The May edition of “The Hobson and Holtz Report” features Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz talking about these stories:

• A trio of technologies—from Google, Amazon, and The New York Times—show how marketers will be able to get into your head, assess your emotional state, and manipulate your intent.
• GDPR is one year old. Has it succeeded in protecting Europeans’ privacy?
• PR professionals are relegating earned media to the dustbin.
• Arabic podcasts are on the rise, embracing a long tradition of oral storytelling.
• More CEOs were terminated in 2018 over ethical lapses than financial performance.
• The Wall Street Journal is limiting comments to paying subscribers, and it’s working.
• Dan York reports on a new podcast report from Andreesen-Horowitz and looks at two podcast announcements from Spotify.

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

You can find the stories from which FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog.

The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, June 24.

Links from This Week’s Episode

• Google Ushers In The Era Of Anticipatory Marketing
• Amazon is reportedly working on wearables that can read your emotions
• The New York Times Can Now Predict Your Emotions and Motivations After Reading a Story
• General Data Protection Regulation: one year on
• The truth behind the dumbest GDPR myths, one year later
• GDPR One Year On: Survey Findings Show Consumer Awareness with Data Use is Concerningly Low
• Widespread confusion over GDPR rules that protect your privacy
• Study: PR pros prioritizing owned and shared media
• The rise of Arabic podcasts: ‘a digital revival of a long-term tradition’
• PODU, a Podcast Platform For Arabic Speakers, Wins UChicago’s CNVC
• More CEOs were forced out for ethical lapses in 2018 than poor financial performance
• How not to handle a MeToo-related PR crisis
• Why The Wall Street Journal limited commenting to paying subscribers

Links from Dan York’s Tech Report

• Investing in the Podcast Ecosystem in 2019
• Podcast episodes will now show up in Google searches. Helpful discovery mechanism or a shot in the Platform Wars?
• Spotify begins testing its first hardware: a car smart assistant