The horror from Christchurch, New Zealand, that exploded across newspaper pages and television, computer and smartphone screens this weekend captured imaginations in ways that no one could possibly have imagined beforehand. The fact that one individual armed with a semi-automatic rifle could visit such an outrage upon people worshipping in a place of religion isn't the worst of it, awful and distressing though this event is with at least 50 people shot dead and scores wounded, some in … [Read more...] about The fork in the road for social media and our society
SDF Podcast 26: To regulate, or not to regulate, that is the question…
“We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.“ So the famous US Supreme Court Justice and ‘crusader for social justice’ and breaker-upper of Gilded Age monopolies, Louis D. Brandeis is said to have said, perhaps sometime in the early 1930s. Today, perhaps the best-known neo-Brandeisian anti-trust advocate is Tim Wu, Columbia law professor, ‘father of net neutrality’ and author of a series of books … [Read more...] about SDF Podcast 26: To regulate, or not to regulate, that is the question…
For Immediate Release 172:
The double-edged sword of a Facebook meme
Suspicion about the consequences and outcomes of the #10YearChallenge meme on Facebook kicked off discussion in the January episode of “The Hobson & Holtz Report”, aka FIR podcast episode 172.
Is it just a harmless meme? Or is it a surveillance nightmare? Shel and Neville weight in.
Here's the line-up of all the topics that caught our attention and prompted lively conversation in this episode:
Lost trust in Facebook led to wariness about a user-generated meme.Adobe is bringing part … [Read more...] about For Immediate Release 172:
The double-edged sword of a Facebook meme
For Immediate Release 168:
The Facebook dilemma
Neville Hobson joins Shel Holtz for the December installment of “The Hobson & Holtz Report.” The stories Neville and Shel covered include…
The passing of PR fixture Jack O’DwyerMarketers are turning their attention to messaging appsNot everyone is free to leave Facebook, even if they want toThe death of keywords (or is it?) as audiences become key to targeting in searchRising Instagram stars post fake sponsored posts to get brands’ attentionWhat we learned about GDPR in 2018Research … [Read more...] about For Immediate Release 168:
The Facebook dilemma
SDF Podcast 24: Reading the runes for 2019
The SmallDataForum celebrated its third Christmas with a highly calorific and somewhat alcoholic Italian lunch, followed by post-prandial musings about high- and low-lights of 2018, and some crystal ball gazing for 2019. Our regular followers / listeners – or just about anybody with any interest in tech and communication – won’t be surprised by a list being topped by Facebook, and then some more Facebook. Followed by GDPR and other regulatory activities, mainly by the EU. And of course we … [Read more...] about SDF Podcast 24: Reading the runes for 2019