

* Instagram’s botched experiment is a reminder tha...