For Immediate Release

By Neville Hobson and Shel HoltzBusiness News Marketing Business News Tech News

For Immediate Release episodes

January 20, 2020 For Immediate Release #191: Two Decades in 2.5 Hours
In what may be the longest single episode of a podcast ever, Neville and Shel present observations and prognostications from 17 of the smartest communication professionals in the business. (But when you consider that we covered 20 years in 2 hours and 20 minutes, it’s actually quite fast. And we might qualify for a Guinness world record!)
If you’ve been listening to FIR for a long time (the show started in January 2005), you’ll recognize some of these voices from the early days. This special episode is focused entirely on the impact of the last decade on communications and what communicators can expect in the Roaring 20’s.
Contributors include Christoper Barger, Gini Dietrich, Chip Griffin, Lee Hopkins, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Sharon McIntosh, Rachel Miller, Scott Monty, Christopher S. Penn, Jen Phillips, Eric Schwartzman, Bill Spaniel, David Spark, Mark Story, Andrea Vascellari, Brad Whitworth, and Dan York (not in alphabetical order).
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, February 24.
Links from This Week’s Episode

* Subject-Verb Agreement When Using Singular “They”
* Subject-Verb Agreement And The Singular They
* Christopher Barger’s complete essay

2 hr 22 min
January 20, 2020 For Immediate Release #191: Two Decades in 2.5 Hours
In what may be the longest single episode of a podcast ever, Neville and Shel present observations and prognostications from 17 of the smartest communication professionals in the business. This special episode is focused entirely on the impact of the last decade on communications and what communicators can expect in the Roaring 20's. Contributors include Christoper Barger, Gini Dietrich, Chip Griffin, Lee Hopkins, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Sharon McIntosh, Rachel Miller, Scott Monty, Christopher S. Penn, Jen Phillips, Eric Schwartzman, Bill Spaniel, David Spark, Mark Story, Andrea Vascellari, Brad Whitworth, and Dan York (not in alphabetical order).
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The post FIR #191: Two Decades in 2.5 Hours appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
2 hr 22 min
December 16, 2019 For Immediate Release #190: What Do They Want?
The December episode of “The Hobson & Holtz Report” features Neville and Shel discussing these topics:

* Social media lessons from the UK’s 2019 general election
* Podcasts will be eligible for Pulitzer Prizes
* You may be able to create your own Twitter
* Merriam-Webster’s word of the year and the communicators who reject it
* The English language is finally losing its grip on the internet
* Key digital marketing trends to watch in 2020
* Dan York reports on Twitter and decentralization, Reddit’s growth spurt, and TikTok’s top 100 videos

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.
The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, December 16.
Links from This Week’s Episode

* General election 2019: Five lessons from the ‘social media’ election
* Why You Are Missing Out If You Are Not Building A Facebook Group
* How A Private Facebook Group Led to Boyfriend Perfume Launching A Car Air Freshener
* General Election 2019: Has your local Facebook group been hijacked by politics?
* Pulitzer Reveals Audio Reporting Category for Non-Fiction Storytelling
* Podcasts Will Be Able to Win Pulitzers — Oh, and Radio, Too
* Inspired by The Daily, dozens of daily news podcasts are punching above their weight worldwide
* Jack Dorsey Wants To Help You Create Your Own Twitter
* Mastodon, the hot new social network like Twitter, sort of
* ‘They’ named as Merriam-Webster dictionary’s word of the year
* Stop grammar-policing the word, “They”
* The past, present, and future of the singular “they”
* The English language is finally losing its grip on the internet
* Internet World Users by Language
* Share of the most common languages on the internet
* Translate conversations with Google Assistant’s Interpreter Mode
* Star Trek’s Universal Translator Version 1.0 is Here
*
1 hr 31 min
December 16, 2019For Immediate Release #190: What Do They Want?
The December episode of "The Hobson & Holtz Report" features Neville and Shel discussing these topics:
Social media lessons from the UK's 2019 general election
Podcasts will be eligible for Pulitzer Prizes
You may be able to create your own Twitter
Merriam-Webster's word of the year and the communicators who reject it
The English language is finally losing its grip on the internet
Key digital marketing trends to watch in 2020
Dan York reports on Twitter and decentralization, Reddit's growth spurt, and TikTok's top 100 videos
Continue Reading →
The post FIR #190: What Do They Want? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
1 hr 31 min
November 18, 2019 For Immediate Release #189: The First Thing We Do, Let's Ease Timekeeping for All The Lawyers
The November episode of “The Hobson and Holtz Report” features Neville and Shel discussing these topics:

