Cross-posted from the FIR Podcast Network.

With Shel Holtz away at a conference, regular tech correspondent Dan York took over the hosting duties and brought in Joe Thornley and Sallie Goetsch for a lively discussion. Topics included:

• Facebook is rolling out its new “Explore Feed” globally, and some communicators are already seeing a major hit to the organic reach of their Facebook Pages. If you rely on engagement via Facebook, you may be in for a surprise.
• Which social network makes us feel the worst?
• Pew Research released a new report about misinformation - are there any real answers? What is the role of government? (We disagree!)
• Will the threat of government interview get tech companies to provide more transparency?
• Is there a potential for blockchain to change WordPress?
• Should tech companies and media sites have public/user editors?
• The NY Times and Wall St. Journal rolled out new social media policies for reporters. Will these help the media sites? or hurt?
• The BBC is looking to use AI to understand more about their audiences.
• And… CNN gets permission from the FAA to fly drones over crowds - will we soon see a war of media drones above events?

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Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

About our guest co-hosts:

Joseph Thornley is CEO of Thornley Fallis and 76design. He is a Senior Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and Immediate Past Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms. Mr. Thornley is actively engaged with social media. He blogs at www.propr.ca, hosts a video podcast, Social Mediators and is co-host of the Inside PR podcast. He is @thornley on Twitter andDelicious, thornley10 on YouTube and Joseph Thornley on Facebook. Mr. Thornley is a co-founder of the Third Tuesday Social Media events which bring together social media enthusiasts and communicators to explore new developments in social media and their impact on society, organizations and citizens. Third Tuesday events have been organized across Canada in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and New Brunswick.

Sallie Goetsch (rhymes with ‘sketch’) is a recovering classicist and lifelong geek who first got online in 1985 and built her first website in 1994. She discovered blogging, podcasting, and WordPress in 2005, and has been a devoted listener to FIR since then. She built the FIR Podcast Network website in 2015. Sallie is the organizer of the East Bay WordPress Meetup in Oakland, California and can be found on the WP-Tonic Roundtable podcast most Friday mornings. Don’t be surprised if her cats make an appearance on the show.

Dan York has contributed a weekly “tech report” into the For Immediate Release podcast since 2005. A passionate advocate for the open Internet, Dan serves as Senior Manager, Content and Web Strategy, for the Internet Society, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet. Since the mid-1980’s Dan has been working with online communication technologies and helping businesses and organizations understand how to use and participate in those new media. Dan frequently presents at conferences, has authored multiple books and writes extensively online at sites found off of http://danyork.me/ Dan lives in New Hampshire with his wife and two daughters.

Links from this episode:

• Facebook is rolling out its new “Explore Feed” globally, but at least one person has seen a huge drop in organic reach of Facebook Pages. (More discussion.)
• The Internet Society’s “Paths to our Digital Future” report
• Which social network makes us feel the worst?
• New Pew Research report: The future of truth and misinformation online
  • There is “nothing resembling consensus” about whether the online misinformation problem can actually be solved
  • Experts are divided on how tech will tackle the problem of fake news
• HONEST Act would add transparency and accountability to online political ads
• How, Not When, Blockchain technology will change WordPress
• Nielsen rating Netflix viewing based on audio listening?
• In praise of the public editor
• The NY Times and Wall St Journal come out with updated social media policies for reporters
• BBC looking to use AI to learn what audiences want
• CNN gets a waiver from the FAA to fly drones low over crowds