It’s about disclosure, stupid!

• • Show Notes

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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!

WordPress 5 with Gutenberg

WordPress users have something big to look forward to – the release of WordPress 5. WordPress published an update forecasting that WordPress 5 will be released as early as August. Why is WordPress 5 such a big deal? Because it will incorporate the new Gutenberg editing system.

Gutenberg will be the first significant change in WordPress’ core editing dashboard in ten years. And when it is introduced, WordPress users will have, for the first time, a true WYSIWYG interface that will enable them to create, format and arrange their content as they create it, seeing the results as they make the changes. As long time WordPress users, this is something that we have been looking forward to. August can’t come soon enough.

Sometime good enough video is good enough

We know that video is the most engaging of social objects. But we also know that it takes a lot of work to produce highly polished “professional-looking” videos. Digiday reports that The Guardian has adjusted their approach to video on Instagram. They concluded that the uptake of their videos does not justify the high cost of production of highly polished videos. On the other hand, they also noticed that less polished videos were being viewed as often as higher quality, higher cost of production videos. So, from now on, the Guardian is producing less polished videos such as 12 to 15 screen “explainers.”

We think there is a lesson here for all of us – sometimes it makes sense to aim for “good enough” to achieve your objectives. If you can achieve your objective at lower cost, doesn’t it just make sense to do this?

If you fail to disclose, this could be you

A few weeks ago we talked about the less-than-transparent disclosure made by matte story distributors and publishers. This week, Buzzfeed threw daylight on another lapse in disclosure. They highlighted the behaviour of one marketing company that routinely places bylined articles in online news outlets such as Forbes and Entrepreneur without disclosing that references to their clients within the articles are in fact references to clients of the marketing firm.

Nobody is served well by this practice. Not the client. Not the publisher. And not the marketing firm. Just one more reminder to us all that trust is built over time, but can be lost with a single action. Let’s remember, when in doubt, disclose.

Linkworthy

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Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

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Inside PR 513 It’s about disclosure, stupid! by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A Very Un-American Approach to Privacy?

• • Show Notes

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GDPR: Not yet in the rear view mirror

It’s six weeks since the effective date of GDPR. And many people think that, now that the flood of emails telling us about GDPR has ended, they won’t hear anything more about GDPR. Well, the reality is that we haven’t finished with GDPR. Not by a long shot. Many publishers and websites are going to be found to come up short on their implementation of GDPR. Some implemented opt-out instead of opt-in. Others buried their approvals out of plain sight. Some gave us an all or nothing approval. And all of these sites may find themselves being scrutinized in future. On top of that, California passed what may be the toughest privacy law in the United States, with an effective date of 2020. So, GDPR and privacy laws are not in our rearview mirror yet.

After Facebook: A return to a more diverse, more open online publishing ecosystem?

More evidence of the impact Facebook’s retreat from news had on publishers. Slate shared the 87% decline in traffic that they received from Facebook. But that’s not entirely the bad news it may seem at first blush. Because Slate didn’t go all-in on Facebook. They maintained a multi-channel promotion and publishing strategy – and that is serving them well now. Traffic to their home page is up. Traffic from sources other than Facebook are up and podcasts now constitute 25% of Slate’s revenue. Gini shares some of the stats for Spin Sucks – and they mirror what Slate revealed. Yes, Facebook referrals are down. But increases in traffic from other sources more than compensate for this loss. The bottom line — Facebook’s retreat from news has given a more diverse social system a chance to reestablish itself. And, as tough as the past 18 months have been, we’ve arrive in a much better place, a place that reminds us of the pre-Facebook open web.

Learn how to produce better videos the Instagram way

Have you been spending time on IGTV? Are you wondering how to produce better video to reach your friends and others? If you are, Instagram wants to help you. They have published a 48 page guide on how to produce better videos. And if equipment and software are a mystery to you, fear not. The Instagram guide provides tips on the apps and accessories you can get and use to make better video.

Audiograms really do work

Audiograms – the social posts that add video animations to soundclips – really do work. New data from audiogram provider Headliner showed that audiograms are much more effective at actively engaging your potential audience than are social posts with static images.

Linkworthy

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

Our hashtag is #IPRMustKnow. If you are tweeting or posting about the podcast, please include our hashtag so that we can find your post.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

Creative Commons Licence
Inside PR 512 by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Reddit and Apple fill the news void left by Facebook

• • Show Notes

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Apple News and Reddit’s new news tab both offer something useful to news consumers. And Instagram’s IGTV offers a fresh take on long form video. But Google’s Podcasts app doesn’t appear ready for prime time.

Serious news consumers have two interesting new news aggregators. We already know about the value of RSS feeds in a newsreader like Feedly. And a smart feed of news through Google News. Now two new promising sources of news from Apple and Reddit. Apple is offering a new channel of reliable news about the mid-term US elections. Reddit has added a news tab to its IOS interface. These are encouraging takes on news delivery that fill the gap left by Facebook’s retreat from news.

