The Flack

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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Ukraine War Tests Whether Marketers Can Address Crisis Meaningfully – It’s been two long weeks since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, and the tragedy continues to unfold. Thousands (including civilians) are dead, millions are displaced and communities and cities have been destroyed. And now, brands need to make smart decisions about their business in Russia and how they communicate their decisions to the public. Marketing Dive takes a look at how companies are addressing the situation.

Disney Employees Furious Company Won’t Denounce Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill – Disney is facing an internal crisis as employees voice their rage at the company for not denouncing Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which would limit discussion of sexualtiy and gender in Florida schools. This week CEO Bob Chapek wrote a memo to employees, saying he believes the best way for Disney to bring about lasting change is through the content they produce and the diverse organizations they support. But employees aren’t having it. NPR digs in.

Americans’ Attention to National News Lowest in Four Years – Fewer Americans are paying attention to national news. In December, 33% of Americans said they pay “a great deal” of attention to national news. The percentage is a substantial drop from the 54% who said they paid a great deal of attention to national news in 2020. The recent drop holds across most demographic groups but has been disproportionately pronounced among Democrats younger than 55. Knight Foundation has the details.

Axios Wants Us to Read Everything in Bullet Points – Your attention span is short, and Axios may make it shorter. The news organization, which prides itself on short-format writing (they call it, “smart brevity”), was founded in Arlington, Virginia, in 2016 and is growing by leaps and bounds. The company believes it will build back trust in the media and teach corporate America to quit its long-winded jargon. The New York Times takes a peek at the company’s strategy.

Five Phrases That Make You Sound Passive Aggressive – Corporate jargon is the bane of our existence, and it seems to get worse every day. According to Slack, 63% of workers find it “off-putting” when colleagues use jargon in their communications, and 78% said they have made efforts to avoid using jargon. MSN lists five of the most common annoying workplace phrases and offers suggestions for what to say instead.

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What We’re Reading:

The Coddling of America

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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

Inside Facebook’s $10 Billion Breakup With Advertisers – Facebook’s reign as the most powerful platform for digital advertising may have just ended. Apple recently introduced a privacy feature for mobile devices that restricts user tracking. This change is causing the cost of acquiring new customers via Facebook advertising to increase exponentially. And it’s causing many companies to reallocate digital marketing dollars from Facebook to Google, Snap and other platforms. The Wall Street Journal digs into this landmark change.

Is Wordle Really Getting Harder? – Admit it. It’s the first thing you do every morning. If you are like millions of people around the world, Wordle, the simple word game created by software engineer Josh Wardle, has become a part of your daily life. Wardle created the game in October. By Nov. 1, 90 people had played. By December, it was millions of players, and in January The New York Times bought the game for an undisclosed sum. Six weeks after the purchase, some Wordle fans are suspicious. Is the NYT making the game tougher? Looks like many players have theories.

Even The Podcast About The Joe Rogan Podcast Is a Smash Hit Now – Most people are sick of hearing about Joe Rogan and all related controversies. However, despite everything that’s transpired, Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, continues to be wildly popular. According to Edison Research, Joe Rogan has the largest audience of any podcast by far. And now there are podcasts about Joe Rogan’s podcast. And they’re getting popular, too.

What P. J. O’Rourke Knew – Last week we lost P.J. O’Rourke. He cut his teeth as a freelance writer before joining National Lampoon in 1973 where he served as writer, editor and, eventually, editor-in-chief. O’Rourke then spent more than 20 years as foreign-affairs-desk chief at Rolling Stone and wrote 16 best-selling books along the way. National Review takes a look at the wit and wisdom of his writing.KPMG Severed Ties With Phil Mickelson. Wll Others Follow? – If you’re a golf fan, you would have had a hard time not hearing about the Super Golf League, a proposed new professional-golf league that is hoping to compete with the PGA Tour. The proposed league is backed by the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia, which is where the controversy begins. Last week an interview with Phil Michelson was published in which Mickelson said he supported the new league despite the owner’s penchant for murdering journalists. And now, Lefty has a PR problem, and his sponsors are taking notice. Golfweek digs in.

