Holtz Communications + Technology

When Yahoo’s internal memo informing employees that their telecommuting days were over was leaked, the company’s response to inquiries was typically corporate: They don’t comment on internal matters.

I won’t judge Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer for her decision, as so many others have; nor will I defend it (also as so many others have). I simply am not privy to the information, data and insights…

(c) Can Stock PhotoAnother week come and gone. This week’s Friday Wrap covers studies, reports and news that didn’t get widespread coverage, along with the occasional post that was just plain interesting. Throughout the week, I collect the items I’ll consider for the Wrap (and my podcast) at LinksFromShel.tumblr.com.

CEOs engage differently depending on the social channel they…

As manager of Employee Communications, I was informed early of an impending companywide layoff. Armed with the knowledge that some 10% of headquarters employees would lose their jobs, I drafted a letter from the company president to all staff explaining the situation and detailing steps the company would take to ease the transition of those affected, such as severance packages…

I’ve introduced a new section to the holtz.com website. News is a place to get caught up on the latest in a variety of communications-related subjects.

I decided to set up the News tab after reading a guest post on ProBlogger by Brian Lippey, who runs Guitar Shop TV, a community for guitar lovers. Lippey writes that he wanted to add a…

Addvocate is a new “employee management service for social media,” according to founder and CEO Marcus Nelson.

Every company thinks they need to be social. As such, they’re spending millions of dollars to do so. Unfortunately, they’re underutilizing the most motivated asset they already have—enthusiastic employees. Your workers want to talk about their company, only they don’t know what to say, or they’re afraid to say the wrong…

Visual communication has grown into a bona fide social trend. Most trends that take root on the web ultimately find their way onto intranets. That hasn’t happened yet with the compulsion we have acquired for sharing images. The fact that tools aren’t available yet to integrate into your internal platforms shouldn’t stop you, though, from tapping into this increasingly common behavior.

Photo…