Powerful Communication Podcast

One of the most powerful figures in all of digital media is leaving her role at Facebook's parent company.

Sheryl Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008, becoming Chief Operating Officer and was the most senior person in the entire company after founder Mark Zuckerberg.

She effectively ran the company during its most successful period and achieved widespread praise for her 'Lean In' book, which aimed to encourage women and girls to speak up more in the workplace.

Sandberg revealed she was stepping down in a post on Facebook - the move will take effect in the autumn but she'll stay on the board of directors.

I'd expect, in time, her to take on a high profile role somewhere else and certainly wouldn't rule out frontline politics.

June means Pride month and TikTok has got things underway with a number of special events - including live streams, a showcase of Pride related businesses and special activity around the LA Pride Parade and Festival - you can track it all using the #ForYourPride.

One more before I go - check out Quora for some fascinating answers to some of the world's weirdest questions - that's Quora.

But remember, just because it's on the internet, doesn't mean it's true!

Business website Bloomberg has published fascinating insight into Google's attempts to battle Amazon for online shopping.

The search giant has never really had a a strong e-commerce strategy but now it's changing direction and trying again.

Google wants to make it easier for customers to find what they want to buy - and then buy it - without having to go to 3rd party websites.

One to keep an eye on if you run a business or don't like shopping on Amazon.

If you or someone in your family plays video games you've probably heard about 'loot boxes'.

These are paid for in game extras which can contain extra lives, weapons or costume accessories but players don't know what they're getting until they've paid for and opened a box.

Some of them aren't worth much at all and consumer groups are calling for legislation to protect players from what it claims are misleading, aggressive and manipulative tactics.

Finally, this from Switzerland where cameras are being fitted onto public transport vehicles, to gather vast amounts of data about the waste on the streets - how much, where it is and when it gathers - the system then uses artificial intelligence to co-ordinate cleaning resources and public awareness campaigns to keep things clean.

Email newsletters still outperform social media when it comes to getting a return on investment for marketing - and that's why so many businesses send so many emails and they're so desperate to get you to sign up to join their mailing lists.

You probably deal with some companies where you're very happy to be on their mailing list and get details of new products and sometimes even discounts.

But there are others that you maybe didn't mean to join or you feel they email you too frequently.

By law, it should be easy to opt out and tell the company you don't want to receive any more emails. Look at the bottom of the emails, sometimes right at the bottom and there should be an 'Unsubscribe' button, sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's not a button but it's in pretty small text.

Clicking that should get your email address off the mailing list.

You can also look at the settings within your email provider and automatically block email from particular addresses or send it straight to your junk folder.

On the subject of the junk or spam folder…it's worth checking that regularly because sometimes it can be a bit overprotective and there might be email in there that you actually do want to see.

Some 51 years after the first email was sent, it's still one of the most widely used methods of communication in our world.

Here's a new player in the video editing business - it's called veed.io and it's an online browser based video editor.

There's nothing to download and a decent free plan as long as you don't mind restrictions on the duration and quality of the videos.

It makes it particularly easy to add captions to videos and then share them to social media.

Like CapCut which I mentioned on a previous broadcast, these new and emerging tools are great but it's always worth checking the level of technical support you're getting from them, read their privacy policy and think about where your data is going.

If you found it difficult to use Instagram across the weekend - it was't just you.

The platform experienced a variety of intermittent outages over the last few days.

Once again this underlines how much we rely on social media - using it to contact friends, get our news and do work, so it has huge implications when they go down.

The traditional broadcast model is still far more reliable than IP and mobile networks which is just one reason why radio remains so popular.

Here's your 60 second round up of the latest technology news.

Could Playstation be planning a 'pro' version of its PS5 console?

Chinese electronics giant TCL says it expects to see one - and an upgraded Xbox sometime in 2023 and 2024.

It's unclear whether the company has any insider knowledge or if this is an educated guess - Playstation fans have flooded social media with complaints that they're still not able to get their hands on stock of the standard PS5 many months after it launched.

