The Friday Wrap is my weekly collection of news stories, posts, studies, and reports designed to help organizational communicators stay current on the trends and technology that affect their jobs. These may be items that flew under the radar while other stories grabbed big headlines. As always, I collect material from which I select Wrap stories (as well as stories to report on the For Immediate Release podcast, along with stuff I just want to remember to read) on my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow.

News

Homeland Security investigates Wikipedia edits—The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is investigating reports that a Wikipedia editor with a DHS IP address edited pages that refer to allegations that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been involved in an affair. McCarthy exited the race for Speaker of the House, possibly because of worries over skeletons in his closet. Changes were made by someone with a DHS IP address to the page of Rep. Renee Elmers’ Wikipedia page. The takeaway: In addition to re-emphasizing just how important Wikipedia has become, this should be a cautionary tale for any organization planning to make changes to pages that violate Wikipedia’s policies. The best advice is to play by Wikipedia’s rules. Read more

WNYC opens podcast division—For those who are waiting for the podcast fad to fade, it might be time to throw in the towel and jump on the bandwagon. WNYC, one of the biggest public radio stations in the U.S., is opening a division with $15 million in planned funding to develop podcasts. WNYC is already the producer of several podcasts, including “Freakonomics Radio” (one of my favorites) and Alec Baldwin’s “Here’s the Thing.” The takeaway: Some worry that mainstream media is taking over podcasting, leaving the independent producer (like me) behind. I disagree. The recognition that podcasting is becoming a mainstream medium of its own can only benefit all producers. And don’t dismiss the idea of podcasting as a channel for your own communication strategy. Read more

Time’s up. Uninstall Flash now—We know that Flash’s days are numbered. Even its creator, Adobe, admits Flash has outlived its usefulness, subject to exploits and supplanted by HTML 5. A new vulnerability was just announced that affects every system that uses it. The flaw could let an attacker “crash and take control of the affected system,” and there’s no fix available yet; Adobe expects to release it next week. The takeaway: Uninstall. You can live without it, but you might not be able to get by with it. Game over. Done. Uninstall now. Read more

New York Times creates newsroom to focus on viral content—The New York Times Express Team is a new editorial unit that “will cover news that readers are searching for and talking about online, but also push that news forward rather than just repackaging it for clicks…This new team will quickly and smartly weigh in on the issues and questions that are attracting attention across the day and around the world,” according to an internal memo. The move is an expansion of a rewrite desk as well as a step toward its goal of becoming a competitive digital news operation. The takeaway: Brands and businesses should pay attention to this move. Marketers seem to be stuck on crafting a clever tweet or two when news goes viral. Instead, look for news everyone is talking about that is relevant to your brand, then quickly develop material that adds new information or context. Read more

Skype adds URLs to make invitations easier—Skype users know what a hassle it can be to start a call, especially with someone you haven’t connected with before. Those days are over. Now you can invite anyone to a conversation with a URL, and the people you invite don’t even need to has Skype installed or own an account. Skype users click the ‘+New’ button on the latest versions (for Windows, Mac, or the Web). When a recipient opens the link, they add their name and can the join a video chat. The takeaway: Without the need for software or an account, the use of Skype for multi-person video chats could explode. What’s missing is the ability to broadcast those chats, which could put Skype in competition with Google’s Hangouts or the popular new Blab. Read more

For the first time, mobile searches outpace computers—Consumers search more on their mobile phones than they do on their computers, according to Google, which is searched over 100 billion times every month. AOL has also noted the shift, with 60% of its traffic coming from mobile devices. The takeaway: The shift away from computers to mobile devices is well underway. Most organizations are nowhere near far enough along in their efforts to accommodate the shift. Read more

Facebook introduces nostalgia filtering—Facebook no doubt saw only good when it started sharing memories in your timeline. Just yesterday, I saw a post I shared three years earlier on the day of my daughter’s wedding. Sometimes, though, the memories shared aren’t welcome. I know someone who was reminded of a relative’s death in such a memory. Those experiences have led some to accuse Facebook of algorithmic cruelty. Now, users can note people and dates they would rather not be reminded of. The takeaway: Facebook’s approach has been to introduce features and see how they turn out, then either withdraw or improve them. This move won’t earn Facebook a standing ovation, but it will make the “On This Day” and “Year In Review” features more popular. Read more

Photo app a prototype for future Microsoft messaging tools—Twist, a new photo messaging app, introduces an intriguing idea that could signal the way Microsoft approaches future messaging products. Take a photo and type a message over it; it occupies the top half of the screen. Send it and the recipient sends a photo and message in reply, which takes up the bottom half. It’s available currently as an iOS app; no word on whether an Android version is coming. The takeaway: Messaging via photos is a good idea. It seems so natural you have to wonder why it has taken this long for anyone to come up with it. It’s also another sign of the still-growing importance of images as the dominant element of a communication. Read more

