Digital & Technology

Many communicators know blockchain is a technology mostly with electronic cash or cyptocurrency. They also may know Facebook plans to unveil a cryptocurrency, Global Coin , later this year. In fact, there’s a lot more senior communicators should be aware of regarding blockchain and trust could be a big factor.

Not long ago, one of the pleasures of taking vacation was being completely out of touch with the daily grind. Today, though, too many PR pros check in with the office during vacation. Worse, we chronicle our trip. While it sounds radical, try unplugging your phone before vacation begins. You might be surprised how much it boosts your creativity. Tips in this post will help you disconnect.

Muck Rack recently surveyed over 800 PR professionals, ranging from coordinators at boutique agencies to Chief Communications Officers at major global brands, to take a pulse on the state of PR in 2019. Among its questions, the survey looked at how communicators are spending their time, their money, and what software they use. Muck Rack will drill deeper into these results at PR News Google Bootcamp for Communicators, taking place on July 17th at the Yale Club in NYC. Looking at these survey findings, it’s easy to see why a base level of tech literacy is not only helpful, but necessary for PR pros— the results remind us that measuring success remains the number one challenge for our profession.

There is always more to the story of data collection than just a consumer’s well-being. For Amazon, and marketers everywhere, emotional-recognition voice software could help provide the most specific personal insights to date to promote product recommendations, targeted ads, and eventually, the creation of products that could impact and relate to mental and physical health.

Earlier this month we asked questions of communicators who were honored as PR Professionals of the Year during 2018’s PRNEWS Platinum Awards luncheon in NY. We asked about improving relations with journalists, how brands can maintain a human touch in a tech-driven world and several other topics.

We are in an age when many artists and creators complain of their narrative intentions being twisted in the interest of pandering to algorithms, demographics, or stilted rollout strategies around marketing their new release. Still, one of the foundational services offered by full-service PR firms includes an client bio and one-sheet for the new release or product. How does our profession make peace with this disconnect?

Seven years ago, Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin launched TheSkimm from their living room couch. Both were 25 years old, working in the news industry as producers, and found themselves in the midst of a crisis: How could they move forward in an industry that they loved, but in which they didn’t see a lot of innovation or routes upward?

Andrew Davis humorously pointed out we have a “FOMOOASP” problem: fear-of-missing-out-on-another-social-platform. “The marketing pie isn’t getting bigger, it’s just getting sliced more ways,” he said. He noted that brands’ budgets and time haven’t kept pace with audiences’ multi-channel content diet.

Are you neglecting email marketing in pursuit of shiny objects (like social media)? Jon Chang, global product marketer for IBM Watson and lecturer on NYU’s adjunct faculty teaching social media and web analytics, still sees email as a crucial channel for marketers and communicators in 2019. Here are seven of Chang’s tips and reminders for communicators looking to strengthen their chops as email tacticians.

Search and location tools can provide help for consumers according to their saved data preferences. Your browser always seems to find the right ads for you for things you may want to buy, but don’t necessarily need at that moment, thanks to search data. Data can be useful to consumers, but can feel kind of icky, when users realize where it is going.