In-person, online or hybrid? Which type of public meeting is the right fit for your public participation initiative? Dr. Rebecca Sutherns is an expert facilitator, someone who can bring a group of people together, find their interests, get them thinking creatively, and draw out their views and preferences on issues under consideration. And she has …

Catherine Rockandel has played a leading role in guiding IAP2 Canada over the past six years, first as a regional chapter leader, then as as Vice President of the national organization and, for the past three years, as President of IAP2 Canada. She sat down recently with Joseph Thornley to talk about her time as the head of IAP2, leading through Co…

Welcome to the new season of the Inside P2 podcast, the podcast for Public Engagement Professionals. This season, we're going to focus on the changes in public engagement since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. We'll be asking what has changed in public participation since COVID and before. How have the public's expectations shifted? How is AI a…

Can you believe it’s mid-December and another year is almost done? That can only mean one thing … it’s time for our annual episode where we gaze into the proverbial communications crystal ball … OK, it’s not that dramatic, really. But Gini, Joe and I do talk about three of the trends we’ll be watching over the next 12 months: Natural language gener…

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 you noticed your brand is no longer getting the type of engagement on organic social media? How about ranking for search or interactions when you publish new content on your website or blog? Perhaps the digital world has become even more pay-to-play and is expecting a higher price from organizations in order for them to achieve decent business…

In this episode of Inside PR, we talk about the PR Writer’s Code of Conduct and ethical communications. An evergreen topic.By Inside PR

It’s fall—well, almost—and there’s a hint of excitement in the air. At least it feels like there should be! Kids are going back to school. College and universities are offering more in-person classes. And people are getting revved up for the busiest season of the year. But are you ready to go back to the office or would you prefer to work remotely …

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 episode 553 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.

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 …

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

OK. Before you get defensive, I want make something clear right from the start: We are NOT saying all PR people are evil. Far from it. In fact, most of us are simply trying to do the best jobs we can for our organizations or clients and behave in an honest and ethical manner. But let’s just say, there are some less than scrupulous individuals and c…

Once they’ve tasted freedom, it’s hard to take that away. It’s not what I want as an employer; it’s what you want as an employee. Has your boss told you that you have to return to the office fill time? Part-time? Have they talked about flex work? Or even held out the prospect of working remotely on an ongoing basis? And how do you feel about this? …

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…

On this week's episode of Inside PR, Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and Gini Dietrich discuss our favorite tools and what has changed—and what has stayed the same—since COVID hit.

Hello … Helloooo … Check 1, 2 … Is this thing on? OK, cliches aside, I’m happy to report 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 in PR, social media and digi…

Yes, it’s been a long time coming, a long time behind episodes. But we’re back with Inside PR for another year. And we’re getting back into the groove by discussing the things that we are looking at in the waning months of 2019. Linkworthy Three ways to determine if an app is worthy of your attention, Gini Dietrich Subscribe to the Inside PR podcas…

On this week’s Inside PR, Gini Dietrich provides practical advice to the PR practitioner on the importance of SEO to media relations and earned media. PR practitioners understand much more than algorithms. And we must combine our media relations expertise with SEO best practices to ensure that we maximize long term exposure for our clients’ content…

This week, 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. Linkworthy Booker, Wyden, Clarke Introduce Bill Requiring Companies to Target Bias in Cor…

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.” One more thing: Thank you to Emma Haddad for including Inside PR in her list of podcasts PR pros should listen to. Linkworthy A Privacy-focused vision for social networking, Mark Zucker…

Google takes a pass on carrying political advertising in Canada. And there are reports that Cision is up for sale. Linkworthy Report: Cision Explores Sale PR Newswire Owner Cision Explores Sale – Sources Google to ban political ads ahead of federal election, citing new transparency rules Subscribe to the Inside PR podcast We’re trying to be whereve…

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 our own 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. Gini and Martin talk about the Spin Sucks ed…

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. Linkworthy Nine Technologies Creeping Us Out in 2019, Ruth Reader Bell wants permission to gather and track customer data Subscribe to the Inside PR podcast We’re trying …

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 Be video ad theme (15:44) Linkworthy Doing More to Support Local News, Facebook blog Facebook is funding more programs catering to local news p…

It’s our first show of 2019 and we decided to make it a more personal show – by talking about the things that are important to us personally and professionally – and what we plan to do about them in the coming year. 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, …

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 story delving into Facebook’s tactics to avoid full transparency and accountability for the existence and persistence of Russian troll activity and ot…

In this week’s episode of the Inside PR podcast: 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 the oversight of the political leader…

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…

On this week’s Inside PR podcast, we look at several developments and topics of interest to PR practitioners and agency leaders: 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 ther…

On this week’s Inside PR podcast, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley discuss several topics: Pew research data that suggests a flattening in the growth of social media use and 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 r…

On the show today, an interview with the Global Chair of the International Association for Public Participation, Kylie Cochrane. IAP2 is a federation of regional IAP2 organizations such as IAP2 USA and IAP2 Canada. Kylie Cochrane is the Chair of the overarching federation. And while we were both at the IAP2 North America Conference in Victoria, she…

On this week’s podcast, 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 real…

With Twitter, the old way is better 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 chrono…

This week on Inside PR, we discuss Nike’s recent endorsement of Colin Kaepernick as an example of corporate activism and corporate social responsibility. And we also share some things we’ve created elsewhere that we hope you will find useful. Martin Waxman has a show? No, a LinkedIn course. Martin Waxman’s new LinkedIn Learning course has just been…

During the IAP2 North American Conference in Victoria, Joseph Thornley sat down with outgoing IAP2 Canada President Bruce Gilbert to discuss the accomplishments during Bruce's three years as President and what's next. The growth of IAP2 Canada's membership at a time that many organizations are seeing declining growth; The reasons that the growth in…

We’re back after a brief summer vacation. And we have lots to talk about. Snooze Keywords on Facebook 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…

EngagePhase Weekly is the only newsletter that covers the public participation industry in North America and around the world. And today, EngagePhase Editor-in-Chief Tim Bonneman joins Joseph Thornley to talk about what it took to get EngagePhase going, how he covers the industry and what to expect from EngagePhase in the future. Linkworthy Check o…

Canada's National Capital Region is getting its own chapter of the International Association for Public Participation. And this week's Inside P2 guest host, Peter Wilton, is leading the steering committee that is launching it. We talk about plans for the newly established chapter, which include both events and social media channels. If you are a pu…

Tweet Threads made easier 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…