Also, Instagram celebrates 1 billion users with the launch of IGTV – long form video on Instagram. IGTV has a winning format for video added to an app we love.

Finally, Google introduces Google Podcasts for people using Android. And it’s receiving brutal reviews. Gini, Martin and Joe all use iOS devices. So, we don’t have direct experience with podcasts on Android. If you listen to Inside PR on an Android device, please let us know if you’ve tried the new Google Podcast app and what you think about it.

Linkworthy

Can Apple’s new unbiased, “fact-based” news section really remain unbiased? Andy Meek

Reddit is testing a news tab in its iOS app, Kris Holt

TL;DR: Some iOS users will see a news tab we’re testing and we want your feedback

Google Podcasts is pretty but basic, Terrence O’Brien

Welcome to IGTV, Instagram release

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

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Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

Creative Commons Licence
Inside PR 511 by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

It’s about seeing the people not just the data

• • Show Notes

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Do you need another social network? Can an existing social network break out by jumping on the privacy bandwagon? Can it do it by advertising in the print version of the New York Times? We talk about MeWe.

In her Internet Trends 2018 report, Mary Meeker suggests that we’re living in a Privacy Paradox. We found this to be the most important section of her report and we discuss its implications.

Linkworthy

Mary Meeker at Code 18, full transcript and video

20 Takeaways from Mary Meeker’s 2018 Internet Trends Report, Lisa Lacy

MeWe review, Andrew Orr

MeWe

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

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Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

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Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

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Inside PR 510 by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Yes to greater transparency and more balance

• • Show Notes

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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 dropped out of many publishers’ traffic. New data from Chartbeat suggests that the system is returning to a healthier mix in which traffic to publishers from Google Search and direct has increased to provide a more balanced flow of traffic. Balance is good, in that it reduces the relative importance of any single platform.

Linkworthy

How Instagram’s algorithm works, Josh Constine

Mobile traffic rises for news sites, Christine Schmidt

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

Our hashtag is #IPRMustKnow. If you are tweeting or posting about the podcast, please include our hashtag so that we can find your post.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

Creative Commons Licence
Inside PR 509 by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Inside PR 508: Gini Dietrich wrote the book. So don’t be surprised that she follows it in real life.

• • Show Notes

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On this week’s podcast, Gini Dietrich gives a textbook demonstration of how to start a podcast, we look at one important element of success in managing distributed workforces, and we look at the marketing and advertising hangover from the implementation of GDPR. All this, and news from the CPRS Annual Conference.

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 geographically dispersed teams freed of the need to show up at the office each day. Automattic, the company behind WordPress, just celebrated their 15th anniversary. And they also gave up their last office. Automattic has built a business that lasts with a team that works from the space that works for then. We see this happening more and more in communications and marketing. But there’s one important lesson from Automattic’s experience. It is important to bring people together at key times.

We all had two years to prepare for GDPR. So, are you surprised that so many organizations were not prepared for its May 25 effective date? Well, it’s clear that many weren’t. It’s also clear that GDPR is having an impact on advertising, with significant drop offs in advertising volumes reported in days following its implementation.

Also, Martin is shares some of the discussions that stood out for him at this year’s CPRA Annual Conference in Charlottetown.

Linkworthy

The Spin Sucks podcast on iTunes

Automatic makes the distributed workforce work, Oliver Staley

A GDPR hangover for the publishing industry, Mathew Ingram

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

Our hashtag is #IPRMustKnow. If you are tweeting or posting about the podcast, please include our hashtag so that we can find your post.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.
Creative Commons Licence
Inside PR 508 by Joseph Thornley Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich 659777 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Inside PR 507: GDPR Last Call

• • Show Notes

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We have lots to talk about on this week’s Inside PR podcast.

PRSA Counselors Academy

Martin returned from attending Counselors Academy last week in Toronto. And he tells us about some of the personal highlights. We’ve said it before, Counselor’s Academy is a unique gathering of PR agency principals that mixes both best communications practices with best business practices. A conference well worth attending.

No Klout

The demise of Klout. We won’t spill any tears. And it’s still a precautionary tale about the danger of trusting a measurement of index which refuses to publish the factors and calculations that are used to derive it.

GDPR Last Call

Last call. This is deadline week for General Data Protection Regulations. Final warning. 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 GDPR.

Don’t give up on constructive conversation on social media

There’s a lot of toxicity in social media discussions and comments. However, not everyone is giving up on the potential of social media to give voice to intelligent and constructive conversation. News this week of a project out of Simon Fraser University to to develop algorithms that would identify the most constructive, well-supported comments and raise their visibility. This type of development offers hope to anyone who is attempting to curate and moderate online conversations. We need more of this.

A course to get you started podcasting

If you’re listening to this podcast, you know how effective on demand media is to reach an audience with specialized interests. And you probably know something that others would like to share. So, why not think about creating your own podcast to share. If you’re thinking about doing this, Martin has a new podcast course on Lynda.com. A great place to start. And if you do start your own podcast, plesae let us know and we will promote it on Inside PR.

