Inside PR 470: Fake news and the chasm of perspective

April 24, 2017 • thornley • Show Notes

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We celebrate a big award win for Maureen Judge (read on to learn of her connection to the podcast), test Instagram Hyperlapse and struggle with bridging the perspective chasm that seems to support fake news. Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley are back for another episode of the Inside PR podcast.

#IPRMustKnows

Kudos to Maureen Judge

It’s not strictly PR, but it is communication, communication as in documentary filmmaking. So, a quick shout out to Maureen Judge, whose documentary film, My Millenial Life, won the Canadian Screen Award. Maureen is not only a talented film maker, but she also is Martin’s wife. And Martin enjoys basking in Maureen’s aura.

Instagram Hyperlapse telescopes event videos

Hyperlapse, a new Instagram app enables users to speed up videos up to 12 times the speed in which they were taken. This should prove to be a boon for people staging events who want to produce behind-the-scenes, preparing for the event, or other kinds of videos capturing a longer time span.

Struggling with fake news and bridging the perspective chasm

We’ll be honest. Gini, Martin and Joe would all self-identify as progressive in our political perspective. And yes, we’re struggling with the challenge of fake news and the decline of traditional news organizations.

A story in the New York Times launched us into a discussion of the potential for social revenue sources like Patreon to support a bubbling up of entrepreneurial niche and community-based news media. But that quickly morphed into a discussion of the continuing problem of replacing the mid-sized news organizations that are most in trouble. And from there we found ourselves again struggling to come to grips with the immediate manifestation of these changes in the news ecosystem – fake news.

In our struggle with fake news, we move past the problem with social algorithms that lead to its distribution and the measures being taken, finally, by Facebook and other platforms to deal with it.
Simply tagging something as fake doesn’t bring us any closer to why people would believe it in the first place. It doesn’t bring us any closer to understanding why people distrust traditional news organizations. We have to understand the lived experience and perspective of those who reject the relevance of the facts that are advanced. They may be facts. But are they relevant to what these people really want to talk about? We need to listen to one another, engaging in a dialogue to find understanding and common ground.

Yep, it’s three liberals struggling with the challenge of fake news.

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. Leave a comment on the blog, send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], leave a comment on the Inside PR Facebook group or the FIR Podcast Network Facebook group, We’re also on Twitter. We’re @inside_pr or connect directly with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman.

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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 iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 469: Don’t give up the ship

April 18, 2017 • thornley • Inside PR, Show Notes

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Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley are back for another episode of the Inside PR podcast.

#IPRMustKnow

Time Berners Lee reminds us about what the Web should be

Gini points out some wise words from Tim Berners-Lee about things that must change in order for us to realize the potential of the World Wide Web. And it starts with a concern for privacy. An article well worth reading.

Boaty McBoatface went for a swim

We just can’t get enough of this story. Boaty McBoatface sank beneath the waves – and then resurfaced. Turning a PR embarrassment into something positive and memorable.

Channels, Channels and Channels. Can you count on them?

Skype. Slack. Twitter. Snapchat. PR pros have adopted many new communication channels in recent years. Lately, there has been a great deal of concern about the future of Twitter. PR won’t die if Twitter dies. But it sure will change things. Twitter isn’t as much about pitching as it is about understanding the interests of journalists who we might want to pitch. People tweet about the things they care about. And knowing what a a journalist cares about is useful when deciding who to pitch a story to. Having said that, nothing is for ever. So, don’t get too comfortable with the tools you use today. You may have to make changes tomorrow.

It’s your turn.

Please rate us on iTunes

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 iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 468: Escape with us

March 20, 2017 • thornley • Inside PR, Show Notes

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Escape with us. From fake news. From our filter bubble. From annoying videos that play sound as soon as they scroll into view. From Snapchat hype. Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley are back for another episode of the Inside PR podcast.

#IPRMustKnow

Snapchat hype

In the wake of the Snap IPO, we talk about what really matters for its prospects – a disconnect between its user base and its business model. And since we recorded this program, the dramatic drop in Snap’s share prices suggest that, after the hype, others have taken a closer look at what’s really going on here and have decided that its time to pull back from overly inflated excpectations.

Who is asking for Sound on videos by default? Not us.

Facebook’s move to turn sound on by default on videos that scroll into your newsfeed is another example of what happens when the interests of advertisers are placed ahead of the wants and likes of users. It’s also something that happens when one player dominates the marketplace. It can do things that don’t serve users. But, heck, where can we go? (See Snapchat above.)

