Well, it’s that time of year where everyone seems to be doing what they can to wrap up projects and get ready for the holidays. It’s also the time when the Inside PR crew gazes into the into the proverbial communications crystal ball with our prognostications … OK, it’s not that dramatic, really. But Gini, Joe and I do talk about three of the trend…

Communications, by its very nature, is an industry full of thinkers. The work that we do is often the same across disciplines—and other work is unique to every one of us. The work that is unique is our intellectual property, yet it’s pretty rare that we spend our resources on protecting it. On this episode, we talk about what that might look like f…

In the wake of Facebook’s bad news month, we discuss the communications challenges the company faces. A blip? Or a step on an irreversible path toward becoming the new MySpace? The necessary impetus to increased regulation? And would a company with an army of lobbyists ever see a regulatory regime that actually curbs its freedom of action in any me…

Have your web analytics changed in recent years? That is, despite your best efforts, has your organic traffic gone down? What about SEO for blog posts? Or engagement on social media? Maybe digital media has become even more of a pay-to-play landscape than ever and platforms are expecting a higher price from organizations in order for them to achiev…

Ae talk about the PR Writer’s Code of Conduct and ethical communications. An evergreen topic. The post Inside PR 553: Ethically, Legally, Responsibly appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

It’s fall and there’s always a hint of excitement in the air. At least it should be. But so many people still have questions about what their work situation will be like. And companies are grappling with policies around going back to the office, staying remote or some sort of hybrid compromise. How will you communicate your decision to your team? O…

On episode 551 of Inside PR, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman, and Joe Thornley do a special recording for the Earned Media Mastery Summit with Agility PR Solutions. They discuss the future of the PR industry—exciting things to come, as well as the challenges young professionals will face as they grow in their careers. Listen to this episode to learn: …

On this bi-weekly episode of Inside PR, Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and Gini Dietrich discuss the plumbing of the internet, from Feedburner and its replacements to how marketing automation works in the deep dark areas of the web and how video continues to evolve as we adapt. These are things we all take for granted, sort of like the sewer beneath …

Look. Most communications professionals have the best intentions and behave in an honest and ethical way. But there are some less than scrupulous PR fooks whose approach and choices reflect badly on the industry. Now, it’s not just communicators who are guilty of this. Certain journalists, media outlets, bloggers and influencers are also not as hon…

On this week’s episode of Inside PR, Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I discuss our favorite tools and what has changed—and what has stayed the same—since COVID hit. Before you get into the tools, though, we have an important reminder: it’s not about the tools. It’s about whether or not you’ll actually use them. It’s easy for us to discuss our favo…

Well, it’s been a while since you heard from us … And I wanted to let you know that after a hiatus of around 20 months—and all the things that have happened between then and now—Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley and I are back recording Inside PR. Why? To be honest we missed talking with each other about what’s new about PR, social media and digital mark…

Summer vacation is over – and it’s time to fire up the Inside PR podcast. The post Inside PR 545: Autumn Intent appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.By Joe Thornley

On Inside PR this week: Open Government, open engagement and open data activists from around the world gathered in Ottawa. So did the grand committee of countries looking at the practices of the social platforms. But it doesn’t matter how many countries come together in one place — Mark Zuckerberg responds to no flag but his own. He was, once again…

On this week’s Inside PR, we consider the implications of an Algorithmic Accountability Act, rebalancing the freedom of companies to capture and use our data with our right to informed consent. Plus: Protect your privacy against hidden cameras during your next business trip. The post Inside PR 543 – Algorithmic Accountablity and Privacy appeared fi…

Dan York joins the IPR Team We have big news this week: Dan York is joining the Inside PR team. Dan is well known to Inside PR listeners for his tech segments on Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson’s FIR podcast. And, if you didn’t know, his day job is as Director, Web Strategy, at the Internet Society. Gini, Joe and Martin are big fans of Dan’s reports.…

A change of pace for FIR The FIR Podcast is one of the longest continually-produced podcasts for communications pros. Since 2005, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson have been providing insight into the communications trends and developments that are important to communications practitioners. But now they are dialing back their production schedule to onc…

Is Mark Zuckerberg’s concept of privacy your concept of privacy? Probably not. And this week we discuss Zuckerberg’s ongoing repositioning of Facebook as “private.” The post Inside PR 540 – Private and Privacy aren’t the same thing appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.By Joe Thornley

Google takes a pass on carrying political advertising in Canada. And there are reports that Cision is up for sale. The post Inside PR 539: Google Takes a Pass and Cision thinks about a sale appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.By Joe Thornley