* MeWe and WT:Social are among the latest crop of social networks offering serious privacy in an attempt to dethrone Facebook
* A new tool lets brands remove negative comments from paid social media posts
* QR codes have made a comeback
* AI writer completes writing what you started
* Telcos hope RCS will inspire you to give up WhatsApp, Messenger, and other third-party tools
* Ping raises $13 million to make timekeeping easier for lawyers
* Dan York reports on NewsPack from WordPress, the Google Site Kit, PRX and Google podcasts, National Podcast Month, and the New York Times’ look at the internet’s future

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.
The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, December 16.
Links from This Week’s Episode

* Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales launches Twitter and Facebook rival
* Privacy Social Network MeWe Reaches 4 Million Members
* Inside MeWe, Where Anti-Vaxxers and Conspiracy Theorists Thrive
* Facebook Alternatives 2019 – Social Networks That Won’t Sell Your Data
* These 5 alternative social networks are the cure for Facebook fatigue
* Brands Can Remove Negative Comments on Paid Social Posts With This New Tool
* Chick-fil-A boosts app downloads 14% with QR codes, analysis finds
* QR Codes and the Holiday Spirit
* Mysterious QR codes showing up on car windows help stop burglaries
* The Time of the AI Writer
* OpenAI Releases Fake Text AI Initially Deemed Too Dangerous Into the World
* Talk to Transformer
* AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile have finally agreed to replace SMS with a new RCS standard
* How to Check If You Have Access to Google’s RCS Messaging
* What is RCS messaging? Here’s all you need to know about the successor to SMS
* Lawyers hate timekeeping — Ping raises $13M to fix it with AI

Links from Dan York’s Report

* Our Early Review of the Newspack Project from ...
1 hr 28 min
November 18, 2019 For Immediate Release #189: The First Thing We Do, Let's Ease Timekeeping for All The Lawyers
The November episode of "The Hobson and Holtz Report" features Neville and Shel discussing these topics: MeWe and WT:Social are among the latest crop of social networks offering serious privacy in an attempt to dethrone Facebook; a new tool lets brands remove negative comments from paid social media posts; QR codes have made a comeback; AI writer completes writing what you started; telcos hope RCS will inspire you to give up WhatsApp, Messenger, and other third-party tools; Ping raises $13 million to make timekeeping easier for lawyers; Dan York reports on NewsPack from WordPress, the Google Site Kit, PRX and Google podcasts, National Podcast Month, and the New York Times' look at the internet's future.
Continue Reading →
The post FIR #189: The First Thing We Do, Let’s Ease Timekeeping for All The Lawyers appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
1 hr 28 min
October 14, 2019 For Immediate Release #188: Tell Me A List
The October episode of “The Hobson and Holtz Report” features Shel and Neville discussing these topics:

* PG&E’s power outages featured poorly planned communication
* Iraqis are translating the internet into Arabic
* The limits of storytelling for marketing
* What the judges thought when an AI-authored essay was submitted to a competition
* Imposters are becoming a real problem in the influencer marketing world
* Twenty percent of workers accepted a job offer, then ghosted the employer on their first day
* Sadness and disgust may be emotions you want to incorporate into your marketing
* Dan York reports on new podcasting features Amazon has added to its Alexa ecosystem, cool new features in WordPress 5.3, and the availability of your online services in a PG&E-like power shutdown

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.
The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, November 18.
Links from This Week’s Episode