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Feed Your Head:

The State of Podcasting

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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

Red Brands and Blue Brands: Is Hyper-Partisanship Coming for Corporate America? – Major corporations and chief executives increasingly find themselves in the middle of social and political debates. While this isn’t a new phenomenon, it appears to be happening more often. As the population of the United States becomes more polarized, is it inevitable brands will mirror the electorate? This feature from The New York Times explores the possibility.

How Companies Can Address Their Historical Transgressions – There are companies and organizations whose history includes participation in past atrocities. Examples include companies that used slave labor to others tht knowingly participated in the Holocuast. This deep-dive in the Harvard Business Review addresses an interesting question: Should a long-established company be required to atone for the atrocities of a bygone era?

A Smart Retainer Could Let You Text With Your Tongue – Not a fan of the QWERTY keyboard? Is voice to text too much of a hassle? The SilentSpeller may be just what the doctor ordered. It’s the brainchild of one of the lead creators of the ill-fated Google Glass and works by converting tongue movements into data. BuzzFeed digs into the prototype mouthpiece that, so far, is 93% accurate.

Wordle Has Turned Fans of Word Games Into Argumentative Strategy Nerds – Monday-morning quarterbacks are nothing new when it comes to the NFL, and it appears the same thing is happening with the widely popular new game, Wordle. The premise of the game is simple: guess a five letter word in six chances or less. On Nov. 1, 2021 only 90 people had played the game. As of this week, nearly 2 million people a day are playing. The Wall Street Journal spoke to several enthusiasts who shared recommendations on how to solve the once-a-day word puzzle.

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Feed Your Head:

Why Apple’s iMessage is Winning

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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Thank you for reading, and Happy New Year!

Cable News Lost Plenty Of Viewers In 2021 – A volatile presidential election, global pandemic and loads of social unrest made 2020 a particularly strong year for news viewership and ratings. So it’s not surprising that 2021 could not match up. Nearly all major broadcast news outlets – and cable news in particular – saw sharp drops in viewership. The story and the numbers are pretty staggering.

What Is Web3 And Why Should You Care? – If you’re old enough to remember the dawn of the Web, Web 1.0 was the era of static web pages or the “read-only web,” according to Tim Berners-Lee, computer scientist and inventor of the World Wide Web. Web 1.0 allowed us to search for information and read it, but there was very little user interaction. Web 2.0 is the more dynamic version we know today where users can easily contribute content (think YouTube, social media, etc.). But now we are on the cusp of Web3. What is it, and how will it affect your life? Gizmodo explains.

We’re Cursing More. Blame The #%$ Pandemic – Two years in, and this pandemic won’t #%$ing end! COVID-19 has changed society in more ways than we can list, but one overlooked change is how we speak. Pandemic stress, the melding of personal and professional spheres, and an unrelenting slide toward casualness are making many of us swear more. It is “a perfect swearing storm,” says Michael Adams, a linguist at Indiana University Bloomington. The Wall Street Journal takes a look.

Targeting Truth In The Misinformation Age –  As a result of the online movement Birds Aren’t Real, some people believe the US government has replaced all birds with drones to spy on its citizens. The movement drew thousands of followers, including 75,000 on Twitter, 363,000 on Instagram, and 636,000 on TikTok. The whole thing was a parody but also an experiment to illustrate how easily and quickly misinformation can spread. The spread of misinformation is a real issue for brands, companies, politicians, news organizations, etc. as, according to Forrester, it appears to be contributing to the destabilization of consumer trust. Check out their report.

Social Media Is A Bad Feelings Machine. Why Can’t We Just Turn It Off For Good? – The term Stockholm Syndrome came from an incident in 1972 in a bank in Stockholm, Sweden. Four bank employees were held hostage by two captors for six days. After police caught the captors, none of the hostages were willing to testify against them. Rather, they began raising money to aid them with their defense. For many of us, social media is a similar situation. Logically, we should turn it off, but we can’t. This opinion piece from The Guardian takes a look at the role social media plays in society and why it is so difficult to ignore.

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Feed Your Head: 

The 50 Best Memes of 2021 Explained

21 Things That Happened For The First Time In 2021

The 10 Best Data Visualizations of 2021

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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

Could Peloton Sue Over Its ‘And Just Like That’ Appearance? – Last week HBO Max premiered, “And Just Like That,” the network’s limited-edition series that picks up the story of “Sex and the City.” At the end of the first episode, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), the love interest of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), has a heart attack and dies moments after completing a ride on his Peloton. The ending shocked many viewers and, apparently, many Peloton stockholders, as the company’s stock plummeted 11% the following day and has continued to fall this week. So the question is: can Peloton sue? The New York Times takes a look.