Dyson has already changed the game for vacuum cleaners - now it's set its sights on other household chores that could be carried out by robots.

250 engineers will work at a new domestic robotics centre in Wiltshire.

And look out for changes to where your website appears in the Google rankings over the next few weeks.

The search engine is rolling out another set of changes to its algorithm, which could see your website, if you have one, moving up or down the list.

The online dating market is expected to be worth 3.5 billion dollars by the end of 2025.

One of the key elements to consider when choosing one to use is whether you prefer a system that lets you browse and read profiles and then decide who to contact, or something based around an algorithm where you enter information about yourself and the software then suggests 'matches', or would you prefer something based around 'looks'.

Tinder is one of the best known sites based around physical attraction, famous for its 'swipe left or right' to show whether you like or dislike the images.

Other popular sites include Match.com, PlentyOfFish, eHarmony, OKCupid, and bumble.com which is different from many others in that only women can initiate conversations for heterosexual matches.

Many dating apps operate a freemium model, or at least a free trial where you can join, create a profile and have a look around but to contact anyone you have to pay a subscription.

Be sure to follow the advice around safe dating and meet people in a public place - one interesting site no longer with us was called Rock N Roll Dating which trued to match people through their tastes in music but it didn't catch on and closed down some years ago.

I've a few sites to mention today if you're interesting in taking your video game playing to the next level and perhaps trying to become a video game influencer.

Some gamers are growing a fan base and even making money by streaming themselves playing games and to make the most of it, you need a ready supply of games.

Research from Affise highlights the platforms gamers should consider.

Top of their list is Playstation Plus followed by Playstation Now which lets you play games from previous Playstation models and could be good for someone interested in retro gaming.

There's also Steam, GOG Galaxy 2.0 and Origin.

Many of the platforms I've just mentioned have free plans as well as premium paid for services so take a look around and choose one that suits you best.

There's also Google's Stadia platform and remember to make it as a gamer you would probably also want a webcam, USB microphone or headset, quality graphics card and a very good broadband connection.

Glassdoor is a bit like TripAdvisor - but for staff.

You'll find it at glassdoor.co.uk and it encourages employees to anonymously review their current or former employer.

It can hep you find out how much you should be earning and, according to research is a useful early warning of things that might be wrong with a company.

Like any review site, you can't 100% trust everything you read there but it might be worth a look if you're in the market for a job or if you're an employer and want to know what your staff think of your workplace.

TikTok's chosen Vietnam as the test centre for what could be a serious push into the gaming market.

Reuters reports the video sharing app has launched a series of its own 'mini games' within the app which could roll out soon across the rest of the world.

Some experts believe TikTok gaming will be timed to have a big impact around Christmas.

It's funny - if you think back to the early days of Facebook, simple games such as FarmVille were a big part of the appeal.

But this is another area where Facebook has been left behind.

I'm back tomorrow with a look at online dating apps.

Comsteria delivers the UK' smost relevant media relations training.

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The Digital Minute is here for you if you've any questions or issues with gadgets or technology.

Email me your questions to [email protected]t and I'll do my best to answer them.

I get a lot of people asking about live streaming and how they can get better results.

If you're working from a PC or Mac and video streaming or streaming yourself playing video games, the graphics card is one of the most important pieces of equipment.

Lots of newcomers to streaming focus on broadband speed which is obviously incredibly important, you do need a very high upload speed and probably an ethernet connection plugged right into your computer.

You could have that, and a great webcam but if the graphics card in your machine isn't capable enough then the results will be mediocre at best.

You can buy external USB graphics cards which plug into your device but most also need a casing and a fan to keep them cool. Expect to pay up to 2 or 3 hundred pounds for a reasonably good quality card and up to a thousand pounds for the tip of the range models.

Nvidia and AMD are among the big names in graphics cards - but before you rush to buy one you'll need to be sure they're compatible with your device and if you're running an Apple Mac you will have a more limited choice.