This week, we take a deep dive into Roger McNamee‘s Zucked. McNamee, an early investor in Facebook and an erstwhile advisor to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg has provided us with an insightful consideration of how Facebook and social media have changed over time. It is an account that throws light on questions of responsibility and accountabil…

Joe had a moment of surprise when he realized that, not only does he no longer listens to radio, he doesn’t even own a radio! Over the past few years, he had transferred his listening time from linear radio to on-demand podcasts. And he hadn’t even noticed the shift in his media consumption – until his wife threw out the last radio in their house. …

We have some news to break on this week’s Inside PR. Gini and Martin are going to be working together. Martin has joined the Spin Sucks team. Gini has been building Spin Sucks as a community for a decade – and growth has reached the point in which she needs help leading the content team. Enter Martin. We also talk about the acceleration of job loss…

In late January, Facebook launched a PR initiative that, on its face, appeared intended to reframe in 2019 the issues that got away from them in 2018, AKA Facebook’s privacy offences that dominated the year since the Cambridge Analytica scandal became public. This week on Inside PR, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley talk about this f…

This week on Inside PR, we talk about the creep factor in social media and the need for us to be aware of the use of our data and to demand control back from the social platforms. The post Inside PR 534 – Know your ISP knows if you know what it knows about you appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.By Joe Thornley

This week on Inside PR, we talk about: Facebook’s commitment to supporting local journalism. (0:55) Using Alexa Flash Briefings for your communications program(5:51) our take on Gillette’s The Best Men Can Bevideo ad theme (15:44) Linkworthy Doing More to Support Local News, Facebook blog Facebook is funding more programs catering to local news pub…

It’s our beginning of year promises show. So, if you want to get some insight into what makes Martin, Gini and Joe tick, you’ll probably find out this week. And along the way, we hope that you may get some ideas for things you may want to do this year yourself. The post Inside PR 532 – We’ve got resolutions appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.…

The past month has brought market and economic turmoil the likes of which we have not seen since 2008. And only one thing is certain. There will be many businesses that do not make it through the downturn. So, what’s the smart agency head doing? Definitely not going all in with a bet on a single business line. Smart leaders are diversifying their r…

Don’t Feed the Giants First, up on Inside PR this week, Martin points to Farhad Manjou’s final “State of the Art” column for the New York Times. Some smart advice for these digital times: Don’t just look at the product. Look at the business model. Avoid Feeding the Giants Adopt Late. Slow Down Don’t Look Now, But Your Apps See You Another blockbust…

This week, we cover a new Stories feature that LinkedIn is testing, the launch of another daily news podcast, this time from the Washington Post, and Facebook meets it match in the United Kingdom Parliament. LinkedIn Stories — Putting wings on an elephant? LinkedIn is beta testing a Stories feature called Student Voices. On one level, it sounds lik…

Facebook: Still Delaying. Still Denying. Still Deflecting. Two hours after we recorded last week’s Inside PR, the New York Times posted a bombshell report – Delay, Deny, Deflect – about Facebook’s management of legislators and manipulation of the truth. And in this report, they answered the question that Gini Dietrich has been asking since the whol…

Facebook’s Really Bad Behaviour Sometimes, the stars just align perfectly. When we recorded this episode of Inside PR, we did not know that, within hours, the New York Times would publish a bombshell storydelving into Facebook’s tactics to avoid full transparency and accountability for the existence and persistence of Russian troll activity and oth…

This week, on Inside PR 526, Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley and Martin Waxman discuss: Do you want to understand the Paid/Earned/Shared/Owned approach to PR and marketing? Martin tells people that Gini’s SpinSucks site is a top site for info on PESO. Is Facebook really bigger than every government in the world? Does this mean that Facebook is above…

A couple weeks ago, Joe talked about his dismay at the social media communications from his local power company during a more than two day power outage in Ottawa following a devastating tornado. Well, you listened, and you told us that we (at least Joe) was being too demanding in what he expected of communicators in a crisis. We received some thoug…

Google+ has gone away. We reflect on its demise and what it did and didn’t mean for us in its prime and at the end. The retro-lovers among us may have noticed the return of the Palm brand name. It may go to show that there’s always a demand for people who turn left when the rest of us turn right. There’s a new podcast for PR agency leaders, aptly n…

On this week’s Inside PR podcast, Martin Waxmanand Joseph Thornleydiscuss several topics: Pew research data that suggests a flattening in the growth of social media useand device ownership in the US; Data from LastPass that shows that there is much we can do to improve the security of our online accounts PR Week released data on the process of rein…

