• FIR #212: When Worlds Collide

Gaming. Blockchain. NFTs. The Metaverse. They are all colliding, creating something bigger than any single one of these platforms. In the October episode of For Immediate Release, Neville and Shel talk about this phenomenon and some of the companies making it happen. Also in this month’s Hobson & Holtz Report, Neville and Shel discuss the rise of robo-voices, how some companies are taking a more authentic and organic approach to influence, the widening gap between employees and leaders when it comes to policies for returning to the office, ways to encourage employees to engage and share on an intranet, and whether now is the time to hire a chief metaverse officer. Dan York’s Tech Report looks at the recent Facebook outage, Facebook Reels, TikTok’s billion-user milestone, Slack Clips, Twitch’s code base, and Global Encryption Day.

Our FIR recording sessions are now being streamed live, because why not? We already stream it in order to capture a backup recording on YouTube; we’ve just been making these restricted streams. We have decided to make them public so you can watch and comment. Our next recording is scheduled for Saturday, November 20, at noon ET. You’ll see our pre-recording conversation as well as seeing how the sausage gets made. Watch live here.

(You can watch the video of the making of this episode, though it’s clearly too late to share comments we can read right into the show.)

We are hosting an FIR Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday during the stay-at-home period at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Note, there will be no FIR Zoom Chat on Thursday, October 28, as neither Neville nor Shel will be available.

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

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s link blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from This Month’s Episode

• PoliteMail blog post on using empirical data to demonstrate the value of internal communications
• The rise of the robo-voices
• How brands are using TikTok to find super-fan content creators
• How influencers are helping cities attract remote workers
• How to Create an Epic Clubhouse Room and Attract Celebrity Guests Organically
• Remote-working jobs: Disaster looms as managers refuse to listen
• Is it time to hire a chief metaverse officer?
• NFT trading volume explodes 704% in 3rd quarter as blockchain games catch fire
• 7 projects at forefront of gaming metaverse movement
• Ertha NFT metaverse arrives on Binance Smart Chain
• Mark Cuban-backed Alethea AI is building a metaverse of NFT avatars
• Stage 11 raises $5.7 million to reimagine music for the metaverse
• SpongeBob, Star Trek, and South Park digital tokens may soon be available as ViacomCBS enters the NFT market
• Hypnos Virtual Looks to Infuse VR Experience with Personalized Aromas for Gaming and More
• Art house Sotheby’s launches curated NFT platform called Sotheby’s Metaverse

Links from Dan York’s Report

• Facebook Reels exits beta in the U.S. with offers to pay creators for well-performing videos
• Launching Reels on Facebook U.S.
• Thanks a billion!
• TikTok’s tweet on its 1 billion MAU milestone
• Slack Is Trying to Replace Meetings With an Instagram Stories-Style Feature
• Record Audio and Video Clips in Slack
• Slack releases Clips video tool, announced 16 Salesforce integrations
• Slack adds audio chat and video clips to take the pain out of hybrid working
• A catastrophe at Twitch
• Global Encryption Day