Facebook is getting better at identifying fake news

Facebook has begun to more clearly mark fake news when users attempt to share it. A good move. An overdue move. And another clear indicator that Facebook is a news media company. And it should shoulder the editorial responsibilities of a news media company.

Escape your filter bubble

Social media, with its newsfeeds created by algorithms designed to retain our attention and increase our interactions, traps us in a filter bubble. We will only escape this through action on several fronts. By acknowledging and understanding standards for journalism grounded in transparency of perspective in place of the illusion of objectivity. By continuing to pressure the social networks to acquit their editorial responsibilities as news media. By promoting increased media literacy among all people.

#TryPod

March is #TryPod month. During this month, we and other podcasters are encouraging you to share with your friends one or more podcasts that you love. For my part, I want to share with you two podcasts.

Brief Remarks. Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery veteran Susan Delacourt knows all the key players in Canadian politics. And every week, she interviews them. A chance to get to know not only the politicians we see every day, but the behind-the-scenes players who make government work in Canada.
The Daily. Every weekday, Michael Barbero provides an in depth look at one of the big stories or trends that the New York Times is covering. In greater depth than is possible in the newspaper or on a blog post. Interviewing the people who researched and wrote the stories. Providing context. It’s the podcast I listen to to start every day.

If you have podcasts that you love, share them with others. Post about your favourite podcasts on Facebook, Twitter or any social media using the hashtag #trypod. Share the joy of podcasting and look for the smile on your friends’ faces as they too discover content that matters to them.

It’s your turn.

Please rate us on iTunes

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 iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 459: Better than speed dating. It’s speed podcasting.

November 23, 2016 • thornley • Show Notes

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This week we try “speed podcasting.” Martin, Gini and Joe triple booked ourselves. So, we only had twelve minutes to record the show. Could we make it in that time? Well we could if we focused on the #IPRMustKnows.

#IPRMustKnow

Vine faces its existential threat

Say goodbye to Will Sasso and disappearing oranges. Say goodbye to Vine as Twitter focuses their business and decides that Vine is not part of its future. Could there be a white knight out there who will take Vine off Twitter’s hands and keep it alive?

Facebook launches digital masks

It may be only in Ireland right now, but Facebook’s emulation of Snapchat’s most popular features marches on. Facebook’s strategy: Never stay still. Look for what’s hot. Copy. Profit.

Trump’s digital campaign machine

We recorded this just prior to the election. And even though we couldn’t see the outcome, Gini pays reluctant tribute to Donald Trump’s digital team. A remarkable story.

We did it!

Inside PR in under twelve minutes. We had a great time recording this. It’s like speed podcasting.

It’s your turn.

Please rate us on iTunes

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 iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 457: Ethical media relations

November 14, 2016 • thornley • Inside PR, Show Notes

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Twitter Moments for all of us. Large publishers’ growing dependency on Facebook. Thinking ahead about the implications of AI in our devices and apps. And the ethics of the close-hold embargo. Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley are back with another episode of the Inside PR podcast.

#IPRMustKnows

Create your Own Twitter Moments

Twitter Moments, introduced for media and select users earlier this year, is now available for all users. This is a useful feature for anyone speaking at a conference or participating in an event or discussion that they want to curate and preserve. Bit by bit, Twitter is becoming even more useful.

Large publishers are becoming dependent on Facebook. But where is the revenue?

A report published by the International News Media Association and reported on by Nieman Lab indicates that 30% of visits to large publishers websites are referred from Facebook. That’s huge. But if publishers are becoming ever more dependent on Facebook’s network effect, and with Facebook favouring content published natively on it, the big question continues to be, is traffic paying off in revenue?

Getting out front on AI

The increasing introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into apps, social networks and internet-connected devices raise a broad range of ethical, legal and policy issues. And where that happens, government is likely to act. So, it should come as no surprise that large businesses are banding together in a number of organizations to address these issues in order in advance of legislation and regulation. Of course, we can only hope that the voice of civil society will be heard alongside that of business.

A media relations issue to ponder: Close-hold embargoes

Charles Seife, writing in Scientific American, introduced us to a practice we had never encountered: A close-hold embargo. And it gives us the opportunity to ponder the line between transparency and manipulation and the ethical questions that public relations practitioners must confront when negotiating terms of access with news media.

It’s your turn.

