At the dawn of the social media age fifteen and more years ago, everything was about blogs. This was the time just before Facebook, before Twitter, even before YouTube, when blogs started to gain momentum from the early-to-mid 2000s when businesses began exploring this new media model and considered the opportunities and risks it presented as an additional communication channel. Take IBM, for example - a true early pioneer in encouraging employees to embrace a new communication … [Read more...] about Lush shows it’s time for an anti social media policy
Archives for 2021
Metaverse: how Facebook rebrand reflects a dangerous trend in growing power of tech monopolies
Facebook’s rebranding as Meta has been seen by many as the company’s latest attempt at corporate crisis control. The social media giant has been publicly attacked for creating an environment that fosters far-right extremism and violating individuals’ data privacy. Yet it also represents an attempt to rebrand the growing power of tech monopolies to shape all areas of our lives through social expansion. It points to a troubling new era of “metacapitalism” – or “capitalism on steroids” as Forbes … [Read more...] about Metaverse: how Facebook rebrand reflects a dangerous trend in growing power of tech monopolies
Windows 11 makes its glorious public debut
Today, October 5, Microsoft makes Windows 11, a new version of Windows, publicly available. Over the coming nine months or so, it will be available as a free update in Windows Update on computers everywhere running Windows 10. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 11 has taken only three months to go from first public announcement about a new version coming today to public availability and access to it. In those intervening three months, Microsoft has run a community testing … [Read more...] about Windows 11 makes its glorious public debut
September 11 remembered
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the infamous terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. Today, people around the world will pause to remember 9/11 - that terrible day twenty years ago. Almost 3,000 people from 90 countries lost their lives when two hijacked planes were crashed into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center, causing their total collapse and the deaths of thousands, with another hijacked plane crashing into the Pentagon in Washington DC. A further … [Read more...] about September 11 remembered
Why your communication goal must be smart and measurable
As every communicator knows you start your communication plan with a measurable goal, one that lets you demonstrate whether or not the outcome of executing on your plan achieved the goal you established. To be genuinely worthwhile, though, a goal needs to be much more than that. It also needs to be smart. Rather, SMART: Specific – target a specific area for improvement.Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.Assignable – specify who will do it.Realistic – state … [Read more...] about Why your communication goal must be smart and measurable
Considering the forthcoming metaverse
It’s only a vision at this point, but technology companies like Facebook are aiming to make the metaverse the setting for many online activities, including work, play, studying and shopping. How do we ensure everyone has a say in how it develops? It's a question Shel and I considered in the primary discussion in the August episode of The Hobson & Holtz Report aka episode 210 of the For Immediate Release podcast published on August 23. We started with a definition. Wikipedia's is … [Read more...] about Considering the forthcoming metaverse
Unpicking the vicious cycle of anger, hostility, and outrage on social networks
If you've been wondering why footballers get racially abused online all the time, why some people make disgusting death threats on social networks, or why presumably otherwise sensible celebrities say offensive things in their tweets about other people, a new book may well provide the light bulb of clarity you've been seeking. It's certainly something I've wondered about: why, in the past few years, has there been such a significant and notable increase in vile behaviours online where people … [Read more...] about Unpicking the vicious cycle of anger, hostility, and outrage on social networks
Will Windows 11 be the most beautiful Windows yet?
Last month, Microsoft announced Windows 11, the evolution of and replacement for the six-years-old Windows 10. The new version will be released later this year (some reports speculate it might be in October) as a free upgrade to Windows 10. Panos Panay, Microsoft's Chief Product Officer and the executive in charge of Windows, posted a narrative of features to expect in the new OS. He speaks of "simplifying the design and user experience," noting: It’s modern, fresh, clean and beautiful. … [Read more...] about Will Windows 11 be the most beautiful Windows yet?