May 30, 2024
In this week's edition: A masterclass in crisis communications, big platforms = walled gardens, social media as the stuff of nightmares, Google's updated algo, trends in AI and comms, and much more...
Singapore Airlines Delivers a Masterclass in Crisis Communications — But it Wasn’t Always This Way - “Rather than attempting to bury the story, or minimizing its potential reach, Singapore Airlines has delivered a masterclass in media transparency. It has worked at speed and scale to counter the information vacuum that can befall such events.” (Skift)
AI is already changing management — companies must decide how - “Most companies do not have an artificial intelligence strategy, yet they are already riddled with the technology. A survey published this month by LinkedIn and Microsoft suggested that three-quarters of white-collar workers have used AI for work, and four-fifths of them have done so from their own accounts and devices. They are not seeking the permission of their employers; in fact, they are hiding it from them, because they are afraid of the consequences.” (FT - subscription may be req’d)
Crisis Communications & Generative AI – Let There Be Light - “Weber Shandwick’s corporate affairs EVP Alphonse Daudré-Vignier outlines how generative AI can be used by comms professionals to better plan for and manage crises.” (PRovoke)
Big platforms are now ‘walled gardens’ - “Platforms are asking marketers to pay to get any meaningful distribution, and then claiming credit for sales that are actually happening off their platforms. And because they are walled gardens, with little transparency of how they generate these attribution metrics, it’s hard for marketers to know if they’re getting any real value for their investments.” (Attention Matters)
Social media: the stuff of nightmares? “The more time you spend on social media, the greater the likelihood of having unpleasant social-media related dreams that cause distress, sleep disruption and impact our peace of mind.” (Flinders University)
How uncritical news coverage feeds the AI hype machine - “The coverage tends to be led by industry sources and often takes claims about what the technology can and can’t do, and might be able to do in the future, at face value in ways that contribute to the hype cycle.” (Nieman Lab)
Fake news verification tools fail the test during elections in India - “Rest of World tested 11 leading WhatsApp-based chatbots that promise to help Indian voters identify misinformation. There were long delays and inconsistencies in responses even for content that can easily be identified as AI-generated and fake.” (Rest of World)
Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same - More on the impact of Google’s decision to provide AI-generated results. “Over the last two years, a series of updates to Google Search amount to a dramatic upheaval to the Internet's most powerful tool, complete with an unprecedented AI feature. Will Google save the web, or destroy it?” (BBC)
Imagining the Future of Communications – The Top 10 Ways AI Will Change Comms - I’m not entirely convinced on all this. But an interesting perspective. (Page)
Why the ‘Stealing Thunder Theory’ of Crisis Comms Requires Focus and Intent - According to the author, “to retain trust and credibility, an organization facing reputation-damaging news should first release information about the approaching crisis — even when it is negative. Thus, the organization is “stealing the thunder” from media, activists, critics and others who might jump on the crisis news and drive a narrative that is even more damaging.” A strategy very much dependent on the crisis and who is affected. (PRSA)
Why Representation Matters in Marketing - “Do TV commercials featuring diverse actors help increase sales? Wharton’s Zhenling Jiang tests this idea in her latest study on mortgage ads.” (Wharton)
Google scrambles to manually remove weird AI answers in search - “The company confirmed it is ‘taking swift action’ to remove some of the AI tool’s bizarre responses.” (The Verge)
And finally, the most popular article from last week was Beyond Communication: CCO Leadership in Navigating New Complexity by Page. Until next time.