‘Land Acknowledgments’ Are Just Moral Exhibitionism – If you’ve been to a groundbreaking, grand opening or other large corporate or university event, chances are the event may have kicked off with a land acknowledgement statement. Land acknowledgement statements usually pay homage to the Indigenous people and tribes that once occupied the land where the event is taking place. Such statements have been common in Australia and Canada, but now they are catching on in the United States. The problem is they can, at times, come off as contrived and superficial. The Atlantic digs into the issue.

How TikTok Reads Your Mind – TikTok is the most popular video app in the world. Once you start using it, it’s hard to stop. So, what makes TikTok so addictive? A New York Times columnist recently got ahold of a leaked internal memo from the company that reveals details about how the algorithm works and how they make the app so unbelievably addictive.

The iPhone Feature to Turn On Before You Die – Many of us spend way too much time with our phones. It’s how we communicate, get our news, track our exercise and stay entertained. Our phones are with us all the time. But what happens after we die? Who has access to our stuff? The Wall Street Journal explains how to establish a legacy contact who can access and manage your stuff…after you die.

Crisis PR Takeaways from Alec Baldwin’s Botched Interview – Alec Baldwin was involved in an accidental, fatal shooting during the filming of “Rust” earlier this year. Following the shooting, Baldwin kept a low profile, but recently he’s been conducting interviews, and the results have not been good. PR News outlines his missteps.

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Feed Your Head: Instagram 2022 Trend Report

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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

Thank Adele For The Latest Spotify Update — There are dozens of music-streaming services but none are as large as Spotify, which boasts a 30% market share. However, one Spotify feature has baffled users for years. When users play an album on the service, it defaults to playing the songs in random order. But recently this has changed. It seems Adele, like many users, found this feature annoying. But she’s Adele, so she can do something about it! She wanted her new record, and all records, to play the songs in the order the artist intended. It didn’t take Spotify long to listen.

Liquor Company Asks Consumers Not to Buy Its ‘Rittenhouse Rye’ Brand To Celebrate Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict — Sometimes you just have an unfortunate name. A few weeks ago the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse was the top story in the news, and it stoked many debates about gun control and self defense. Unrelated to any of this is Rittenhouse Rye Whisky, a brand produced by Heaven Hill Distillery and named after Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square. Once the verdict was read, many who supported the verdict began celebrating with Rittenhouse Rye and posting their celebrations on social media. This put the brand in the middle of a controversy. Heaven Hill decided to ask people not to celebrate the victory with their brand, and that may have made matters worse.

The 3 Biggest Zoom Mistakes People Are Still Making — Many of us have spent much of the past 20 months on Zoom, and, at times, it hasn’t been pretty. Overall, it seems people have improved their skills, learned to consider their background before joining and even managed to dress appropriately. However, there are still some consistent problems. Inc. takes a look at the three most common Zoom mistakes and explains how to avoid them.

Why You Shouldn’t Use Emojis In Work Messages — We’ve all seen them, and many of us have used them — the smiley face, the frown, the eye-roll and so many more. Emojis, once used only in personal chats, have found their way into business communications, and the results aren’t always what the user intended. A recent study found women often interpret negative, neutral and ambiguous emojis more negatively than men. The Wall Street Journal digs into the issue and the dangers of using emojis.

3 Group Presentation Pitfalls — and How to Avoid Them — It seems more executives every day are beginning to appreciate how much time, effort and preparation needs to go into a presentation to make it great. That said, we still see the same mistakes over and over again, and they are easy to fix. Check out this quick guide from The Harvard Business Review to avoid the most common presentation errors.

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Feed Your Head: Jack Dorsey’s Resignation Letter — “Hi, Mom.”

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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

No One Cares! — We are wired to care about what others think of us. As Roman philosopher Marcus Aurelius said, “We all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinion than our own.” This tendency to care about how others perceive us may be natural, but it can be debilitating. If we were perfectly logical beings, we would understand that our fears about what other people think are overblown and rarely worth fretting over. But many of us have been indulging this bad habit for as long as we can remember, so we need to take deliberate steps to change our minds. Harvard Business School professor Arthur C. Brooks has three tips on how to do this. 