Pinterest adds location data—Pinterest users pin some 1.5 million destinations every day. Now you’ll be able to see them on a map, thanks to the addition of location data from the 100 million or so members who use the Place Pins service. Not only will you see the location on a map; you’ll also see its contact information, store hours, reviews, and directions. The feature is designed to leverage the growing use of Pinterest as a travel tool. There are no revenue plans for the feature, but that could be coming soon. The takeaway: Context continues to take center stage on the web, with location at the pinnacle. Retailers and other organizations with physical destinations need to get familiar with location technology and study best practices in order to innovate ways to better serve customers. Read more

Trends

Need real-time customer data? Start using beacons—If you pass a beacon while carrying your smartphone with the right app installed, the beacon can detect your presence, identify who you are, and push highly relevant messages to you. (Shel Israel spends a lot of time talking about beacons in his latest book, Lethal Generosity, which Richard Binhammer and I reviewed here.) Customers view beacons as a service, not an intrusion, and marketers are starting to pay attention to the data beacons deliver; mining that data can provide a whole new level of customer insight. More than half of the top 100 U.S. retailers started testing beacons in 2014; 4.5 million will be active by 2018. The takeaway: Remember the messages Tom Cruise got as he walked through the mall in Minority Report? That’s a futuristic look at what beacons do now via smartphone. With luck, they won’t be intrusive as they were in the movie. So far, they’re delighting customers rather than irritating them, and the potential uses are only now being explored. I have yet to hear anyone talk about beacons for on-the-job applications, but I can think of a dozen good uses off the top of my head. Read more

Marketers rely on influencers—Influencer marketing gets a lot of buzz. Turns out all that buzz is justified. A report from Augure finds that 84% of marketers plan to use influencer marketing as part of their strategies this year and more than 80% find it to be effective. 81% say the results are positive, up two points from last year. There are challenges, of course, led by finding the right influencers (75%) and employing the right engagement tactics (69%). Influencers are being tapped mostly to promote content (67%), support a product launch and for content creation (59% each) and event management (45%). The takeaway: Since people trust external experts more than anybody in the company, expect these numbers to increase. Read more

Fewer links leads to more time with native ads—Click-through rates to native ads have tripled at The Atlantic, and readers spend up to 4 and even 5 minutes on the ads once they get there. The Atlantic’s formula is simple. Literally. A redesigned website simpler pages with fewer links to click. What’s more, people are sharing the native ads on social platforms where they’re beating stalwarts like Buzzfeed and Mashable. One Qualcomm ad promoting a white paper download earned 41,000 shares on Facebook and 450 on Twitter. The takeaway: Native advertising could be publishing’s financial savior, so it’s incumbent on publishers to refine their environments to promote clicks. Of course, it’s up to communicators to make the content worth clicking on. Read more

With the Internet, can the world speak for itself?—The Internet is based on a long-standing concept: distributed computing. In more colloquial terms, we all can play and build a new type of community, something we have been doing with varying degrees of success since the days of Usenet newsgroups. Today, just under half the world has access, and hundreds of millions belong to online communities. The number of people online matches the global population in 1960, and crosses borders and cultures. The impact is economic, among other things—Deloitte says if more people in developing countries were connected, 160 million people would rise above poverty, 140 million new jobs would be created, and 600 million children would get educations. We’re also learning about and taking steps to solve problems without anybody leading the effort. Is the Internet teaching the world to talk for itself? The takeaway: Old concepts are applied in a fresh way in this thought piece that is worth your time. Read more

Mobile and Wearables

Facebook tests video tab on mobile app—Video discovery is at the heart of a new tab available to some users on Facebook’s mobile app, a test that signals further encroachment into YouTube’s core business. The videos you’ll see are from Pages you follow and friends. You’ll be able to save videos you like. Facebook is also testing “floating videos” so you can watch a video while continuing to engage in other Facebook activities. The takeaway: The popularity of videos—including the popular new 360-degree video format—just continues to skyrocket, especially on mobile devices. That growth curve is exacerbated by new features from channels that support them. Read more

Snapchat sponsored selfie filters could get 16 million daily views—If you’re a Snapchat users, you’ve probably seen Lenses—filters that add special effects to your selfies. (The Buzzfeed article shares one: a cat vomiting a sparkling rainbow.) Now, Snapchat is planning to offer Lenses to advertisers, and expects on holidays those images could get as many as 16 million views, with 11 million daily views Sundays through Thursdays. According to early reports, Lenses sponsorship will set a company back $450,000 for weekdays, half a million for Fridays and Saturdays, and $700,000 for holidays. The takeaway: As the article notes, advertisers “like anything that’s shiny, new, and sexy,” and Lenses are fun. Are they worth close to $1 million? That remains to be seen, but the fact that Snapchat thinks companies will pay it is testament to the growing acceptance of the power of visual communication. Read more

A heart-healthy Instagram-like app—A new app called Biogram, from the University of Southern California’s Center for Body Computing and Medable Inc., looks a lot like Instagram with the added feature of embedding your heart rate data into the photo you distribute through the app. The idea is to let researchers get a handle on how publicly sharing biometrics affects “personal relationships and experiences in a social community.” The app will also collect weight and steps taken from iPhones that already store that information. The takeaway: How many people will either switch from Instagram, where they have established connections and multiple features, or add a second photo-sharing app (that doesn’t do something new like Microsoft’s Twist)? The motivation is noble, but people don’t just their apps based on the good they’ll do someone else. Really, though, I hope I’m wrong. If tools like this can serve mobile users’ needs while also serving the interests of public health, so much the better. Read more