Gini Dietrich launches the Spin Sucks podcast

And speaking of new podcasts, Gini Dietrich is launching a Spin Sucks podcast. If you know Gini, you know this will be an outstanding podcast. So, hop over to iTunes and subscribe now.

Linkworthy

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

Our hashtag is #IPRMustKnow. If you are tweeting or posting about the podcast, please include our hashtag so that we can find your post.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.
Creative Commons Licence
Inside PR 507 by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Do you feel better about news media and truth today than you did yesterday?

• • Show Notes

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We often think back to where we were when we first heard about a life altering or world changing event. And as we do, we think about the emotions and thoughts that those events triggered.

A White House Press Corps that falls over themselves to distance themselves form a comic sho spoke truth to power. The remarkable performance of Rudolph Giuliani and the rapid shift in the President’s tweets from “Rudy’s got it right” to “he has to get his facts right.” What is truth? Where is truth? And is the news media even less capable of providing us with the information we need as citizens. Or are they locked in a race to the bottom?

In the wake of these events, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley revisit how we felt in the days after President Trump was elected. We struggled then, as we do now, to understand the new President, the people around him, and the effectiveness of news media outlets weakened by a deterioration in their business and distribution models.

So, after several weeks of reflecting on Facebook and social media, let’s take a step back and replay our conversation from Inside PR 464 about the new Trump administration and whether the news media is too weakened to do its job.

And as you listen to it, we think you’ll find that the questions we asked in January 2017 are as apt today as they were then.

Linkworthy

Will the media ever stand up to Trump? Judd Apatow talks with Mehdi Hasan

Should psychiatrists diagnose Trump? Should journalists? The Weeds podcast with Sara Cliff, Dara Lind and Brian Resnick.

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

Our hashtag is #IPRMustKnow. If you are tweeting or posting about the podcast, please include our hashtag so that we can find your post.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

Creative Commons Licence
Do you feel better about news media and truth today than you did yesterday? by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Going to the Mat[tresses]

• • Show Notes

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What’s the matter with mat stories? Quite a bit, in the absence of full disclosure. We talk about the different approaches to mat stories taken by the two largest providers in North America, NAPs in the United States and News Canada north of the border. We talk about where the responsibility for disclosure resides and we see that there may be failings at all three points in the news chain, PR agencies, mat distributors and publishers.

We also look at Facebook’s curious performance during and after its testimony before a Canadian Parliamentary Committee. Called to testify about its privacy policies, Facebook’s spokesperson first told Parliamentarians that Facebook has its own interpretation of Canadian lobbying laws. An interpretation that resulted in Facebook having no lobbyist registration, despite the fact that Facebook was on record having meetings with several Cabinet Ministers. Curious, said the NDP’s Charlie Angus. But, there’s more. To top it off, Facebook, the distribution platform on which many Canadians receive their news, refused to take any questions from reporters. This, even thought the reporters accompanied Facebook’s Canadian rep down three stories from the Committee hearings to the building exit where he could finally flee them.

Actions speak loudly. And the failure to disclose fully speaks volumes.

Linkworthy

Mat stories

CBC’s Kelly Crowe’s take: Health Canada’s ‘Fake News’? It’s not fake, but it’s not news either

The original story CBC levered off: Blacklock News, Feds’ Fake News Cost $577K

Find the disclosure: News Canada’s home page and About Us page

NAPS site for advertisers is different from its site for publishers

Facebook Canada does a Faceplant

Reuters exclusive: Facebook to put 1.5 billion users out of reach of new EU privacy law

Video: Charlie Angus questions Kevin Chan about Facebook’s failure to register its Canadian lobbying activities and move of users out of reach of GDPR

Video: Facebook’s Kevin Chan acts as if the reporters with their microphones in his face are just an illusion

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

Our hashtag is #IPRMustKnow. If you are tweeting or posting about the podcast, please include our hashtag so that we can find your post.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

Creative Commons Licence
Going to the Mat[tresses] by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Does your business belong on Reddit?

• • Show Notes

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Should you use Reddit for your business communications? Will the Reddit community welcome you or even accept you? Mike Connell’s recent article on the Spin Sucks blog launched this week’s discussion.

And we didn’t need much prompting to talk about Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance before Congress. Not surprisingly, Gini, Martin and Joe have very different takes on Zuckerberg’s performance and its impact and potential consequences.

Linkworthy

Here are a couple articles that inspired us to consider theses topics. We recommend them as reads well worth your time:

It’s your turn.

We’d love to know what you think about the topics we discussed as well as your suggestions for questions you’d like answered or topics for future shows.

#IPRMustKnow

Our hashtag is #IPRMustKnow. If you are tweeting or posting about the podcast, please include our hashtag so that we can find your post.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe on the podcast app of your choice

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer. Inside PR is produced by Joseph Thornley.

Creative Commons Licence
Does your business belong on Reddit? by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.