* Spread the word: the Iraqis translating the internet into Arabic
* Stories Can Be Powerful Persuasive Tools. But It’s Important to Understand When They Can Backfire.
* The Economist’s essay contest featured an AI submission. Here’s what the judges thought.
* Brands Beware: Influencer Impostors Want Your Free Stuff
* Virtual ambassadors cloud already murky legal picture for influencer marketing
* 1 in 5 workers accepted a job offer and ‘ghosted’ on their first day — here’s why
* Sadness and disgust among emotions that drive brand value, says biometric study

Links from Dan York’s Report

* Everything Amazon announced at its Alexa event
* WordPress 5.3 Development Cycle
* What’s Coming in WordPress 5.3 (Features and Screenshots)

* How Are Paywalled News Outlets Preparing to Serve Residents in California’s Mega-Power Shutoffs?

1 hr 21 min
October 14, 2019For Immediate Release #188: Tell Me A List
The October episode of “The Hobson and Holtz Report” features Shel and Neville discussing these topics:
PG&E's power outages featured poorly planned communication
Iraqis are translating the internet into Arabic
The limits of storytelling for marketing
What the judges thought when an AI-authored essay was submitted to a competition
Imposters are becoming a real problem in the influencer marketing world
Twenty percent of workers accepted a job offer, then ghosted the employer on their first day
Sadness and disgust may be emotions you want to incorporate into your marketing
Dan York reports on new podcasting features Amazon has added to its Alexa ecosystem, cool new features in WordPress 5.3, and the availability of your online services in a PG&E-like power shutdown
Continue Reading →
The post FIR #188: Tell Me A List appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
1 hr 21 min
September 23, 2019 For Immediate Release #187: It May Be A Car But It Sounds Like A Starship
The September episode of “The Hobson and Holtz Report” features Shel and Neville discussing these topics:

* Voice assistants have reached critical mass (and adoption of smart speakers is soaring)
* Thieves are using AI deepfakes to trick employees into sending them money
* Electric car owners could be able to choose fake sounds their cars make
* Not one PR agency was willing to take on the Hong Kong government as a client
* A new podcasting tool makes it easy to fix recorded flubs without needing to re-record
* Neville and Shel have a face-to-face chat in Winchester — and you can listen in
* Dan York reports on Google’s new algorithm, the low rate of Google search clickthroughs, the private Web Google wants to build (and the one developers want), the search for alternatives to advertising to monetize web content, and news from the WordPress world.

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.
The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, September 23 (we think).
Links from This Week’s Episode

* Descript, the new podcast editing tool
* 33% of People Are Now Using Voice Assistants Regularly
* The Smart Audio Report, Spring 2019 (PDF)
* Thieves are now using AI deepfakes to trick companies into sending them money
* Electric car owners could choose which fake sounds their cars make under new proposal
* Here’s the fake noise the Jaguar I-Pace makes when you hit the throttle
* Hong Kong protests: government fails to find PR firm to rescue battered image

Links from Dan York’s Tech Report

* Elevating original reporting in Search
* Google now gives more preference to original reporting in search
* Less than Half of Google Searches Now Result in a Click
* Sooner or later, the shark gets jumped
* Building a more private web
* Web feature developers told to dial up attention on privacy and security
* In a swipe at Chrome, Firefox now blocks ad trackers by default
* ‘I can’t see how my ads work if I can’t target people’: Confessions of a marketer
* Grant for the Web
1 hr 23 min
September 23, 2019 For Immediate Release #187: It May Be A Car But It Sounds Like A Starship
The September episode of "The Hobson and Holtz Report" features Shel and Neville discussing voice assistants reaching critical mass (and soaring adoption of smart speakers); thieves using AI deepfakes to trick employees into sending them money; the possibility that electric car owners could be able to choose fake sounds their cars make; the Hong Kong government's failure to find a PR agency; and a new podcasting tool that makes it easy to fix recorded flubs without needing to re-record. Plus, you'll sit in on a face-to-face conversation between Shel and Neville. And you'll hear Dan York's Tech Report.
Continue Reading →
The post FIR #187: It May Be A Car But It Sounds Like A Starship appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
1 hr 23 min