For Immediate Release

In the April edition of The Hobson and Holtz Report, Neville and Shel discuss these stories:

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.
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The post FIR #246: Who Wants to Live Forever? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Google's nascent MUM technology could evolve into a chatbot replacement for search engines. For some searches, that's fine. For others, it's beyond problematic.
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The post FIR #245: Chatbots for Search? It Depends. appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Twitter tweeted a tweet on April 1, leading a lot of people to believe it was an April Fool's prank. That got it more attention than it otherwise might have. Was it just luck or a well-planned ploy?
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The post FIR #244: April Fool’s! Or Not. appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

LinkedIn has added a host of new tools for creators. Some look valuable, including better content analytics, profile video tools, and a subscriber bell for update notifications. Others, like the newsletter options, need work, and even that may not be enough to attract subscribers.
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The post FIR #243: New Creator Tools from LinkedIn appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

A new study suggests that saying nice things about your competitor (notably on social media) can lead consumers to spend more money on your brand's products and services.
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The post FIR #242: Can’t Brands All Just Get Along? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

A public kerfuffle between two journalists on Twitter revolved around whether journalists need to establish a personal brand. The fact is, everybody already has a personal brand; the question is how you approach the maintenance of that brand in a social media world. Neville and Shel explore the elements of personal brand-building in this episode.
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The post FIR #241: Your Personal Brand, Journalist Edition appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Radio Shack and Better.com can rest easier these days, now that P&O Ferries has established a new low for how to lay off employees. Outrage is evident everywhere from government responses to citizen protests and tweets from horrified social media users. The fallout is just beginning, yet P&O's leadership just doesn't seem to give much of a damn. What's a communicator to do?
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The post FIR #240: You’re Fired! Get Off Our Boat! appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

New U.S. regulations may require companies to disclose both the impact of their operations on climate change and the risk they face from global warming. With similar requirements already law in the U.K., communicators need to consider the best way to protect their companies' and clients' reputations as this self-reported information goes public.
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The post FIR #239: Communicating Climate Risk appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine tops the coverage in the March edition of The Hobson and Holtz Report, the long-form monthly "For Immediate Release" podcast, with a look at the motivations for companies to cease their operations in Russia, the use of an AI deepfake as an element of Russian disinformation, and the White House's appeal to TikTok creators to help offset propaganda; Dan York shares his thoughts on the internet in Ukraine and Russia. Also in this episode: an update on the UK's Online Safety bill; why the revelations about Ronn Torossian's ethical misdeeds should lead the PR industry to finally take steps to clean its own house; the top technology trends of 2022, according to Accenture, and why Clubhouse may have launched the social audio movement but may not be around long enough to reap the rewards. In his Tech Report, Dan York shares news from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and looks at proposed web usability guidance from the U.S. Justice Department.
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The post FIR #238: Deepfakes and Other Weapons of War appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced, in somewhat cryptic fashion, that NFTs are coming to Instagram. Speculation about what that means is running rampant, with some proclaiming that NFTs will become the next social layer and may "prove to be the catalyst needed to usher in a new wave of crypto users."
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The post FIR #237: Are NFTs the New Social Layer? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.