Of all the topics Shel and I discussed in the December episode of The Hobson & Holtz Report aka FIR 202, published last week, two in particular stand out for me. The first addresses the way in which organisations make apologies to their customers and other stakeholders. With lockdowns, shutdowns and economic gloominess everywhere, the current pandemic provides so many opportunities to do it and do it right. Unfortunately, while the pandemic has sparked an outbreak of corporate … [Read more...] about FIR 202: We Regret any Inconvenience
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FIR 193: Zoombombing and other Coronavirus Tales
The March episode of “The Hobson & Holtz Report,” aka FIR 193, is a coronavirus communications special with Neville and Shel discussing these topics: How Shel and Neville’s respective organizations are communicating during the outbreakA study finds employers are the most credible source of coronavirus information for employeesSnapchat, AI, VR, and LinkedIn are all playing their partShelter-in-place orders could make work-from-home the new normalHow brands are navigating marketing and … [Read more...] about FIR 193: Zoombombing and other Coronavirus Tales
FIR 188: Translating the Internet into Arabic
Finding news and information online you can trust about things you're interested in is a high expectation for most people in these connected times in which we live. Unless you're looking for wide-ranging content in the Arabic language, that is. Just 0.6% of Internet content is available in Arabic despite it being the fourth most common language among internet users, according to a report by the Guardian. What some people like Ameen al-Jaleeli in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and … [Read more...] about FIR 188: Translating the Internet into Arabic
Welcome to the Gutenberg Editor
A new version of WordPress is expected to land during the next few weeks - perhaps even as soon as December 6 - if development plans proceed smoothly. I've been a WordPress user since version 1.5 over a decade ago, and I'm excited about 5 mostly because of Gutenberg, the brand new post and page editor that aims ultimately to replace the traditional classic editor that's been part of WordPress since its beginnings. This new version 5.0 release of the popular content management … [Read more...] about Welcome to the Gutenberg Editor
For Immediate Release 147:
Tell Me a (Facebook) Story
Neville Hobson joined FIR host Shel Holtz for the July edition of “The Hobson & Holtz Report” and conversation about these topics:
Starbucks and plastic straws (listener comment from Kris Gallagher)
British Airways asks customers to post personal data on Twitter ‘to comply with GDPR’
Will Facebook Stories (and Instagram Stories, Messenger Stories, WhatsApp Stories, and Snapchat Stories) change how marketers use social media?
Whatever the EU does about copyright laws, expect it … [Read more...] about For Immediate Release 147:
Tell Me a (Facebook) Story
A minimalist look to blogging
Today, this blog gets a design refresh with a new theme that presents a minimalist look to the world. This is version 10.0 of a website running on WordPress that I first started in early 2006 following four years variously on Blogger, Movable Type and TypePad. All these services were stalwarts in the early days of blogs and blogging. I don't want to make a huge deal out of what essentially is the installation of a new WordPress theme. It's a bit like a new wardrobe when you buy a new … [Read more...] about A minimalist look to blogging
How to make your blog a secure and trusted place
If you run a self-hosted blog - like WordPress, for instance - now's the time to enhance your confidence and that of your visitors and community in its security and trust. While this is mostly about data security, it's also about search engine optimization and search results ranking by Google. I'm talking about enabling https, the secure form of http (hence the 's') that offers important benefits: In its popular deployment on the internet, HTTPS provides authentication of the website and … [Read more...] about How to make your blog a secure and trusted place
Developing peace of mind with WordPress plugins
Whenever a new release of the WordPress content management system comes out, I'm usually on it immediately, updating all my sites running WordPress to that latest version. But not this time. Not yet. Version 4.4 of WordPress was released on December 8, but I'm still on WordPress 4.3.1, the immediately preceding version. The reason? It's about plugins, the eminently useful add-on software you install that adds additional or improved functionality in many different ways to the core of … [Read more...] about Developing peace of mind with WordPress plugins