Please rate us on iTunes

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 iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 455: PR in the Post-RSS, Post-Newsprint World

October 24, 2016 • thornley • Show Notes

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Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley are back with another episode of the Inside PR podcast.

#IPRMustKnows

From Docs to Podcasts

A sign of the continuing professionalization of podcasts. In a few weeks, Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary film festival, will launch its first Hot Docs Podcast Festival. The lineup is heavily skewed to mainstream, large audience podcasts. I guess that means that we need to continue to look to community-generated events like Podcamp Toronto to represent amateur niche content. Things like Inside PR. 🙂

Twitter – independent or acquisition?

Can Twitter survive on its own? Would it be better being acquired by a larger entity? I know that, one way or the other, I don’t want Twitter to disappear. As other services have refined their algorithms to present popular content first, I think that Twitter now holds a unique place as our newsfeed. An essential lense on the world that not only allows us to bear witness in real time, but also allows anyone to see it happening in real time.

Google Automated Insights

If you use Google Analytics, you must check out the automated insights that have been added to the Google Analytics mobile app. An invaluable tool that helps you quickly identify the most salient trends and events in the traffic to your site. Little by little, we are moving in the direction of the intelligent assistant. And it’s free!

PR can’t stop changing

For our main topics this week, we discuss the need for PR to accelerate the repositioning of its core business proposition in the face of shrinking newsrooms. PR will not disappear. It just won’t look like it did a few years ago. And companies that haven’t changed their focus away from earned media will find themselves left behind. The rise of Facebook as an aggregator. The decline of newsrooms. Sponsored content as the new norm. The end of print newspapers. PR must prepare itself for the post-newsprint world. Some PR agencies are well down the path of reimagining the business. The new firms seem to understand that the emphasis must continue to be on relationships. But different forms of relationships with different actors and agents (algorithms anyone?) Those that evolve in this way will succeed. Along the way, those that change will have to explain themselves to a marketplace that may not have understood the need for these changes. Those that don’t will disappear. Bet on it.

Now it’s your turn.

Please rate us on iTunes

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 iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 454: Are you a romantic or a stalker?

October 3, 2016 • thornley • Show Notes

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Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley are back with another episode of the Inside PR podcast.

#IPRMustKnows

Martin Waxman’s Social Media Marketing for Small Business is on Lynda.com

Yes, this is a shameless plug. But since it’s Joe writing this, Martin doesn’t have to be embarrassed. In fact, I think Martin is as smart about social media as anyone I know. And now Martin is sharing this knowledge on Lynda.com. Martin tells us about his trip to California to record a video course, Social Media Marketing for Small Business.

Buzzfeed News isn’t entertainment

Buzzfeed separated its Buzzfeed news operation from the Buzzfeed entertainment operation. Prelude to a possible sale of Fuzzfeed News. Buzzfeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith says no.

WhatsApp shares user data with Facebook

As happens so often with privacy concerns, after an initial spate of bad press, public protestations about Facebook’s decision to share user data from WhatsApp with Facebook seems to have died down. Our concern with privacy is something that spikes occasionally. But then we put it out of mind as we enjoy the experience of social media.

Wired tells us about teens and social media

A few things in Wired’s profile of teens and social media caught Gini’s eye. There are a lot of do’s and don’t’s. It’s not about understanding young people. It’s about looking at the social mores being established by a cohort that doesn’t have the baggage of previously shaped expectations and behaviour, a cohort that can lead the way in assessing new channels and defining norms of behaviour on them. As Martin says, “One generation’s romantic is another generation’s lurker.” (Apologies to John Cusack.)

The NY Times on Facebook

Liz Spayd, The New York Times Public Editor, recently offered her take on the content that The Times has been creating for Facebook. In her analysis, Facebook Live: Too Much, Too Soon, she states

“…here’s the problem. After watching countless hours of live video in the past few weeks, I have hit upon many that are either plagued by technical malfunctions, feel contrived, drone on too long, ignore audience questions or are simply boring, by I imagine most anyone’s standards.

“Too many don’t live up to the journalistic quality one typically associates with The New York Times.”

This leads Martin, Gini and I into a discussion of the nature of content appropriate to social media. It’s not always going to stand up to The Times’ traditional standards. But it will be effective in its new place, for different reasons.

Also worth noting in this article is something I hadn’t seen before. The New York Times has a contract to produce video content expressly for Facebook.

