There seems to have been a change on the web with the demise of Twitter. Blogs turned into newsletters. WordPress lost ground to Substack, Beehiiv and other services. Blue Sky and Mastodon keep moving forward with their effort to create a fediverse1, now with the help of Flipboard and Threads.
This made me feel that this blog, right now, is just another string of ramblings about communication and technology’s impact. I want it to be more than that. It must be something useful to you more than an outlet for me to organise thoughts.
I am open to ideas and questions.
For now, I made a change to how the content is available. The tools and other interesting links I include at the end of these posts are now visible only in the email version.
AI for Public Relations
This summer I was stuck inside due to my #MS. What came out of this seclusion was a paper about the current use of AI in PR, complete with a case study.
Some takeaways:
- The availability of AI tools isn’t an obstacle to include them in the way we work
- People in PR and Comms still seem to have an aversion to technology, and AI hasn’t helped fight it.
- The path isn’t towards an all-encompassing AI tool for PR, but an ubiquitous use of it.
I am hoping to have the paper published soon.
Linkin Park’s reputation management
The iconic band came back to the spotlight with a fan-only event that was live-streamed to announce the upcoming album and new vocalist, Emily Armstrong.
Two conversations are going on right now. One is about her ability to replace the iconic Chester Bennington, another is regarding her ties to Scientology and Danny Masterson. The latter is a stark contrast with Chester Bennington’s life story and good heart.
Whether you like the band or not, it seems they got blindsided by Emily’s background, otherwise, maybe there would have been a more proactive response after the live-streamed event.
Source: stereogum
Telegram changes tone
Pavel Duov, Telegram’s CEO, was arrested in France for the way the app allows for criminal activity. In a way, the message went through. A while after he made an announcement, Pavel posted several upcoming changes on the Social Network formerly known as Twitter.
Source: The Verge
Donald Trump gets the biopic he didn’t ask for
It’s called The Apprentice and seems to have received good reviews at Cannes. Good enough for the Trump campaign to threaten legal action against the movie. That is already a great way to promote the film with the Streisand Effect2.
The producers have set up a Kickstarter to fund the distribution of The Apprentice.
On a broader note, I have been noticing changes in how the US media handles news about Donald Trump. When he first ran for office, it was a humorous and entertaining piece of news, not to be taken seriously. But his lies spoke to the hearts of Americans who felt forgotten. By the time the jokes turned into warning cries, it was too late.
This time we’ve learned how dangerous he is. There are still humourous pieces of news but they echo a warning and a call to vote Harris for president. John Stewart came back to the spotlight with a clear goal to do what he can to stop Trump. Americans are fighting for their freedom from dictatorship.
Each of them is developing its protocol for websites to publish and share information. Think like an RSS feed that allows editing content after it propagates. It also means you don’t have to be on Threads to follow someone there, for example. ↩︎
An effort to censor or hide information that drives more public interest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect ↩︎
