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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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
: 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.