Gini, Martin and Joe talk about privacy and the continuing interest of government legislators about what the social networks and search engines are doing – and not doing – to protect it. Privacy is not just about the personally identifiable data. It’s as much about the metadata that flows from it. We also talk about how realistic it is to expect ag…

Twitter users everywhere heaved a sigh of relief last week, as Twitter gave users the option to again view tweets displayed by recency. No more need to see stale tweets that Twitter thinks you’ll be interested in. As you did in the earliest days of Twitter, you can again see the tweets displayed in reverse chronological order. Hurrah. At the same t…

This week on Inside PR, we discuss Nike’s recent endorsement of Colin Kaepernick as an example of corporate activism and corporate social responsibility. Gini and Martin see Nike’s Colin Kaepernick endorsement as a laudable example of corporate activism. Joe is not so sure. Also, we share some things we’ve created elsewhere that we hope you will fi…

Facebook is working to make it easier for you to avoid those annoying spoilers about the program you’re half way through binging with a new keyword topic filter. The keyword filter has been available to some lucky users in the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Let’s hope that it becomes available to us all soon. I know I’ll …

This week on Inside PR 518, we talk about the upgrade to the Twitter app that makes creating Tweet Threads as easy as clicking on a plus sign at the bottom of your tweet composition window. Twitter threads are a great way to tell more complex stories over time. And they have the extra value of pulling all the tweets in the thread to the top of your…

This week, we look at the decision of the New York Times to stand behind Sarah Jeong following the trolling controversy. Also, Gini Dietrich offers advice on converting your speaking opportunities into business leads. Finally, in our #IPRMustKnow segment, we talk about how Feedly is involving users in the redesign of its iOS app and how WordPress i…

Gini Dietrich is back with us this week. And that’s a good thing as we dig into the reactions to James Gunn’s firing and the allegations against Les Moonves. Do the responses of the Guardians of the Galaxy cast and the CBS Films’ President Terry Press signal a turning point in the conversation? Are we ready for learning, reconciliation and forgiven…

This week on Inside PR 515 we consider examples of tough issues and crisis points. Is it wise to keep your powder dry and hold off communicating? To avoid feeding the beast? Or should a communicator always look for a way to communicate the core principles and truths that he or she believes in. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association issued an open…

Martin Waxman is in California recording his next course for Lynda.com/LinkedIn. And we took the opportunity to invite Martin’s producer, Hilary White, to give us insight into these and many more questions we have about online courses. Bonus: Do you think you might like to offer an online course with a major platform like Lynda.com or LinkedIn Lear…

On this week’s episode of the Inside PR podcast: The biggest change to WordPress in ten years; the Guardian decides good enough video really is good enough; and a teachable moment in marketing ethics. It’s about disclosure, stupid! The post Inside PR 513: It’s about disclosure, stupid! appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.…

Six weeks after GDPR came into force, it’s clear that many companies haven’t really got it right. And now, California has enacted the toughest privacy law in the United States. So, if you thought GDPR and privacy rights were in the rearview mirror, think again. Facebook left publishers in the lurch. And that hurt. But new data from Slate tells us t…

Did you hear the news? Apple and Reddit just upgraded their apps with some serious news coverage. And Instagram launched IGTV, a serious competitor in longer videos. But Google can’t be serious about the new Google Podcasts app. The post Apple and Reddit upgrade the news appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.…

In this week’s Inside PR, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley discuss the Privacy Paradox highlighted by Mary Meeker in her Internet Trends 2018 presentation. And we look at WeMo, just one mo’ social network. The post Inside PR 510: People over data appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.…

Instagram released some information about how its algorithm determines what we see. Every individual has a unique feed. But all of us gain some insight from Instagram’s disclosure. A praiseworthy step toward greater transparency is how the social media sausage is made. Last October, Facebook de-emphasized news in the Facebook Newsfeed. The bottom d…

Gini’s podcast, Spin Sucks, launched with three episodes. We talk about Gini’s approach to packaging and launching the podcast, and how she hopes to use it to build the Spin Sucks community. Not surprisingly, there’s real method to Gini’s actions. A text book example of how to launch a new podcast. We also talk about the trend to building geographi…

This week, Gini, Martin and Joe talk about: Counselors Academy’s annual spring conference in Toronto The demise of Klout. We won’t spill any tears. This is deadline week for General Data Protection Regulations. This may be a European law, but it can be applied to any Website that gathers data from Europeans. Be sure that you are in compliance with …