RyanAir has a reputation: For the lowest airfares in Europe, you’ll get where you’re going with the bare minimum of service. The airline’s social media accounts — notably TikTok — have done a brilliant, irreverent job of setting expectations for anyone planning to fly on RyanAir, which the social media manager’s skills were first-rate. When he left the company — reportedly because of its cultural shortcomings — he abided by the 90-day quiet period, then applied his social media skills to share his experience. His posts (not surprisingly) made headlines. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel break down what this might mean for RyanAir.

Links from this episode:

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, November 20.

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 [email protected].

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. You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

The post FIR #365: RyanAir’s Social Media Chief Doesn’t Leave Quietly appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Internal communicators have long known how important employees’ immediate supervisors are to the communication process. Based on the results of a new study, communicators need to shift their focus. Managers still need to serve as a conduit of information in both directions, but there’s an even more important role they play that communicators are best suited to help them learn and apply. Shel and Neville discuss the study and its implications for internal communications professionals in this short midweek episode.

Links from this episode:

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, November 20.

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 [email protected].

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. You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

The post FIR #364: Managers’ Most Important Communication Role appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

A review of the trove of articles about how brands have addressed the conflict in the Middle East suggests that there is no way to satisfy everybody, even for brands that opt to say nothing at all. Neville and Shel explore the peril of speaking out, even as expectations continue for companies and their CEOs to address societal issues. Also in this monthly long-form episode:

In his tech report, Dan York shares details about the flailing of Twitter, changes in Threads, WhatsApp channels, and Automattic’s purchase of Texts.

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 30.

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 [email protected].

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. You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

Links from this episode:

Links from Dan York’s Report:

The post FIR #363: Is the Israel-Hamas War a Communications No-Win Situation? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

T2 rebranded as Pebble because when tossed in water, pebbles create ripples (except in the song “Ripple,” in which “there is no pebble tossed, nor wind to blow”). The microblogging social network created by former Twitter staffers never created enough ripples to sustain it. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel lament Pebble’s passing, consider the reasons it is shutting down, and ponder what it means for the post-Twitter social media landscape.

Links from this episode:

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 30.

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 [email protected].

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. You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

The post FIR #362: Why Did Pebble Sink? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

A new study from Edelman polled hundreds of Fortune 500 Chief Communication Officers about the future of corporate communications. The results include some surprises, including the scope of the CCO’s role and what they’re spending their time on. The study also addresses the old canard about the communicator’s quest for a “seat at the table.” Neville and Shel dig into the report in this short midweek episode.

Links from this episode:

The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 30.

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 [email protected].

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. You can catch up with both co-hosts on Neville’s blog and Shel’s blog. Neville’s Asides blog is also available.

The post FIR #361: Is There A Seat At The Table in Corporate Communication’s Future? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

At a school in southern England, a headmaster worked with an AI developer to create an AI "robot" named Abigail Bailey to serve as his "headteacher," giving him advice and helping with planning. He has another AI "robot" named Jamie Rainer serving as his head of AI after advertising for a human to handle the job. Can the same principles be transferred to the CEO of an organization? Find out in this short midweek episode.
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The post FIR #360: Your AI Chatbot Confidant appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

OpenAI is rolling out the ability to have a spoken conversation with ChatGPT. Meta is making it easy to converse with the likes of Tom Brady and Paris Hilton (who have lent their voices to the effort). An AI chatbot called PI was built to let you discuss personal matters. Companies are rolling out AI girlfriends. (That can't end well.) It's all part of what Casey Newton calls the "synthetic social network," and it's the topic of conversation between Neville and Shel in this short midweek episode.
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The post FIR #359: Your New AI BFF appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

EY (formerly Ernst & Young), one of the "big four" accounting firms, has launched EY.ai, which is (according to a press release) "a unifying platform that brings together human capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI) to help clients transform their businesses through confident and responsible adoption of AI." Separately, EY has introduced EYQ, an AI assistant for its 400,000 employees. Neville and Shel discuss the news -- and how likely it is that EY's competitors will follow -- in this short midweek FIR episode.
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The post FIR #358: EY Goes AI appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Artificial Generative Intelligence (AGI) has been widely available publicly for less than a year, but the public relations industry has moved quickly to assess its potential and begin the process of implementation. How is it going so far? A brief from the PR Academy looks at the state of AGI in PR. Also in this monthly long-form episode:

In his tech report, Dan York looks at Mastodon 4.2 and the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress.
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The post FIR #357: A Status Report on AI and PR appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

It's easy to believe that the internet has already demonstrated its disruptive capabilities by pointing to everything from the transformation of the audience to publishers and the rise of disinformation. However disruptive these changes are, they are mainly uses of technology to do things we were already doing -- just doing it more easily and efficiently. Real disruption -- the invention of entirely new processes and approaches -- could take years, decades, even centuries to manifest, according to Jeff Jarvis in his new book, "The Gutenberg Parentheses". But we are starting to see early examples, and TikTok is the platform on which they are appearing. We'll share these examples, and provide more insight into Jarvis's book, in this short midweek episode.
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The post FIR #356: The Long Arc of Network Disruption appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.