Pepsi will sell a branded smartphone in China—How much would you pay for a Pepsi smartphone? Reuters reports the company will start selling the Pepsi P1 MobiPicker, an Android phone with a 5.5-inch screen. If you’re a Pepsi fan, you’ll see the logo and splash screen—basically you’re paying for a company you love to market to you directly from your phone all the time. The takeaway: Yeah, it sounds strange, but you can buy branded clothing and accessories from all kinds of brands, from Coca-Cola to Harley Davidson. Why not a branded phone? As the ZDNet article points out, “As technology costs come down, devices will essentially be throwaway items.” It could cost brands like Starbucks next to nothing to enter licensing deals with manufacturers. How long will it be before you can pick up a Toyota smartphone at a Verizon store? Read more

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Google wants developers to embrace Cardboard—In an effort to make its Cardboard VR platform more appealing to developers, Google has updated its Software Developer Kits (SDKs) and has made the Cardboard app available in 39 languages on both the Android and iOS mobile platforms. So far, Cardboard apps have been installed 15 million times from Google Play. Companies like Mattel and Rebecca Minkoff are offering their own versions of Cardboard (with Mattel, it’s under the iconic Viewmaster brand). The takeaway: The momentum is real. As interest and use accelerates, developers are offering more tools, which inspires more products, which leads to more downloads and purchases. Pay attention to VR or be left standing on the platform after the train has left the station. Read more

Your favorite TV shows in VR—If the item above wasn’t enough to convince you, consider that Hulu will be available through the $99 Samsung Gear VR headset going on sale next month. Hulu’s app in the Samsung store will let you watch your shows in a more immersive 3D environment. Hulu is also developing original content that will offer a richer virtual experience that will “transport viewers into new worlds and change the way they experience and interact with Hulu,” the company said. The takeaway: See the takeaway in the item above. Read more

Internal Communications

Sentiment analysis improves internal comms—Employees share a ton of information about how they feel about the company. Through blog comments, messages they post publicly to collaboration tools, verbatim comments in surveys, and other channels, employees share their feelings all the time. Three companies are using sentiment analysis software to glean actionable data from all that narrative. The goal is to find opportunities for improvement and improve engagement. Intel, for instance, learned employees had a problem with a program, one that could be solved with better communication. Twitter and IBM are also using sentiment analysis to identify ways to improve employee relations. The takeaway: I fear some companies will use these tools for less positive purposes, but as a means of better listening, it’s brilliant. It should not, however, replace human reading, especially of verbatim survey comments. Read more

Research

Consumer expectations for content are on the rise—Thanks to Adobe, we have a look at what consumers think of all that content we’re marketing to them. With pressures on their time, consumers are increasingly selective about what they’ll read and watch. On average, we’re using 6 devices and consuming 12 sources of content, and it rises somewhat among Millennials. When confined to a 15-minute window to consume content, 66% prefer to watch a video on breaking news than read an article about it. Don’t discount the entertainment value of content: a quarter of us say we value entertaining content over accurate material; that jumps to 35% among Millennials, 42% of whom don’t regularly check on the accuracy of content they share with others. Consumers overwhelmingly (73%) say content “must display well on the device,” and with only 15 minutes available for content consumption, 66% would prefer something beautifully designed over simple and plain. We have issues with content when images don’t load or take too long, when content is too long, or when it’s unattractive. Some switch devices when these problems occur; others just give up. The takeaway: Brands that pay attention to these results and improve their content will win. Expect most to ignore it, since meeting these expectations also means increasing the investment we make in content marketing. Read more

The impact of digital technology on community—Most Americans see the advance of digital technology as “a reason for optimism,” with more than half of those polled by Allstate and the National Journal saying digital technology and connectivity “has done more to connect than to isolate Americans and will continue to improve their overall quality of life.” They also believe the changes wrought by digital technology has created more jobs than they have cost. A significant minority of adults, though, are concerned that the growing dependence on digital technologies “is costing jobs, undermining local merchants, fraying communities, disrupting families, and unsettling too many aspects of American life.” These concerns are prevalent among older Americans, notably those with children.  The takeaway: Attitudes won’t stop the advance of digital technology, but brands embracing it need to recognize that some customers need help being brought along. Further, the concerns echo those from Edelman’s Trust Barometer, which found a significant number of respondents worried that companies are developing technologies for their own profit with little regard for the impact on people. Undertaking tech efforts specifically focused on building local community or strengthening family ties may not earn profit, but it can help diminish concerns. Read more

More Good Reads

• 5 ways to use user-generated content from your fans to improve your ROI Read more
• Which social networks are best for marketing? Read more
• How Snapchat and Periscope are transforming brand storytelling Read more

This week’s Wrap art from Flickr is courtesy of Tjeerd Wiersma.