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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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:
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flack
: one who provides publicity
flack
: 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.