Twitter Blue Is Finally Here! — Twitter’s new premium service, Twitter Blue – which launched in Canada and Australia in June – is now available in the U.S. The premium service will allow users to undo Tweets and read ad-free news. The Verge has all the details.

The End of “Click to Subscribe, Call to Cancel?” — Many U.S. news organizations that allow consumers to subscribe online require users to call to cancel those same subscriptions. But not for long. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently made it clear that it sees the practice as one of several “dark patterns that trick or trap consumers into subscriptions” – not to mention straight-up illegal. The FTC vowed to ramp up enforcement on companies that fail to provide an “easy and simple” cancellation process, including an option that’s “at least as easy” as the one to subscribe. This story from NiemanLab has all the details.

The Worst of Both Worlds: Zooming From the Office — The past 20 months have been excruciating for many of us. Working from home has its benefits, like eliminating commute time, but eight or more hours of Zoom calls can get old very quickly. But now offices are re-opening, and people are getting back to some sense of normalcy. So things should be getting better, right? Not so fast. The New York Times digs into Zooming from work and other challenges of the new hybrid workplace.

Memes Lower Your Stress Levels, Says Science — Good news! Sure, many of us have spent most of the pandemic cooped up on Zoom calls while scrolling almost endlessly through Instagram and other social media. However, many of those memes you’ve been seeing may have actually improved your mental health. A recent study by the American Psychological Association found that memes have made many of us feel “calmer” and “more content.” InsideHook takes a look at the surprising benefits of memes.

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Feed Your Head: News on Twitter: Consumed by Most Users and Trusted by Many

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.

The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.

We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.

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

Facebook’s Name Change To Meta Reflects Common Corporate Tactic — Following months of controversy from leaked documents, last week Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta. The name change appears to be an effort to rebrand the company, deflect attention from the controversy and reflect the company’s commitment to the metaverse, an extensive, virtual online world first conceived in science fiction novels. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the strategy behind corporate name changes and looks at examples where it worked well and not so well.

OnlyFans May Be A Refuge For Nude Fine Art — OnlyFans is an app created in 2016 that allows users (“fans”) to pay for photos, videos and streaming content. The company has reported sharp growth and appears to be a great tool for fitness trainers, yoga instructors, models and public figures looking to monetize their profession. The dark side is the site has also attracted users, including young users, selling sexually explicit content. In August the company announced it would ban sexually explicit content, only to quickly reverse this policy change after backlash from users. In a surprising move, the Vienna Tourist Board recently joined the site to display artwork other social platforms have censored. The New York Times takes a look at the decision and confusing, often contradictory censorship policies of other social media platforms.

What I’ve Learned Watching Jeff Bezos Make Decisions Up Close — Amazon was founded in July of 1994, and it has been amazing to watch the company go from simply selling books online to becoming the second largest retailer in the world (behind only Walmart). So how did it happen? Tom Alberg, an early investor and longtime board member of Amazon, takes a look at Jeff Bezos’ three guiding principles that have helped fuel the company’s success.

Hey, Facebook, I Made a Metaverse 27 Years Ago — Contrary to what Mark Zuckerberg would like you to believe, the metaverse is not a new idea or a cool idea. It’s lame! Does no one remember Second Life? The Atlantic takes a deep look at the history, yes, history, of the metaverse and the challenges Zuck’s company faces making it relevant/useful to consumers.

The Teenager Economy — Allbirds, the sustainable shoe and clothing brand, went public this week. The company’s CEO, Joey Zwillinger, has been quoted many times saying things like the company has been, “profitable since basically Day One,” a comment made to The Wall Street Journal in 2018. However, the CEO’s comments seem to be at odds with documentation the company had to provide to the SEC prior to going public. And, unfortunately, this is not a unique case. In fact, Forbes recently noted more than one in four of the 50 largest venture-backed companies to go public since 2019 made assertions about their profitability that don’t appear to line up with their later IPO-related disclosures. Margin takes a look at this disturbing trend.

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Feed Your Head: A Guide To The Virtual Meeting

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flack

noun

: one who provides publicity

flack

verb

: to act as a press agent or promoter for something

The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.