“While the terms of the deal are secret, the transaction requires Facebook to give The Times a guaranteed sum (reported to be $3 million a year) in return for a prescribed amount of video (so far it’s averaging upward of four a day). Neither Times officials nor Facebook would discuss the deal, citing confidentiality. Several other media companies, including BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and Mashable, have also signed on. Their job: to stock Facebook’s pond with high-quality video so it can compete in the rapidly growing market for live-stream video.”

The Times as content creator for Facebook. That’s something different from The Times posting its stories on Facebook. Different even from The Times posting its stories natively on Facebook. It is instead The Times creating content to meet Facebook’s needs. That is different – and worth watching.

Now it’s your turn.

Please rate us on iTunes

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 iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 453: Gini Dietrich knows how to promote content

September 6, 2016 • thornley • Show Notes

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Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley are back with another episode of the Inside PR podcast. This week, we discuss:

#IPRMustKnow

Instagram Stories continues to attract publisher interest. It could well be the combination of an engaging experience meeting a pre-existing audience.

Blab shut down, abruptly. Another sign that the psychology of scale has beat out the idea of sustainability for many business founders? For sure, it’s another reminder of the danger of placing your content eggs in any single shared space.

Unless you promote it, they will not come

Gini Dietrich schooled Joe on the importance and method of promoting content when she interviewed him for the Spin Sucks Inquisition. Within minutes of the post going live, Joe started to see mentions on his Twitter feed. Over the next week, he watched Gini promote the video. But beyond that, he watched Gini’s network chime in and share it. So, this week, we discuss Gini’s approach to promoting content, an approach which enables her to leverage a large and interested community of interest.

Listen to the end for this week’s outtake

You know that we’re not polished in our presentation. And if you heard us before the show is edited, you’d know that even better. But we genuinely like one another and have fun doing the show. Occasionally, this shows through in what we don’t include in the final version. Listen to the very end to get a taste of the stuff we leave on the cutting room floor.

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you.

Now it’s your turn.

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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.

Inside PR 451: Verify me Twitter. I’m a backseat rider.

August 1, 2016 • thornley • Show Notes

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Twitter opens verification to everyone. Yahoo closes an era. Anthony Ponce is a backseat rider. And the New York Times Public Editor shines a spotlight on the importance of perceived bias. Join Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley as they discuss these topics on this week’s Inside PR podcast.

#IPRMustKnow

RIP Yahoo

Yahoo once was the directory of the internet. So, we couldn’t let it fade into oblivion without marking the event.

Verify me, Twitter

It has been a widely-coveted symbol – the Twitter blue verification check mark. Now, we all can apply for it. Many will be called, but few will be granted? Have you applied for Twitter verification under the new process? Has your application been approved?

Backseat Rider

Anthony Ponce left his job as an on-air news anchor to spend full-time driving tax and posting the stories he picks up to his Facebook page. An interesting experiment. Politicians long have known that the best briefing they could get when visiting a city is the discussion with the taxi driver. They go everywhere and see everything.

Bias in News Media Redux

This is the issue we live with on a day by day basis. It’s also something which viewers of Fox News seem to accept, even welcome. Liz Spayd, the recently-appointed Public Editor at the New York Times reminds us that perception and reality do not necessarily converge when it comes to the issue of bias in news coverage. We’ve talked a lot about bias and personal perspective. And Spayd’s column brings us back to this topic.

Now 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. Leave a comment on the blog, send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter. And we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on iTunes.

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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.

Inside PR 450: Post Ghost fights back

July 25, 2016 • thornley • Show Notes

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Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joseph Thornley tackle Twitter’s tortured relationship with the development community on this week’s Inside PR podcast.

PostGhost, a service that preserved deleted tweets, was told to cease doing this by Twitter. PostGhost complied and shut down its service. But it did not go quietly. They published an Open Letter to Twitter, arguing that the deleted tweets of people with very large followings could have as much impact on public issues as the tweets of politicians. Citing deleted tweets about the Brexit vote by British celebrities with large followings, they say, “the ability to reach millions of followers instantly and leave no trace is a massive and growing power, and one that is currently completely unchecked and undocumented.”

The PostGhost letter raises important issues that have been debated before and will continue to be debated. And once Gini raised it, we too found ourselves debating it – for the entire episode.

So, this is a single episode about one thing that raises a number of important issues. We hope you find it interesting and useful.

Now 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. Leave a comment on the blog, send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the FIR Google+ Community, join the Inside PR Facebook group, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter. And we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on iTunes.

******************************************************************

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.